by Tanea Smith Oh, Kanye. What can I say? Very little about a man I don’t know personally. What I will say from my own experience is that there’s a Kanye in every family. Yes, yours too! You know the cousin who shows up to the barbecue and everybody dead stops in the middle […]
Ah, Christmas. Such a joyous time, isn’t it? As a child, I’d spend almost every holiday with my family at home in New York City. Occasionally, I’d go to my beloved grandmother’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and stay with her niece, Little Zelda. Every family has a Little Zelda. Saucy and sassy with a […]
by Tanea Smith Oh, my dear sweet November. After last week’s election, hostesses across America are changing seating arrangements at the Thanksgiving dinner table with the quickness of birds flying south. Meanwhile, retail stores are prepping for Black Friday all-nighters. And you’re just trying to simultaneously hit your fourth-quarter sales goals, and keep your […]
Diary of a Side Hustler: The Beyonce Edition How the Queen Bey inspires me daily by Tanea Smith Music to me is everything. Growing up,I could always tell what type of mood my mother was in depending on what record was playing in our house. If it was Marvin Gaye’s, “What’s Going On,” she […]
Ah, junior high school. It was actually 30 years ago come this September, but it feels like just yesterday that I sat on the bench in the park of the Ronald Edmonds Learning Center. It was the first day of school, the weather was cool and Guess jeans & Coca-Cola sweatshirts were in vogue. […]
Oh, dear Winner. You’ve done it. You’ve identified your passion and you’re executing. You’ve got an Etsy shop. Not only are your knitted booties super cute, they’re selling! Those muffins that you bake using your Aunt Phyllis’ recipe from the 60’s? Well, you tweaked the recipe just a touch, because well, gluten and […]
8 years ago when I started my stationery company She’s Got Papers I had just given birth to my daughter Jada, I had a 13-year-old son Brandon and I was working a full-time job as well. To say that I was overwhelmed would not be giving each and every crease in my Superwoman cape […]
by Tanea Smith I remember with fondness, back when I was in elementary school, a boy named Jeffrey Washington. From first through fifth grade we were classmates and often walked to the bus stop together after school. Jeffrey had soft eyes, smooth skin and insisted on walking around with his collar up. Look, it […]
by Tanea Smith From the diary of a Side Hustler: How to run your side business like a fortune 500 company Monday through Friday you can catch me in a comfortable pair of footwear, one hand with a death grip on my handbag and a cellphone to my other ear doing bobbing and […]
by Tanea Smith Dear Winner, You did it! You survived another year at your day gig. You showed up, you didn’t show out and you put in the work. Yes, even on those days back in the summer & fall when you were an inch from coming unhinged you somehow steeled your nerves, […]
