Beauty Boone

It is the pressure to overachieve, stay resilient, and remain flawless. Constantly and without pause.

Systemic bias treats us as representatives of an entire race, so a mistake is never only ours. When we make a mistake, it becomes all of ours. That is why the cost is disproportionate. What it ends up happening is that many of us get trapped in a cycle that ties our worth to a standard nobody can meet.

It denies and robs us is our humanity and our life. We don’t get the luxury of being tired, or making a mistake or given another chance. Black Folx don’t get to be regular ass people.

You should not have to be extraordinary to be treated as human. Rest, grace, and second chances are not rewards for exceptional performance. They belong to people, and we have always been deserving.

Adhering to these ever changing rules have never guaranteed our protection. We have shown up in our Sunday best, done everything right, followed every rule they wrote, and been lynched anyway. Denied the loan anyway. Passed over anyway. Performing our way into their good graces has never once been the thing that saved us.

The people we honor during Black August were denied their humanity outright. The tradition of Black August doesn’t ask us to be exceptional. It asks us to study, to fast, to train, and to fight. Rest and restraint are written into it, which tells you the people who built this practice already understood something about the cost.

I am not asking anybody to be less than they are. I am asking what it has cost us to have to be super just to be seen. Liberation is ours and you didn’t have to be a magical negro to get it!

Thema Bradford is holding a conversation here on Spill this Thursday.

At the Edge of Joy is about our relationship to joy, anger, and the power of our emotions. August 13, 6pm.

Thema is a licensed mental health counselor and the person behind Elevated Self Counseling, Coaching and Consulting. I have watched her hold rooms carefully for a long time.

Black August asks us to train, and training is not only physical. Sitting with somebody who knows how to talk about anger is its own kind of preparation.

Bring yourself. Bring somebody.

Not on Spill, join here: https://www.spill.com/

I remember growing up in Brooklyn, my mother’s shelves full of chapbooks and zines and other work I would pull down and take to my room. I remember my small hands running over the pages of Black Pride and Think Black, both by Don L. Lee, now known to us as Haki R. Madhubuti.

Last week one of my dear sisterfriends reminded me of his book From Plan to Planet. As usual, she was right on time.
We are at a precipice, and what made that reminder so timely is that so many of us are out here looking for the solution. The landscape has changed with the advancement of the tech. The patterns and the systems have not changed at their core.
Madhubuti writes that “people occupy space,” and whether you control the space you occupy depends in part on three things.

Consciousness. Commitment. Action.

We cannot commit to something we have not looked at clearly, and we cannot act on something we have not committed to.
Look at our opposition. They have built their agendas, published their manifestos, and they are implementing them with speed and to our detriment.

In the spirit of Sankofa, we have to go back and get it. Go back and get ours. Our parents and our ancestors already provided the foundation. It is on us to go back, get it, and adapt it.
Let the energy and the spirit of this month give you a starting point. The time has long passed for us to center our consciousness, commit, and be in action.

In order to have impact, you have to be clear about where your impact belongs.

40 something years of life keep teaching me the same lesson. To get things done, you have to start.

For most of my life I was the multitasker, and finishing things was never an issue. My energy is different these days. When starting became overwhelming or I was simply tired, the size of that first step decided whether there would ever be a second one. Over the last couple of years, that is where a lot of my plans stalled.

What helped was breaking tasks into smaller pieces, making space to breathe and do nothing, and focusing on one thing within a block of time.

This is why I created the 30 Day Impact Journey. I was looking for my own way back into contribution and community, especially since I am living in a new area and the community I grew up with my entire life is hundreds of miles away.

So it opens small. You get three short emails a week and three optional actions. Choose one, choose all three, or choose whatever your week can hold.

It begins August 1 and it costs nothing. Registration stays open through August 5.

Link in bio or screen grab it here: https://thebeautyboone.com/impact-journey/

It’s my birthday. So I made something for us.

These last two years have been some kind of ride. I was finding my way back to myself, working on re-establishing what stable means at this age and in deep inquiry: reading, building, and listening for what this community was actually calling for. I spent that time studying the mechanics of systems, how they get built and what they protect. Getting clear about the ones we live inside, and asking something harder than how to survive them. How do we build alternatives? How do we live more harmoniously and divest from what was never made for us to thrive in?

Today I’m giving you two things.

🤍 A new home for Beauty Boone. An ecosystem of support, tools, and resources, structured around three tracks: how you tend to yourself, how you sustain your life, and what you’re entrusted to build and care for. Some of it is free. All of it was made with care. I’m still working out layout kinks, so it isn’t perfect, but it’s done. If you know me, you know that’s huge. Recovering perfectionist over here.

🤍 The 30 Day Impact Journey. Free. It starts August 1 and runs through Black August, a season that honors Black revolutionaries and the discipline of everyday resistance: study, fast, train, fight. Thirty days of small, meaningful actions that start in your own life and ripple outward. So many people are asking what they can do, how to be part of the solution instead of the problem. We are all capable of impact. It doesn’t take a grand gesture. It takes what we do consistently, close to home, with our eyes on the wider community.

Registration is open now. Link in bio.

And if you’re looking for a way to celebrate my birthday, this is the gift I’d ask for: support the work. Giving to Beauty Boone is what keeps the free things free and the rates reachable for people who need them. Link in bio.

This is some of what I’ve been building. A peek into what these two years have been about. Happy earthstrong to me, and thank you for still being here.

Beauty Boone · Harmony of Purpose & Form
🎉

I’ve been pretty quiet here for almost two years. Not because there was nothing to say. Because I was building something that needed time. Most importantly, I was tending to some things. Taking care of myself and sitting with what matters. During that whole time, my community has been on my mind. With everything that is going on in the world, I just knew that there was more that I could do.

On July 27th, I am both nervous and excited to share what I have been up to and things that I have been building with you in mind.

🤍 Beauty Boone · Harmony of Purpose & Form

Nya Akoma! Black Love Day was yesterday, but if you’ve been here a while, you know I always post on the 14th. Why? Because Black Love Day isn’t just a moment, it’s an intentional, week-long practice of immersing ourselves in Black love, community, and care.

We’ve been away, but for good reasons! I’ve been:
- Accomplishing personal growth goals
- Taking intentional time off social media
- Resting with intention, because rest is resistance
- Preparing for some powerful collaborations ahead
- Doing the work, building the next round of Beauty Boone offerings

And what better way to return than with Black Love?
Founded by Sister Ayo Handy-Kendi in 1993, Black Love Day (Feb. 13) is a radical act of healing, atonement, and celebrating love on our own terms. Unlike Valentine’s Day, rooted in consumerism and romance, Black Love Day is about self-love, family love, community love, and racial solidarity.
Right now, everyone is talking about organizing, about radical love, about how to survive these uncertain times. The threats to our rights, our safety, and our futures are real. But Black Love Day reminds us that our people have always known how to build, how to care for each other, how to resist together. It’s a chance to re-establish the ways our parents and elders organized with love as the foundation.

Honoring Black Love isn’t just about relationships, it’s about liberation. In a world that often tries to define us, celebrating love in our own way is a revolutionary act. It’s a moment to revisit the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa) because love is more than a feeling, it’s a daily practice of unity, self-determination, collective work, and purpose.

So today, I invite you to live love, give love, and be love.


Do you celebrate Black Love Day?

Checking in, Beauty Boone Family

I hope this message finds you safe and supported. The devastating California fires have deeply impacted so many, and I’ve been reaching out to family and friends to ensure their safety. In times like these, community is what holds us together.

I want to share that I’ve been a little MIA here because I’ve been navigating my own personal crisis not related to and prior to the fires. But when I learned about what happened, I became active on my personal page to connect and provide support.

To help, I’ve compiled vetted resources that have been circulating around for aid and relief, which you can now find in the Linktree in our bio. There are so much out there and it can be overwhelming. I also be sharing mutual aid opportunities and other resources in our Stories. Please check them out and share widely.

If money is tight right now (I’m right there with you), there are still many ways to be in contribution, offering time, skills, or even simply spreading the word can make a difference.

Sending love to all of you. Let’s show up for each other in any way we can.

Find resources in our bio. Together, we can help rebuild.
❤️

Habari gani? Imani, Faith! Asante Sana!

Today is the last day of Kwanzaa. I’ve been reflecting on the power of Imani (Faith), the last principle of Kwanzaa.

What kept me going during some of my most challenging times last year, was adopting the reframe of “Fake it to you make it” to “Faith It Till You Make It.” That coupled with being in action and the support of my community, I made it through. Shout out to my community sisters, especially for reminding me of this reframe. Cause gurl every time I hear or see you say that, it’s a reminder for me to keep the faith.

For me, “faith it to you make it” means holding steadfast belief in yourself and your community, even when the path is unclear. It’s about pairing that belief with action, trusting that every step, no matter how small, brings you closer to the desired life you want to have. And of course your goals. Faith and works together carried me through some of the toughest moments last year, and I’m so grateful for the lessons along the way.

It is a great reminder that faith isn’t just a feeling, it’s a practice.

How has faith guided you through challenges this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Share them in the comments below.

If you’re interested in how Beauty Boone incorporates these principles of Kwanzaa all year-round, check the link in the bio for how we weave these principles of Kwanzaa in our everyday operations.

Happy Kwanzaa! 🥳

For me, 2024 was not for the faint of heart.

The back half of this year was marked by challenges that tested me in ways I never imagined. I’ve felt the joy of deep connection, the heartbreak of major losses, and the power of choosing what truly serves me. To keep things very real, 2024 kicked my ass. 🤕

Despite the weight of these challenges, I’m ending this year with immense gratitude for what Beauty Boone has achieved and the people we’ve impacted. I am choosing to close out 2024 by celebrating the lives touched and the spaces that were created. It’s a testament to the power of persistence, community, and staying rooted in purpose.

As we step into a new year, I hold close the lessons learned:

▫️ Healing isn’t linear, but it’s necessary. It is a lifelong process of continuous growth, self-discovery, and embracing the evolving layers of who we are.
▫️ Community lifts us, even when life feels uncertain.
▫️ Rest is resistance, and joy is revolutionary.
▫️ Faith it till you make it and Faith without works is dead

As we bid farewell to 2024, I want to take a moment to reflect. My biggest accomplishment is that I survived. I have also learned that there is power in celebrating small wins. Surviving is a major win for me in 2024. Beauty Boone made incredible strides in creating transformative opportunities for our community. We partnered with amazing folx who are also committed to laying the groundwork for building a better world and a brighter tomorrow for all of us. I truly thank everyone who was a part of this journey!

As we close this Gregorian year, I leave you with this:

What are you carrying forward to shape the story of your 2025?

Whatever your answer is, hold it close, and let it guide you.

Here’s to stepping into 2025 with clarity, boundaries, rest, faith, failure aka lessons, integrity, curated community and an unshakeable commitment to creating meaningful impact in your own life. Let everyone else reside in the overflow of your own self love! 💕