I'm Not Bougie

Lunch at The Avenue des Champs-Élysées

In college, a lot of women were planning and plotting out their marriage and motherhood plan as we neared graduation-I never had a plan like that. My plan had always been to see as much of the world before I got tied down (married) or knocked up (motherhood). I promised myself 2 international trips a year and I’ve somewhat surpassed that promise to myself. In the 7 years since I graduated, I’ve visited 16 counties- a few of them more than once and I actually think I’ve left off a few (Been meaning to cross reference my passport) but it was always important for me to see how other people live, experience different cultures and sometimes step out of my comfort zone in order to interact with people I would have never had the opportunity to meet had I stayed in my American bubble. There are a lot of young women in my life who always ask me advice on love, life and career choices and the one thing I always tell them is to ‘see the world.’ As women, our lives and careers change drastically once we get married and have children and the opportunity to travel becomes limited once we take on those type of responsibilities. If we don’t seize opportunities while we have them, we’ll lose them and if we don’t set our fears aside, we’ll never get on that plane and never know what else is out there.

The photo of President Obama in the White House’s Situation Room with top administration officials gives us rare insight as they watch the Navy Seals raid Bin Laden’s compound and eventually kill him. Obama is accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, Brig. Gen. Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tom Donilon, national security adviser, Bill Daley, chief of staff, Tony Blinken, national security advisor to the vice president, Audrey Tomason, director for counterterrorism, John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and James Clapper, director of National Intelligence,

Any New Yorker knows how devastating the September 11th Terror Attacks were to the city. Everyone knew someone affected and after President Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden, Firefighters were photographed in Times Square celebrating the news as it was reported.

Over the weekend, I participated in the EIF Revlon Run/Walk For Women in support of two of my friends that are battling cancer. Outside of prayer, I wanted to assist them in some way so I signed up for this five kilometer walk and was able to raise $500 for cancer research and outreach programs with the support of my family and friends. The run/walk began at 9am in Times Square and ended in Central Park. It was a lot of fun and the hosts for the event kick-off were Nate Berkus and Dr. Oz followed by a performance by Keyshia Cole.

Women’s cancers include breast, uterine, ovary, vulva and vagina with more than 273,000 new cases of women’s cancers diagnosed in 2010. Approximately 40,000 women are estimated to die from breast cancer which accounts for 27% of all cancers diagnosed in women (Source: American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2009). These figures are staggering and hopefully with advancements in research and treatment, we can eradicate this disease.