This is an important foundation created by my friend after writing and performing her solo show

T-O-T-A-L-L-Y. This show takes you through the transformation of her life after being sexually assaulted. She is a survivor  and instead of letting this horrible thing own her, she became and actress and is now starting her own foundation to help people who are sexually assaulted. Please take the time to read through this and donate if you feel the calling. Peace to women everywhere! 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE for FACEBOOK: May 21, 2012 

Embrace Your Cape Enterprises Launches Fundraiser Campaign For 
The Be Your Own Superhero Foundation 


Kimleigh Smith founded Embrace Your Cape Enterprises in 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

After working to help many other foundations, The Be Your Own Superhero Foundation is a dream Kimleigh has had for years to create an organization to bring men and women together to raise awareness and offer healing to victims of sexual assault. 1 out of every 4 women and 1 out of every 6 men in America has been sexually assaulted. These are staggering numbers and there is so much yet to be done to educate in the areas of prevention and recovery. 

The journey began when Smith wrote and performed her solo show T-O-T-A-L-L-Y! as a transformative work dealing with her own experience. Thanks to it’s success Smith has been able to bring her production around the country opening up the dialogue to communities and on college campuses. 

Audiences have been so moved by the work that it has become Kimleigh’s mission to offer the same transformation that she experienced in her storytelling to others. Through the healing power of storytelling the aim is to educate and empower survivors to overcome their trauma through true self-expression and total transformation so they can not only survive, but thrive. 

Helping people to become their own Superhero, Embrace their Capes and Take Flight! One of Kimleigh’s dreams is to bring her show to audiences and then take them through a transformational workshop to write and perform their own stories so they can reclaim their sexuality and live whole and healthy lives. Smith believes that even heroes work in teams to achieve dreams. She is excited to bring together a wonderful team to bring the foundations many projects to life! 

Fundraising Campaign efforts begin immediately for 4 weeks (donations will be accepted after the 4 week push) No matter what you dontate $1 or $10,000 every penny counts and is appreciated! With every donation you will receive one of my LOVAH t-shirts (please include your size with your donation) and to celebrate the expected outpouring of donations and to thank everyone there will be a Consent is Sexy Party and a Performance of Kimleigh’s show:
T-O-T-A-L-LY!: details will follow in a personal invite to each donor! Do Save The Date: 8/2/12 8pm @ The Whitefire! 

CONTACT:

Kimleigh Smith
Totallykimleigh.com 

DONATIONS:

Checks and Money orders can be sent to:
Kimleigh Smith 
Memo: Embrace Your Cape Enterprises
4335 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite 183 
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 

OR

Paypal:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=kimleigh.smith%40yahoo.com&lc=US&item_name=Embrace+Your+Cape+Enterprises&currency_code=USD&bn=PP-DonationsBF%3Abtn_donateCC_LG.gif%3ANonHosted 

Some people have asked me what credentials to look for in a personal stylist.  Many stylists have different credentials from fashion schools, to business to just downright an artistic talent and good at what they do. I have two out of the three above, plus I was personally trained by the famous Stacy London of “What Not To Wear” on TLC AND am an apprentice on contract for her company called “Style For Hire”.  What does Apprentice mean? It just means they recognize my style potential and I was hand picked by Stacy and her experts but to become a full stylist, I have to log in more hours with them and shadow other SFH Stylists. In the mean time, I do my own personal styling, sell gift certificates, do virtual consults and help clean out closets, piece together outfits, shop with you and dress for every day and/or those special occasions in your life. I also do Image Consulting for companies by helping them figure out what message they are sending to their customers by what they and their employees wear and what they say or don’t say on their social media sites. Contact me for more on hiring a personal stylist/Image consultant in the Washington, DC area at YourStyleAdvocate@gmail.com. Website coming soon but you can also find me at the following places: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourStyleAdvocate?ref=tn_tnmn

Contributing on Style: http://thedcladies.com/author/karen-poulin/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/styleadvocate/

Polyvore: http://karenpoulin.polyvore.com/

Liz Lange and Jane Wagman

I had the pleasure of interviewing both Liz Lange, Fashion Designer and her sister, Jane Wagner, Graphic Designer. They work together rating products and giving their STRONG opinions on clothing, shoes etc at www.shopafrolic.com. If you aren’t already signed up to receive their emails, hop on over there and get signed up today. 

Since they both give their opinions without consulting the other, on their website, I decided to ask them the same questions without them consulting each other on the answers.  Below you will find the real Liz and the real Jane; opinionated, honest and sometimes very funny.  I hope you enjoy the interview.  

Style Advocate:  I enjoy your website because you both offer opinions about similar or the same products.  Sometimes you agree and sometimes you disagree. Have you ever been in a REAL argument over a dress or product? 

Liz: We truly NEVER fight.  That said, we once were doing an out of town TV appearance in Philadelphia and we both brought the same top with us and we had a fight over which one of us would get to wear it.  I can’t recall who won!  And we don’t always like the same things but we respect each other’s taste. 

Jane: We never really argue about how we feel about an item. We make fun of each other. Like the other day when I showed up in wedge wallaby’s and Liz’s first response was “so you weren’t kidding when you said you liked those”. Then there was the time when Liz emailed me at 1am on black Friday to show me a Marchesa dress she had found on sale. I loved it so much I quickly ordered it for myself. A few weeks later Liz realized she had never received hers. Turns out they only had one in stock and somehow my order had trumped hers. Have no fear - I gave her mine!

Style Advocate:  You both became shopaholics via your mother.  Were there times you resented it or did you always feel like you were living in a fantasy world by being in those high- class shops as a child?

Liz: I used to get bored in those shops! So much time in the dressing rooms watching our mother try on dress after dress.  I’d die each time my mother was getting dressed and the sales person would knock on the door with just “one more thing” she “had” to try on! 

Jane: I LOATHED it!! We would go to Paris and spend an entire day in Chanel. fer reals! We were always being dragged into stores to watch our mother try on clothing for hours on end and I hated hated hated it. That said, I always loved it when it was time to shop for us. But no fun watching her shop!

Style Advocate: I see that you both worked at Vogue. I don’t know your ages (and I’m not going to ask!) but did you work there at the same time?  If so, what was that like?  If not, did one of you have advice for the other after working at Vogue?

Liz: I worked there before Jane but we did such different things there that I didn’t have any advice for her.  I did the party pages: assigned photographers, attended parties, wrote up who was there, what they wore.  Jane worked in the art department laying out and designing the pages of the magazine. 

Jane: We worked in completely different areas. When I worked at Vogue I was pursuing my dream of being a graphic designer. While I have always loved clothing and shopping I was not in the fashion department there nor did I want to be. I was designing the editorial pages, which I absolutely loved. And no we did not overlap.

Style Advocate:  Besides, Vogue, How did you both jump into the fashion industry?  

Liz: After Vogue I worked for a fashion Designer.  From there I started Liz Lange Maternity.  It was a very high-end maternity line that grew into 3 flagship boutiques (Madison avenue, Beverly Hills, Long Island) and ultimately special maternity lines for Nike and for Target.  Today my less expensive line,  Liz lange for Target, is the exclusive maternity department at every Target store and Target.com and has been for 10 years. And two years ago I launched my first ever NOT maternity line of women’s ready to wear called Completely Me by Liz Lange.  It is exclusively sold on HSN and the Shopping Channel Canada.

Jane: This is truly my first attempt to actually work in the fashion industry and I still feel like what I am doing is more similar to my graphic design training than the actual fashion industry. I love editing; putting outfits together like a creative puzzle, making things look clean, graphic and nice. I am not a fashion designer like Liz.

Style Advocate:  Your characters on the Shopafrolic site show you as two very different size women in the height category. (After going back to look at the site, I decided the characters are the same height)  Does that mean you aren’t able to share clothes?  If you do share clothes, what is the one thing from each other’s closet that you wish was yours?  

Liz: We are actually both 5’7” and even though our bodies are kind of similar we have a joke that is actually true.  If I try something in and it doesn’t look good on me, it will definitely look good on Jane and vice versa.  We can share clothing but we typically don’t.  

Jane: We are EXACTLY the same height. I guess our avatars are wrong!! We can share clothing but for some reason we usually feel like if something looks good on me it will not be flattering on Liz and vice versa!

Style Advocate:  I’m dying to know who got the black Marchesa dress for 60% off at Bergdorf’s?  (Reference “Shopafrolic” website)

Liz: I think I scored the black Marchesa dress but funny enough in the end neither of us liked it and we returned it. 

Jane: So funny - i told that story above! I gave mine to Liz.

Style Advocate:   It seems like you both spend a lot of time together for work and in your personal life.  Do you ever get tired of each other and just take a weekend away?   

Liz: Jane gets sick of me and tries to hide from me on weekends but I hunt her down… 

Jane:  Not really! if we don’t speak for a day it feels like an eternity. We are kind of crazy and never really get sick of each other.

Style Advocate:  Who is more of a snob when it comes to products?  Jane or Liz?

Liz: I think I may be the bigger snob in general.  But not sure.  I may be more overtly snobby whereas Jane is quietly so.

Jane: OMG LIZ LIZ LIZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What did she say? was she honest? ( I believe she was!)

Style Advocate; I see that one of Jane’s favorite shopping spots is Target and Liz’ favorite spot is Bergdorf’s.  Jane, do you like to shop at Bergdorf’s?  Liz, do you like to shop at Target? 

Liz: Ha, we both LOVE both places.  It’s all about the high/low mix.  But we do have a nickname for Bergdorf’s: “The happiest place on earth” (sorry disneyworld!)! 

Jane: Bergdorfs is the happiest place on earth. We are both very hi-lo and love mixing Zara in with Manolo Blahniks.

Style Advocate; Whose idea was it to start the “Shopafrolic” website?  Do you both share the responsibilities of managing it or do you both have set jobs?

Liz: I think it was initially my idea but Jane does more of the work. 

Jane: Liz came up with the idea and I jumped on it. Being a graphic designer I was able to design the logo, website etc and maintain it on a daily basis. We both search for items and write our own copy every single day.

Style Advocate; What is the main goal you have for your site?  I see that you compare products but you don’t actually sell them on your site, correct?

Liz: We want to make some money! Right now we do it strictly for the love of shopping! We’d love to be able to sell the products we compare.

Jane: For the love of fashion! We have some ideas but nothing we can discuss yet!

Style Advocate:  Who is easier to work with, Jane or Liz?  :-) 

Liz: I am of course!! 

Jane: MOI totally MOI. Liz can be a little scary!

Style Advocate: Do you feel like dressing women and being role models for them helps build self-esteem? 

Liz: : Well, I don’t know if I could call myself a role model but I definitely definitely think that if you look good you feel good so I certainly think that when I help a woman dress well,  that it is not a superficial endeavor at all.

Jane: YES! I know we all feel better when we like the way we look. You can’t help but hold your head a little higher and put yourself out there a little more. I know when I feel like I look horrible I hide and hold my head down.

14. What is the one piece of advice you would give anyone going into the style/fashion industry for work?   

Liz: Don’t study fashion, you either have it or you don’t, taste/style and the passion for fashion can’t be learned.

Jane: Ignore the naysayers. Know your sh*t and do what you love. Don’t give up!

Thanks to Liz and Jane for being such great sports and so much fun to interview. You can follow them both on twitter.  Liz:  @Lizlange and Jane: @Shopafrolic.  For more information on their adventures, continue to follow them on www.shopafrolic.com and check out Liz at the sites listed above.  

Liz and Jane

Liz, Martha Stewart and Jane

Jane and Liz with their mother, Kathy Steinberg

Liz and Jane with their grandparents 

Style Advocate: Hi Kyle, thanks again for agreeing to do the interview. I’m very honored that you said yes. Will you please also give me your exact name and title? 

Kyle: Kyle Anderson, Accessories Director, Marie Claire Magazine 

Style Advocate: I know you now reside in NYC.  Did you always live there or are you a transplant from somewhere else?

Kyle: I was born in Sweden and I grew up in a suburb near Chicago. My major going to college was international business and finance. I got my first freelance job at Vanity Fair through my boss at my internship at Vogue.

Style Advocate: How long have you been in the business?

Kyle: Including interning almost 10 years I guess. As an editor, around 7 years.

Style Advocate: Did you always know you wanted to do something in the style industry?

Kyle: Yes definitely I was obsessed with shopping and clothes. When other kids wanted toys I just wanted clothes.

Style Advocate: What do you like best in the industry?

Kyle: Seeing new beautiful things every hour of every day. And I also love working with Nina Garcia everyday.

Style Advocate: What do you like least about being in the fashion industry?

Kyle: The amount of work. Sometimes there are so many pages we are all working very late. It’s hard to be really creative without getting out and experiencing life a bit more.

Style Advocate: I’ve heard that Nina Garcia is the one that helped you get a gig at Elle and then further went on to help you at Marie Claire. Is that true and if so, how did she help you?

Kyle Anderson: I was an intern at Elle. I had already interned at a bunch of other magazines but when I got to Elle I knew it was the place I wanted to work. I worked really hard 5 days a week and everyone saw that. Everyone knew how much I honestly loved Elle and wanted to work with there and with all of them. She took a chance on me and hired me to work freelance as an assistant for 90 days and after a week she hired me. That was 7 years ago. And 7 years later Nina is still my mentor and still my boss and there is no one I would rather work for.

Style Advocate: What’s your favorite color? Would we be able to get a snap shot of your closet or is it a major disaster?

Kyle Anderson: My favorite color is actually black. My closet is very very clean. My apartment is extremely organized and clean. I live in a new building and everything is decorated perfectly. I’m a Cancer (zodiac). It’s our way. My home is my cocoon do they say? My shell…something like that.

Style Advocate: You’ve mentioned your new apartment on several occasions.  Have you had an open house yet with all your friends and colleagues?

Kyle Anderson: Not so much an open house. I had a small dinner at Christmas and another at New Year’s Eve. But it was less than 10 people. All of my friends have been there. Even my friends from out of town have stopped by to check it out.

Style Advocate: If you could give one piece of advice to anyone in this industry, from designer, Magazine publisher/editor, personal stylist etc, what would that advice be?

Kyle Anderson: Never give up. And if you are in this industry, you know that its really hard work, little money and long hours. But if it’s your dream do what you want to do. Be creative and always believe in yourself.

Style Advocate: Finally, for someone like me, who lives in the DC market and not The Big Apple, how do you think I can promote my personal styling business to a level of being able to sleep at night and pay my bills?

Kyle Anderson: Honestly? It sounds tough. Maybe work for a department store as a personal shopper or do styling for television news anchors, etc. or maybe there is a women’s magazine in DC you could style all of their covers for and fashion stories. That would definitely give you DC credibility.

Style Advocate: Thank you Kyle, it was a pleasure interviewing you and I wish you the best in all of your future endeavors.  (Make sure to see his attached photos). 

You can reach Kyle at www.kyleanderson.com or on twitter at @kyleeditor

If you would like me to interview you or need a personal sylist (I am willing to travel!) You can catch me here:  

YourStyleAdvocate@gmail.com

@styleadvocate (Personal business account)

@SFH_VAKaren (My Style for Hire Twitter account- contract business acct) 

My blog: http://styleadvocate.tumblr.com/ 

  http://karenpoulin.polyvore.com/ & 

http://pinterest.com/styleadvocate/

Guest blogger: www.thedcladies.com and www.loehmanns.com

I will be posting an interview this morning from Kyle Anderson (@kyle editor), Accessories Director of @MarieClaire magazine.  If you aren’t signed up for my blog, now would be the time to do it.  Not only do you get a fantastic interview but (hubba hubba) some great photos too!  

I have more well known fashion icon interviews coming in the next couple of weeks and hope you will stop by to enjoy them.  

Have a great Tuesday (yay, it’s Tuesday already!)

Dr. King: “I Have A Dream”

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”