Saturday, January 14, 2012
Rapper Styles P’s Juice Bar Promotes Healthy Living in Black Community
Source: www.blackenterprise.com
Anyone familiar with Castle Hill Avenue in the Bronx, NY is used to seeing an assortment of bodegas, car accessory shops, hair salons and nail shops. It’s not the neighborhood most would expect a healthy living juice bar to be located, but according to David Styles, known to music fans asStyles P, that’s exactly why it’s needed.
A little over a year ago, Styles, along with his business partners, established Juices for Life, a local juice bar that serves up natural and healthy beverages. According to Styles, who serves as the face of the business, his job is to spread the word on the benefits of juicing to communities of color. He swears by his commitment to the lifestyle daily on Twitter, in every interview he does and in general conversation. These days he wants to take being health-conscious a step further, whether that’s offering health tips or franchising his business, Styles is interested in pursuing it all. “One way or another,” he says, “we all need a reminder to stay healthy or spread the word about getting to that healthy way of being to someone else.” BlackEnterprise.com caught up with the enterprising entertainer, who spoke on his budding business and healthy lifestyle.
What was the impetus behind starting Juices for Life?
My partner had a juice bar prior to this one and I used to be a frequent customer of it. When I first started going, it was like me and six other people total as customers. It was just such a life-changer for me that I felt like I had to spread the word, so it kind of became my hangout spot. So I would be like, “If you want to meet me, meet me at the juice bar.” And it just became something that I tried to put all of my friends on to. It became home base for me, a way of life.
When exactly did you fully immerse yourself into the lifestyle of juicing?
I would say probably about 10 years ago. Yeah, I’ve been juicing for a while.
Most people wouldn’t necessarily associate rapping and juicing. How did these two worlds come together in your life?
Well, you know, just being a rapper, moving around so much and living the fast life, I would always look for balance. Coming off the road, I would get some juice, some natural fruits in my system—just something natural to bring some balance.
Did you grow up with that kind of thinking or was it something you learned along the way?
We all grow up with our moms telling us to make sure to eat an apple a day and to eat the veggies. I think that thought leaves you sometime around [the age of] 18. I think my body kind of knew. I was always tired and I was already not getting any sleep. I would eat something and I would feel weighed down. I just started paying attention to my body, like I really needed to balance it all out.
Then as I started balancing, it became a way of life for me. I started changing from eating a lot of fast food, to eating a little bit of fast food, to I don’t eat fast food at all. So you know, it was an eye-opener for me, plus it helped me with my work. I lost a lot of weight. In the studio, it would be a lot for me to lay [a track] in the booth, because I would always get short-winded. After juicing, everything just became more open, the vision became clearer for me.
So what is your approach to encouraging people who aren’t necessarily interested in juicing to get into it?
By giving them the real, you know. I think a lot of people, especially when it comes to being healthy or living a healthy lifestyle, they look at it in a light like how people look at nerds. Like, it’s not “cool” to be healthy. We try to change that mindset because your body is your temple. There is nothing more important than your body.
With [our customers] being a hip-hop crowd, we try to say: juice is cool, chicks are cool or dudes are cool—whatever sex you may be—cars are cool, nice gear is cool… all of that is cool. But it’s not cool, if you’re not in good health. Like, you can’t even begin to think about getting that or even if you do, you’re not going to [get the opportunity to] enjoy it if you’re not in good health. So we try to push them to understand basically that we are the future, our children are the future, and their children are the future. We’ve been doing this for a long time, as far as fast food and eating the wrong things, so it’s going to take a long time to get it back right. We just don’t hide the truth. When you get older, you’re going to wish you could do some of the things you were doing when you were young. By juicing up and coming here, that’s the way to do it.
MERKABAH, CHARIOT OF ASCENSION
Here are 8 Common Habits of the Rich and of Fortune Builders:
- Fortune Builders think big.
- If you are going to become rich or become a fortune building you have to realize you are an important person with a lot to do and a lot to gain (in terms of capital and income). Therefore, your mind should be thinking in terms of millions of dollars. Starting off you should begin thinking in terms of $20,000 a week. That is the scale your mind should be on if you are wanting to make millions. $20,000 a week is roughly $1 million a year. You need to think big. You’re going to have to think about building something such as a business, a practice or a series of profitable investments to reach this amount. Remember to dream big because it takes the same amount of energy to dream big as it does to dream small. How you will make that much will come to you later. First off, realize you must think big.
- Fortune Builders do not think in terms of failure.
- Stop beating yourself up. You have to change your perspective. Your own a road to fortune and being rich. It's not about failure. These are lessons along your road to fortune. Stay focused and realize that these so-called failures are actually lessons to be learned from. Do not fall to them. Keep going. Failures are only temporary pauses in your quest for your goal. They can be extremely useful in helping you to figure out how to do your thing better, faster and with more determination.
- The Rich and Fortune Builders set their own pace in their march toward fortune.
- Some people are always in competition with others or are always measuring themselves up to someone else's standards. Were those people who are setting standards for you born with you in the hospital?? Are they going into the coffin with you?? No? Then set your own pace in your march toward fortune. Don’t let anyone tell you how fast or how slow you should go to get where you want to go. Your job is to handle the obstacles, skip steps when appropriate, and always cut through the unnecessary crap in your way.
- Fortune Builders assume full responsibility for their defeats and victories.
- If you plan on being a fortune builder or being rich, you must assume full responsibility of getting this goal done. No one will validate your dream until it's almost a reality. You have to be self-validating and fully responsible. Later on you will eventually get help and encouragement as you draw closer to your goals and it becomes obvious to everyone that you will reach it. But until that time comes, however, you have to make sure that you understand that if you want something done, do it yourself. It is nobody’s job to make you a fortune. If you don’t do it, it won’t get done.
- Fortune Builders make many, many quick decisions.
- Act fast. Fail fast, and learn faster. Don't think too much. Think plan, then act. Do not procrastinate. Make many fast decisions everyday and gain more confidence, enthusiasm and, as a result, wealth everyday. In time you will build up a great reserve of confidence, knowledge and enthusiasm, all the factors needed to push you toward your goal.
- Fortune Builders have a clear conscious about making and having a lot of money.
- Change your perception about making money. Money is not evil. It is neutral. Have a clear conscious about the value of making and keeping money. Money is not evil; it is freedom, independence and the ability to help those that you choose to help.
- Fortune Builders don’t give a damn about what people say.
- Build up resilience and thick skin. People will doubt you. People will tear down your ideas and ridicule them. Develop the ability to ignore the doubts and negative opinions of others and having the strength to keep on pushing while being surrounded by disagreeable elements.
- Fortune Builders program and motivate themselves.
- You will need motivation because there will be dark times. Cut out the negative news, television and friends who bring you down. Build a program of positivity, reinforcement, and support. You can design this program by following inspirational pages on social media like Instagram, subscribing to cool YouTube channels that motivate you, by reading, exercising and doing something religious/spiritual on a daily basis. The average guy/girl just watches television, watches some 'program,' on the news, but doesn't edify themselves or motivate themselves on the daily. But you are not Mr. and Mrs. Average. You are a fortune builder, you are a money maker, you are gonna be rich.
If you liked the article, please share. Thanks in advance.
Source: Disclaimer -This is a rough edit from a book known as "Black Folks' Guide To Making Big Money in America," by George Trower-Subira. It can be purchased on amazon.com No copyright infringement is intended with this article.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Ashes and Snow: an amazing ground breaking nomadic photography and art exhibition/museum
http://www.ashesandsnow.org/
"Since its debut in Venice in 2002, over 10 million people have attended Ashes and Snow by Gregory Colbert, an exhibition of more than 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a 60-minute feature film, and two short film 'haikus'.
The Nomadic Museum, the traveling home of Ashes and Snow, debuted in New York (March to June 2005) and then traveled to Santa Monica (January to May 2006), Tokyo (March to June 2007), and Mexico City (January to April 2008), and is charted to travel the globe with no final destination."
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