Life.Love.Publicity & Soul

Celebrate My Birthday With Me

This year I am celebrating my birthday by raising funds towards a scholarship for a college bound senior.

Please submit donations by clicking the donate button at the top of the page. No amount is too small.

College bound seniors of Cardozo High School will submit their 2 page essay on this topic.

“Identify a problem in the black community,determine the root of this issue and create a solution”

I am looking forward to reading these essays, and will post the award recipient’s essay up

Thank you thank you thank you!! 8eTJBaZIsJg

Hello Hello Hello:)

It’s been about a month since I last posted, and I haven’t been here since 2011!

So first things first,Happy New Year! I hope this year started of as exciting, lowkey ratchet, and as ambitious as it did for me.

2012 has already brought several changes. First, I’m completely done with my Howard University academic career, so I am no longer walking the halls of the School of Communications, confined to my Cap Comm office and certainly not lounging on the yard. *tear*. I don’t miss it, except when I drive past campus and then it hits me. It’s especially weird because the sole reason I moved to Washington, D.C was for Howard University, so its like what’s next?I’ve been in school my whole life, and now I’m not. Now I’m not going to lie, and act as if I have not been waiting for this spectacular moment of not being in a love/hate relationship with my textbooks, and professors, but I do feel a bit confused about life now.

Anyway, I say all that to say , I’m excited, I’m at a great place and I am ready to take on what 2012 may bring. I decided to stay in D.C, instead of moving to LA or NY as I originally planned. So bring it on world!

I got hired as the Policy and Communication Associate for The Rebecca Project of Human Rights. It’s been such a wonderful experience already because my heart has always been fond of non profit work. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It brings me great joy to utilize my public relations expertise for social advocacy and grassroots campaign! Lets make a change!

I’m also building L’Afropolitan PR and we’re going up up up! Looking for interns, and building up my team. I’m hosting monthly networking events for young professionals in DC so stay tuned for that.

On a lighter note, I’ve been staying true and faithful to my Zumba classes, enjoying all the events and restaurant weeks DC has to offer,volunteering however,whenever and wherever I can and taking a stab at falling in love in DC.

oh and BTW. I dyed my hair black. & I’m thinking about getting my nose pierced. I got a new apartment by myself and a new car named Nina!  Big thangs poppin’

Oh and I’m looking to make new friends.

So yep, that’s pretty much it. Living my 20′s in DC

Laugh At My Pain!! One word – HILARIOUS!

So I had the priviledge of leading Kevin Hart’s HBCU Social Media Campaign for this movie. This is because I work with the SorensonMcQueen group as the junior publicist, so I get to work on cool projects like these.

Anyway it was fun fun! I got HBCU movers & shakers involved to spread the word. It was tons of fun. I got HBCUBuzz, Jae Murphy, The Kappas and WHBC Howard University Radio. We had LAMP Packs which included posters and DVD’s. Those left our hands quickly We used Twitter to push our campaign and I must say it was very successful.

So if you haven’t already. Go check it out!! You will NOT be disappointed.

Mooz-Lum the Movie by Qasim Basir. My very first screening at Howard University!! So you can imagine how excited I was.

Now due to delayed booking and such, I had only two days to promote this event, which really upset me because I definitely didn’t think this event should go unheard of, not because I planned it, but because I really wanted my family at Howard to watch and reflect on an amazing movie.

Well needless to say, my event that started at 7:30 was packed by 7:20 .. That’s what happens when a publicist throws on an event. I have my ways to get it on & rocking!! The screening room was packed, and when I say packed I mean, “excuse me don’t want to step on your head” packed. People sat on the floor, stood by the door and stood outside the room just to be around that atmosphere.

My co-host, Dr. Gregory Carr, of Howard University was phenomenal. I think he was more excited than I was. !

The event started off with an introduction by me of myself and why I was presenting this movie. Then I had Ray Baker of WHUR Media and also a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity say some opening remarks to lock in our audience attention and to set the tone for the event. Directly after, we began our screening. The reactions on the audience’s faces were priceless. You could hear and see, laughter, sighs of relief, angry facial expressions, gasps all in one room.

As soon as the movie ended, I brought our guest star, writer and director of the film Qasim Basir. It was humbling for us all, and the students were so excited. He took us on a ride of his past experiences in his life, advice about black movies, and the making of Mooz-Lum the Movie . He inspired many people in the room, and not just the aspiring film makers, but every student, to be bold about their passions and “stick with it”. It was certainly a treat for Howard University, and a treat for myself as well! I always enjoy moments with Qasim. Quite a charming and funny man.

We ended with some question and answers, and a gift from myself, and from his fraternity brothers of the Alpha Chapter, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. I think Qasim really felt loved at that point. Of course Dr. Carr had to add “remember you’re always home when you’re here”

The most memorable moment for me, when a young lady said to Qasim ” I watched an interview you did months ago,and I said oh my god I really hope to meet him one day – and now here you are”

That meant the world to me, because somehow,someway I was able to make something happen for a young lady who found this moment so necessary in her life.

I believe in pushing a positive vision. Always.

A lover of fine dining and food in general I decided to participate in DC Restaurant week. I felt it was only necessary as a young lady to be a bit more knowledgeable on fine dining in D.C. without being charged my rent bill for it. geez.

I had plans for a reservation at the Le Chaumiere on Monday, but I had to cancel my reservations which really sucked! However, I still stuck with my other two reservations and had an amazing time at each other them.

First restaurant I went to was Charlie Palmer’s Steak House. I dined here on the evening of August 18th, at 7:30 pm. I brought my lovely soror Nicole with me! yay!!

Now this place was PHENOMENAL.

Seated almost immediately as soon as we got there, the atmosphere was very uppity/congress like. The service was on point, however, it kept on reminding me of the movie Salt (you know the one with Angelina Jolie). I say this because at first I was confused about who our server was. One guy took our food order, the next took our wine order, next someone else came to ask us if we wanted more drinks, so I was just confused, but it could’ve have been because I’m just not used to folks being so attentive. Lol. Silly me!

Anyway we had an amazing time, the food was to die for! Like seriously, I died & went to heaven each with each bite. Orgasmic!! Nicole’s facial expressions had me dyinggg!! LOL! She clearly was in pure bliss when she took that bite of the chocolate mousse.. hmmmm yumm… It was awesomnessss!!!!!!Then one of our lovely waiters decided to surprise us by having an escort show us the rooftop with the gorgeous view.  From the rooftop, DC was breathtaking from the Capitol Hill, Library of Congress, to the Masonic Temple in Virginia. The young man said they had several events there throughout the year.. Amazing. & I promise you I will be having an event up there very soon

Check out our delectables

Friday, August 19^th – Carmines

My group dinner was at Carmines!!! Yayyy Carmines! Carmines is the best to go for group dinners because one meal feeds 3-5 people. Now you just have to go with a good group especially if you haven’t dined there before. I went with my client Ivory Lawrence & his wife, my assistant Kristin Tellis, my line sister Timeka Perryman and my 3 good male friends, Nick Nelson, Anthony Graham and Jeffrey Tribble ( Jeff Boyardee).

Now I won’t lie, I was a bit nervous because it was raining cats & dogs that evening, which can be a bummer, and also I was hoping I wouldn’t have to carry the conversation all night. Let me just share how SURPRISED I was to say I couldn’t even fit a word in. This crew bonded in less than 5 mins, seriously looking from the another table you would’ve thought we were cousins catching up! Conversation ranged from how Ivory proposed to his wife, to my terrible singing, and our individual endeavors. It was amazing and I had a blast!

Our food was on point! Now I won’t lie and say our service was great. The waiter took our order and never came back till the food the arrived, & the food took forever to come! He didn’t check on us but I guess his attitude did change during the latter part of dinner.

O well, couldn’t ruin our fun!!

Dinner Menu for 8 people (keep in mind each meal feeds 3-5 ppl) & we had leftovers!

Penne A La Vodka, Spinach, Stuffed Mushrooms, Chicken Marsala, Pasta Bolognese, Shrimp Scampi & Strawberry Short Cake – $262.00 incl. tax & gratuity J

& It was my lovely assistant’s birthday !! So of course it added to the celebration because the sang for her and all that jazz!

Tips for restaurant week

• Book your reservations early
• Try a restaurant you usually wouldn’t dine at.
• Pick a good group of friends or a good friend to go with
• Avoid picky eaters – makes the experience difficult. Im Just saying
• Bring Cash – & don’t be a cheap spender!
• & TIP TIP TIP your waiter.
• Blog about the experience or at least share someway somehow!!

The Build Up! on @EliteDCRadio this past Monday was awesome. Our topic “Tales from the 20 Something Publicists” was a hit. Check out the first 10 minutes of the show where I interviewed Publicist Patrice Cameau of CommunPR about the PR strategy behind her client, Tony Lewis Jr.’s Hoodie Award.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capture the entire show in audio, but we’ll try again this Monday.

*Note all links lead to Twitter*

Follow Me @NBrownINK, the company @ThinkBrownINK and the radio show @TheBuildUpRadio. The Build Up! is each Monday from 7-8PM EST: http://elitedcradio.streamon.fm/

(Photo Caption: Guests on the 8/15 Show, “The 20 Something Publicists” (R-L Shanae Monique and Raevyn Jones of Ideal Publicity, Natasha, Simona Joy Noce of L’Afropolitan PR & Special Events, Simona’s Assistant Kristin, and Armani Worrell of W. Public Relations. Great show!!