An immaculate baby blue wall stood as the backdrop of the red carpet at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Anchored in a color representing tranquility, the 6th annual Black Women in Hollywood Awards Luncheon, hosted by Essence on Wednesday afternoon, was anything but calm. Wall-to-wall media stacked and crawled from every...

From "the jerk" to the "stanky legg" to "the Dougie," hip-hop signature dances have come and gone quicker than the lyrics that accompany them. Pop culture scholars can easily differentiate between a fad and a movement. Those that routinely jump in "The 818 Session," a weekly performance circle that occurs...

"There was no Plan B," explains Salim Akil. If not for a booming career as one of this year's most enterprising directors, the former mortuary worker insists that if Hollywood didn't pan out, "maybe I'd be living in Paris-sitting in a bar or something."...

Freshly dipped in cherry red denim, skin glowing and discreet diamonds sparkling, upon hitting the red carpet the petite film vet was quick to admit, "I cut my nails for this event." Working the press line with her 11-year old son Massai in tow, the 41-year old industry darling has...

I've always straddled the line between astonishment and deep bone curling fear when observing creatures of flight. Strikingly gorgeous in their stature, long legged grace and force, it is those precise qualities that thoroughbreds posses that cradled my fear of riding. Sure, most women have had fantasies of flawlessly taming...

In concept, setting out to unearth jewels of wonderment only realized by constant solo journeying is a lifestyle that outsiders may marvel at. In practice it can be a litany of checklists, bubbling with OCD rumblings- " ...lay footsie socks inside laptop for easy access when stripping down through security,"...

Winding up the steep hills of Hollywood, the allure of glam quickly runs thin as the reality of the hidden height comes all too sudden. A smooth incline jets into a sharp right turn followed by a vicious veer to the left, a quick whip around the caddy-corner, then up,...

Let's keep it real -- for those who've spent limited time in the Caribbean, when you hear of Kingston, Jamaica -- images of a guns blazing, poverty stricken shanty town-often referenced by the great Bob Marley comes to mind. While Kingston may not rank amongst the highest tropical safe havens,...