His/Her Story (History)

The definition of Originality: 

The Ability To Think Independently & Creatively

We all have a definition of originality, but the fact of the matter is being original mean’s being the first to do it.

When something becomes “BIG” in our eyes it's assumed to be original. Well, no intention to burst any one’s bubble, but there are a few that need to be popped!

For instance, may have taken you by surpise! As a child, there were certain “iconic figures” when you found they're not in actuality the original. Bear with me...

You will never forget them but, at the same time the origin of these figures may come as a surprise.

Remember the black and white cartoon of a lady with the curl who could sing and

Dance. Was she all she seemed to be? His/Her story (History) seems to say differently.

Without further adue it’s “Betty Boop"!

Cotton Club

Let me take you to a cotton club in Harlem. The music is jumping, your heart is pumping, you're hearing a new swinging sound you haven’t heard before, you look over to your gal, and man!, you're eager to pay for the two of you to get into the club.

Meanwhile, she's so excited, she keeps

sneaking to pull up her girdle hoping he don't see her. Especially since he just spent a whole 25 cents on her to get into this cotton club! You case the room and see the black folk that you have no choice but to sit with. (#Segregation)

You make your way in and ask for a drink.

The curtain opens and there she is, what a sight!

The music starts, and so does she, not missing a beat:

"Dooooo Booooo Booooo Boooo”, suttle but the crowd goes wild. Her name “Baby Ester",
A Black Woman.

So who is the real Betty Boop?

(WARNING: Fact's Below)

Helen Kane as "Betty Boop"

In 1930, Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick introduced a caricature of Helen Kane, in the form of an anthropomorphic singing dog with droopy ears and a squeaky singing voice, in the Talkartoons cartoon Dizzy Dishes. "Betty Boop", as the character was later dubbed, soon became popular and the star of her own cartoons. In 1932, Betty Boop was

changed into a human, the long dog ears becoming hoop earrings.

In May 1932, Helen Kane filed a $250,000 lawsuit against Max Fleischer and Paramount Publix Coproation, for "exploiting her image"

Betty Boop (Left) Helen Kane (Right)

The defense

argued that Kane had taken the idea from Baby Esther. Evidence was produced

that Kane actually derived that singing style from watching Baby Esther perform

at the Cotton Club several years before the creation of the Betty Boop that in 1925, he coached a "young negro child" named Esther, teaching character. Theatrical manager Lou Boulton testified for the defense stating her how to interpolate her songs with scat lyrics, "boo-boo-boo" and

her act together in April 1928, and just a few weeks later, Kane began to "doo-doo-doo", which Kane later reinvented as her trademark "boop oop a doop". Jones' manager testified that he and Kane had seen "boop".

Paramount was able to prove that Kane did not uniquely originate or have

claim to the Betty Boop style of singing or look. In addition to adducing Baby Ester's

performances, they showed performances by actress Clara Bow, who also had the Betty Boop style of dress and hair.

After a two-year legal struggle, Max Fleischer located a sound film made in 1928 of her performing, which was introduced as evidence. Judge Edward J. McGoldrick ruled, sufficient probative force." In his opinion, the "baby" "The plaintiff has failed to sustain either cause of action by proof of technique of singing did not originate with Kane Jones is now spoken of mostly in the context of her contributions

to Betty Boop's vocal stylings. Jazz studies scholar Robert O'Meally has
referred to Jones as Betty Boop's "black grandmother"...

     @mona_and_yina_talks
                 @mona_and_yina_talks

Entrepreneur of the Month

@YaYaMania1: 

(Click to follow on Instagram)

Yasmin Hall Scott: She’s fourteen, she’s smart, and she’s passionate about her own business!

Entrepreneur, minority, female and fourteen!  She’s here, she’s doing it and she’s “LOVELY”!

We spoke with our young business owner a fourteen-year-old California native Ms. Yasmin Hall Scott and we ask her to share a bit of her life with us. She’s a young entrepreneur who’s loving having her own business and although humility is one of her strong suits, she realizes at a young age that the Sky truly is the limit.

We ask Yasmin how she got her idea for having her own business and she told us that “it all started as a hobby” just something to pass the time and get this, “Relieve stress”. She said, “After a while my family encouraged me to sell my crafts and they recommend me to others. After that, the orders started flowing and I guess that’s it”.

Yasmin says, “I didn’t really even have a mission at first, I just wanted to earn a little money, but as time went on I realized my mission was to share my talents with others and make people happy”.

Character Wallets: Made By Yasmin

Flower Or Pencil Holders: Made By Yasmin

Yasmin says aside from herself she has two employees and together they offer handmade craft items like beautiful jewelry and unique wallets made from materials ranging from cardboard, duct tape, paper, and paint and their clients love it! They usually show off their latest artistic pieces by wearing them and they get lots of request that way. They’re finding they’ve gotten lots of business by word of mouth people young and “older” ask where they get their jewelry and wallets from? They’ve now taken things to the next level and they are using social media to further promote their business and this article is our introduction of Yasmin and her crew to all of you!

Yasmin (top right) & Her Two Younger Sisters

Yasmin attributes her success to her family she says, “They’ve always supported and encouraged me to share my talents and they always give me input on how I can improve my product”.

Yasmin insists that although her employees are her sisters, they must be honest, willing to work, pay close attention to detail, be cooperative and committed.  She says, “If everyone does all of these things, we will be happy working and our customers will be happy with our product”.

Yasmin says working from home is affordable and she knows that as her business grows the need for more space will come. But she says, “wherever I work there must be plenty of space and light and lots of laughter”!  She says her goal is to produce great products, satisfy every customer and always improve her and her team’s talent.

Yasmin realizes that as a young business owner, she has, plenty to learn and she says she’s learned that she must manage her money well and make sure that she has plenty of inventory to produce requested products and fill orders on time.  She also says that as the owner she must lead by example in training her employees because all of her products must reflect the quality and care that she projects. She knows she and her crew must work hard but she says she wants her employees to want to come to work so it must be a relaxed and comfortable work environment.

We ask Yasmin if she had one piece of advice to someone thinking of starting his or her own business what would that be?  She said…

“Speaking from experience, don’t worry too much about getting your product out there just worry about the quality and the rest will come. And it’s ok to step away from a project for a while or to say no to an order. Don’t overwhelm yourself then you’ll love your work and people will love your product”.

“You’re never too young & you’re never too old, just work hard, and when you’ve

done that, work harder. Progress doesn’t rest and as young women neither can we”.

-Yasmin

@Mona_And_Yina_Talks

                 @Mona_And_Yina_Talks

"I Don't Have Anything To Wear!"

WHAT’S IN

YOUR CLOSET

“I don’t have anything to wear”.

I think we can all agree that we have
said this before. Then soon after
we find ourselves in line at Forever 21
with more bags than we can carry,
only to be faced with the same
problem we had last week.

“I have nothing to wear!”.

& the vicious cycle continues.

Well Ladies & Gentleman there

is a solution to this problem!

Believe it or not.

the solution to not having anything to wear is

NOT buying NEW clothes to wear, it’s simply

“Rearranging Your Already Worn”.

Taking one outfit and making three more

out of the same outfit. Maybe this shirt

can be worn as a headwrap. Maybe this
skirt can be worn as a shirt. The key to

figuring all this out is quite simple.

ORGANIZATION: You can’t possibly

“Rearrange Your Already Worn” if you

don’t even know what you have. So,

the first key step is organizing your closet.

Shirts over here, pants over there, Sunday

best pile, Netflix & chill shirts & pants.

Organize!

It just may surprise you to see how much

you have. Try to think outside the box

don’t go with what you know,

BE BOLD! BE DRAMATIC!

Take your old

clothes and re-invite them.

Take those jeans

you haven’t worn in forever,

cut them

into shorts, bleach them

get creative.

Use tools such as Google or YouTube,

after a 2 min video & a pair of scissors

you’ll have a whole new wardrobe!

@Mona_andYina_Talks

@Mona_andYina_Talks