Kishawna Faulkner wearing a yellow shirt, a blue and yellow skirt, holding flowers and a microphone.
Jonathan wearing red and white suit.
Young female wearing black and red shorts suit
The Kids wearing Heart of a Lion. Pic Cred|Tiana Palmer/Complex Visuals
Have you ever heard of the saying,”it’s better to give than to receive?”, well for Kishawna Faulkner, this more than a saying to her, it’s her mantra.Kishawna Faulkner, a Brooklyn native, states that she loves helping others in a positive way. Wanting to more than she does, she decided to brand herself as an entrepreneur and in doing so, she came up with the company, R.O.A.D.S.R.O.A.D.S, which stands for Reaching Our Aspirations Dreams and Success, is an organization that plans events for up and coming entrepreneurs.Since the start of this company in March 2018, Faulkner has put together pop-up shops, bar-be-ques, and baby showers. Her biggest event to date, took place this past Saturday, August 18th, 2018 in Bushwick at 100 Bogart Street. She put together a fashion show that featured only up and coming fashion designers.The show had a total of five designers, including Anisupe Clothing, RSC, and Heart of a Lion. It also showcased models from kids to teenagers to adults.The show also included a phenomenal dance break by the dance duo Olasheni Emonni Odey.There was also a musical performance by up and coming artist Yung Quinc.For many of the designers, this was their first fashion show and there was a mix of emotions running through their minds from beginning to end.”It was very eventful. At first, it was nervewracking, not knowing what to expect,” said Korey Browne, owner of Heart of A Lion. He continued ” I think after going through it the first time, I think that the other venues are just going to be better and better. Seeing the reception that they were so interested and wanting to know more about the line, it encouraged me to keep pushing forward.””I feel like it was a huge success. I plan on doing a lot more fashion shows, and pop-up shops and other events down the line because today was a success and it shows what I can do with my clothing brand”, said Robert Henry, founder, and president of Anisupe Clothing.Faulkner also shared how she felt about the show. “I feel like I can breathe. I can smile now, I can laugh with everyone, I’m relaxed everything went well. All of the stress, frustrations, and tears were all worth it”. She continued, “I learned that you always have to have a back up for your back up”.
Okoumou had a three hour stand off with the police before she was finally taken into custody Wednesday night. She was held in a federal detention center and her case is currently being handled by Southern District of New York Prosecutors.
After her release,Okoumou spoke out the courthouse, wearing a black shirt with white letters saying “White Supremacy is Terrorism”, and citing a quote that inspired her to climb the Statue of Liberty, by Michelle Obama. “Michelle Obama, our beloved first lady that I care so much about said,’When they go low, we go high.’ I went as high as I could.”
Okoumou was charged with trespassing as well as two other misdemeanors. While in court, she pleaded not guilty during her short hearing in a Staten Island court room before being released by the magistrate judge.Okoumou is being called our modern day SHERO!.
Last night, the executive producer of the hit reality show “Love and Hip-Hop”, held an exclusive launch party at the Flatiron, located at 9 West 26th Street in Manhattan, for two projects that she has been working on, MonaMi Direct and the release of her debut novel ‘Blurred Lines’.MonaMi Direct is a publishing company that Young and her business partner Courtney Parker (who was stuck in L.A) started. Young explained how the idea for this company came about. “It started probably over a little over a year ago, and I wanted to do something in books but I definitely didn’t want to do it the traditional way”, she said. Young also explained that after finally settling with a publishing house, the person who was in charge of pushing the book forward had left the company. At that moment she and Parker were determined to take matters into their own hands by creating their own company, MonaMi Direct. Through this company, their debut novel ‘Blurred Lines’ was published.The event was filled with a lot of familiar faces and a few surprises. Cast members from “Love and Hip-Hop” New York came out to show their support for Young. Yandy, Tara, Cyn Santana, Mariah Lynn, Jacque, Jonathan, and Safaree were all in attendance to celebrate and congratulate Scott-Young on her success.
Brooklyn’s own rapper Maino and the owners of the Crabby Shack, located in Crown Heights, Gwendolyn Niles, and Fifi Bell Clanton were also in attendance to show their support.
Young had a few surprises for the guest in attendance. She shared a special reading of her novel and had Yandy, Safaree, Tara, Cyn, and producer of the show, Stephanie participate in it. During the sample reading, each participant had a role, while Young was the narrator. From that short snippet, the guests were introduced to Carys, her boyfriend Nikko, and their parents and grandparents, and was intrigued how fast the story took you through twists and turns, leaving you wanting more. After the reading, however, Young left us with a piece of advice in regards to the book, “Nothing is what it seems, so don’t go jumping to conclusions yet”.
