The Tip

It’s been a week since I last blogged and instead of apologising for what could be perceived as flakiness, I thought I’d explain what I’ve been up to.

At the beginning of August I had a conversation with a friend about how frustrated I was with the lack of women’s magazine that cater to women like me. It’s 2010 and if Vogue (or any mainstream fashion publication for that matter) puts a woman of colour on the cover, it’s considered an event. Which is ludicrous! Despite the liberal media harping on about us being in a ‘post racial era’ women’s magazines clearly aren’t yet ready to regularly include women from all ethnicities on their covers or in their editorial spreads. I didn't want a magazine that catered to a specific race, all I wanted is a magazine that was racially inclusive and celebrated the fact we're global citizens, rather than highlighting divisions.

It wasn’t just the inherent racism and reluctance to change the status quo that riled me up. I hate the fact that so many magazines speak down to women rather than directly to women. They’re filled with insulting quizzes with kindergarten level analysis...

‘If you ticked mostly c’s you’re a strong individual who likes leopard print shoes and isn’t afraid to be the life of the party’ * rolls eyes * Yes because quizzes are the best way of deducing who I am as a woman.

They glorify celebrities to demi-Goddess status yet contradictorily encourage us to pick apart that celebrities body, because *gasp * once a month women get bloated. We scrutinise other women’s bodies and are told about the best ways to conceal (rather than embrace) our own. If they’re not latently trying to get us to hate ourselves, they’ll kindly give us instructions on how we can go about mutating our personalities in order to become ‘what a man wants’. What’s scary is that we’ve become so desensitised to what we’re reading, we’ve forgotten it’s poison.

So I thought instead of complaining about what I see why don’t I create an alternative?

And ‘The Tip’ was born.

Well that’s simplifying things. Between August and now, it’s been weeks of meticulous planning, trying to find writers with the right voice who get the vision, late nights spent frantically trying to get things ready and though I despise this word because it’s so ubiquitous it’s been rendered meaningless…lots of ‘hustling’. I've been riddled with self-doubt and without my family and friends I would have gone into reverse ages ago.....

But! We’re almost there and ‘The Tip’ will go live on November 1st.

If you like this blog, you’ll love ‘The Tip’. And if you’ve disagreed with anything I’ve written over the past few years, you’ll definitely love the ‘The Tip’. Simply because it’s wider, deeper, more robust and more varied in content, topics and opinion.

Our first cover girl is singer and face of Marks & Spencer VV Brown who we shot last month. You’ll be able to see full editorial (she looks fierce) and read the interview when the site goes live on November 1st.

So yes it's official I am now a single mother to two kids. ‘Christiana Rants’ and ‘The Tip’. However what’s great about working on ‘The Tip’ is the talented individuals I’m working alongside. The team is the perfect blend of sanity, insanity, creativity, passion and intelligence (if I might say so myself).

I don’t want to ramble on too much about it because but please bookmark ‘The Tip’ www.thetiponline.com and if you’re a resident of Twietnam follow us @TheTipOnline (we'll follow back!) . The news/gossip section will be updated daily, features/columns/fashion/beauty etc every Monday and our covers are being done on a bi-monthly basis.

So that’s a bit of what I’ve been up to over the last few months! ‘The Tip’ won’t conflict with this blog simply because I don’t write much because I don’t have the capacity to. It’s just been while I’ve been getting things off the ground, I’ve had less time to dedicate to my other interests. However I'll get back into my 3 posts a week rhythm soon!

I do hope you all join me on the next phase of my journey. My sincere thanks for all your support thus far, without it I doubt I would have had the confidence walked down this path at all. So thank you.

Love & Light

Christiana

xxx