How to Deal with Holiday Stress: Three Black Moms

On the first Saturday of every month, we are here to answer your questions on the Success Strategies show.    

Whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's or Kwanzaa, you will most likely be dealing with holiday stress.  

This episode was so much fun to do!  The Three Black Moms are sisters - literally, as they have the same parents.  Their focus is on family and the warmth of their connection shines through. 

Three Black Moms dish the dirt on how to find a balance between doing what needs to be done, and staying relaxed and calm.  And what happens when children are in the mix?  

Go here to listen. 

Go here to watch on YouTube.  

Or go here to watch on Facebook. 

Go here for some great holiday gift ideas.  

What are your top tips for dealing with holiday stress?  Please comment below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks!  

Success Strategies with Zhana: Do Black Lives Really Matter?

Joy Gardner

On my most recent show (see link below), we discussed the fact that Sarah Everard, a young white woman, was murdered by a serving police officer, a member of the Metropolitan Police.  His killer was recently sentenced to life imprisonment, which is an increase of his original 20-year sentence.  

Earlier this year, a vigil for Sarah was broken up by the police in a very heavy-handed way.  People, particularly women, are justifiably angered and appalled and Harriet Harmon MP has called for Cressida Dick's resignation. 

It's 28 years since Joy Gardner died in the custody of police and immigration officers.  But those involved in her death have never been prosecuted.  And nobody has held a vigil for Joy.  The documentary-maker Ken Fero called for Cressida Dick's resignation over the death of Joy Gardner.  Go here for my conversation with Ken. 

One rule for us, another rule for them. We discussed this on my recent show, Success Strategies with Zhana:  Do Black Lives Really Matter?  

PLUS:  

Go here for Black history blogs.  

Go here for African history blogs.  

This month marks the 10th anniversary of Black Cinema Club and they are showing loads of films to celebrate.  Go here for a list of the  film screenings this month.  

Do you believe Black lives really matter?  Please comment below and please share this blog with your networks.  Thanks.  

Paulette West MBE - Growing Aspiring People

My guest on Tuesday's show was Paulette West MBE.

Paulette spoke about how she started out as a typist at Barclays at the age of 16. She moved into a management position. She then used Barclays’s considerable resources to benefit the Black community, by holding events where she profiled role models and offered Black businesses the opportunity for start-ups and mentoring.

She is still holding role model events now, and young Black people have been inspired to start businesses as a direct result of this work. She has now left Barclays and runs her own project, the g.a.p. network – Growing Aspiring People.

Sometimes, people assume that successful people had it easy. I think people give up when they reach difficulties. When we see a Black role model standing up there talking about the difficulties he or she encountered, then we realise it’s not going to be easy. This inspires some people to take risks which they might not otherwise have taken.

Paulette takes these role models into the community. She hires community venues so Black people could feel comfortable attending these events. She is doing this work internationally, in African countries.

We can learn strategies from those who have been successful, which we can then apply in our own situations. When I interviewed people for Black Success Stories, I asked them what mistakes they had made, and how they had overcome them.

Click here to listen to my interview with Paulette.