August Q&A – Grandma’s Visit, Income Sources, & More

I chilled with the braids for a few months (and then got knotless braids instead of box braids or cornrows since they’re more gentle on edges), and I also used this castor oil product and this one as well.

I haven’t been wearing foundation much recently since it makes my masks dirty (so annoying!) but my favorites are the liquids by NARS. I use the Natural Radiant Longwear when I want a beat face, the Sheer Glow when I want a more wearable finish, and the Tinted Moisturizer for light touches. I’m the shade Caracas or Bahia in the first two and Seychelles in the last one depending on the time of the year.

You can read about my whole skincare journey here.

I wish I could say I drank a gallon of water everyday and my skin cleared, but that’s not the case. The only two things I can think of that I did differently was commit to not ever sleeping in makeup and getting pregnant (I had hormonal acne so pregnancy impacted my hormones).

The clear resin squarish hoops I have are from BaubleBar, but they’re sold out on all the sites I checked.

Yup.

Yes and no. I like living in Kenya, but living in a different country from the one you’re familiar with in general is difficult. At least once a week I get frustrated at having to figure out where to find something or how to do something that was second nature for me back in the US. To be clear, this is not a Kenya thing, but just a moving to a new country thing.

I literally have no idea. Jonathan and I both work for ourselves. There is a resource I’ve come across called Move Me Back though which posts jobs for people interested in working in Africa

Idk what you’d consider many but there’s definitely a solid Black expat community here, we even have a Whatsapp group!

I have an 8 month old child and we’re in a global pandemic so idk what the social scene is like at the moment ?. When I was out and about pre-baby and pre-Corona I never felt like there was nothing to do or nowhere to go.

Yes. Not just the US, but anywhere. I’m not limiting God in however he wants to direct my life.

I mentioned in this post that I run four businesses. They’re not all income generating (yet) but they all require regular (weekly if not daily) work from me:

1. The Ijeoma Kola blog & socials
2. Cohort Sistas
3. The Safe Journey Retreat
4. A product line I’m working on but am not ready to share details about

I don’t find time, I make time. I’m good at project and time management and try to compartmentalize my days. And I have a partner who pulls his own weight and hired help for the house and nannying. But to be honest, I do a lot of things right before they need to get done (like this blog post lol) — but I’m in the process of hiring a few more people to my team to help streamline my processes. If you are hard-working, detail oriented, and a self starter and want join the team let me know how you think you can help!

I rarely ever enter giveaways myself so I personally am not a huge fan. Especially over the past two years when buy in giveaways became a thing and influencers started posted giveaways every other day, it just started to feel gimmicky to me. But I recognize that giveaways are a viable social media marketing strategy, and I am starting to be open to them from small and growing Black owned businesses.

My lessons I learned in my twenties video shares all sorts of gems!

I may be married, but I don’t have a sugar daddy, so these bills have to be paid somehow. More on consistency, motivation and productivity here.

Depends on the currency ?

Just start posting valuable, eye-catching, and conversation starting content on your Instagram. A blogger is defined by their work, not by their income. I’m gonna assume you meant how to get started working with brands and getting paid to blog, so you can read all of my blogging and business tips here.

Yes, though we haven’t finalized the new dates. If folks could stop gallivanting so we can get corona together, then we can figure out when to reschedule!

Sign up for the SJR newsletter to be the first to know about the new dates.

I am open to public health research consulting in racial health disparities, asthma and chronic respiratory health in urban environments, and history of public health — basically anything that I already have experience and knowledge in.

Not full-time. After working for myself and working independently as a doctoral student and now independent scholar for so long, I prefer a flexible schedule and work environment.

Sure! The beauty of public health is that it intersects with almost every aspect of our lives, so there are various ways to approach solving public health problems, including the use of biomedical sciences.

We’re working on securing outside funding for Cohort Sistas, but for right now I’ve invested over $xxxx to start the group, and from a financial standpoint its not yet in a position where we can be giving away scholarships. If you need a payment plan or want to propose an alternative payment situation, feel free to email us and we’ll see if we can work something out.

Dang girl I feel your pain! I lived on Tums during the third trimester, and tried to stay hydrated. I also tried not to eat too late in the evening because that would definitely give me heartburn. I also cut out citrus fruits and orange juice.

Don’t freak out! But yes it’s painful. It’s a few hours of pain for a lifetime of happiness though!! Here’s my birth story.

I shared some early reflections on motherhood that include more than three things I wish I knew! But practically, I wish I knew how much my body would change during and after pregnancy, and how much of myself I would lose physically — both through growing a belly and then breastfeeding — by having a child. I feel like people often talk about the mental and emotional changes but the physical changes are also very real.

Answered that here.

I can’t make a whole video on it because the method was sporadic (and idk how many YouTube subscribers are currently sleep training, and there’s nothing worse than spending hours making a YouTube video for 5 people to watch it ?), but he has slept through the night (7pm to 7am) four times in the past week! The most important things for us was having a consistent bedtime schedule and routine (he’s been going to bed at 7pm since he was a few weeks old), and letting him cry it out from about 5 months. If we know he’s fed well throughout the day, we let him cry for up to 30 minutes if he wakes up before 11pm. My mom told me once he started eating three meals a day, he’d sleep through, and that’s more or less what happened.

Answered here.

I highlighted some nursing clothes (well mostly bras and tanks) in this post. 

Aside from those items, I wear a lot of tee shirts that I can either just pull down or up to feed. My favorite company for maternity specific clothes that are well designed is Boob.

Yup, about 4 times a day between solid feeds — so first thing in the morning, after his first nap (which is after his breakfast), usually between the 2nd & 3rd feeding, and then before bed. If he wakes up after 11:30pm I’ll feed him again

On an airplane…? Lol I don’t understand this question.

Kenya requires a negative COVID test with results within four days of arrival so it was pretty stressful for her to find a place in the US that could give her results within that specific time frame. Her Lufthansa flight wasn’t socially distanced, but everyone was screened before boarding so that gave her some comfort.

AMAZING!! I missed my mom a lot but it was really seeing her interact with TKB that was the best part of her visit for me. Having her here also made me realize that we need a full time and not a part-time nanny. I got so much done!

Answered here.

No one has ever randomly stopped him in the streets, but he has met with people (for other reasons), who happen to follow me.

We have a joint family account and separate business accounts. I pay myself a monthly salary from my business account.

Putting the kid to bed early every night definitely frees up the evenings for us, so that’s when we spend time together. We also sometimes leave the kid with his grandmother and go on a quick daytime date.

The glasses hide the bags under my eyes! But thank you!!

Yes! The nursery tour went up after the Q&A went live, and a balcony tour. I’m currently working on our bedroom.

Regularly! I just am not on IG stories on those days. But I have rough days just like everyone else. Heck, I might have more rough days than the average person, idk.

My gut reaction is to say it’s “none of your business” to “why does this matter?”, but if you think it would be helpful for clothes shopping, my waist fluctuates from 31-32 inches and my hips are 41 inches.

This is easily googleable but I’ll indulge you because I turn 30 IN TWO WEEKS AND I’M SO EXCITED!!!

No, I was born in Nigeria.

I’m working on a whole blog post about my vision and plans for my 30s so stay tuned!

Whew girl. Well if you were having sex with him then you probably are still entangled with him emotionally and spiritually, which can have physical manifestations. Do some research on the concept of “soul ties” – you might find it helpful”,