Leah Ella
Caribbean-American(she/her)+Actor+Life Coach student. I value quality over quantity, simplicity over complexity but the perplexicity of life shows that the proof is in the numbers. Provoking thought and creating change, one story at a time.
The Jazzy Blues
These tunes will definitely wash your blues away... I turned on Pandora’s Sam Cooke Radio and it saved my day. “Darling You Send Me”
Hate Crimes in America
Last year it was BLM, this year it is AAPI, who's next? Hate... Crimes... Racism... Patriarchy... Religion... Can you attach a face or ethnicity to each of these subcategories? Why is it that America seems to have a desperate need to hate? The racial divide has us only seeing color but racism is hardly the beginning of hate. If you believe in the Bible stories for instance, the first crime was committed by a jealous sibling illustrated by Cain and Abel. The prized possession, the inheritance, was worth killing his brother over. Greed... Status... Power... Is jealousy the root cause of hate crimes? It seems as though every system that this western world is built on, is being examined under a black light so to speak- Patriarchy, the Royal Family, White Supremacy... Before I jump into this argument, I would like to state that I am an ally for Asian Americans and stand in full solidarity with the entire community. We are in this blameless fight together.
A Writer's Dream
I met Asia in 2019 on a commercial shoot. We got lost trying to find our way back to the city. We took a 2-hour bus ride where we sat right next to each other. I had the flu (pre-Covid) and later Asia shared in her instagram story, "How rude! How do you meet someone for the first time and get them sick!?" You'll be happy to know that we got through it and are still friends today. She has also quarantined way better than just about anyone I know. Let me explain...
Family Traditions
I just got through streaming some pretty existential shows on Netflix, all of which had a re-occurring theme of parenting. 3%, The Umbrella Academy and now I'm onto Sense8, in that order... Time and time again we are either reminded of the great job our parents did raising us and preparing us for the "real world," or the adverse opposite trauma of bad parenting. Of course, the real world is subject to your cultural background and demographic right? What of your Parent's Traditions and their Parent's Traditions? I appreciated 3% for this message- what your parents teach you about life's values may be the worst thing for you. It's up to you to create the world you want to live in and be the catalyst for that change.
Black Joy- Soul of an Artist
Let me start by giving my team their flowers. Photographer and Filmmaker Tyre Mills, @millsuave44 on instagram. Model, Actor and aspiring Fitness Coach, Abijola who goes by Prince @princejibbz on instagram. Prince and I met 2 years ago, on set of a tv show. Tyre and I met a year ago on an independent, web series project. This team helped me bring my vision of Black Love to life with this photoshoot. We were on the beach, at night, in Malibu California. Everything seemed to go wrong that day but as soon as we met and got down to work, the beauty of the finished product was worth every stressful delay that caused us to miss capturing the sunset. Tyre was in the sand with a light box, the night was pitch black and the ocean was steps away from our feet. The energy to create art that night was strong and steady. I wanted to celebrate body positivity as my body has changed during the quarantine. I also wanted to celebrate us as a melanated people, from Afro-Caribbean and Pan-African descent. The complexities of our stories are in our culture, in our skin, in our hair and the varying shades of our complexions. There are 55 nations in Africa, we can safely say that every human being has been birthed from the Motherland. I have embraced this notion and the world is also coming around to it.
Find Yourself to Grow
Today is the day for love according to Western societal culture, other known as Valentine's Day. I wrote an article leading up to today. How am I feeling today? I'm single and embracing self-love in new ways every, single, day. I woke up to get coffee and my roommate and her new fiance greeted me. She had her hand up showcasing her new ring. After taking it in and giving hugs, I sighed a sense of relief and in that moment, I felt more comforted than I thought I would. You may already know that I've been single for the past 5 months so relatively newly single and I've been learning a lot about myself and relationships in general from that relationship. You can wish for love but you can't force love. Wanting love doesn't guarantee having love especially when another person is involved. I knew that I could no longer look for love in my partner and today I'm finally at peace with that.
Leah EllaPublished 2 months ago in MotivationAre you an Alpha?
We know exactly what we want, or, let's be real, exactly what we don't want. We are Alpha's. Some people call us intimidating, too honest, I've gotten psycho because dare a girl speak her mind. Sorry not sorry. Here's the thing, they are two types of people in the world (for the sake of this article) the natural leader and the born to follow, follower- the Alpha or the Beta. I appear Beta because of societal norms and my West Indian Culture, but, get to know me and you will find what my 2nd grade teacher told my Mother, "she's a leader." Leader of the pack, that was me. Children wanted to be like me, the shy yet confident girl who did her own thing no matter who did otherwise. What you did was not my concern, my concern was only my pack. I give credit to my Father for creating his perfect Alpha (total tomboy, critical thinker) daughter. Dad would tell me and my brother everyday he took us to school, "If everyone is jumping off the hill, what are you going to do? Jump too? Don't follow the crowd." Little did he know that I would be the first person to jump and everyone would follow me. Risk-taker, challenge-maker, not accepting any losses. My Mother had her hands full and she might say, still does.
It's Loving Season!
I really wanted to thank my feminist ladies for coining the word Galentine's which is the day before Valentine's day (February 13th) but to my surprise, all thanks go to Parks and Rec? Yeah, if you don't believe me reference the article below, Cosmo knows and tells all. (and I quote) The best thing about Galentine’s Day is that it was created by a fictional character: Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation. In 2010, the second season of Parks and Rec included an episode called “Galentine’s Day,” in which Leslie gathers a group of her closest gal pals for a brunch of waffles and love. “Every February 13, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home and we just come and kick it, breakfast-style,” Leslie says in the episode. “Ladies celebrating ladies.” And thus, Galentine’s Day was unofficially added to everyone’s calendar. No, seriously: According to The Atlantic, it’s such a widely recognized fake holiday that some companies now run Galentine’s Day promotions. What could be more real than that?
