Drizzy Drake

This month we had the pleasure of attending the event of the year (so far!) The Boy Meets World tour by Drake.

With a number of sold out shows across Europe, if you had a ticket you were indeed one of the lucky ones! & were we lucky!

We took to the 02 arena in Greenwich, an impressive area with many famous named restaurants and a beautiful space with various activities.

As we took to our seats, the atmosphere was amazing, the show had not started yet and there wasn’t any music playing, but the vibe from the arena was wonderful; you knew what kind of show you would be in for.

Young Thug - Drake’s opening act, took to the stage and sung some of his well known songs that really got the crowd warmed up. I like Young Thug and his songs so I was pleased when I found out he was opening the show, however, I found his performance quite dull; there wasn't much movement or anything special that happened during his opening, he was literally standing there singing. I’m really happy I knew and liked his songs and quite frankly felt sorry for anyone who didn’t know him as they was probably least impressed.

Then….Drake.

He didn’t leave much room for disappointment. Event wise, His show was magical; dancers, giant globes, an amazing ensemble of these floating ‘balloon’ type art that would ripple with the music putting you in a complete daze. I am personally a very big fan of Drake and have been following his music from the beginning (& still frequently listen to many of his old albums) so it was very pleasing to hear so many of his old songs as well as some of the best songs from his new Album Views.

What i’ve always admired about Drake is his interest in the English culture, as huge of an artist he is and from all the way across the waters, he has sparked interest in many up and coming UK artists such as Skepta, Sneakbo, Giggs, Section Boyz, Krept & Konan, Kyla and Dave to name a few. This flowed through the show as he brought out Section Boyz & Giggs on the night we attended and it literally tore down the arena. Other shows he has also brought out the likes of Krept and Konan too which we wished we could have seen!

Honestly, if there is any way you can get a ticket to see Drake live this year, I would do it. You leave feeling fulfilled, uplifted and totally buzzing. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Drake perform every time he has visited London and he has never disappointment me yet. In Fact, he gets better every time!

I’m really looking forward to his new Mixtape release, More Life, that is out soon as I have heard that there is a number of UK talent featured on there so keep an ear out!

& Drake... If you’re reading this.. Please come back soon!

Kera Care Love!

It has been two months since I started using the Kera Care Winter package.

I never use one set of shampoo and masks at once just because I have found if my hair gets to use to products it tends to not work as well.

So I decide to alternate between Kera Care and my other Shampoo and Mask; however for the 6 weeks I only used the Kera Care essential oils and these last two weeks I mixed in a little Black Seed Oil.

The shampoo has left my hair feeling very clean and not too stiff; I decided to put a few drops of the essential oils in the shampoo to just give my hair that extra softness after shampoo and it seemed to work well.

The mask worked really well with my hair and gave it a soft bounce. I then used the mask for heat treatments and kept it in for 3 hours and this made my curls pop!

On a bi-weekly basis I done a heat treatment and alternate weeks a mask treatment.

Having curly hair I tend to use more masks and conditioners over shampoos, I have just found my curls look better and my hair feels softer and more moistened.

So the essential oils, this may have been the best product I could have started using in November. It has made my ends feel a lot stronger and unlike the 100% coconut oil I used to use it keeps my whole hair soft and shinny throughout the day.

I have used this oil during my natural hair days and after getting a blow dry and found it stopped my hair frizzing!

I also used the oil as a hot oil treatment the day before blow drying my hair and I can honestly say my hair has never looked so shinny and thick.

Although I have very curly hair it has become quite fine due to all the types of extensions I have used in the past however these last two months my hairdressers and family have passed comments about my hair looking thicker. Now I put this down to my ends looking a lot healthier.

I started mixing the essential oils with the black seed oil just because I have been reading a number of benefits with the oil, so I have altered my routine to alternate the days. When I did my last heat treatment on Sunday I mixed the oils for the first time and I just found the texture was still soft but my curls where not as tight.

That can be a pro or con depending on your preference however I now know heavier oils make the curl loser which may be great just before getting a blow dry as it will make it easier to do.

Overall I will always use essential oils, the mask is going to continue to be in my rota of masks throughout the year and the shampoo was nice but not my favourite shampoo that I have ever tried.

For ladies with curly or thick hair I defiantly recommend the above.

The Serenity Network

Networking. Such an important way to make new connections, to get your business across to the right people and to create long-lasting relationships with the right people.

As great as it sounds, having been to over 10000 networking events and exhibitions (or so it feels like) it can become quite tiresome and repetitive, especially when you leave feeling as though none of the business cards you picked up are going to be particularly useful.

For me - the worst kind of networking event is when you go and are attacked by vultures by these businesses that have paid enough money to exhibit themselves at an event and just want to make their money back by any means necessary - even if that means corning you trying to convince you why you need them to build you a brand new website even when you've told them your website is only a month old.

All of these experiences is what drove me to create this beauty; The Serenity Network.

I needed a network for like minded people, I needed consistency, I needed not only connections for business, but connections for ideas, inspiration, advice, I needed a place where if i’m up brainstorming at 2am..there could be a platform where if anyone else was in the same mindspace we could speak, relate. I needed some real, raw and reassuring. So when you can't find something like that that already exists what do you do?; you make it yourself.

The Serenity Network is a members only network; you can only join if you are a business owner or service provider. There is a 24 hour accessible online group for frequent discussion that varies from political debates, to the recommendations on the best banks to use, to general advice and opinions for business ideas and expansions. Membership also includes entry to monthly networking events and workshops. My aim for the workshops is for everyone to leave inspired. To leave feeling motivated. To feel ready. We first launched The Serenity Network in November, approaching all entrepreneurs with this opportunity.

We hosted our first event in December, a christmas themed welcome event. Introduce your business, what you do, question and answers and how you hope to move forward. It was a calming atmosphere with creative juices flowing; it was inspiring sitting back and looking at all of these minds, from different backgrounds, different industries and different experiences all interlocking together and offering suggestions for advertising, marketing and business development. We then put everyone’s marketing materials into a bag and each person picked out another businesses resources and had to relay information about the business from what they had heard in the meeting. By the end some of us were crying from laughter and others extremely flattered by the extent of attention that was paid to our businesses. It was a truly lovely evening, and even better knowing that by the end of the night, each business had made at least one connection for business in the near future. Success!

I am so confidently looking forward to the future, with an events background I am so determined to make each event a success and worth while as well as having the knowledge of the do’s and dont’s of a typical networking event, combining both of them and making some serious entrepreneurial magic!

On January’s agenda we have a vision board party; creating a mood board for all that you hope and expect for your business in 2017 using the resources provided.

January's event will be hosted by Business owner Shinel Critchlow, the founder of the Urban Entertainment Awards, an award show for UK talent that celebrated its 3rd award show in November 2016. She has created her brand, expanded on her audience, reached out and successfully secured sponsors and has managed to grow the event in size each year. With her bubbly, warm and positive personality as well as her knowledge of the industry we are confident that Shinel is the perfect person to create the perfect atmosphere for this month's event!

February and March will be covering business accounts, smart payments and social media. We aim to speak about these topics for the month in the group before the event to create a focus and learning point.

So if you are a business owner or service provider and are looking for a real push for yourself and your business in the new year, please get in touch! Membership is only £10 per month and the possibilities are endless.

Below are the links for becoming a member or to attend the January event as a one off to see how we work in The Serenity Network. Please be reminded that this is exclusive for business owners and service providers and entry and membership will be denied if proof of business can not be verified.

Let’s get networking!

To become a member:

http://serenitylondon.co.uk/theserenitynetwork

To purchase a ticket for the January event:

http://theserenitynetwork.eventbrite.co.uk?s=72812361