Chatting with Erika Parker-Smith, author of Miya's Hair Day

I love Kindred, The Family Soul. The husband and wife duo behind Focsi reminds me of the singers.
J. Phillip and Erika Smith



Focsi (pronounced Fox-cee) is comprised of J. Phillip and Erika Smith. The artistic team likes to challenge and display traditional standards of beauty and feminine strength/power with a twist in an unexpected, thoughtful, and celebratory way. I met this couple at the Taliah Waajid Natural Hair Show in Atlanta. When I saw the book, Miya's Hair Day, all I could think was --where was this book when my niece was a baby? Erika wrote the book and J. Phillip did the illustrations. Erika spoke to me about the book and Focsi.
 
Drawing by J. Phillip Smith



   

What gave you the inspiration to write Miya's Hair Day? 

My inspiration for writing Miya's Hair Day came from several places. The first being our daughters, and my weekly, sometimes daily, adventure in hair with her. She is three years old and would rather do anything except get her hair done.
The second inspiration was the struggle that many girls and women have accepting themselves, and at times their natural hair, or just simply themselves. I figured why not write a poetic reminder that: You Are Beautiful Just As You Are! or YABJAYA (pronounced Yab-j-eye-uh). 

Why do you think it's important for little girls to have books with characters who look like them? 
Little girls growing up seeing images they can relate to and look them helps to build healthy self-esteem and a positive self image while they are young. 
Lack of self love or low self-esteem leads most women to make challenging life choices. Many of us heal, grow, learn to love ourselves, and build our self-esteem later in life; we figured let's encourage girls and build them up early,and hopefully one person avoids those particular pitfalls. Life has challenges, but it doesn't have to be those challenges.

 You and your husband work together, what is that like? 
Focsi (pronounced Fox-cee) was our first baby seven  years ago! Working together is rewarding, challenging, and fun. We know each others' strengths and we compliment each other well!
Our love for each other, our passion for what we do, and being in sync definitely gets reflected in our work. 

 What has the response to your book been like? 

The response to the book as been all love! We are really pleased with the feedback we've gotten thus far. Women tell us the story describes perfectly "hair day" in their homes. Some say it conjures memories of "hair day" in their childhoods and hair struggles with their own mothers.

Other responses affirmed our goal and mission to reach out to girls; especially when we hear stories of little girls wanting "straight yellow hair" or simply hating their curls and kinks. The more positive images we create, the more people see them, and accept that beauty comes in all forms; we can all shine like the stars we were born to be!
How can readers follow you online?

Readers can follow us online at:



Twitter: FocsiMama


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Woman rapes a dead man and gets pregnant

Image
So, stop me if you've heard this one. Woman has a last romp with a dead man and gets pregnant. No, this isn't the beginning of a short story, this is a true story . A 38 year old female mortuary worker is being held on $250,000 bond after becoming pregnant by one of her clients-a dead man. The alleged crime took place at the Mourning Glory Mortuary just outside of Lexington, Missouri. Police have charged Felicity Marmaduke with desecration of the dead and necrophilia. According to a statement made to police by Marmaduke, the alleged victim experienced a post mortem erection while being bathed. Being alone, Marmaduke straddled the dead man and proceeded have sex with him. Much to her surprise, the alleged victim came to orgasm after several minutes. A few weeks later, Marmaduke had a positive pregnancy test while receiving a routine medical exam. Upon telling her doctor the circumstances leading to the conception, the police were notified. Marmaduke was
Read more

Django Unchained or The live version of Catcher Freeman

Image
Forget what Spike Lee has to say about Django Unchained , I want to know if Aaron McGruder recognized his work on the big screen. After reading what Quentin Tarantino said about Roots , I had plans to sit this one out. Then I got an invite to see it.  Tarantino called out Roots as inauthentic as a part of his battle with Lee, who accurately said Django was disrespectful to his ancestors. About ten minutes into this overly long spaghetti western/blaxplotation flick, I wanted to make a tee shirt that would read, SPIKE WAS RIGHT.  Tarantino should've made a western with a black hero -- the slavery aspect of the movie was just so unnecessary. Granted, this movie is a work of fiction and not based on any historical slavery story. And yes, people go to the movies to be entertained, but overly violent movies aren't entertaining to me. However, I digress.  The fact that some many people are talking about how "original" this movie is proves one thing: Y'all don
Read more

Five Questions with Judy Lynn Hubbard, author of These Arms of Mine

Image
Twitter is a great place to meet new authors. That's where I met Kimani author Judy Lynn Hubbard. I knew she was cool because she's a Dallas Cowboys fan! Then she shared an excerpt from her debut novel, These Arms of Mine . It left me wanting more and more. Thankfully, the wait is almost over! Hubbard's book is set to be released on January 24. Judy spoke with me about her first novel and writing. 1. When did you decide to write romance?      When I was 14, my sister gave me my first Harlequin Romance novel to read and since then I knew one day I wanted to write a book for Harlequin. Many years later, I finally completed my first novel and after many re-writes and submissions, I went on to write my second novel (These Arms of Mine) that was accepted by Harlequin Kimani after corresponding with them for about 10 months.   So, persistence and having faith in oneself definitely pays off! 2. What is your debut novel, These Arms of Mine about?  It’s a reunion ro
Read more