𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕪 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜-𝕆𝕨𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕘𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 - 𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕆'𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕕 𝕃𝕚𝕗𝕖 & 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝔹𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕆𝕨𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕃

                    

Hello, and welcome back, hope you tuned in yesterday for our second black-owned business! If you are new here, grab a seat and check out what we are doing this month! Grab some snacks and get to reading. 

For Black History Month, Eta Sigma Delta Inc will be highlighting some of our black-owned businesses on the grid for the second year. These business leaders have been seen working very hard at what they do and showing everyone that they can and will do it. We want to recognize them for their hard work and dedication to their crafts. 

These businesses have made a positive impact on the community rather it was by recognizing their dedicated customers, giving out group gifts, joining into conversations with their customers on Facebook, or just by giving great customer service. We want to say thank you for letting us into your world and we commend you for your hard work and focus. 

Christy aka Big Sister Sweet & Sassy was happy to take a trip to check out  on the grid and Cassie is having a refreshing drink from the store. 

Here is what our third business owner had to say... 

Our third business is Special O'cassions of SecondLife and Black Business Owners of SL! 

Black Business Owners of Second Life (BBOSL) has been in existence since 2008. It consists of a group of Black Business Owners and supporters who can Network and promote their business and gives instant access to customers who support the products and services that our members offer. We strongly believe that building relationships through networking helps your business to thrive, to identify and connect black business owners and business professionals, to each other, for the purpose of growing their businesses qualitatively and quantitatively. To empower our community by shaping the way our members do business.

Special O'Cassions of Second Life is a team of professional event planners whose expertise can help you host a truly memorable event. From themed events to products and items, to landscaping and building, Special O'Cassions event planning services is your Second Life industry expert for events that strategically achieve your business or personal objectives and create an enjoyable experience for your guests.

About the owner, Diamond Meness...

"I've been a member of the Second Life community since 2006. I enjoy networking and helping people in any way I can. I make cakes and foods in real life and this transfer into my real-life business where I bake and make cakes. I have a great family on the game and an amazing daughter and I try my best to continue to do what I do for as long as I can."

BBOSL has been in business since 2008. Special O'Cassions of Second Life has been in business since 2007 renamed from Kitchen Nibbles and continues to grow. 

We asked Diamond a couple of questions and here is what she had to say...

Do you find it is harder for you to be a black-owned business specifically if a lot of what you design, creative, or put together caters more to black people? 

- "No. I've never found it hard being a black-owned business in Second Life. My designs are such that they cater to the individual. I do have a lot of items that cater to African Americans like my Soul Food Placemat and my Southern takeout food. It's not hard to do because it's what I grew up eating and what I make every day. I enjoy creating these things. And what makes it extra special is I will take a picture of my creations and use it on my items in-game. So knowing that it's something that I made in Real Life transferred over to Second Life is really cool."

What makes doing what you do rewarding for you? 

- "As I said. It's a part of me. And I enjoy doing what I do. The sound of an excited customer or a happy customer makes it all worthwhile. I want my custom-made customers to know that what I make for this is special just to them. That it's unlike anything else in-game. So If I am requested to do a wedding cake. They will know that there is no other wedding cake like it in-game. That's pretty awesome."

Typically how long does it take you to get 1 item out? 

- "If it's a custom item, it depends, like wedding cakes can take up to 3 weeks depending on how detailed they want it to be. It also depends on the item. If it's wedding flowers, that can take a while as well. It just depends."  

What advice can you give to other black entrepreneurs trying to start their SL business? 

- "Understand that you have to be married to your business. If you are wondering what to do or where to start when it comes to a business, do something that you enjoy. Something that's fun for you. It won't seem like work. Be original. Many will copy you. But that just means you have to exceed your own creations."

What would you like to say to all of your supporters and customers? 

- "I've been around a long time. Since 2007. Both of my businesses have been going strong. My validation comes from my customers and clients. They are the ones that I look to please. I am very appreciative of this recognition, but it will always be my customers who have made me who I am. I know it and I appreciate them for it. And as long as they need me, that's what is important to me. I have 14 successful business years invested in Second Life. That's a long time and not many can say that. I have been a part of beta test groups, I have got to work with some amazing content creators. My goal is realism. And I hope that I have done that for my clients. When it comes to Special O'Cassions , When they look at my food. I don't want them to think oh...that's cute. I want them to think...wow...I"m hungry. I want them to think, that looks real enough to eat. When they join BBOSL, I want to them feel like they are part of a group of like-minded business owners where they can network and share. And expand and grow their own business. This is what makes a good black business owner a great leader in the black-owned business world."

The Flawless Sapphires of Eta Sigma Delta would like to thank you Diamond for taking time out of your busy day to give us a look inside your life. 

Please support this young lady and continue to show love to our black-owned businesses in Second Life. 

Check her out on Facebook - Shop Special O'Cassions FB and Join Black Business Owners of SL FB

In World - Shop Special O'Cassions InWorld

Marketplace - Shop Special O'Cassions on MP

Thank you for reading!

Signing Out

Big Sister On Point aka

             Cassie Shaw MD

𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕪 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜-𝕆𝕨𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 - ℍ𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 ℂ𝕦𝕣𝕧𝕖𝕤

                          

Hello, and welcome back, hope you tuned in yesterday for our first black-owned business! If you are new here, grab a seat and check out what we are doing this month! Grab some snacks and get to reading. 

For Black History Month, Eta Sigma Delta Inc will be highlighting some of our black-owned businesses on the grid for the second year. These business leaders have been seen working very hard at what they do and showing everyone that they can and will do it. We want to recognize them for their hard work and dedication to their crafts. 

These businesses have made a positive impact on the community rather it was by recognizing their dedicated customers, giving out group gifts, joining into conversations with their customers on Facebook, or just by giving great customer service. We want to say thank you for letting us into your world and we commend you for your hard work and focus. 

Christy aka Big Sister Sweet & Sassy was happy to take a trip to check out Hellen Curves on the grid. 

Here is what our second business owner had to say... 

Our second business is Hellen Curves! 

Hellen Curves specializes in beautiful curvy shapes and customs.

About the owner, Caramelo84...

"I am happy, simple, fun, very dedicated to what I like and loves enjoy the tranquility of SecondLife and that is what I get by doing Shapes."

Hellen Curves has been in business for 7 months and continues to grow. 

We asked Caramelo a couple of questions and here is what she had to say...

Do you find it is harder for you to be a black-owned business specifically if a lot of what you design, creative, or put together caters more to black people? 

- "No."

What makes doing what you do rewarding for you? 

- "Tranquility, improve every day."

Typically how long does it take you to get 1 item out? 

- "1-3 days."  

What advice can you give to other black entrepreneurs trying to start their SL business? 

- "Don't think twice and enjoy/have fun doing what they like no matter what."

What would you like to say to all of your supporters and customers? 

- "Thank you very much for the opportunity to meet new businesses. And if you like something, let me know so that she feels good or even improves thanks to You."

The Flawless Sapphires of Eta Sigma Delta would like to thank you Caramelo for taking time out of your busy day to give us a look inside your life. 

Please support this young lady and continue to show love to our black-owned businesses in Second Life. 

Check her out on Facebook - Shop Hellen Curves FB

In World - Shop Hellen Curves InWorld

Marketplace - Shop Hellen Curves on MP

Thank you for reading!

Signing Out

Big Sister On Point aka

             Cassie Shaw MD

𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕪 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜-𝕆𝕨𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 - 𝔹𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕄𝕠𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕤

                         

Hello and welcome! For Black History Month, Eta Sigma Delta Inc will be highlighting some of our black-owned businesses on the grid for the second year. These business leaders have been seen working very hard at what they do and showing everyone that they can and will do it. We want to recognize them for their hard work and dedication to their crafts. 

These businesses have made a positive impact on the community rather it was by recognizing their dedicated customers, giving out group gifts, joining into conversations with their customers on Facebook, or just by giving great customer service. We want to say thank you for letting us into your world and we commend you for your hard work and focus. 

Christy aka Big Sister Sweet & Sassy was happy to support this business. 

Here is what our first business owner had to say... 

Our first business is Billionaire Motors! 

Billionaire Motors is a car business that sells cars and bikes. If you have not checked them out, the cars and bikes are amazing. 

About the owner, Terrance Christenson...

"I own a real-life Carpet Cleaning Service And SL business"

Billionaire Motors has been in business for 10 years and continues to grow. 

We asked Terrance a couple of questions and here is what he had to say...

Do you find it is harder for you to be a black-owned business specifically if a lot of what you design, creative, or put together caters more to black people? 

- "It's always harder when you're in the same business as racist people but that's what we have to deal with in life and SecondLife you just have to keep pushing!"

What makes doing what you do rewarding for you? 

- "I never started doing cars to sell them I just wanted to make my own cars for fun but then people wanted to buy copies and the rest is history!"

Typically how long does it take you to get 1 item out? 

- "We put out about 5 cars per month."  

What advice can you give to other black entrepreneurs trying to start their SL business? 

- "Make sure you enjoy what you're doing and not just doing it to make money because if you love what you are doing it does not seem like work at all."

What would you like to say to all of your supporters and customers? 

- "We take nothing for granted and really appreciate all of the support because there are tons of carmakers in SecondLife they can spend their money with so when you buy from us it means a lot and we are a family-owned business my brother Swatchz and son Randall put in just as much as I do and I would not want to do it without them."

The Flawless Sapphires of Eta Sigma Delta would like to thank you Terrance for taking time out of your busy day to give us a look inside your life. 

Please support this young man and continue to show love to our black-owned businesses in Second Life. 

Check him out on Facebook - Shop Billionaire Motors FB

In World - Shop Billionaire Motors InWorld

Marketplace - Shop Billionaire Motors on MP

Thank you for reading!

Signing Out

Big Sister On Point aka

             Cassie Shaw MD

🤴🏾 Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day 🤴🏾

 

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, what many are happy about is having a day off and some wish they had a day off. This day is not just a day off but it should be a day on. Especially with all the things going on in this world today, I pray that people are reflecting on what this awesome man really stood for us, what he worked toward and what he made happen.

In the words of Coretta Scott King...http://www.thekingcenter.org/meaning-king-holiday

The Meaning of The King Holiday

BY CORETTA SCOTT KING

The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example — the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility, and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness, and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.

We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words, because his voice and his vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasn’t enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. And so we commemorate on this holiday the man of action, who put his life on the line for freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make democracy a reality for all Americans.

The King Holiday honors the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society but who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality.

On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace, and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance, and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.

It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are African-American, Hispanic, or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.

We commemorate on this holiday the ecumenical leader and visionary who embraced the unity of all faiths in love and truth. And though we take patriotic pride that Dr. King was an American, on this holiday we must also commemorate the global leader who inspired nonviolent liberation movements around the world. Indeed, on this day, programs commemorating my husband’s birthday are being observed in more than 100 nations.

The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global vision of the world house, a world whose people and nations had triumphed over poverty, racism, war, and violence. The holiday celebrates his vision of ecumenical solidarity, his insistence that all faiths had something meaningful to contribute to building the beloved community.

The Holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence — the man who taught by his example that nonviolent action is the most powerful, revolutionary force for social change available to oppressed people in their struggles for liberation.

This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment, threats and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who knew he would pay the ultimate price for his leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and organizing anyway.

Every King Holiday has been a national “teach-in” on the values of nonviolence, including unconditional love, tolerance, forgiveness, and reconciliation, which are so desperately needed to unify America. It is a day of intensive education and training in Martin’s philosophy and methods of nonviolent social change and conflict-reconciliation. The Holiday provides a unique opportunity to teach young people to fight evil, not people, to get in the habit of asking themselves, “what is the most loving way I can resolve this conflict?”

On the King Holiday, young people learn about the power of unconditional love even for one’s adversaries as a way to fight injustice and defuse violent disputes. It is a time to show them the power of forgiveness in the healing process at the interpersonal as well as international levels.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute but above all a day of service. All across America on the Holiday, his followers perform service in hospitals and shelters and prisons, and wherever people need some help. It is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who can’t read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the broken-hearted, and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.

Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life’s most persistent and nagging question, he said, is `what are you doing for others?’” he would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which Jesus of Nazareth tells James and John “…whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever among you will be the first shall be the servant of all.” And when Martin talked about the end of his mortal life in one of his last sermons, on February 4, 1968, in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, even then he lifted up the value of service as the hallmark of a full life. “I’d like somebody to mention on that day Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others,” he said. “I want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life…to love and serve humanity.

We call you to commemorate this Holiday by making your personal commitment to serve humanity with the vibrant spirit of unconditional love that was his greatest strength, and which empowered all of the great victories of his leadership. And with our hearts open to this spirit of unconditional love, we can indeed achieve the Beloved Community of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream.

May we who follow Martin now pledge to serve humanity, promote his teachings and carry forward his legacy into the 21st Century.

Times have changed and then times have not changed. This man worked so hard for so much and the world today seems to be taking a backward spin. Let's not let his dream be in vain but, let's help keep his dream alive. As he said, "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." While many "hate" what is going on in the world right now, let "love" guide you to help do something great to improve it!

Signing out...

Dr. Cassie Shaw

aka

Big Sister On Point

All I Want for Christmas 🎁 🎄

 

All I want for Christmas is my family and friends to be happy, healthy, and fulfilled. I want my children to have any and everything they could possibly dream of.

I want my husband and I to have another year and years to come full of love, laughter, and growth. The one thing I want most for Christmas, is for everyone to remember the reason for the season. 

Enjoy your families and don't take one single second for granted. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

Big Sister Sweet N Sassy!

Christy Romero 

All I want for Christmas is world peace and healing from this pandemic... I did not get it for Christmas but my prayers were answered when my husband and I reunited and I am so thankful for him and his love.

Merry Christmas 

Big Sister Dedicated 

Uqqn Caxton Kennedy Bodiford 

All I want for christmas this year is peace on earth and good will to men. This year has been very tough for me with two of my dogs dying and having a horrible summer with my kids getting sick too, going through the fall and landing in the hospital. 

When I look back and reflect I just want for my childern to have good health, my husband jason to get back home to Florida where he belongs, and each of my sorority sisters to have the best Christmas this year ever. 

That is  all I want for Christmas this year and many  more years to come I love each and everyone of you and may your Christmas be bright and the holidays sing for the good times and you cherish what you have now and love what you have lost and remember that life is what you make it so make it a good one!

 

Big Sister Rocky Road

Mandalyn Silverfall

All I want for Christmas is 2022 to be a year of growth and prosperity. I want to make a 2022 plan and be able to stick with it. I also want my relationship with my sisters to be better and better with each day.

 Finally I wish peace and happiness on all those around me!

Big Sister Visonary

Melanie Devereux 

All I want for Christmas is for all my friends and family to be safe and happy. I also hope to get some downtime to just relax.

Merry Christmas wishing everyone a blessed and joyous holiday season. 

Big Sister She Did That

SnowAngel Dvere

All I want for Christmas is good health and for this world to heal. I miss when we did not have to worry about deadly viral infections that can shut things down. I wish for this world to understand this is a test, wake up! I want my friends and family to be happy, loved, and most importantly alive. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Big Sister On Point 

Cassie Shaw M.D