Summer 16: Staying In Your Own Lane, And Learning To Say ‘No’

It’s precious that I kick-off this note not only to you, but also to myself. Commitments and rampant running, otherwise the art of not saying ‘no’, had recently delayed The Triumphant Scoop’s relaunch in more ways than I care to count my hair strands. Over obligating myself to happenings and invites. Efforts to keep building, stay connected and ‘keep up’. When all actuality, I was ruining my own system of checks and balances. Neglecting one area of life in order to achieve something in another will (and for me, did) throw everything in your life off key. I was not honoring my life. I was not taking care of myself, or my business.

I started The Triumphant Scoop on a hot August night, 8 years ago as a struggling fashion model that was fed up with the partying life. Becoming a journalist, and eventually an editor, were next on my life goals list after modeling. In preparation for that, I’d applied to endless editorial internships with no avail. Starting off with a generic ole’ Blogspot account, The Triumphant Scoop was an outlet to formulate opportunities for myself in digital editing. Through this platform, I considered myself a builder. I spent hours creating my site with a smile on my face, from the tacky logo and banner that I once had, to the sidebar’s wall of inspiration that included stories about my life, and favorite throwback imagery in pop-culture. All was perfectly outlined to match my level of inspiration, infatuation, and love of detail. Finally, I was in-charge! Amassing a small but loyal audience, it was the first time I’d ever shared my work internationally and actually received fan mail from as far away as China. When it was time to grow The Triumphant Scoop, the challenge with maintaining the site had always been niche vs passion. What to cover, what would work, and what wouldn’t. Then after finding a niche, I had to figure out how to turn my hobby into a business. I eventually discovered there were rules, politics and obligations to being a ‘blogger’ that didn’t necessarily sit well with the career that I pursued in front of the camera. BUT, as modeling agencies now represent nearly half of all successful bloggers, and with social media and personal branding accounting for nearly ⅓ of  a model’s success- 8 years later, I could smack myself for not following with my starting intuition. Boy, have times changed !

With that being said, the new focus of this site will be reframing and balancing the mind through the eyes of yours truly. Broadcasting societal insight in a way that’s complementary to the dreamy images of peace, discovery, and inspiration that life- especially big-city living-  should be all about. As ugly as society seems, we owe it to ourselves to cleanse, renew, live well, or at least strive to live well! We must strive to do this in whichever big-city that we’ve decided to plant our seeds, chase our careers, and live our lives in.

In the midst of my intercultural initiative, I’m still here to bring you all the live, first-person candidness and stories, one-on-one interviews, scoop from behind-the-scenes, exclusive how-to-guides, enlightening photojournalism, and editorial features that capture our untold realities of inner-city living. Revealing pop-culture through reports that bring you closer to your sense of soul. Soaking up news that aligns with your life’s purpose, and doesn’t leave you needing to cleanse your mind before going to bed. Our content will continue to be a timeless mix of exclusive features that are both relevant and fascinating to world-wide culture.

This Summer, use The Triumphant Scoop to take care of yourself. To feed your mind the medicine that it deserves. To reconnect with nature, and fall back in love with your roots. To help you honor the life that you just know you deserve. 

I hope you enjoy the new site!

Best,