If you’d like to compare New York-based Oxygen Box Band to another group from music history, Black Eyes Peas would probably be the group that you comes to mind, followed by City High. When compared to Fergie and Claudette Ortiz, Oxygen Box Band leading lady Natalie has this nearly nun quality to her though. When she sings lead on the song “Close to You”, it’s almost as if she were crooning the verses of a gospel track. Her voice is passionate, as if she’s singing a modulated version of some hardcore Negro spiritual, and not a love song. Yet, the reggae and R&B influence is sprinkled all over their musical notes, like chia seeds on an organic cake. And there’s a bit of Haitian konpa additives thrown in. This is specially apparent on the soca-soaked track “Se Ou Mwen Vle” (It’s You That I Want).

The on-stage chemistry that the songstress has with bandmates Malvo, Wilson is amazing, especially when viewing videos of their live performances at venues like the Shrine in Harlem. As Natalie holds up her handS, prayer-like, her bangles slide down her wrist. Malvo is on guitar, and takes over on the mic at one point, doing Wyclef to her Lauryn, while another female singer, a second guitarist and a keyboard player do their thing.

Kreyolicious: Who makes up Oxygen and how did you meet one another?
Oxygen Box Band is made up of lead vocalist and keyboardist, Natalie Alese, lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist, Stanley Chery and lead guitarist Malvo 509. We met each other after preforming at an open-mic event in Bloomfield, NJ in 2010. A discussion after the show lead to songwriting collaborations and performances that started us on the road to where we are today.

Kreyolicious: How did you come up with the name?
The original name for the band was Fresh Air. Although the name was fitting as our music has often been labeled a “breath of fresh air”, this was a very common name. Being an uncommon and unique band, it was only fitting that the name be modified. This is why Malvo 509 came up with the name Oxygen Box.

Kreyolicious: Which bands, and of course artists, have been the most influential in molding Oxygen Band’s style?
Songwriting within Oxygen Box Band is collaborative, so the artists that influence Oxygen Box Band’s style are the artists that have most influenced each core member of the band. These artists include Bob Marley and the Wailers and India Arie among many others.

Kreyolicious: Tell us about some of your songs.
Oxygen Box Band is more than music, it’s a movement, and so our songs reflect that theme. We have a song called “Music For the Rebels” that speaks of a change needed in our society and encouraging those who recognize it to take action. We believe that positive vibes are nourishment for the soul, so we have songs like “Close To You” that are just feel-good [type of songs]. As a conscious band, we bring awareness to specific issues like the earthquake that occurred in Haiti in 2010 with the songs like “Amen”. We love to turn up the energy in the crowd and get people moving, dancing and celebrating life with songs like “Pump it Up”, or “Se Ou Mwen Vle”.

Kreyolicious: Being part of a group means being part of a collaborative effort. How do you make sure that all the voices in the band are heard?
In addition to rehearsal, we also have meetings in which we review and discuss the progress of the band as well as make plans for the future.

Kreyolicious: What does Oxygen plan to accomplish over the course of its duration as a band?
Oxygen Box Band is here to have a positive impact on the world. As the title of our first EP suggests, we do soul surgery. We plan to reach people across the world in order support, unite and encourage through music.

Kreyolicious: What would you say has been the most memorable moment of being a member of Oxygen?
It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific moment, but any time we see evidence that someone in the audience is better after the show than they were before it, it’s a great moment.

BUY OXYGEN BOX BAND’S MUSIC ON iTUNES | ON GOOGLE PLAY FOLLOW THE GROUP’S JOURNEY ON FACEBOOK | OXYGEN BOX BAND ON YOUTUBE

Ivy Box looks like she’s a Jackson family cousin, but growing up in her hometown of Fort Myers, Florida, the world of show business seemed galaxies away. Until, that is, she landed as a cast member of the hit reality TV show “College Hill: Interns”.

It’s standard to be on a reality show and for that to be the highlight of one’s life, but Ivy didn’t stop there. She used the show as a stepping stone to create other opportunities for herself as an entrepreneur, community leader, and non-profit founder (she’s the mind behind. Now, she’s added “author” to her list of goals she can cross off. The 365 Go Get H.E.R.S. Guide is a manual she’s created to help other young women get a handle on a well-directed life.

Get the story behind this bold entrepreneur and go-giver.

Kreyolicious: You were born in Fort Myers, Florida of Haitian parents, and counties and counties away from Miami-Dade the center of Haitian immigrant settlement. What was it like?
Ivy Box: I loved every minute of growing up in Ft. Myers. There’s a large Haitian population there. My mother helped build the first Haitian Baptist Church in Fort Myers so we were always around our people. I grew up in a time when being Haitian wasn’t cool, not like it is now, but because I was centered around so many great Haitians in Ft. Myers, I wasn’t as affected by that kind of pressure. It was a different story when we moved, but when we were there, it was all love. One of the cool things about Fort Myers is that it is only a 30-40 minute drive away from Naples, another Haitian mecca, and about a two-hour drive from Miami, so we were literally in Miami every other weekend. We did some of our best food and clothes shopping in Miami-Dade County. I even lived in Dade for a couple years when I was younger, but that’s for another interview. [Laughter]

Kreyolicious: Before you became an author and seasoned business woman, you were a TV star, with a role on “College Hill: Interns”. How did that come about, and what did you learn from that experience?
Ivy Box: Omg, yes. I used to always tell my friends in high school and in college that I was going to work for and be on BET. I didn’t know that my first gig on BET was going to be on their reality TV show, let-alone, a spin off from one of their most popular shows at the time that I was at home watching just several months prior. It all happened when I decided to go to BET’s “Spring Bling”, that they would tape in West Palm Beach. I saw flyers all around the beach saying to apply for BET’s “College Hill: Interns”, I originally thought that it was an internship with BET and was like, that’s going to be my way in. Long story short (’cause the entire story is for another interview too). [Laughter] I applied, made it past three rounds of auditions, next thing I know, I was being flown to Chicago to start taping. The idea of reality tv is fun, until you step into that house and see them cameras in your face…that’s when reality TV, gets real. [Laughter] I could write book about that whole experience. [Laughter]

Kreyolicious: In your book, you really have a touching dedication to your mother and sister. What are three of the most vital lessons these two women have taught you?
Ivy Box: Aww, thank you. My mother taught me faith, perseverance, and sacrifice. My sister taught me dedication, boldness, and loyalty. They both taught me love, what family really means, and how to shade with grace. [Laughter] I’m kidding, but not really. [Laughter] Haitians shade without even knowing it, “Se konsa, ou vle abiye pou legliz?” [So that’s how you dress up to go to church?] instead of just telling you to change. [Laughter]

Kreyolicious: One of the things you emphasize in your book The 365 Go Get Hers Guide is the importance of goal-setting. Do you think there’s such a thing as having too many goals?
Ivy Box: No. My motto is that “the Sky is not the limit, it’s only the beginning.” Restricting your goals is restricting your opportunities, it’s restricting your dreams, that’s how people end up stuck in a box that they created for themselves. I love the concept of living Beyond the Box, that’s living beyond restriction, even beyond the restrictions you place on yourself. You can never have too many goals, I just wouldn’t recommend trying to get them all done at the same time. That doesn’t work, believe me, I’ve tried it, and that’s the quickest way to get burned out. Pace yourself, balance out what you have going on in life, and take it one step at a time. You’ll get more done way quicker that way, believe it or not.

Kreyolicious: You been to Haiti, tifi?
Ivy Box: [Laughter] wi madam, plizè fwa [Yes, lady. Many times]. The first time I went to Haiti I was 5 years old. It was the best thing that my parents could have done. I was able to meet my entire family in person, see the beauty of Haiti, the people, and polish up on my Creole. I remember teaching my cousin’s Salt and Pepa’s “Push It.” My sister and I had a whole routine to it and everything. A couple of years later, when we went back to Haiti, they remembered the lyrics and the dance. It was so cute. I was in Haiti this past August, last December was my first time back since 2010. In 2009, we spent Christmas and New Years in Haiti, and thought about staying a few more days. Three days later, the earthquake happened.

I took one of the last pictures of the [National Palace] before it crashed down. CNN featured my picture from a tweet I had posted around that time. I love Haiti, I feel the strength of my ancestors when I’m there. It’s a powerful thing. We’re descendants of African slaves who physically survived the slave ships, who mustered up enough mental strength to overthrow their oppressors. On top of surviving the discrimination, isolation, and attempted annihilation from every other powerful country that surrounded us. They had the compassion to try and help free other slaves from those vary countries that sought to destroy them and still we stand! I come from that. You come from that. That’s in our bloodline. I am honored. The older I get, the more I appreciate it. I don’t know about you, but Haitians are freaking superheroes! We’re the real Black Panthers. [Laughter]

This concludes PART I of the interview with Ivy Box. Watch out for PART II. Meanwhile…

CLICK HERE to visit Ms Ivy Box’s official home| Instagram

The self-help manual The 365 Go Get H.E.R.S Guide has just been released by entrepreneur and author Ivy Box. The book is a stylish little tome designed to give twenty-somethings a sense of direction in life.

Box first came into the public eye as a popular cast member of the reality show BET’S “College Hill: Interns”.

Reality TV stardom is vast and yet so fleeting, that it isn’t everyone who experiences it, who’s able to turn it, grip it, and twist it into a lasting legacy. Ivy Box is one of the few who has. The Florida native and daughter of a Haitian couple used her time as a cast member on the show to make herself into a powerhouse, part philanthropist and all business woman, and now author.

But aside from getting her shine, Box has shed light on others. Through her nonprofit Voice THE Movement, Inc, she helps others in the community reach their dreams. The University of South Florida graduate and and now author has amassed all her wisdom into one book: The 365 Go-Getters Guide. For each book sold in English, the entrepreneur will be donating a Haitian Creole translation to women and young girls in Haiti.

Kreyolicious: You head your own non-profit called Voice THE Movement, Inc. Why made you start this organization?
Ivy Box: Yes, we are celebrating our 4th year in existence. I’ve always had a natural urge to serve, I’ve actually paid good money to fly across the country just to volunteer at events. [Laughter] In college, I participated in alternative spring break. It’s where college students spend their spring break doing community service instead of your typical college spring break shenanigans (no shade). After I graduated from college and after the reality show, I started working for the rap artist, Plies and his brother. They had a non-profit that I worked closely with. All those years of service and working with a bunch of nonprofits gave me the inclination to create my own. After doing my 10,000 hours of service, I figured it was time that I make it happen. I talk about it in the book, in a chapter about creating opportunities because the way it happened was cute, quick, and pretty darn cool. Subtle plug. [Laughter]

Above: Ivy Box with entertainment industry colleague DJ Khaled.

Kreyolicious: What are you most proud of when it comes to Voice The Movement?
Ivy Box: I’m most proud of the fact that we have been able to do such great things for the community and have been consistent with our Youth Empowerment workshops. This year marked our 4th year and we were awarded the MLK Day of Service grant. This year we were ranked as one of the top awarded organizations out of all of the organizations that applied. We rotate our program each year between doing a girls EmpowHERment Workshop called FLAWLESS which stands for Fearlessly Living, Ambitiously Wise, Limitlessly Educated, Successfully Serving; a young men’s workshop called FEARLESS which stands for Fearlessly Expressive, Actively Responsive, Leading Examples, Serving Society; and our joint EMPOWERtainment Workshop is called FEARLESS & FLAWLESS. We have served over 400 kids and partnered with over 100 businesses, organizations, and volunteers. This year will be the first year that I bring Fearless and Flawless to my hometown, Ft. Myers which is scheduled to take place at the Starz Complex in the Spring [of this year]. We are also expanding our organization into Haiti, just waiting on the ink to dry.

Above: The author and entrepreneur with radio veteran Tom Joyner.

Kreyolicious: Your undergrad degree is in Marketing. Did you ever feel any pressure from your parents to become a lawyer, a physician, dentist, engineer, or nurse?
Ivy Box: Oh, but of course. My mom didn’t have to say it, it was just a cultural pride thing, you just already knew, you had to go to school, go to church, listen to your parents, don’t embarrass them, and be a doctor or lawyer. Now-a-days it’s be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or nurse, [Laughter] but in my day, we just had the whole doctor/lawyer thing to worry about. In middle school I was on track to becoming a lawyer, I got my first job at 14 years old working in the downtown Ft. Myers County Court office, thanks to the YMCA YES program that my guidance counselor put me in. It was an office job full of older white people, except for the lawyer I was working with. He was a black lawyer, working his way up to be a judge. This is before social media and before everyone had cell phones. I didn’t even have a computer, I had to use a typewriter, lol. At the time, I didn’t know there was a such thing as an entertainment lawyer, had I known, I would of probably stuck with it. By the time I made it to college, I was a Biology pre-med major on track to becoming a Neonatologist. I was super involved in college and none of it had anything to do with medical school. I changed my major my junior year after my 3rd Chemistry class and with the knowledge of knowing I had two more chemistry classes I had to take. My mom prayed for me, sent my cousin who was a pastor and my uncle to talk me out of it changing my major, but at the end of the day it was my decision, and I decided that Business Marketing was more of my thing! I do often wonder how I would be if I completed the law track or the medical track. No need to cry for me though, because I have a lot of lawyer friends and several doctor and nursing cousins, friends, and associates, so I live vicariously through them.

Above: Ivy Box attends the Grammys.

Kreyolicious: What can your fans and those who have been following your career for years expect from you in the next few years?
Ivy Box: Oh, wow, that’s a heavy question. I pray to continue my work in the community making an impact that expands across international lines. I pray to have a thriving brand that supports my entire family and the lives of others and their families. I pray that everything that is positive that is meant for me, be awarded to me. I pray that God uses me as a vessel to help move the black diaspora forward in every sense of the word. I want to have a healthy work/life balance, and I delight in the thought that one day I will be sitting across the table with greats of our times planning what we as a collective can do to pay it forward!

This concludes PART II of the interview with entrepreneur and author Ivy Box. Did you miss PART I of the interview with author Ivy Box? CLICK HERE. Also…

CLICK HERE to visit author Ivy Box’s official home| Author Ivy Box Instagram