The Miss Haiti pageant has been launched! This year’s contestants are a nice bunch (as usual!). They gathered in Port-au-Prince, and were picked from all over Haiti’s cities.

The try-outs! Look at these gorgeous smiles and the confident air that reigns throughout.

Well, well, look at them in their jeans and navy blue tee-shirts.

Hey there, ladies!

Watch them strike a pose!

A few more of them.

Aw, so adorable.

Well, wishing all of them the best! In another post, we will take a closer look at these kreyolicious contestants.

MEANWHILE, CLICK HERE to read about Haitian and Haitian-American beauty queens!

[All Photos via Miss Haiti]

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you probably think that this headline sounds familiar. Didn’t we see this Haitian-American blogger celebrates headline before, you might ask yourself?

Well, yeah, back in May, I wrote about my 5th anniversary…but five years and seven months after the fact. So, in the spirit of appreciating moments and celebrating victories and living in the moment, I am doing my blogaversary post on time (ahem, albeit a few days a month late, but that’s better than being seven months late). See, I’m improving. I’m trying to change.

In the past, I was always concentrated on the next victory, on the next goal, to pause and take the time to revel in achievements. Nothing was ever enough. I always wanted to push myself towards the next goal. The next goal. The next goal after the next.

Yes, it’s part of my attempt in living in the now…appreciating the present…focusing on the future, but not to the point where I lose track of the present and its blessings.

So, it’s been six years since I officially became Kreyolicious. I say “officially” because even before the launch of the actual site, I had taken all the steps from everything to buying the domain name to doing off-line branding and mental planning.

I have to tell you that I’ve enjoyed the journey. I’ve learned so much about myself.

And speaking of me…I have had to reach beyond myself. I always wanted to be the person behind the keyboard, who never emerged from behind the screen.

Six years! Time passes swiftly. To understand time, I try to think about it in “achievement” terms. Like, I think of six years as being undergrad and grad school combined.

Guess I should talk about the blog a bit, at this point? What did I do this year? Well, since last year, I did this #YeahItsHaitiWhereYouThoughtThisWas hashtag. It has a lot of attitude in it, I suppose. I’m pretty polite, so there were times when I felt it was too, er, blunt. But oh, well. That’s part of the going “beyond myself” stuff. Oh, there was the #ThisLifeofHunger which is inspired by Jay-Z, Tupac and Beyonce song remake Bonnie and Clyde…in which I celebrate Haitian cooking and chefs. I try to encourage dialogue and self-expression in the Haitian-American community. Jay-Z also provided the inspiration for the #HaitiGot99ProblemsBut hashtag.

Haiti History 101 will continue. Thanks for your inquiries and messages concerning it! Chapo Ba has been one of those things I tried out of the blue, not realizing how much the segments would be embraced by you beloved readers. I added some new entries to the 5 Success Principles series. I remember being so thrilled when the Black Weblog Awards awarded me with the Best Blog Post Series Award.

One of the things that I do here on this creative space is to showcase other Haitian-American content producers. I did this Haitian/Haitian-American food blogger/vlogger series. CHECK IT OUT HERE if you haven’t already done so. More recently, I launched this new series on the site to showcase Haitian-American Youtubers. In case you missed those segments, CLICK HERE! Ooh, I try to explore stuff coming out of Haiti. To that end, is the Straight Outta Haiti series. CLICK HERE to read installments from that series.

And ahem, since I don’t write 3,000 word posts any more, we’ll stop here, and continue talking about the life and times of a Haitian-American blogger in PART II. Okay? Meanwhile…

Check out my Instagram: Kreyolicious on Instagram | My Twitter | Facebook too: Kreyolicious on Facebook

Guess what we’re going to be talking about today, oh, beloved reader. The site! I’m celebrating the sixth year of my website.

If you missed PART I of this, CLICK HERE!

Besides the blog, I’m working on several other projects. People see me tweet and update my pages at the wee hours of the morning, and ask me why am I still up. Even my followers. Well, sometimes, I just get so excited about things, I shun sleep. I don’t believe in resting sometimes. But maintaining a balance, I’ve learned, is absolutely essential. Like, as I’m writing this, I’m drinking this acai/berry juice blend. Have to replenish the soul as well as the intellectual.

Sometimes when you’re building something, you hope for the best. When the best happens plus other things you did not necessarily anticipate, it’s truly a blessing. Like people looking to your thoughts and opinions, and putting you on a pedestal. Brands reaching out to you. People you’ve admired from afar and whose careers you’ve studied from afar, approaching you to ask your advice on how to approach the Haitian-American populace, and just wanting to reach out to you to tell you how much they love what you’re doing and convey their admiration over the growth of your site and brand. Plus! Truly amazing.

For a long time, I was just writing, putting my best work forward, and putting my best foot forward, totally oblivious to the fact that I was inspiring so many people. That people who I never imagined were watching me, studying me, and acclaiming me.

Towards the beginning, I was scouting people to write about. As the site picked up on traffic, and increased in popularity, and my articles started to get circulated all over the web, people started to reach out to me. Then I started getting approached by publicists and the like. And of course artists, especially rappers and singers, who wanted me to review their music, or request performance write-ups. Then we’d get to start talking and then I’d bring up Haiti and then….

Artist: Wait. I gotta be Haitian to be on your site?
Me: Well…Yeah…I’m Kreyolicious and the website are all about those who are of Haitian descent. I have written about non-Haitians, but only when they are somehow significantly connected to Haiti.
[long silence]
Artist: Well, my best friend in elementary school was Haitian.
[or variations of this]
Well sorry, no. It—
My ex is Haitian.
My boyfriend is Haitian.
My roommate is a zoe.
I gave to the Haiti relief work.
Me: Well, your donation was appreciated. Would you like to be featured maybe on another site I write for?
[Tension evaporates. Artist begins to smile. If it’s a chat, I get smiley faces. If it’s a phone conversation, unexpected laughter comes on the line.]

Let’s talk a little about the future. Some of the biggest achievements behind being Kreyolicious are things you, oh beloved reader, don’t see on the website, but will see manifest as time goes along.

I wish to extend a big “Thank You” to my readers, lurkers, commentators and all those who make me a better person. I strive to become a better person. I’m always thinking of ways to grow in how I approach my craft. How can I improve my thinking? What projects can I undertake that will allow me to test my creative boundaries, my perceptions? Stuff like that!

So goes the life of a Haitian-American blogger Kreyolicious. The saga continues. The journey resumes.

If you missed PART I of my blogaversary post, CLICK HERE.

Check out my Instagram: Kreyolicious on Instagram | My Twitter | Facebook too: Kreyolicious on Facebook

For the past five years, it’s been the same thing for this Haitian-American blogger. I would sit there and tell myself that I would write a blogaversary post, come October. Then the blogaversary would come and go, and I wouldn’t write my planned essay. Then it seemed futile to write about it months and months later.

Sometimes, I was too busy trying to run this site to write such a post. But most of all…even though I had plenty to celebrate and rejoice in, in terms of the brand’s and the website’s milestones, I wanted more. My rationale was always, “Okay, I’ve accomplished this and that, but I need to do this and that.” But today, dear Kreyolicious readers, I am interrupting the flow of interviews, commentary and review articles on the site today to take the time to 1) thank all of you readers 2) appreciate the moment.

While I’m thanking my readers, I’d like to thank my web designer Zillz, who designed the site.

So, back to the subject at hand…

I think that a lot of times I didn’t want to come across as a braggart, so there were a lot of great things that were happening to me behind the scenes, some really great things, some really fabulous things, that I kept for myself…because I’m not the type to rest on laurels of the present…I want to continue building to create more laurels for the future.

I read this quote recently, and I will paraphrase it…and it basically said that we either live in the future or we live in the past too much. I think in this case, it’s the former for me. I was always focusing on what needed to be accomplished that I, at times, overlooked and under-appreciated what had been accomplished.

I remember when I was brainstorming becoming Kreyolicious and having Kreyolicious.com. Those were the days! I look back at some of the older articles I wrote. Lawd, is all I can say. Some of these articles were more like essays. And I went in this blogging game, knowing very well that shorter and concise was the best way to go. But, I’m also a huge believer in giving value and adding value. But to be frank, I became obsessed with giving value. Not sure if I would do anything differently if I were starting out now. I still believe in value, but now, instead of writing 1000-word articles, I break them down nicely for my readers into multiple parts.

Being a Haitian-American blogger has been loads of fun. I started out with 25 readers that I most likely got on Twitter, and it was on from there! I’ve won blogging awards, and have been blessed with so many great opportunities, and have come in contact with so many fabulous human beings. I’ve had people tell me that when they’re looking for Haitian music to buy, they come to the site. I’ve had celebs of Haitian descent contact me to help them connect or re-connect with the Haitian-American community. This site has grown larger than all my dreams for it, and my dreams for it were big.

Becoming Kreyolicious helped me become a better me. I still have to let go of my control freak tendencies. Learn how to delegate, and all…

I have a lot more planned for myself, for this site and for this brand. I want to tell you everything, and I know I’ve told you guys some things…but I think it’s best that I do the work, and let you see it, instead of blabbing my gums about “what I will do”. Thanks very much for your emails, your lovely messages, your thoughtful DMs and your upbuilding words. It’s been a joy growing with you, and I know that we’ll continue to grow together.

What are your thoughts on my website? And about me? Are you a Haitian-American blogger? Plug yourself, chile. Ain’t no shame. Talk to me!

Just a little note from your favorite chick Kreyolicious.

CLICK HERE to read some culture articles.

CLICK HERE to read some music articles.

You into books and lit or what? CLICK HERE to read on that subject.

Corhinn Bruno could gloat if she wanted to, but modesty lies in her breast. The media mogul and fashion industry entrepreneur is the mastermind behind the CCWC Trunk Show, a fashion showcase extravaganza that has been taking place in South Florida in the past three years. She’s successfully molded it from start-up level to an event that many consider to be a staple in the Fort Lauderdale-Miami fashion scene. Emerging fashion designers from Miami, LA, Port-au-Prince—and as far as West Africa—assembled at the Westin Hotel in Fort Lauderdale last month, and showed off their collection of jewelry, accessories, men and women’s wear.

Above: Fashion and media entrepreneur Corhinn Bruno (with black top) on stage at the CCWC Trunk Show.

One of the factors that makes the CCWC Trunk Show standout is that each year, the entrepreneur hand-picks a cause to which she donates part of the proceeds from the show. This year’s edition of the CCWC Trunk show, for example, benefited the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention, Inc and the year before that Free Yourself Women’s Foundation, an organization that financially helps women fleeing domestic violence–was the beneficiary. The show’s attendees are also treated to a musical performance. The group Dat7 provided entertainment for this year’s event.

Now that Corhinn has had the chance to breathe after putting on yet another spectacular show for her fans, she’s able to give me a rundown of how things went down. And most of all, how it all started.

Kreyolicious: Now, what made you start the CCWC trunk show?

I was looking to create a platform where women who were part of my club were able to expose their small businesses to the world at an affordable price. The CCWC Trunk Show was created out of pure necessity, really. I will never forget our first one in 2012. It was small. However, everyone enjoyed themselves, and it has become what it is today because of the support of my community. Moreover, I can proudly say that I never do anything without giving back to my community. Since day one we have donated to causes that the world can relate to and this year we’ve honored the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention Inc.

Kreyolicious: What surprised you about this year’s edition?

Well, the only surprise really was the award that I received for Outstanding Leadership from South Florida’s Top Models Inc. I knew about the nomination. However, I had no idea about the whole speech and award. I can’t thank them enough for making me feel special on that day. I knew that I was going into business with the sole purpose of helping others with no expectation of being recognized or awarded for what I do—but I have to tell you when your peers do acknowledge your work—it is the best feeling ever.

Above: Corhinn Bruno hands over the check to the representatives of the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention, Inc, the cause of this year’s CCWC Trunk Show.

Kreyolicious: What does it take to organize a fashion event of that caliber?

Faith. Yes it takes a lot of faith. As an event planner I already anticipate that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. The key is to be prepared to the best of your ability and to have faith that your event will turn out the way it was anticipated. The organization of that event was not easy, especially when I had designers coming all the way from Ghana [in] Africa. Sally Torpey, a designer from Ghana, specifically flew in for that purpose. She sacrificed a lot to be able to expose her line in America. I only wanted to give her the best, and with that mind frame, the event evolved to what you saw.

Kreyolicious: Let’s talk about your other love…broadcasting…Will you be bringing back the Corhinn show?​

[Laughter] I don’t know how many times I have been asked that question. I can’t say for sure that I will. However, when I become financially free, I would definitely explore that possibility.

Kreyolicious: What can your fans expect from next year’s edition?

What I love with my trunk shows is that I get to explore my own creativity. I already have my theme for next year however I can’t reveal it at this point, you will have to stay tuned for this one.

Kreyolicious: What would you say to other aspiring entrepreneurs who’d like to get into events?

For those who would like to get into events, know that it’s not easy and that you can’t do it alone. You will need a strong team behind you that understands how you work and are willing to sacrifice as much as you do. On that note, I definitely would like to take this moment to thank my team S and C Events By Design, Metallic Bubbles and Bibi KonneXtion and BBP. I have to tell you that without them this beautiful show could not have been possible.

Photos: Sony Laventure/LMI Design Group

CLICK TO VISIT THE CCWC TRUNK SHOW WEBSITE | THE CCWC TRUNK SHOW ON FACEBOOK | CORHINN BRUNO ON INSTAGRAM