LBS Exclusive: Tracee Ellis Ross Talks New Website, Self-Esteem & More

So those of you who know me, know that I consider Tracee Ellis Ross one of my biggest style & beauty inspirations. From her amazing head of natural hair to her impeccable taste in fashion, I’ve been a dedicated STAN since her “Joan” days on Girlfriends.You guys were there when I first met her this time last year at the Reed Between The Lines premiere party (yes, same night I met Kanye). And you were there when I gushed about seeing her again at the Optimum Hair Care event in August (and she remembered me! *squeals*)

So I considered it an immense honor that Tracee chose myself and a handful of other bloggers to hop on a call with her yesterday to discuss one of her proudest accomplishments to date - the launching of her very own website and online community TraceeEllisRoss.com! Tracee chit-chatted about some of her personal style icons, what we can expect to see on the site (from video content to guest appearances and inspiration posts), and what she hopes to accomplish in building her own community online. Get into our chat & be inspired:

What inspired you to create this new site?
I think this has been a lifetime journey if you want to know the truth. I think social media has really changed the definitions of what you can do with a website. Keep in mind that when Girlfriends was on the air, social media did not even exist! So up until recently, I had no real way of connecting to people who connected to [the characters]. So the last year I really spent growing in my relationship with social media. At first I was very uncomfortable with it. I come from a public family so I inherently am very private. But what I came to realize was that people were responding to alot of the same things that I respond to and that I was interested in. So that spawned the thought that it could become more than just me interacting with people via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. The desire to create a lifestyle website was there from the start. And my hope is that it eventually moves away from being just TraceeEllisRoss.com and it becomes a world and a tribe of other like-minded people.

Will you share educational pieces about natural hair on the site?
I am not an expert, just an individual who has had quite the hair journey. The overall theme of the site is just to use myself as a springboard. My hair is a huge part of my life so I can't say that it will be educational, but I will be sharing my journey and what works for me. My point always is to stress that there isn’t just one way to do it, or one way to treat your hair. And that’s the theme of how I will use that section of the site.

You're a fashion icon and you inspire many women with your style. Will you be incorporating more stories about empowerment through body image on your site?
Of course! I touched on that with my “A Culture Confused by Fake Boobs” story. I will say that I’m incredibly uncomfortable with having the word “icon” anywhere near my name. It makes me SO uncomfortable. Probably because I’m the offspring of a REAL icon and I don’t feel like I’m anywhere at that place in my life though I’m so humbled by that. Body image is huge for me. Acceptance of ourselves is so important. We are all stunning and beautiful because we are all children of God. So that message will always be a part of anything I do because it is a core belief of mine.

Where do you get visual inspiration from?
Oh God, it comes from anywhere! I could get style inspiration from a flower. Since I was young, I’ve always called my closet my "happy place". I moved to Paris when I was about 12 years old with my family. Then I went to boarding school in Switzerland and there are many things I got from living abroad. One of them being that I came to understand that I was a child of the world and not just the US. From an emotional standpoint, I really gained a connection to the “outer” of clothing and how it related to me in an "inner" way. This idea that clothing started as an armor and a way that I protected myself and now has become a way that I express myself. I truly find inspiration in many different places, but mostly it’s about how I feel, which is why I thinks style is truly from inner to outer.

Will you be including your celebrity friends like Kanye, or style expert besties like Chuck Amos on the site as well?
Eventually I hope to share all aspects of my world. I have alot of people in my world who you might not know but they are the shiznizzle, let me tell ya! My best friend - I want her to have a whole section! I think the people around me are way more exciting then I am. So yes, if Kanye wants to do that or if my best friend wants a section, I hope that this is a place for them to do so. And by the way, that's not only for people I know, but I hope that eventually I end up meeting some people I didn’t know before and being able to introduce them to my community though the website. That is the beauty to me, is that this is a way to connect and become a community - not just a way for me to be seen. So yes, that will happen!

Any favorite blogs or websites?
Recently I have been discovering a ton. Usually my interests online have to do with style and a bit of politics. I really love the Street Style photographers, like I just discovered Jak and Jil. But I will be honest, I’m not really a web surfer. That’s one of the reasons I love Twitter and Pinterest. I go there and they send me places, like an already edited selection of links. I really like Pinterest. It’s like magic!

Who are your personal style/beauty/inspiration icons?

The list could go on and on! I mean, obviously my mother has influenced my style. From a real practical sense because I take ALL her sh**! I mean I have been known to shove stuff down my shirt when she’s said “No you cannot take that.” I have left with bracelets in my boobs! (Laughs) My mom will see me and be like “That is so pretty, I have something like that!”. So obviously my Mom is one. Love Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Vreeland, I love the 70’s as an era, Cher, Daphne Guiness - I love her boldness, Nina Simone, Kate Moss has style that makes me want to fall over, Cristy Turlington has incredibly beauty. And I LOVE noses. I love a strong nose. The kind of noses that make people uncomfortable and make them possibly want to get a nose job.

Love this woman! Intrigued? Mmm hmm I know you are. Check out Tracee’s website HERE! You also should be following her on Twitter @TraceeEllisRoss and keeping up with her on the Facebook.

Will you be following? I sure will!

LoveBrownSugar Interviews The Braxtons

Tonight marks the return of the “snaps, crackle and pops” better known as The Braxtons. The ladies along with Miss Evelyn return to Wetv for the continuation of season 2, now known as season 2.5 of Braxton Family Values. Yesterday at the London Hotel in New York, LoveBrownSugar.com sat down with Towanda, Traci, Tamar, Trina and Miss Evelyn to discuss where the season picks up and continues. They laid it out for us, with lots of laughter and personality to boot.

On season 2.5, Tamar Braxton claims “This 2.5 you really get to see a lot of everybody else.” For everyone who wants so much to “stan” for Traci, according to Towanda, “you get to see more of Traci in her marriage and her being a mother and a business woman.” Yes, finally we can strip her of being “the wannabe” because according to Tamar, “she is far from that.” And I agree!

Towanda, the glue that holds the sisters together, seems to have a rocky relationship with the father of her children Andre. But according to her, “I’m the girlfriend whose relationship you don’t know much about, but you just know it works for her.”

Trina’s role as wife and partyer has overshadowed the singing career that she has been working on with her band. She now has her first single out, “Party or Go Home,” which has been getting lots of play on the party scene. Trina will be releasing an EP very soon. When asked about what we can expect to see, she explained “In the near future, you’re not gonna have any ballads. I think it’s really important for me to establish who I am as a solo artist before I delve in to all those other genres of music because I don’t want to confuse my fans.”

We all want new music from Tamar, but she and Vince are conceiving their “love on top,” as she refers to her future baby bump. According to Tamar, a little one is “in the works.”

The Braxtons are some beautiful women, so of course I had them share their beauty secrets:

Tamar said, “right now everyone’s on Make Up Forever and Black Opal. And we use Dove soap because we have crazy sensitive skin and those products are very sensitive to the skin.” Who knew Dove Beauty bars work great on the face?

And who do you think they all said in unison was the most fashionable sister? "TAMAR!" Well, 3 snaps in a Z snap to that! Season 2.5 continues tonight on Wetv at 9pm.

- Makisha Timothy

Check out our exclusive video below:

Kisha chit-chatting with The Braxtons

Will you guys be tuning into Season 2.5?

Get Like Me: Mali Romeo

Aspiring to break into the fashion industry or simply intrigued by it? Well LoveBrownSugar has something for ya! Our “Get Like Me” series highlights exclusive interviews with industry insiders from celebrity stylists to fashion designers, editors, fashion PR heads & more!

Aspiring fashion designers, you're in for a treat! Making the cut as our first-ever Get Like Me fashion designer is chic and edgy sweetheart Mali Romeo. As a young entrepreneur and technically trained designer, she's racked up experience studying at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology and working as a designer for companies like Bongo and Aeropostale. Now the Head Designer and Creative Director for her own eponymous lines Mali Romeo and MÚS by Mali Ro, she's shedding light on what it takes to make it as a young fashion designer. Check it out:

Name: Mali Romeo
Age: 22
Favorite Designer(s): Rachel Roy, Rachel Zoe, Whitney Eve
Personal Style in 3 Words: Hipster, Chic and Classic
Must-Have Accessory: Any cool bag.

How did you get your start as a designer?
I didn't plan to be a designer, it wash't always my dream. When I was in High School they offered a fashion illustration course and I did it just to do something different. My teacher saw how good my drawings were and she suggested that I take summer courses at FIT, so I did. I really started to like it and so I went to college for it. From there, I got internships and jobs and then I just decided to do my own thing. When I was in school I won the student Designer of the Year Award. It didn't really hit me until then and so I just thought "I guess I'm supposed to do this." So I did.

After graduation what did you do? I interned. I got a paid internship working at Bongo and then from there I did a lot of contemporary work. I worked at contemporary denim line Charley 5.0 and then Aeropostale. I went from internships to jobs. And everything I learned I tied it back in to my line plus added my own touch.

I saw on Instagram that you vacationed in Tobago. Is that where you're from?My Dad is from Tobago and my Mom is from Guyana. I hadn't been to Tobago since 2003 and I really needed a vacation. Since I graduated I've been working and I haven't really taken a vacation, so I spent two weeks in Tobago.

How was it?It was amazing. It was so good. I was at the beach everyday. I got to see family. I got to eat so much food. It was really relaxing. I feel like I got cleansed from all my work and that's what I needed. When I came back I launched the website because I was just ready to get back in to it.

What would you consider your top three travel essentials?I need my phone, my flat iron and I need my makeup. You never know where you're going to go!

What inspired you to create Mali Ro?Well I didn't have a name for the line and one of my really good friends and I decided to go to Bryant Park one day and I told her that I needed to come up with a name for my line. People called me Mali for short but she called me Mali Ro. I liked the name "muse", but so many people used it. You know a muse inspires. When people saw my photo shoots,  I wanted them to be inspired by the whole line. She suggested MÚS by Mali Ro and we agreed on that.

Mali Romeo Stars & Stripes Collection 2012

So you have two lines right? Mali Ro and MÚS by Mali Ro?
MÚS by Mali Ro and Mali Romeo. MÚS by Mali Ro - that would be the funky line. It's kind of like having a split personality. MÚS by Mali Ro is like Mali Romeo's alter ego. If you look at the shoots for MÚS by Mali Ro, the girls are really funky, they're doing a lot of random stuff, they're just showing a lot of personality.

MÚS by Mali Ro Summer 2011

Mali Romeo, however, is like the Spring Blossom collection and that was really clean and simple -  that's how I am. When I made that collection I was thinking "I'm gonna make everything that I like". Because in the last collection, I liked everything, but I don't really wear everything because I made it for a certain customer. With Mali Romeo I'm going to develop that as things go along. The Spring Blossom collection was an introduction to that.

Mali Ro Spring Blossoms 2012

What would you say has been the most difficult challenge you've had to face?
The only large challenge that used to bother me was other designers copying my designs. But I have really great friends who are successful and they put it in my head that it doesn't matter. People are going to pay for the label. If other designers copy me, fine. I just know that I'm creative and I can always come up with something else. My advice if you have to deal with something like that is to stay relaxed and calm because it's your creative mind. And while you're calm and creating your designs, others are going to be sweating trying to keep up but you're always going to be steps ahead. If you keep worrying that means you see them as a threat, but personally I just keep creating because that's what I'm good at.

Three pieces of advice you would give to new designers?A lot of people want to be designers but they don't realize how much work you have to put in to it. Interning really helped because I already knew how to sew, but I learned how to do line sheets, tech packs, and you need to know how to do that especially if you're going to run your own business. You need to know how to do everything those people know how to do. And you should also try to teach yourself. I'm very self taught. From the things you see in my photoshoots to my website. It's good for you to be hands on and learn as much as you can so that you can apply it. You have to stay focus and you have to be determined. This has to be something that you really want to do. I try to not think about how much work I do because that would be stressed out. If I really thought about all stuff that I've sewed it would probably drive me nuts. You have to stay organized. And stay humble.

Who is your biggest inspirations and why?It's actually my friend. She's a friend and she's a mentor. She the designer of Ekineyo, her name is Nike Oyelami. She is such a big inspiration to me because before I met her I never thought I could be friends with a designer. I thought they would copy me or something, but she has really given me so much advice. She has just genuinely helped me and has always looked out. And we have always helped each other too. I really look up to her.

Where do you see Mali Ro in 5 years?The company has already started to grow. I'm now looking for a design assistant. I should have a few employees.. I really want to run a smooth ecommerce site so that I can build a great customer base and great clientele, so that one day when I open a boutique or showroom I'll have great success from people who really appreciate my product. And I also want to expand to accessories because I want to create a lifestyle brand.

Check out Mali's designs at www.MaliRomeo.com | Follow on Twitter @MaliRomeo

Fashion Week Diaries: Vashtie

Backstage at Custo Barcelona, LoveBrownSugar caught up with "Downtown's Sweetheart" Va$htie. She's an artist, director, designer and all-around fly girl at the age of 25. Check out what she has to say about fashion week and her personal style philosophy...

Keep up with Va$htie at her BLOG and @Vashtie on Twitter

Spotted: Estelle at Max Azria

 LoveBrownSugar caught up with Estelle to talk about her fashion week "hangover" and her love for Max Azria...(we heart her)

LoveBrownSugar Feature: Style & Substance Magazine

Special thanks to Style & Substance Magazine for featuring me this week! In an article titled "The Ingredients: LoveBrownSugar", Style & Substance highlights my blog with a witty Q&A session. Be sure to check it out HERE!