Why the Eye Cream I’m selling you isn't ALL you really need.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably aware by now that I passionately share skincare products.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to sell you our newest product today. Although, I must say, I’m not apologetic about doing so. Before I get to the point, let me first say it drives me crazy that women feel the need to apologize constantly for things that do not warrant an apology. Prime example, sharing products with their network. “Sorry if you are tired of me posting about this but I just wanted to let you know...” STOP it girlfriend! You do not need to be apologetic for running a business. 

 I digress.

Personal experience has proven that early mornings are when I am most productive. So at 5 a.m. during my morning prayers I found myself specifically asking God for wisdom over our growing businesses.  After praying, it was time to put faith into action and get to work. I immediately felt led to re-visit the IG page, @TheWrightLookSociety, I created yesterday. My original thought was that it would be a page “all about skin” but suddenly I became overwhelmed with thoughts of people trying to improve the look of their outward appearance only to mask the condition of their true inner-being. I couldn’t help but to question if we would truly be transforming people’s lives by doing so? In that moment I knew exactly what I had to do. Scrap it! Scrap what I previously finished and fix my efforts on recreating a platform that focuses much more where it really counts... inward beauty. 

Before I go any further, allow me to be very candid.

All of the eye creams, serums, and moisturizers in the world won't make you any more beautiful, (those alone I should say). Beauty is a quality that best manifests itself from within. I know I know, we have heard this a million times but y'all, it is the truth. I honestly feel like I need to add the caveat to all of my skincare posts saying “Using this product without purifying the heart will be a waste of time and money.” Yes, those luscious lashes may make you feel better about yourself, especially when you post that selfie. BUT, my friend, that feeling will surely fade, and when it does you will be left with a feeling of temporary contentment or downright discontentment based on the condition of your heart. And both can and will eventually lead to a dark place if the right light isn’t shed on the situation.

   The condition of our heart can somewhat be known by us but can only be entirely known by God. Oh, how so easily we can fool society. I know because for years I did it. I fooled everyone! From my parents, friends, basketball fans, photographers, and casting directors. Everyone, including myself.  While I may have had my outward appearance together, the condition of my heart was in shambles. Have you ever seen those anti-smoking campaigns where they show a healthy heart vs. a smoker’s heart? That is as good of a depiction of the way I had the world around me fooled as opposed to what was truly there. It turns out, the only Person I couldn't fool was God.

   Why was my heart in poor condition? Without sounding like one of those street preachers that scream at you from the sidewalk, it was simple, it was because of sin. Sin makes the heart sick. Even if we don't realize it, ignore it, or completely deny it, living in opposition of God’s Way leads to misery and far worse. It’s the kind of misery that we cannot truly pin point. The kind that allows for temporary pleasure but no lasting fulfillment only`leaving us yearning for more, more, more. It’s the kind of misery that allows for the world to continuously praise us while not detecting that we have no true peace.

  Am I saying I am sin-free and perfect now? HA! Absolutely not. What I am saying is, once God revealed to me the condition of my heart, I decided to do something about it, something life-changing, something I could not do on my own. I “stopped doing” and wholly surrendered by accepting a free gift, from work that had already been finished. The definition of surrender reads “To stop resisting and submit to authority.” You may be asking, “who did I surrender and submit to?” Well, His name is Jesus, and He is the Son of God. He was the only Person to ever live a sinless (perfect) life and He laid it down as a living sacrifice to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. In a nut shell, He took our punishment and our shame for our lies, our lust, our pride, our anger, our envy, our selfishness.....ALL the judgment that comes along with our sin. And through that Sacrifice we are able to trade our ashes for beauty, free of charge. We are able to be clothed in righteousness which gives us a peace, a joy, a love so beautiful that nothing could compare, not even our most amazing eye cream. 

   Once you know that so high of a price Jesus paid for YOU, it helps you to realize your worth. Your value comes from knowing Who you belong to and knowing God made you beautifully, in His own image. Your satisfaction comes from sharing your God-given gifts with others and doing it for His glory. Yes, you will still want to look your best while doing it but it will be for a much higher purpose than before.

    So when I sell you a skincare regimen, sure,  be confident in knowing that it will definitely improve the visible signs of aging, but it will do absolutely nothing for the heart. The heart is where true beauty resides, without a doubt, so let us rely on Jesus to address the condition thereof, and not me or you. I encourage you, leave your heart with Jesus and your skin care with me. 

And please meet me on IG @TheWrightLookSociety for all things beauty, including the heart. This will not just be another pretty feed. The meat and potatoes (or lentils and tofu if you are vegan) will be about cultivating inner beauty and self- worth. Don’t worry, the ice cream and cake (all things beauty) will still be there because, what can I say, I’d be lying if I didn't say I love me some ice-cream and cake. 

With grace,

Angela Phillips Wright

@TheWrightLookSociety

P.S This goes for men as well. My husband, Dominic, has preached a couple sermons on his transformation. In one humorous but true statement, he went from wearing Gucci belts to make himself feel good to the Belt of Truth as a part of the Armor of God. Only one did good for the heart, the other could barely hold up his britches.

You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way.

       Song of Songs 4:7

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 Ephesians 2:10

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

 Romans 8:6

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

White moms and their mixed kids' hair!

Yes, I am seriously going there, to the place of mixed kids’ hair and their white mothers who are responsible for it! You may be feeling a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as you say to yourself, “Race and hair and parenting, oh my!”

I know this is an uncomfortable topic, but my husband and I also know that sometimes we must have uncomfortable conversations to bring healing and change. When it comes to hair, I understand there is a lot of judging going on from all races, but I am specifically focusing on white women being judged on their mixed kid’s hair.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a Caucasian woman. I’m not a fan of describing myself or anyone else by their race; however, knowing my race gives context to this blog. 

So, can I make a confession?

I remember saying “I can’t stand seeing white moms who don’t know how to fix their mixed kid’s hair!”

See, my pre-mom self was a model and a modeling instructor at one of the top modeling schools in the country, and this experience gave me a moderate level of expertise in all-things beauty. Not only did I have my hair styled by world-class stylists for modeling gigs, but I was also the face of beauty products including one of the top multi-cultural hair care brands, Miss Jessie’s. I was also trained by Miss Black Georgia on how to teach our modeling students to care for their hair and skin, and many of these students were people of color. In my naive mind, my future children had perfectly cared for and styled hair, at all times, to go along with their fashionable outfits that I put together, every day, coupled with their perfect, mannered behavior. 

Fast forward a few years, and here I am with my three-year-old, curly-headed, golden princess (her words, not mine) and, well, reality hit. Our daughter is not perfectly behaved, she wants to choose outfits that happen to be completely different than my style, and her hair typically reflects her wild personality by the end of the afternoon.

Does this mean I don’t know how to care for her hair? Absolutely not. It means she is a kid, not a mixed kid, just a regular kid who likes to run, play, do flips, wrestle, and put on costumes, a kid who doesn’t care if her hair is frizzy or tangled, for that matter.

Because of my former Judge Judy ways, I know that some people may be shaking their heads, thinking, “Oh, there is another white mom who can’t style her mixed kid’s mane.” Or, maybe, for those who see us in our well put-together moments may think, “Wow, that white mom actually knows how to care for that little curly head!”

I have decided I will not play into this narrative. I will care for my daughter’s hair in the best way possible because self-care is important, but I will not succumb to the pressures and stereotypes of society. In other words, I am not going to chase my daughter around with a comb, spray bottle, and our Miss Jessie’s multi-cultural curl lotion (our favorite curly hair product) so I can prove to everyone that I have been educated on caring for textured hair.

Did you know that kids all over the world have messy hair? It’s true! Mixed kids, black kids, white kids, Qatari kids, Indian kids, you name it. Their hair is in their faces, or frizzy, or tangled at the end of playdates. We have traveled to over ten countries with our daughter, and she always finds kids to play with wherever we go. Never has a kid stopped in the middle of playing to say, “My hair is getting frizzy, please fix it!”

My husband (who happens to be black) and I have lived in Doha, Qatar, for the past four years during the fall and winter seasons. I don’t know if you know much about Qatar, but it’s a tiny country in the Middle East that is 80% expat. This means the vast majority of the people living in Qatar are from different parts of the world. Any nationality and race are more than likely living in Qatar, and here is the funny thing. Out of all of the people we have ever come across throughout our international travel experience, nobody has ever guessed we were from America. The reason we find that relevant is because we are not seen as an interracial couple like we are in America. For us, we are a bit shocked when people refer to us in that way. We are not ignoring the obvious, but our race is not of much importance to us, and we simply refuse to give race precedence over our love or faith. Obviously, race plays a role in our society, especially in America, but race does not define us, no matter the divisive rhetoric the media wants to convince us to believe.

I refuse to hold myself to an unrealistic standard regarding my daughter’s hair. At times, her curls will be on point; other times, she will look a bit like Albert Einstein, and that’s okay! She is more than her hair, more than her race, and more than her looks, and I hope we all can agree on that. There are enough pressures on parents these days, you know? There is a ridiculous amount of judging going on, none of which helps our children or us, so let’s all stop and rewrite a nonjudgemental, inclusive rhetoric.

I bet when Jesus was a kid, his hair was a mess. You know how Jewish hair can be right? HA! Kidding! One of our favorite family Bible versus reads, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

If we can follow the ways of Jesus, we will care less about anyone’s hair or race, and we will live out the age-old saying “it’s what’s on the inside that counts!” which is of great truth!

I’m grateful for my past modeling experiences, which provided me the opportunity to learn proper hair care; however, I understand not everyone has been exposed to the same opportunities.  Fear not! There are tons of resources on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook that can help you understand about curl pattern and maintaining healthy hair. One of my favorite IG accounts to follow for curls is @Dreazzzy who is not only knowledgeable but also approachable. I think it is very important to know how to care for our children's hair and be able to help them learn to do the same. This will instill confidence in them. I can't tell you how proud I am when I hear Jincy say "I love my beautiful curls!"

Several pretenses of this blog might lead you to believe that I don’t want people to judge me. Thankfully, because of my spiritual foundation, judgment from other people is not a fear of mine. However, my heart led me to write this so people would stop judging each other. I’ve talked to countless white mothers who stress themselves out thinking they will be judged on their mixed kid’s hair when, in reality, they have learned how to take care of it, use proper products, and care about how their kids feels about themselves.

My husband and I have been told, many times by people of great spiritual discernment, that our family is meant to bring healing when it comes to race in America, and we humbly believe this. Please give us the benefit of the doubt that anything we say is intended to build up, not tear down, to bring together, not separate. 

With the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Thank you for reading.

Angela Wright

FB: Angela Phillips Wright

IG: @Ang______________

"Jincy Rose Reviews" Evergreen Organics

Evergreen Organics, The Pearl - Qatar

Hey friends! I'm excited to share another review with you all and appreciate all the support so far!

  I remembered last year when my mama took me to this cool place and we drank out of coconuts and I kept asking her to go back to that place!  I couldn't remember the name of it but thankfully she did. It's called  Evergreen Organics and it was the first vegan restaurant in Doha, Qatar. Now before we go any further, no, we aren't vegan. My mama is trying to eat less meat, I don't each much meat, and my poppa, well lets just say he is a carnivore. I digress. 

   Evergreen Organics is another restaurant in The Pearl, our man-made island community.  I was pumped when my mom said we get to take a water taxi because that kind of thing is exciting to 3 year olds like me. I hold baby Jett close to me so he doesn't jump out of the boat! Good thing he has me, right?

 While we were on the boat we stopped to pick up a few more passengers and the nice lady kept going on and on about my mom's eye lashes and skin so we had to share our secret formula with her aka Rodan + Fields Lash Boost. I even told her how I help my mom run the business so we can afford to all these fun restaurants.
  We finally made it to our destination and I wanted to sit outside, like always.  This place has a bit of jungle theme which makes me feel more comfortable acting like a monkey which my parents say I do more often than not.  Oh by the way, check out my new dress. If you follow my mom on Facebook you will appreciate the fact that this is one of the recovered dresses from the Old Navy mix up.

 I ordered my coconut and sweet potato fries and mamma ordered a frappe, edamame, and sprouts. I quickly remembered that I don't like coconut water. I just really like drinking out of the coconut so the kind waiter replaced the coconut water with something called a Chocolate Dream. It was delicious and reminded me of a chocolate banana milk shake.

 Of course I had to try my mom's frappe and add more sugar to it because that's what little monkeys like me do!

 The food was brought to our table and I immediately reached for the sprouts because I had never seen those before. I tasted them but wasn't impressed even though my mom told me how healthy they are. The sweet potato fries were yummy in my tummy but they tricked me by giving me a cranberry sauce that I thought was ketchup. I love me some ketchup!  Oh, and the edamame, which is usually one of my favorite foods, wasn't to my liking because it had hot stuff on it.  Mamma said it was the best edamame she ever had and I think she was glad I didn't want any of it.  Baby Jett was a little bit upset that he doesn't get to join in on the taste testing but he's just happy to get to be my brother, as he should be.

Then, we had an awesome surprise. You may have been wondering where Poppa was during all this fun. He had practice and then needed to get his hair cut so he missed out, or so we thought. Then all the sudden, we heard a whistle and there he was! I was ecstatic to see him and ran and jumped in his arms and gave him a big kiss. From what I hear, this is what my mom did to him the first time he came to visit her. But that story is for another day.

All in all, I would highly recommend this restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxing, the menu is unique, and the staff are super friendly vegan gangsters. Seriously, that's what it says on the back of their shirts! 

   

Until next time friends,
Jincy Rose aka Jincess

Jincy Rose Reviews Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar

Unicorn Hot Chocolate 

We were pretty excited when my best friends called and said they were headed to the Pearl, where we live, to hang out with us. I ask for them all day everyday so I was pumped to say the least!  In case you are wondering who "they" are,  I'm talking about the Ehambe tribe, Poppa's teammate Moses, along with his wife and their 4, soon to be 5 children. 

   Mama was quick to suggest a trip to Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar, I'm sure I inherited my sweet tooth from her and her from my papaw, but it is okay because we always eat fruits and vegetables before we indulge in sugar. Poppa is pretty much down for anything as long as our family and the Ehambe family get to hang out.  

   The Pearl is a man made island in Qatar and we live on the opposite side from where the Chocolate Bar is located so we took a super cool water taxi to get there. I think we almost sunk the boat with all of us plus our double stroller and I think we may have seen a shark, at least thats what I told my friends.

                                                             Water taxi for 10 please

  Once we arrived to Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar, we felt very welcome because they remembered our family from last year. I bet it was because my parents kept asking the waiters to take pictures of us, who knows.  Once we got seated the waitresses brought an iPad out and showed us 6 amazing hot chocolates to choose from. I chose the Unicorn hot chocolate, complete with cotton candy on top and Mama chose the peanut butter cup dark hot chocolate. Poppa went with the strawberry lemonade, like always.

                                             Dark Chocolate PB cup hot chocolate

 We were oh so hungry so we also ordered real food, which surprisingly, a restaurant called the Chocolate Bar had plenty of.  Poppa and I split spaghetti and mama ordered some tomato soup and a giant dessert called The Big Dip. My friends chose pasta and salad.  We had a nice long table right beside the water where we could look out and see the Doha City skyline and the other side of the island. But most of the time us kids were just play fighting with our place mats as we waited for the food. 

                                                                    The Big Dip

   It was totally worth the wait because the spaghetti was delicious even though it didn't have chocolate sauce like I expected. I ate like a big girl so I should be getting bigger and stronger if my parents have been telling me the truth about this stuff. And my unicorn hot chocolate was almost as tasty as it was pretty.  

   Before we started eating I learned something new. I usually pray with my eyes closed and thank Jesus for my food but my friends blessed God with their eyes open. I tried to correct them until my mom taught me that people pray differently and we shouldn't interrupt them. I may try keeping my eyes open next time I pray. 

   Another cool thing about this restaurant was how nice the waitresses, Nikita and Mary, were to us. Nikita even took all 5 of us kids to the potty so the adults could enjoy their food and conversation.

                                                     Nikita, our very nice waitress!

 They even gave the moms a box of chocolates as an early Mother's Day gift because Mother's Day is celebrated on March 21st here in Qatar.

                                                       Mama & Sarah with their gifts 

   I would recommend Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar to other families because the food was yummy, the location was beautiful, and the service was excellent.  Jett wanted me to share that the tomato soup was good but didn't understand why he couldn't have the chocolate so he decided to take a nap on Poppa.

                                                 
                                                     The two guys Mama and I love most!

We took the water taxi back to our tower and said goodbye to our friends. I almost cried because I didn't want the night to end but then I heard Mama and Poppa talking about how blessed we are and how much they love each other so I changed my 'tude and enjoyed the rest of our night together.

P.S Poppa still ate carrot muffins when we got in bed. Mama hates crumbs in the bed


Please go check out the video on my YouTube Channel and subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM6jF0rnDao 

Until next time,
Jincy Rose aka Jincess

Wet Behind the Ears

    

Photo by Na- Tsang Cheng

     Here we are, about a month and a half away from the delivery of another child, which means it's nearly been been 9 months since our last blog entry. Time stops for no one! During those months Dominic led his team to a championship in the Qatar Basketball League, Jincy found out she is going to have a little brother named Jett, we started our family skincare business with Rodan + Fields, traveled back home to America, spoke at a couple of youth basketball camps and churches, took a group of expat models and actors to NYC for the most prestigious talent showcase in the world, and most recently went on a family trip to Virginia Tech for the 10 year coaching reunion of my Dominic's beloved college coach, Buzz Williams. Oh, and last but not least my dad, brother, and husband have been building a retaining wall at my parent's house that would make President 45 wail with envy. 

     Maybe all of the above sounds exciting or just tiresome to you. For us it has been both!  We are constantly amazed at the life that God is leading us through. But we aren't just thrilled during the highlight moments such as hoisting championship trophies and walking red carpets. We are growing more and more thankful for the simple days and nights spent with family around the dinner table, bouncing up and down on the trampoline with Jincy, taking care of our humble abode, dripping sweat on my childhood basketball court during our daily workouts together, eating snacks in bed while trying to find another documentary or  Dateline to watch, and most importantly, learning that we are still learning.
     There was once a time when I thought being in your 30's meant you were all grown up and had life figured out. Ha! Lesson by lesson we are figuring out that we are still as wet behind the ears as new born babies. Sometime this realization makes us laugh, while at other times makes us cry, but usually it just leaves us shaking our heads because there is beauty in it all. Whether we are schooled through our triumphs or defeats, we find it remarkable that we get to do all of it together. 

     I'm convinced that some aspects of life would be easier without a spouse or children. For example, when we ventured to NYC this summer as a family for my models and actors to compete at IMTA, I couldn't believe how much different it was to tackle this city as a mother. I had spent a great amount of time in the Big Apple during my modeling days and it became one of my favorite cities but it didn't take me long before I realized that carrying a 2 year old through Times Square, making sure a 10 year old got to hit all the tourist spots, trying to keep a husband fed without breaking the bank, and being 6 months pregnant made for a completely different experience in the city that never sleeps. Let's just say I left there saying "All I want is sleep." Sound pretty rough?
      Go back and read the first sentence of this paragraph. I said some aspects of life would be easier without a spouse and children, I did NOT, however, say it would be better. There is no way in h-e double hockey sticks you could convince me that my life would be better without my precious family!!! This trip to NY was so much more meaningful than trips in my past life. It wasn't easy but it was the best. I did little to no shopping for myself, went wherever they wanted to go, ate whatever they wanted to eat, and made the entire trip about my models and actors...and my family. It was my first trip in NY that wasn't about ME and that, my friends, was the glorious lesson learned there. Pouring yourself into others isn't always easy, but it IS always worth it. Maybe the NY trip was for the purpose of me learning that valuable lesson. It could be that "the wall" project has been my husband's vehicle for learning this same thing. He has helped my dad shovel over 60 tons of rocks, dug dirt for days, and placed hundreds of 85 pound blocks on top of each other over the past 2 months. He has lost enough sweat to fill a large swimming pool and this isn't even for our house, it's for my parents. He has impressed me in many situations but seeing him work so hard with and for my dad might just take the cake. The life lessons never stop and we are learning to love that!

       Have you ever noticed that when you think you know where your life is headed it suddenly takes a slight right or maybe even whips around a sharp curve? Usually this is a bit scary. We tend to get in our comfort zones and want to park there but it's true that the most growth takes place when we are outside our comfort zone. We are hesitant now when people ask "How many more years will you play overseas?" or "How many more kids will you all have?" Day by day we see that we can plan and prepare all we want but when you let God take the lead you will be taken in some unforeseen directions. Insisting on our own plans and being so sure of our future plans has constantly proven to us to be the wrong way.  Through trial and error, we now see that we when follow Jesus we will never be disappointed where He takes us. We may be scared to take these leaps of faith, and the road may not always be smooth or predicable. I can testify to this because as of right now we don't even know which country our son will be born in but we find peace in knowing that God knows, and He has never steered us wrong. We love the excitement of following Jesus, and doing so as a married couple is life's greatest adventure and as good as it gets. So far He has taken us to over 10 countries and given us the most remarkable experiences we could imagine. Boring ol' Christians right?

Photo by Nai Tsang Cheng

     
 If I could go back and tell our 18 year old selves one thing, I would say, "Angela and Dominic, don't be so wise in your own eyes. Humble yourselves. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and he will make your paths straight." 

I know we don't have it all figured out yet and (never will), and that many more lessons are on the way. I do hope these teachings are gentle ones but if not, we will make it through because we belong to The Maker of it all!

Your prayers for us are always appreciated! As we continue to pray for you all. 

  

With gladness & simplicity of heart,
Angela 

Photos above by Shanya Stephens in Doha, Qatar

Doha, Qatar

Real life on the Red Carpet with a 2 year old! NYC

Our models and actors, Talent Society of Doha, walking the runway in front of over 1000 people at IMTA NY 17'

On top of the Empire State Building, NY

We partnered with the doctors at Rodan + Fields to have our own family ran skin care business and we appreciate all of our lovely customer and team members so much! Ask me how to get involved!

My results from one of our favorite products in our skin care line, Lash Boost

Little Ponderosa Rescue Zoo, TN

What an honor to be a part of Coach Buzz William's 10 year coaching reunion!

"The Wall" Every Block placed by my husband, brother, and father.

Special thanks to Nai-Tsang Cheng for capturing the first moments Dominic and I spent together, the moments of us sharing that we were having baby girl, Jincy Rose, and now this unique underwater shoot to celebrate bringing our son Jett into the world very soon. Lord willing.