Behind every strong or successful man there’s a woman just as strong supporting and encouraging that man to become the person that he is or will be. For some men, that may be their wives. However, nobody cared and sacrificed more than the woman that many men like to call “momma.” Recently, we had the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart with the ambitious, sanctified, and beautiful Mayzelle Hill; the mother of the sensational R&B artist Lorenzo Owens.

She’s poised, sophisticated, and looking just as young and fresh as she wants to be, at the age of 55. Don’t worry; we got permission to say her age! We wanted to know her secret. How does she keep herself in such good shape? Mrs. Hill revealed to GIRLFRIENDS all her tips and tricks to maintain not only her physical health, but spiritual health as well. When asked to give us her workout routine, what we thought would be a complex answer was actually quite simple, “I do the treadmills for about 30 minutes and then the elliptical for about 25 to 30 minutes.” Wow! Only about an hour a day? A little walking here and there; maybe getting in shape isn’t so hard after all!

She started learning the importance of maintaining good health in 2001 after dealing with high cholesterol, “then with getting older, you know that stuff just started coming out.” Mrs. Hill is living proof that with a little dedication, you can get your health back on track by working out four to five days a week and eating the proper foods. She also revealed another powerful tool used to keep her healthy; Noni Juice. She shared her testimony, “Originally, from the age of 18 to year 2000, I was on meds because of asthma. I started working out and drinking the Noni Juice. I started the Noni Juice in January, and in May my doctor took me off of my medication and I haven’t taken any since! I take it religiously.”

Now, we couldn’t let Mrs. Hill leave the interview without talking about her handsome son, Lorenzo Owens. We had to know, what it’s like being the mother of an R&B artist. All she could was laugh and say, “I just enjoy seeing him do what he loves to do. He loves to sing! I just enjoy him doing what he wants to do.”Because of her spirituality, she knows that she wouldn’t have been able to fight cholesterol and defeat asthma without God. A member of  Metropolitan

Church, Mrs. Hill’s faith is what gave her the strength to raise three children, maintain a healthy marriage, and be the beautiful woman she is today. So, what advice does Mrs. Mayzelle Hill have for our girlfriends? “My advice to anyone is to always lean and depend on the Lord.  Bottom line; in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.” 

One of the best ways to help your child is by knowing his/her teacher. In an ideal world, teachers would visit your home and get to know your family and community. In reality, teachers lead very busy lives, and unless schools allow time for this activity, it is unlikely to occur. There are mountains of studies that indicate when a teacher knows more about a child’s home life, the child can learn better.

When home visits are not possible, why not bring the home to the school? There are several ways you can do this: one is to have your child write a short letter introducing the family and community to the teacher. Another is to create a short video explaining your interests outside of school and brief family history. One other is to invite the teacher to your home or community festival. Finally, you can send a note to the teacher expressing positive thoughts about your child’s schooling. Teachers, like their students, like to know when they are doing well, not only when you are unhappy with their teaching. READ MORE

Working a hectic schedule is not easy, especially when you’re a woman. Now add the title of CEO to that equation and you’ve got an intense and demanding life. Pat Jerominski, CEO of iCare, knows all too well about being a woman of power and keeping it balanced. iCare is a managed care organization that offers both Medicare and Medicaid insurance benefits for people with disabilities.

Keeping it balanced is important. It’s so important that Pat focuses on it and every six to eight weeks, takes a trip. “I’ll go visit friends or go do something that takes me out of my environment, something that gives me a whole new prospective,” she explained. Going full circle by moving fast in a lot of directions is not uncommon for Pat, but she realizes that she has to still get the peace and relaxation that she needs.

Pat’s hectic day starts at 5am. She spends a lot of her day in meetings and networking, and usually doesn’t get home until after 7pm. With all the things that Pat’s on top of in her life, she admits that her eating habits could use some work. Juggling work and living alone cause this female CEO to eat out more than she’d like to. “When I do cook for myself, it’s a spiritual experience. I spend a lot of time giving thanks and really thinking about the energy I put into the food,” she said. She also confesses that one of her biggest challenges is not getting enough exercise to balance. Working a desk job and going to dinner, lunch or breakfast meetings takes a toll on your eating and exercise habits. “I don’t know who invented that, but quite frankly, that really isn’t the best thing to do – to have a meeting and eat at the same time,” she laughed.

As women, we naturally nurture and care for our families, friends and relatives. So many of us do this so much that we forget to do the same for ourselves. Even though Pat has a life and career with such an intense schedule, she still finds time for herself. Every morning when she wakes up at 5am, she meditates on what she needs to do to love herself, which she admits is very challenging for her. “The challenge of loving yourself to me, that really means taking care of myself,” she said. So when I asked Pat Jerominski for some ‘Girlfriend’ advice for our readers, she had this to say: “Take care of yourself. Women that I know don’t know how to take care of themselves because they love and take care of the world. There’s nothing wrong with taking care of yourself because if you don’t, you can’t take care of the world. So, instead of being an expert at that, turn that expertise onto yourself and the world will be a much better place to live.”

NaMia Moore

Alright Girlfriends – it is time to clear your clutter, change your color, and respond with wellness with some simple tips and tricks that you can use to create your own haven, even if you start with only one room.

Clear your Clutter!
We find that the emotional response to visual clutter is stress. Do you find yourself feeling visually assaulted when you enter a room of your home? If so, begin by organizing. Assemble all similar items. Remove anything that doesn’t absolutely lift your spirit! Take your remaining items and create small groupings in odd numbers to place on your dresser or inside of a bookshelf. Instead of having a consortium of mish-mosh throughout your home, you’ll have cohesive groups of collectibles that will instantly soothe your spirit and catch the eye of friends and family.
Color Your Way to Happiness!
Did you know that different colors, when used in interior design, have effects on us that we are sometimes not aware of? Certain colors soothe while others provoke aggressive emotions in us. I am a believer of the psychology of color for interior design, and the colors of your interiors play a large part in how your lifestyle and behavior is shaped. The psychology of color for interior design is used to determine which colors to use, depending on your needs and objectives. Here are two examples of how color can affect your emotions and mood.

Red - bold and provocative – awakens the senses, stimulates the appetite, and raises the blood pressure. Use this color in dining areas and theater rooms.
Blues and Greens (soft, muted color) - cool and calming, reducers of stress (such as celadon or sky blue). Use these liberally in bedrooms and bath areas. Go ahead and create yourself a spa!

So visit your local bookstore and pick up a book about color! Paint over those bland, white walls, and organize your way to creating a wellness retreat right at home!
Jennifer Payne

Rhoda Harris
Her spirit jumps out at you and flows around you at the moment of introduction. Rhoda Harris greets me with a warm smile, a welcoming tone, and bright, shining eyes. What is not readily apparent is that those eyes don’t really see me clearly.

“I can see you,” says Rhoda. “But it’s as if I’m looking at you through a straw. All that is visible to me is a pinpoint of your face. I have no peripheral vision and I have partial vision in one eye only.” What Rhoda has is glaucoma, and she just recently was diagnosed with a cataract. “I have ten percent vision left in my right eye. Now with the cataract, it’s like grease is in my eye.”

She was diagnosed with childhood glaucoma, a rare condition caused by incorrect development of the eye’s drainage system before birth, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation. “My grandmother noticed something was wrong because I was spilling and bumping into things a lot. She took me to a specialist who sent me to County Hospital. At the time, I was diagnosed, at 4-years-old, I was only one of three children who had it in the entire state. I was the youngest and one of two who were African-American.” READ MORE

Girlfriends, would you agree that if badly sick or injured, you couldn’t continue to support loved ones and pay the bills? Most would likely experience serious financial hardship if their paychecks stopped for more than a few weeks.

Despite this harsh reality, few workers have disability insurance coverage, which replaces a portion of income if they are unable to work due to illness or accident. While many people typically own life insurance, disability insurance is usually the most overlooked and misunderstood forms of insurance. READ MORE

Looking back at the ancient beauty rituals of Egyptian and Nubian women, cleanliness, smooth healthy skin and the removal of unwanted body hair was of most importance. It was typical practice to remove hair from the entire body as Egyptian women were known for wearing their robes and skirts open to the waist. For them, the lack of hair was synonymous with cleanliness.

Appearance was an indicator of personal status or political significance and presently, it impacts outside perceptions while affecting our self-esteem, both consciously and subconsciously. Whether we choose to admit it or not, we are affected by the physical changes that come with each stage of life – changes that sometimes require a little professional help to bolster our self confidence. READ MORE

When I hear the word minority– struggle and growth come to my mind. Carmen Alicia Murguia is a minority in more than one way. She is the definition of a woman who has found her voice and her walk of passion through hardship to joy, she isn’t ashamed to bring her whole self to the table with her friends, familia, clients, and colleagues at Jack Safro’s Infiniti North Shore.

From growing up with “brown skin”, to working in sales in a male dominated business, she utilizes the essence of herself to define, inspire, empower, connect and achieve. Carmen paints with words as a poet. She has published pieces in “Between the Heart and the Land: Latino Poets in the Midwest” and “The Voices Inside” and is working on her next collection, “Brown Skin”.

“It kept coming up as a theme of inspiration. “Brown Skin” comes in so many different colors. Looking at my work over the past couple of years has everything to do with being brown and going through life and work as a brown person,” said Carmen.

Carmen always thought that certain careers that demanded a lot of her time would hinder her writing. She realized that she is blessed with a gift, and it is not going to go anywhere. Coming from a job as a receptionist of 18 years, the big move was having to follow her heart, and listen to her gut while deciding what she wanted to do.

“It means really stretching out and listening to your potential and saying, you know, it’s already here, you just have to find something that interests you.”

She found just that when she was hired as a Sales Consultant for Infiniti, making for one of three women who work for the company in the Midwest and the only minority woman in sales in the Midwest. She has excelled in the business of luxury car sales and was the recipient of the 2007 Infiniti G35 “Walk Around” Competition as well as the Greater Milwaukee Auto Show’s 2006 award for customer excellence.

She seeks support from friends, familia and Leo Finley at Infiniti. “He is a great manager, he is constantly in my corner and I don’t think I have ever experienced that, a constant without a doubt,” said Carmen. “It’s the one place I can bring my whole self to work. Carmen, all of me; my Mexican self, my female self, my business self…it’s like I was preparing my whole life, including the poetry because I present myself and the vehicles.”

Carmen encourages women to open their heart and let love in and expresses the power behind using all of your potential.

A A healthy financial outlook is as important as being physically healthy. Legacy Bank recognizes the importance of building wealth. Individuals who do not have financial worries are less likely to have stress or other diseases that impact their physical well being. In our market place, many of the consumers don’t have a banking relationship. Senior management recognized this was a niche that the bank could fill. Our Marketing Department developed a checking account for individuals, which offers training for our future customers, especially individuals who have never had a banking account or, have a history of account abuse.

On the third Saturday of every month, our Audit and Compliance Department hosts a financial literacy training class for perspective customers. The message is geared towards account responsibility and building a relationship with a banker. The two-hour class, created by our Compliance Officer, discusses the various components of being a good customer. Perspective customers are required to practice balancing an account, writing checks, understanding ATM and debit cards. They also receive banking fee information, in comparison to the fees charged by payday loan merchants or check cashers. READ MORE

Silvia N. Perez is a highly educated and successful woman. At the age of fourteen, she came to America from a little town in Mexico with no running water, or electricity. She was on a mission, seeking education, including learning the English language. Silvia is a compassionate woman with a heart filled with the belief of spreading hope.

Over the past thirteen years, she resided in Milwaukee, establishing excellent friendships and a tremendous local and national network. Silvia achieved her Masters of Science in Management from Cardinal Stritch University in 2005. She has 11 years of Marketing, Public Relations Development and Sales experience and an active role in the Latino community. For her role as the On Site Coordinator for the National Convention League of United Latin American Citizens, she secured national sponsorships and worked with Miller Park, the Mitchell Park Domes and the Milwaukee Art Museum in holding social events for the youth. READ MORE