The Obamas

Isn’t it funny how, even as adults—grown-up women with grown-up mortgages, grown-up car notes and grown-up responsibilities—we can still find heroes to look up to? Some people think they don’t need role models once they survive puberty or graduate college, but I’ll still have them as long as I can find them—and I’ve found two in Barack and Michelle Obama. I love them. L-o-v-e them. They are, to me, an honest-to-goodness power couple, the real-life version of Cliff and Clair, the pair that has changed the face of Black America. Every election year that I can remember, our people have sort of been on the fringes of the action, adding dots of color along the campaign trails but being treated more like speed bumps than major stops on each candidate’s roadway to the White House. Barack Obama has changed all of that. He doesn’t sing, and chances are he probably shouldn’t, but that man and his wife are a set of true American idols.One of the things I admire most about his platform is his commitment to being proactive, not reactive. It’s a lot harder to do damage control after a major catastrophe than to build the resources and relationships to prevent the meltdown from happening in the first place. It took a while for people to seriously consider him, but I’ve witnessed a definitive change in the community over the year since he announced his presidential candidacy. Folks seem a little prouder, a little straighter, a little more self-assured. And they’re definitely following the race more closely because they can see themselves in the Obamas—not just in the color of their skin, but their principles and down-home, everyday people mannerisms. They’ve earned our respect, if not our votes.

I have a friend who’s gone to the polls every four years out of a sense of duty, but never really connected with the political process. This year, she drove all the way from D.C. to Philly to vote with her mother in their first primary election. I’ve observed little boys from the inner city, show a genuine interest in Barack Obama. There’s a confidence in them that had been untapped and almost irrelevant until this senator from Illinois showed them what they could be in 15, 20, 30 years. All of their lives, well-meaning adults have been feeding them the generic line that they could be anything if they put their minds to it. Barack took that cliché beyond lip service by showing us that that is really true. He’s a living, breathing, walking symbol of possibility. And his wife? Please. The sista is fierce. We know Barack’s help cometh from the Lord but with a woman that intelligent and articulate by his side as his top advisor, he can’t go anywhere but up.

No matter what kind of wrenches his opponents or the media try to throw into his political machine, my man Barack bounces back with the buoyancy of a true solider. The way he plows ahead despite the bullcrap loaded onto his footpath has inspired me to take a similar approach in my own career. The last few months have been filled with the hardest days of my life. After four years on the airwaves in New York City, the most influential radio market in the country, I was suddenly fired from my job. No warning, no explanation aside from a flimsy ‘corporate downsizing’ speech. Ironically, my first day of being abruptly and officially unemployed began on Super Tuesday, after I had dedicated my entire show to Obama by playing songs like "Yes We Can" by the Pointer Sisters and "The People" by Common. I just wanted my listeners to get out and vote. I just wanted them to feel as empowered and inspired as Barack makes me feel. It took my entire career to work my way to a radio spot in NYC and in a few moments—after one of the best shows of my life, no less—it was gone. I’m still struggling with the hurt and confusion of having my dream derailed, but thank I God for having more than one dream.

Now I’m focused on shaping Chocolate Brides into an instantly recognizable national brand. Publishing a magazine is hard work; if anyone ever tells you otherwise, kindly pinch them on the shoulder and tell them Kesha Monk sent it. With this type of project, advertising support is critical but it’s difficult to get businesses and individuals to support something positive, especially if it’s new and positive. I’ve had to make up for the lack of advertising by paying out of my own pocket. When I lost my job, and my main source of income, I thought that my goals were literally being murdered. Here I sat with thousands of subscriptions to fill and not a dime to produce the magazine. But all is not lost—it never is when God has free reign over your life and I invited Him to navigate mine a long, long time ago.

I draw inspiration from watching Barack work tirelessly to bring change to a system and society that for the longest time seemed unchangeable, virtually kicking the good ol’ boys right square in their high sadiddy rear ends. During the past two months since my termination, I've been at the lowest point of my entire life. But seeing a Black man run for president with his wife proudly by his side is the biggest example of defying the odds. So guess what? I have to keep moving even though I may have to go through 20 no’s from advertisers to get one yes. Somehow Barack and Michelle have given me hope. They’ve given me a greater appreciation for my husband and daughters who love me so much, and for the movement which is Chocolate Brides. I'm encouraged in spite of challenging circumstances. And thanks to the Obamas, I won't stop.