AggieStrong the Ultimate Life Coach

Faith is a huge part of Black culture. On the last Sunday of Black History Month, I took the liberty of visiting Toronto’s first Black church and establishment—First Baptist Church.  It was a true jubilee. Rev. Dr. Wendell Gibbs's message was powerful and deeply moving. He reminded us of our identity in Christ, declaring, “Black history didn’t begin with slavery or emancipation but in the Genesis beginning.” He also spoke of “The anguish of our ancestors… those who died [so we could have] peace… May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. [And] we… vow[ed] to uphold this.” The service reached a pivotal moment when the congregation joined the choir in singing: I’m no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God. Founded in 1826 by formerly enslaved people who sought refuge in Canada, First Baptist Church has long stood as a pillar of the Black community. While the original congregation laid its foundation nearly two centuries ago, the current building, complet...

Blog post title: 4 Benefits of Strategic Networking - Credit: author "Never wish life were easier, wish that you were better." — Jim Rohn There are many benefits to networking. Whether you live abroad or you live in Canada; or whether you are looking for a job, or to start or grow your own business, or just looking to broaden your perspective, the benefits are the same across the board. But today I will share just five with you. They are: connection, collaboration and confidence; opportunities; mentorship; savings; and influence and impact. Connection, Collaboration, Confidence (C³) Considering your starting point or biggest hurdle is that you don't know enough people, the first benefit is that you are able to connect and collaborate with people from all over the globe—near and far. This leads to broader perspective and base. In doing so, you automatically boost your confidence. Professional networking forces you to talk to people you wouldn't normally...

Title image: pretty young lady on retro phone A lot of people think of culture shock as something new immigrants to a country goes through or an experience privy only to those who move to a different, strange or foreign environment. But culture shock is the feelings of stress, anxiety, uncertainty one gets when they are faced with unfamiliar culture in life, business or social environment. According to google, it is: The feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. Culture shock can be experienced even by the most open-minded and culturally diverse or sensitive people. In wake of the new presidential election in the USA, many people in the world will be forced to cope with the new global culture or withdraw. U ndoubtedly, the pot will be stirred. Things will become unfamiliar for even the most culturally diverse person. Being an immigrant and first generation Canadian, I...

Women empowerment brunch, photo credit: Sofi On Sunday, August 14, 2016, we had our annual summer brunch.  This event started with my girlfriend wanting to end the summer on a great note a few years back, August 2011, to be exact.  She invited me and six other of her closest friends along with a couple of her neighbors to spend the day in her beautiful home and garden. We had such an amazing day we decided to make it an annual thing—Dawn's Big Hat, Long Dress Garden Brunch. The pictures got raving reviews on facebook.  As time went by, more and more people started requesting invites or asked why they weren't invited.  My girlfriend being a people lover and having a huge heart decided to open her doors to more people the following year. Six years later, it has come to be known as the Women Empowerment Brunch, with over 30 fabulous ladies in their long dresses, big hats and lots of bling! This year, we collected non-perishable items to be delivered to a woman...

Aggie Strong's blog post title: Women Empowerment: How can we empower ourselves and each other? The other day I was asked to give a talk on women empowerment to a bunch of ladies at a brunch , so I have decided to share it in its entirety. Here we go! Today I will be talking about women empowerment and how we can help to empower ourselves and each other using what I call The 8 A’s of Empowerment , being: Aggie Strong's 8-A pyramid of empowerment Awareness Acceptance Assertiveness Affirmations Accountability Ability Association Actualization For me, women empowerment involves developing a greater sense of confidence, courage and well-being in our own individual capacity. I strongly believe that by increasing your own personal, spiritual, social, political, physical, mental, emotional and economic strength you raise that of others. It is also about females supporting each other and bonding together. And, it is about each and every woman livi...

Well I am no twitter expert, but I am very observant and free-thinkg. And for those two reasons, I decided to share my thoughts with you on the subject matter. So recently I noticed that I had a few unfollow or no follow backs on twitter—I have a very small platform to begin with so I kind of notice these things‚ maybe they are just more obvious when you have such a small platform—I don't know.  Anyhow, I decided to check out who unfollow me on Manage Filter —my little twitter helper. While I was doing that, I got to thinking why do people unfollow or not follow back? So here are the top six reasons I came up with: