CURLS COILS & COCKTAILS 2014

I had the pleasure of attending the Curls Coils & Cocktails event this past weekend for the second year in a row.  It is hosted by the lovely Bee Quamie of 83toInfinity.com and Anne Marie Collymore of SoulAfrodisiac.com.

THE VENUE:
This year it was held at the Uptown Loft, a chic swanky venue in midtown Toronto.  A spacious open concept room with a white bar, white curtains and chairs all backlit by blue lighting with big beautiful chandeliers.  The staff was friendly and quick, the hor d'oeuvres  kept flowing, and the drinks prices were reasonable compared to the previous venue. (I was able to purchase a beer for $6 as opposed to $14 the year before) 
A definite upgrade from the venue last year (imo) and with a lot more room for mixing and mingling.

THE CROWD:
It was a great turnout with beautiful women and beautiful hair all across the room and a few gentlemen scattered in between.  I saw some familiar faces but was also happy to meet a lot of new people who came out to support.

THE EVENT:
Bee and Anne Marie are amazing hosts!  They kept the event moving along without a hitch and provided lots of laughs.  Gift bags were provided for the first 50 entrants and there were constant giveaways with some really great prizes from various sponsors including ToniDaley.com :) 
There were also two vendors which in my opinion was just the right amount and added to the exlusive upscale feel.   Eli's body Shop which makes some of my favourite products was there with an array products for both the hair and skin and The Diana Tracy Collection had some beautiful accessories on display.

There was a panel discussion by 4 lovely ladies who are all professionals on the diversity of natural hair.  I have to admit I found this part repetitive as they had the same discussion of natural hair diversity featuring 4 professionals on a panel from last year's event.  In the defense of Curls Coils & Cocktails it's not just them....it seems to be a repetitive theme at all natural hair meetups/events.  Looking around the room though I didn't see too many newby naturals, most in fact had been natural for years and were well established in their careers.  I think it's safe to say we have already figured out that our natural hair can be rocked both in and out of the corporate world.  As a suggestion I'd love to hear discussions and debates on current topics that affect and/or include the natural hair world.

Where the event did shine was performance and Q&A with Canada's top funk/soul/rock artist Saidah Baba Talibah.  She rocked it out!


Overall I had a great time at the event and am looking forward to next year.

 Stay tuned for my video recap on YouTube on Saturday at www.YouTube.com/ToniDaley80

-Toni

OOTD - CASUAL CHIC

Hey Guys!

I attended the 2nd Curls Coils and Cocktails meet up in Toronto this past Saturday and had a blast!  It was an evening event at a chic venue in mid town Toronto and I wanted to go for the casual look so here's what I rocked!

Top: I purchased from the NYC Health and Beauty Expo from Rooted4theSoul.com - Jacket: Bluenotes - Pants: American Apparel - Shoes: JustFab - Earrings: ToniDaley.com

I met some of my awesome peeps: Kandi, Andreah and Sharie.  You ladies were awesome, forgive me if i misspelled your names!

I'll have pictures and info about the actual event up next :)

-Toni

I DID IT!!!

If you follow me on my vlog channel (www.YouTube.com/MissToniDaley)  you know that this is something I've been contemplating for a while but have been held back so long by a little voice in the back of my head that was preventing me from making a change.

My concept of "success" has really changed throughout the years.  I used to think it was completing school and earning a degree, and then I thought it was getting a good job with good pay, and then I thought it was finding a meaningful career.  Now I realize although these things all can be considered successful, at the end of the day success is whatever makes you happy which is usually different for everybody.  Your success may not be my success and my success may not be yours but we can recognize it in other people when they are truly happy.

I've worked in a corporate environment at a large company with good pay, great perks and amazing benefits.  A job that allowed me to save money, eat well, spend money and pay off debts.  I worked my way up through various positions over the course of 7 years….and hated every minute of it.  It caused me stress, anxiety, tears, weight gain, and mood swings.  I felt miserable and then I felt guilty for feeling miserable because all around me are people complaining about being broke or not even being able to find employment.  How could I give up what they want?  How could I be so ungrateful?  It took me a long time to get over the feelings of guilt and finally come to the decision that I wanted to finally do something for me and only me.  After speaking with numerous people about their biggest regret in life, the common theme was that the regret not taking more risks….whatever the risk was for them.  So I prayed about it.

As I was preparing for the NYC Health and Beauty expo I was at the mall shopping one day and came across this tshirt.

It says "Forget all the reasons it won't work and believe the one reason why it will"  I bought the shirt and decided to do just that.

In Canada, where I'm from maternity leave is 1 year off.  I know tons of family and friends who have had a baby and taken a year off to nurture the child before returning….well I decided to do something selfish and take a year off to nurture just me.  I submitted my resignation and am now happily job free :)

I'll be keeping busy with my business and building my brand:
http://www.ToniDaley.com
http://www.YouTube.com/ToniDaley80
http://www.YouTube.com/MissToniDaley
http://www.SupportaSista.com

I wanted to share my story in case some of you are going through the same thing and looking for a little inspiration.  Life is too short to wonder what if….

I look forward to taking you along on this new journey of mine :)

ARE YOU GUYS STILL WITH ME??

Hey guys!

I know, I know....I've been a terrible blogger!  I haven't posted in months but I appreciate you guys sticking with me and I will definitely be back to posting more often now :)

Hopefully you all keep up with me on my vlog channel as well:
http://www.YouTube.com/MissToniDaley

I recently returned from the Talijah Waajid World Natural Hair show in New York.  It was there first time hosting the event outside Atlanta and since New York is much closer to Toronto I just had to be there!  We had a great time, I traveled with TheBoy and fellow YouTuber QoChemist even came out to help.




I didn't do too much shopping but you can check out the few items I did pick up in the above video.  Thanks so much to everyone who came out to show their support, I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart :)