1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

I’m a dreamer, achiever and believer!
A dreamer because the moment you realize that God has given you certain gifts, you always have gifts. You have to believe in yourself, have a dream and the conviction to achieve it.

2.     Mantra you live by:

“Of the good in you I can speak, the evil is for someone else.” There is always good in all situations… everyone is good, the problem is we are used to seeing mistakes first instead of reflecting and seeing the good.

3.     The things you are grateful for:

I am grateful because I’m alive, and from then on I have a huge list of “things” I am grateful for which I say to myself before I put my feet on the ground every morning and before I go to bed.

4.     The person you admire most and why:

I admire so many people who make up time in their busy schedules to give a smile, an ear, a hand and who fight to make a difference in any field or path. Those who dedicate time to comfort the people that have less than they do (it’s not money that counts, it’s the feeling or the sentiment that says I understand what you are going through.) We all need a smile, a hug and a pat on the shoulder. That is what I admire.

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

My goal in 2017 and in life, is to live my life to the fullest, giving a helping hand to each and every person I can.

You can follow Sylvia on Instagram

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1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

CREATOR….BECAUSE I AM MOST ALIVE WHEN I CAN IGNITE MY PASSION INTO PRECIOUS JEWELS

2.     Mantra you live by:

GIVE WHAT YOU EXPECT TO RECEIVE.

3.     The things you are grateful for:

MY GOD, MY FAMILY, MY HEALTH, AND MY WORK, IN THAT EXACT ORDER

4.     The person you admire most and why:

MY PRECIOUS MOM, WHO HAS LEFT THIS EARTH. SHE WAS CALM, SHE WAS FAITHFUL, SHE WAS WITTY, SHE WAS QUIET, SHE HAD A TENDER HEART, SHE WAS GORGEOUS, SHE WAS KNOWLEDGEABLE IN EVERY WAY, SHE WAS A TRUE LADY, AND HER SPIRIT WAS CONTAGIOUS!

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

TO PROSPER, TO KEEP REACHING OUT TO THOSE WHO LEAST EXPECT IT AND TO LIVE IN COMPLETE GRATITUDE

You can follow Sue on Instagram

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1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

SEEKER. I am always looking for a path and a direction to move forward toward. Once I see a path, I don’t look back and just go for it. Whether it is my career, my travels, or my love life…

2.     Mantra you live by:

This is a new one, but very fitting for the times I think; “When they go low, we go high.”

3.     The things you are grateful for:

My family.

4.     The person you admire most and why:

MY MOTHER. As a woman born and raised in New York City, she raised four children in rural Japan with no access to extended family support, and with limited Japanese language proficiency. She made homemade dinner EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT of our childhood, while she worked as a columnist writing about her experience raising a family in rural Japan. She reinvented her career in her 60s. She never settled for the status quo and was and is unafraid and unapologetic.

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

It is simple. Drink more water.

You can follow Mie on Instagram or Twitter

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Believer, dreamer, creator and warrior …. because to keep dreaming and creating I have to fight my mood sometimes to stay positive dream big and keep moving forward

2.     Mantra you live by:

I don’t think I have one mantra… but these are the things I usually think to keep myself together …

Thank you God for this new day starting, give me the strength to live and do good today!

Everything happens for a reason ….and if did not happen..It was not meant to be…

Whatever I have or achieve it comes from God and I am very grateful!

Believe the incredible and you can do the impossible. Fulton J. Sheen

3.     The things you are grateful for:

Family and friends that become family.

Bad moments and bad people because they have been shaping my character

Joyful moments as they are my energy to keep my dreams alive

4.     The person you admire most and why:

My parents because through their example I learned to find a hint of happiness even in the dark moments.

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

Get back to my art practice! I am so looking forward to that…

Get in shape …run mountains.. or just go to gym.. dance maybe …. I want to move my body.

I would like to work on my health starting with my diet.

Read more…

Travel a little bit … or a lot … but I need some source of vitamins that only trips can provide me.

You can follow Maritza on Instagram or Twitter

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Peacemaker – because “the planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds” – David Orr.

2.     Mantra you live by:

Never give up

3.     The things you are grateful for:

My children, my friends, my work, and second chances

4.     The person you admire most and why:

My namesake, who has taught me the true meaning of unconditional love

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

Make a difference in someone’s life, teach more girls about the power of technology, travel more with my children

You can follow Madi on Instagram or Twitter

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Inventor is the word I most identify with although there are many in the list that ring true for me,
As an inventor it doesn’t matter if something hasn’t been done before or if it hasn’t been done in the way that I’m doing it. Life is constant reinvention whether it’s creativity, emotional growth, relationships or just coming up with ways to approach whatever I’m dealing with from a unique perspective, life is invention

2.     Mantra you live by:

My mantra is it’s never too late to have a happy childhood & I’m stronger in the places I was once broken

3.     The things you are grateful for:

I am grateful for far too many things to list them

4.     The person you admire most and why:

I admire everyone who has the courage to strive in expansion & growth especially those who have extremely challenging circumstances

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

To live more fully in the moment
To choose joy and love over fear
To work with passion
To stay teachable
To make a difference in every life I touch for the positive

You can follow Liana on Instagram or Twitter

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Peacemaker – I dislike conflict and I like to be a positive force.

2.     Mantra you live by:

Always be grateful.

3.     The things you are grateful for:

I am grateful for my struggle… Being a Latin teenage mom with twins at 16 married to an abusive man for 20 years, I left with nothing, no children, no money no place to live and I told no one about all I was going through. I had everyone fooled. I lived life like a Norman Rockwell painting. One day out of no where I decided to live for me and I walked out of my unhappy life and I painted my own beautiful picture.

I am grateful for my family.

4.     The person you admire most and why:

My mom- she taught me how to be independent and strong

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

I would like to work on my health. I always worry about my children, mother and friends and I always put myself last. This year I am making myself a priority. I also plan to volunteer at an animal shelter.

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Protector – I am fiercely loyal to, and fiercely protective of, those I love

2.     Mantra you live by:

The point of power is always in the present moment.

3.     The things you are grateful for:

Too many to mention here, but most prominent are: the love of my spouse, our life as a family (including our dog), the love of family and friends, my gratifying career, how many times a day I’m given the opportunity to laugh

4.     The person you admire most and why:

Michelle Obama, because she exemplifies an impressive combination of intelligence, inner and outer beauty, and kindness.

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

Rest more, stress less

You can follow Danielle on Instagram

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Lover. I would have chosen other names from the list at different junctures in my life, but ‘lover’ sums me up best at this moment. For years, my identity was based in vocation: writer, producer, performer, et al. Then, somewhere in the throes of a brutal (and embarrassingly cliché) drug and alcohol addiction, the drugs stopped working for me and I stopped working, in every sense of the word. In my struggle back from the shadows, I find that I’m falling in love with something or someone pretty much every waking moment. Poetry fragments scrawled in a public bathroom, someone’s personal style I chance upon, even the simplest things like the way carpet looks after it’s been vacuumed. . .There’s so much to love, you can love anything and I love.

2.     Mantra you live by:

“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton

My mom always said this phrase to me and my brother when we were kids. She said it so often and with such force that it’s been forever seared into my brain; it’s a simple statement that reminds me to always be at the top of our game, wherever I am.

3.     The things you are grateful for:

I’m a firm believer in the adage that ‘he who does not thank for little will not thank for much.’ That being said, there are so many of the little things I’m grateful for—waking up without the burden of what I did the night before or the anxiety of obtaining various substances to get out of bed, the roof over my head, the friends who pick me up whenever I call, the fact that you asked me to participate in this project—they’re all massive.

I’m also grateful for:
streaming video (Fandor is an excellent Amazon/Netflix supplement), warm Krispy Kreme donuts, flamboyant queer activists, rain, recovery fellowship, my boss and co-workers at the treatment center where I’m currently employed, acts of spontaneous runway, onomatopoeia, laughter, butoh, haunted mansions, the creative outpourings of friends: Liz McGrath’s visual art and music, Darren Stein’s celluloid brilliance, Margaret Cho’s comedy, Michelle Tea’s writing, Jared Gold’s stellar fashion design, Pauley Perrette’s acting, Shawna Kenney’s wordsmithery, Jessicka Addams’s pretty much everything, art direction by Pedro Zalba and the photography of Albert Sanchez and of course Michelle Violy Harper.

More than anything, though? I’m grateful for my parents.

4.     The person you admire most and why:

My mom. She has such a great heart. She was a teacher for about 30 years, and I’m profoundly influenced by the number of lives she touched. Seeing someone run across Target to express how she was suicidal in 6th grade and my mom was the person who gave her the hope to carry on: those moments were little pieces of perfect. Plus she’s never given up on me. . .even when she probably could have.

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

Be receptive to what the universe has to offer, and more importantly, what I might offer others.

You can follow Clint on Instagram or Twitter

#GIRLFORGOOD

1.     Shade name you identify with most and why:

Dreamer and Creator.  I thought ‘dreamer’ at first because I have a tendency to get lost in my own head of ideas (often resulting in a collision with a desk corner), but I also have a tendency to take those ruminations and make them a tangible reality.

2.     Mantra you live by:

BE SHARP.

My mom always said this phrase to me and my brother when we were kids. She said it so often and with such force that it’s been forever seared into my brain; it’s a simple statement that reminds me to always be at the top of our game, wherever I am.

3.     The things you are grateful for:

Retinol.

4.     The person you admire most and why:

Michelle Obama because her words of hope and encouragement are the proverbial safety blanket we all need.

5.     Your Goal(s) for 2017:

Be more like Michelle Obama.

You can follow Christina on Instagram or Twitter

#GIRLFORGOOD