Celebrity Coverage
Kimora Lee Simmons talks about the importance of self-confidence at the 25th Annual Smile Train Gala

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 08: Kimora Lee Simmons, Ming Lee Simmons and Aoki Lee Simmons attend the Smile Train 25th Anniversary Gala at Cipriani forty second Street on May 8, 2024 in New York City. (Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Smile Train)
Kimora Lee Simmons knows the value of self-confidence. The Smile Train ambassador told why, along with ESSENCE, she devotes her time and resources to the organization coping with clefts during the gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of treatment in Cipriani.
Smile Train supports local physicians with educational and material resources so that they can provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children around the world. They take a holistic approach to care, providing patients with post-operative care and, in some cases, supporting them through multiple surgeries. The event helped raise funds for all surgeries, including 3D printed cleft stimulation kits. They help surgeons perform treble procedures, potentially reducing the risk of certain complications. According to the study, black patients have significantly more complications.
Smile Train announced its 2 millionth free surgery at the event. The news was met with thunderous applause from donors who were willing to lighten their pockets for the cause.

Her daughters, Ming Lee and Aoki Lee, presented her with the Smile Train Goodwill Ambassador Award. In her speech, Lee Simmons described seeing a patient blossom and imitating a model’s walk down the runway after surgery. The patient was planning her future after seeing herself in a brand new light.
“I have Stephanie on my phone when I walk the runway,” Lee Simmons said excitedly.
“Smile Train allows these young people, from infants through adulthood, to reclaim the lives they didn’t even know they could,” she continued. “These people have been transformed by these surgeries. I saw it. I was in the field. I was with their families.”
Lee Simons admitted that while inner beauty is most vital, outer appearance has an undeniable impact on an individual’s experience. “Beauty truly starts from the inside. What is external also matters a lot.”
She stated that her work is ultimately more about what patients think about their appearance than what they give the impression of being like. “There are as many different beauties as there are people.”
“All these things are about giving it our all and doing the best we can for ourselves,” she added. Lee Simmons uses his inner confidence to face life’s challenges.

“Throughout my journey, I tried to say, look, no one is going to support you if you don’t have support,” she said.
She wants women to harness the power of self-confidence and independence, whether or not they are in a partnership or not. “As a woman, I have to stand on my own two feet,” she said. “You cannot depend on a person in your whole life. It doesn’t matter.
Key patients can face the kind of bullying Lee Simmons faced while growing up in Missouri.
She admits that “being faced with judgment from people who don’t know you can be quite painful.”
She advises people to “be resilient, be beautiful, and shine in all your glory, even when they feel stepped on, looked down upon, or oppressed.”
In her 2006 book, she shared advice on the way to use self-confidence to enhance your life. She described it as a lesson to her “thirteen-year-old self.”
Lee Simons has long supported organizations that concentrate on improving people’s lives, including Dress For Success, where she helps incarcerated women construct their wardrobes in preparation for returning to work. “It’s very vital to me to find a way to provide back. I’ve been doing it my whole life, even before I had children,” she said

Host Jeanie Mai joked that she would reasonably see smiles transformed by Smile Train than the ones she often sees in Hollywood. “These smiles are a mix of veneers and lip fillers. I’m ready for smiles that can truly light up this world,” she said after reaching the podium in a peach dress. Jordin Sparks then performed an energetic set that included an appropriate cover of Frank Sinatra’s “When You’re Smiling.” The crowd sang along to her hit, and Sparks encouraged guests to go to the chapel and hearken to DJ Jazzy Jeff, who hosted the afterparty.
Mai wasn’t the just one in a completely satisfied mood.
Lee Simmons joked that her unfiltered personality is an ideal fit for fundraising. “I have a big mouth, so all I can do is beg people for money,” she said, flashing her charming smile.
You can learn more about the Smile Train mission Here.
Celebrity Coverage
Tara Davis -woodhall reveals a rare photo of her essence

@_Taarra_ / Instagram
From boxes to turns and extensions, Track Pro and gold Olympic medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall did all this. But “many of you have never seen my natural hair,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
In a rare appearance, a floating, frame -fate of Afro Olympians occupies the front seat when he works with Dove, Rise.365 and The Crown Act to bring black hairstyles to the emoji digital universe.
“With almost 4,000 emojis there is not a single emoji representing real people with natural or protective hairstyles,” Dove wrote in one other post. “Why exists emoji, but there is no hairstyle where you can use them? The meaning of textures, protective styles and those who proudly wear them cannot be overstated.”
In relation to the #CodemyCrown movement, the hashtag used to persuade Unicode so as to add 4 latest emoji to our keys to our keys, Davis-Woodhall removed its extension to disclose the curls that all of us waited for. In the true representation of what – and who – is missing within the Emoji library, its hydrated, shrunken texture describes the wonder of our Afros – even in times after we rarely see them.
“There is no emoji that reflects my natural type of hair,” he says. “Or any hairstyle that I love to wear! Let’s change it!” With over 100 posts under the hashtag #codemyCrown, the longer term of hair integration means showing our natural texture – and all styles between them.
Celebrity Coverage
“I was not intelligent”: Kelli Ferrell Rhoa about the almost loss of her activity after the Estrained husband took all the money from it – essence

When Kelli Ferrell launched her culinary brand, Chicken and waffles nanyShe brought a vision and half of the investment capital – her husband, she says, from now on coping with funds. It was a dynamics that seemed efficient and supportive – until it was. In the last episode, Ferrell revealed that her alienated husband allegedly emptied business accounts, almost launching his beloved restaurant to Earth.
“I wasn’t smart,” says Essence in sitting. “I trusted him everything.”
Ferrella’s story is each deeply personal and deeply familiar. In various industries of women – especially wife and company owners – often encouraged to “allow men to deal with money”. But this trust can bring a destructive cost. Ferrell is now in the process of rebuilding its activities and recovery of financial control. Her story increases the growing conversation about financial sensitivity, from which many ladies stand once they abandon control or transparency of their business matters. After its recovery, a robust narrative about immunity, money management and the importance of being an lively participant in your personal financial history emerges.
Ferrell’s experience is not unique. According to 2023 UBS report, over 50% of married women are postponing long -term financial decisions for his or her spousesA trend that’s much more common amongst women in color. Although the intention might be rooted in trust or division of work, the consequences might be tragic: hidden debt, exhausted bills and loss of business or retirement assets.
In one other study conducted by National equipment of financial education, almost 30% of adults admit “financial infidelity”—Thee accounts, expenses or debts from their partners. And yet many ladies are still socialized to give attention to the protective facets of relationships and business, leaving “monetary things” to another person.
He played this trail in a recently broadcast episode, when Ferrell explained to the viewers that she had taken all the money she allocated to the opening of the second location of the restaurant.
“Everything has been combined”, shares with Essence, when asked about the financial structure of her and her ex -husband. “When people say,” How did he steal money? “It is because he controlled finances. ”
Ferrell explained that as a southern girl (from Maryland, but she became a resident in Georgia in 2003), the wives were considered to be an equivalent in a relationship.
“When you have a business partner, some partners are based on certain things,” he says. “What I did in the industry was running a company. I was the face of the company. I did cooking programs. I was the one who appeared in the media. I was the one who would be in the rooms, and let him run in the background and say:” Hey, be certain that you meet an accountant, I made sure that you just manage your funds. ” And he coped with this stuff.
The bitter divorce has develop into much more controversial attributable to the division of assets, the details of that are playing in public. In fact, just before my interview with Ferrell, a report He broke about the Ferrell settlement.
According to Intouch Weekly, the court in Georgia ordered the parties to share the joint legal care of their three children from Kella granted primary care. Introuch also informed that Ferrell’s ex -husband was ordered to pay almost USD 12,000 per 30 days for maintenance and health maintenance; Ferrell also received USD 175,000 from the company.
Unlike many ladies, Ferrella’s settlement was based to her, something she says for her grateful.
Now, approaching the end of her divorce proceedings, Ferrell is not very proud to confess that she made fiscal mistakes and can not allow them to repeat. The biggest lesson? Never let anyone have full control over your funds, irrespective of how you like yourself.
“I need to make use of this platform, which I actually have to share with one other woman or one other man, that although love is amazing, things can go left and things develop into nasty. So you will have to be smart. I was not smart. Thank God that the judge was in a position to see the truth. But what if it wasn’t? Marriage and love.
Celebrity Coverage
New music this week: Summer Walker, Coco Jones, Burna Boy and more – ESENCE

Happy Friday, people. With the looks of Maja, a brand new musical composition this week falls into the energy of renewal and re -control. From introspective ballads to anthem ready for the stadium, these editions reflect love, life and all the things in between.
One of essentially the most convincing offers this week is cooperation between 3 Chainz and the legendary Brothers Isley Brothers, a mixture of tenches of hip-hop and soul. “Sweet Love” Burna Boy and the windy “vacay” aminé also remind us that global rhythms and mixing of species at the moment are the norm, not an exception, and whether it’s a stuffy “spend” Summer Walker or Coco Jones combines strength Lady London In “It Mine” artists enter the season with confidence. Today’s list also includes the music of Jorji Smith, Tiany Major9, Weside Gunn and others.
Look at the most effective recent editions this week.
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