As many of you know, ITAVF is my baby. Founded in 2017, ITAVFoundation is a United States, Volunteer Run 501(C)3 Nonprofit Organization That Supports The Inner City Community Of Philadelphia. Five years ago I decided to incorporate and five years later we celebrated a milestone. This pandemic have affected us all and ITAVFoundation Gala 2022 was a celebration of accomplishment and a night of “look how far we’ve come”.
I’m forever grateful to everyone that came out and celebrated with us.
Let’s talk details!
My henna was done by Henna by Hind
Who did my make up?: The one and only Miss Exum aka Gogo Leopard. Leah have been one of my main go to makeup artist for the past 10 years. She’s phenomenal and I absolutely love her work.
Who did my hair? Well, me of course. For those of you that don’t know, I do all my own hairstyles especially when it comes to braids. I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do with my hair for the Gala, if you remember I chopped it off in March of this year to switch things up. I ended up bleaching it and have been wearing it short since. I stopped cutting it in August to prepare for the Gala because I wanted to created a braided hairstyle to compliment my dress. This is the results.
This was a two part style which too me about 4 days to complete. Honestly, It only took that long because I had some many other stuff I had to do leading up to the Gala including doing Phoenix’s hair as well.
Because I wanted to be certain my dresses fit, I ordered both of them 2 sizes up to be on the safe side. And I played it a little too safe. Lol. None the less, because of my background in dress making I began to make the necessary alterations that were needed. The red dress was very easy for me to take in. However, the green one gave me a run for my money.
Again, this is no fault to the brand but my actual own. Playing it safe meant I was going to do alterations regardless.
For the green dress, instead of it being on my shoulders, I altered it to fall off my shoulders by cutting the straps which made my neckline more visible giving me the chance to show off my goth style accessories.
Once my dresses arrived, I know what type of hairstyle I wanted and an up do was best for both dresses.
A lot of you been asking, where did I get my dress and whether I made them myself. Well, the short answer is NO. I did not make them myself. I know many of you I’ve seen some of my creative work when it comes to making my own clothes but this was something I knew from day 1 where I wanted to get my Gala dress from.
Where did I get my dress?: Oyemwen. I remember the first time seeing her stuff and instantly falling in love. If you know me, you know I love all things tulle and tutus. I reached out to her directly because this was my first time ordering and reviews online tends to be discouraging sometimes. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical and nervous but communication is key and once we connected and I told her my gala date and when I would need the dresses by, she definitely came through.
ITAVFoundation Gala 2022 was held at the Blue Bell Country Club.
Our guest speakers were Dr. Nia Imani Bailey and Andrea Johnson.
Live Band performances by Jakeya Limitless & Range da Messenga.
Spoken Word performances by: Lady Sarkazym & Marquis Wright-Lee.
Music provided by DJ Sherlan
Photo & Video by Ricky Codio and his team.
