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Oct22

The Best of Denene Millner’s MyBrownBaby

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Tweets by @MyBrownBaby

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It’s! My! Birthday! Today marks my 51st rotation around the sun, and I’m so grateful, y’all, for every single blessing that’s come my way. Fifty was bananas: in the last year, I partnered with Simon & Schuster to relaunch @denenemillnerbooks, had three books hit bookshelves, finished up another incredible season of @asatt.tv with several Emmy nominations, got executive producer credit on a BET flick (“Angrily Ever After”) and learned a lot of things about myself, including that I am stronger than I ever have myself credit for and that I’m capable of and free to be, move, love and be loved in the way that I so choose. I’m healthy. I’m happy. I’m FREE. I’m loved. And if all that could happen at 50, imagine what kind of steam I got in store for 51! I’m kicking off this new year of my life right, with the debut of my new podcast, “Speakeasy with Denene.” Turn the volume up so you can hear what it’s about. And as a bday present for your girl, SUBSCRIBE! You can do it at GPB.org/blogs/speakeasy (on the right hand side, beneath the trailer) or anywhere you listen to your podcasts, including iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher—er’where. And listen to the debut episode, which drops THIS THURSDAY, Oct. 24, in honor of my bday! Ayyyeeeeeee! 🥂🎂💁🏾‍♀️

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You already know. Me. All day today. 😜 #10/21 #teamlibra #weextra #youloveit

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#everydayphotoaday {12/31} “Everyday I...” write a little something to add to this here collection of books. I’m up to 32. Just signed a deal yesterday for No. 33. Can’t tell you yet what it is. But it’s gone be GOOD. #writersofinstagram #blackwriters

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#everydayphotoaday {10/31} “Up Above”: Baby girl was in the window, finding her light and admiring the beat she got from Emmy Award-winning MUA @brijonesartistry, and I just had to get a shot. She’s such a beauty—inside and out—and I wanted to capture the moment. Soon, when she graduates and heads to college, I won’t have many more. #myheart #mylove #beautifullybrown #nofilter

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#everydayphotoaday {9/31} “Pink”: First thing I did when I moved into my own place for the first time in more than two decades was to design the most femme bedroom I could imagine—full of light, flowers, and lots and lots of pink. Soft pink. Hot pink. All the pinks. A beautiful start to every day.

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#everydayphotoaday {8/31} “Morning Routine”: I’m behind in posting, but I’ve been having fun journaling daily via photographs. This is what I do most mornings: coffee on my deck, overlooking the gorgeous #atl skyline. What a blessing to be able to do so; I do not take it for granted.

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Yesssssss! I have a new podcast, y'all! SPEAKEASY WITH DENENE is about race, culture and identity from a distinctly Black perspective—a mirror for who we are and a window for those who don't know. My debut season features some powerhouses: @demetriallucas, @tayari and @damonyoungvsb, @averysunshine, @lionbabe and Tank from @tankandthebangas. Come be real black with me. Listen to my new podcast, Speakeasy With Denene, debuting October 24 on GPB.org/Speakeasy. (Go there to learn more and to listen to my trailer and subscribe!)

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Here’s the thing about watching my babies morph from little girls into young women: they are thinking for themselves and making decisions that don’t necessarily require my final say and every time they start down their own independent path, I have to have a serious talk with myself about letting go and letting it happen and figure out how to get over feeling like my beating heart is walking away. This is the lot of us parents—the ones who spend a lifetime teaching our children and, in what seems like a split second, must learn how to let them go and be okay with it.

That was the case when my firstborn, Mari plotted and paid for a three-month summer trip studying and volunteering in Botswana. Botswana, my dude. With a bunch of people she didn’t know.

In a country clean on the other side of the world.

Where it would be impossible for me to check on her and make sure she’s okay and rush to her side and just, like, fix things if they went awry. Hell, I couldn’t even call her when I wanted to. Or FaceTime. Or text.

This is to say that we’ve entered a new phase of our mother/daughter relationship, where, even though she runs her thoughts by me, she is confident enough to problem-solve on her own. And you know what? I’m proud of that. I am. No matter how scary it is to let go. Basically, I’ve had to practice the “listening not fixing” portion of parenting, where I have to trust that what I poured into my daughter all these years counts for something as she forges her own way as a young adult... Click the link in my bio to read how both Mari and I are growing our relationship up and get great tips on how to do this with your own kid from @go_faar #TalkEarly #spon

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#everydayphotoaday {7/31} “Favorite Quote”: this jewel from the legend, my hero, Zora Neale Hurston, is one I make a point to live by. “I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” #BlackIsBeautiful #LiveYaLife #CatchMyFlyAndMyCockyFresh

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MYBROWNBABY’S DENENE MILLNER

Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.

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