Our Voices: Exchange Ashes for Beauty

I had the glorious and divinely inspiring opportunity to speak with two of the most "dangerous" (spiritually speaking, that is) women in black America.

First, Yetta Young, Producer of 'ËœThe Vagina Monologues' and Executive Producer of 'ËœThe Pocketbook Monologues'; and Ella Joyce - whom we have known and loved as "ROC"'s wife, Eleanor Emerson. She also starred as Rosa Parks in "A Rose Among Thorns," a self-written stage play directed by her husband, Dan Martin (Lt. Baker of 'ËœThe Bold & the Beautiful').

These two women throw down the gauntlet and stage all-out warfare against the penetration of the spirit of 'Ëœugly' that threatens the souls of black females. That which was meant for evil becomes good; exchanging ashes for beauty.

That fighting spirit within comes from the down home natures of both women, who joyfully shout "Detroit Gurlz Rule!" and "Southside Chicago!" as they take up the sword of truth, They travel the nation to tell women of color to find their inner voice. "You do not have to live your life in bondage to fear, physical violence, or of becoming victims of HIV/AIDS."

What do these two women have in common? They encountered domestic violence in their lifetimes, but they also had the kind of family support that helped them excise it. In that spirit, power and wisdom they pour back vials of love into those who have been burned in more ways than one.

Question: "About acknowledging and celebrating our beauty, radiance and strength and embracing ourselves just like we are...what does "beauty" mean to you?--and what do you love most about being a Black woman?"

Ella: "Beauty emanates from deep within, from the soul," she says. "There is an outer beauty that we, as females, carry, and of course, it attracts the opposite sex, it's significant in that way, but there's a deeper meaning to beauty and that's when it emanates from within. There's an old saying that the 'Ëœeyes are the window to the soul.' And usually when I look at women of color, I look at what's emanating from our soul and that's what carries our beauty as a people. If you look into the eyes of our First Lady right now, she just radiates...just emanates with beauty. She's loved and you can see that she's loved. She has a beautiful family, life is good and that radiates from her soul, right from her eyes. And so that is usually where beauty comes from for me, and for black women especially."

" Wow," says Yetta , "That's awesome! Well, you know we live in a world of social networks and I was just thinking about that -- every day I try to put something positive in my updates on my Facebook page and yesterday my friend, Rhonda Kuykendall Jabari, wrote something that resonated with me so much--'ËœI love the woman I see in the mirror, she is master of my interests and a vessel of love and light, she magnificently manifests my dreams, she is me.' -- It took me awhile to get there, Renee, you know we have various challenges as women, or just as a people in general, it kind of knocks you a little bit off kilter -- I started feeling a lot of different things that I didn't feel before -- being more confident with myself, loving myself more, being okay with the mistakes that I made and knowing that if I did them with the best of intentions, that that was okay'"learning to love myself exactly where I am. That, to me, resonates -- what it means to be a beautiful black woman."