Indubitably, losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions every single year! But my favorite Christian comedian/actress Sherri Shepherd, formerly a “The View” co-host, obviously got started on her weight loss journey ahead of the start of 2019! And now beautiful plus-sized Supermodel Ashley Graham asked Sherri, who is a diabetic, to show off her slimmer body in one of her “Swimsuits for All” in a recent photo shoot in Shoal Bay Village, Anguilla! Check out how Ashley’s swimwear line is described below:
This designer swimwear line features daring one piece swimsuits and bikinis meant to flaunt your figure wherever you go. Supermodel Ashley Graham isn’t afraid to show off her swim body, and you shouldn’t be either. Be confident and let your unique beauty shine. Available in sizes 4-22, Ashley Graham bathing suits are unlike any other women’s swimsuits. That’s exactly why our partnership with Ashley Graham is so special. Our mission together is to empower women to feel beautiful in the swim they’re in.
Below are a few of Sherri’s Instagram posts about the photo shoot…
I am a born storyteller. If you ask me a simple question, I am likely to give the answer plus many more extraneous details that you probably didn’t ask to hear. But I will tell you anyway because just about anything can be made into a story when that is your gift from God. And while that is true, there are stories. And there are stories that must be told because in their telling they have the capacity to bring joy, inspire change and unshackle chains. The best stories have these qualities.
Years ago, through some mutual friends, I met Dr. Bonita J. Gay-Senior, and as we became friends, as friends do, we shared various details from our lives. As she would share a snippet here or there, I began to realize that this woman had been through some situations that would have caused many people to collapse into themselves, sentencing their souls to be among the walking dead. Have you ever met a person who was so beaten up by life, they seem to operate on autopilot? I have, and it is startling. Others would have retreated to a maze of deadening behaviors to distract themselves from the pain. And some would have taken what was never theirs to take: their very lives. She shared about being mercilessly teased by not only by her classmates but by her brothers as well. The teasing was so toxic, she was later diagnosed as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Her first boyfriend punched her face so hard that he broke part of one of her front teeth. On one occasion, he pointed a loaded gun at her face and threatened to shoot her. Despite the abuse, she dropped a warrant she had against him and had to go to jail for perjury (although she was telling the truth initially.)! When she was in her freshman year in college, she was raped by two men. Sometime later, while still in college, she got pregnant by another man. She watched a brother commit suicide by cop. Her only sister disappeared and has not been found to date.
And yet, the woman I met was a decorated teacher on the way to earning her doctorate in education at Clark Atlanta University. Laughter punctuated nearly all of her sentences. Her optimism rekindled that wonder that all children experience before the duties of adulthood and appropriateness take over. She had a trove of wisdom that she freely shared. ‘How did this woman come to be,’ I asked myself before I eventually found the courage to say the words aloud to her. She was surprised that I was surprised. She thought that many had suffered through similar challenges. I agreed that all of us suffer through challenges but not many people start from so low to ascend to so high. I know a good story when I hear one.
I kept telling her this until she decided to tell the whole story in a book “From DOOMED to DOCTOR 280 Chestnut Street: Born in the Crack but Didn’t FALL Through.” (In fact, she shouted me out in the acknowledgements!) On the very street, Chestnut Street (which has since been changed to to James P. Brawley Drive), where she experienced most of her childhood abuse is the very street where she received her doctorate degree years later at 48 years old (I was there cheering her on 🙂 )! It’s amazing how God can use the details of our lives to demonstrate that He has brought us from a mighty long way. And she says God is who redeemed her tests into a testimony. She is using her story to mentor other women who have experienced similar challenges.
If you would like to meet her and get a copy of her book, join her at the One Love Spiritual Center, 180 Lakepoint Lane, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215 (Lakemont Subdivision) TODAY at 3 p.m. She is the featured Women’s History Month Speaker!
Friday night, I ventured over to the Dec at The dReam Center Church of Atlanta to check out the album release party for Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s third album HEART. PASSION. PURSUIT. (Motown Gospel). First of all, the dReam Center has moved and grown! A few years ago, it used to be in North Atlanta in a kind of medium-sized industrial building and now it is in large traditional church building just past South DeKalb Mall. Secondly, although Tasha Cobbs Leonard is a multiple Stellar and Dove Award winner and, GRAMMY®-Award winning recording artist, I honestly didn’t expect the onslaught of folk that were trying to get up in the church. The parking lot was full, folk parked in the surrounding neighborhood and an overflow parking lot nearby the mall was getting action too. I ended up parking in the grass and almost got in a tiff with two older ladies who had their eye on the parking spot that I was trying to stake out! LOL. But after that, everything flowed pretty smoothly.
This is the stage/altar area of the dReam Center…Pretty traditional…
So just ahead of me I noticed Shekinah Anderson, who is the best friend of Tiny Harris and a reality star in her own right. Of course, I had to look around for Tiny or T.I., but I did not see them. I also noticed Egypt Sherrod, former radio personality and current realtor and host of HGTV’s “Property Virgins.”
So I’ve never seen a church with this type of sign affixed to the architecture…”Get In Where You Fit In.” Okay…not traditional…
Pastor William Murphy asked everyone to turn on their cell phone lights (so I don’t know how to do that LOL) because in his words, “It’s about to be a ‘lit’uation.” “Light it up and let the world know who Jesus is.”
That’s pretty, huh?
So Pastor Murphy told what I thought was a pretty powerful story about when he first stated the dReam center on Jan. 15, 2006. He said he thoroughly prepared for the sermon he delivered on that Sunday. Although there were roughly 350 people there, only one person joined the church. He said he tried to act like he wasn’t bothered by the fact that only one person joined. That person, however, was Tasha Cobbs. This was years before she recorded her first album, but look at the impact she has had in the name of God since then. It just goes to show that through one person you can impact the world, and you never know who will be that one person! I mean it was standing room only at that church for Tasha Cobbs Leonard, and I saw a few people who were turned away…
Pastor Murphy also shared how Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s album HEART. PASSION. PURSUIT. was recorded nearby where the Interstate 85 bridge in Atlanta collapsed in March and how he thought that was significant as the goal of the album is to build bridges between different races, cultures and ethnicities.
Then it was time for Tasha to saaang….
If you look closely, you can see her hubby Kenneth Leonard, just behind her to the right, looking like he’s supervising everything…Photo Credit: Tonya Reeves & Michael Walker/UMeek Images
I like this photo because everyone’s hands are lifted up, but she is getting down…
Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Kierra Sheard. Kierra is featured on the song “Your Spirit.” So I kept looking around for Nicki Minaj, who is featured on “I’m Getting Ready,” but I guess she wasn’t there…Photo Credit: Tonya Reeves & Michael Walker/UMeek Images
So this teenager or preteenager (The older I get, the harder it is for me to tell…) came up during the middle of the concert and pressed some money in Tasha’s hands….Obviously, she was moved…Photo Credit: Tonya Reeves & Michael Walker/UMeek Images
And even her fellow singers were moved…
A Holy Ghost dance…
Attorney Phaedra Parks, formerly of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” was there and feeling it…See Pastor Kim of the “Preachers of Atlanta” behind her…
At the end of the concert, Tasha Cobbs Leonard gave an altar call and spoke about the purpose of her album….
Also in attendance were Jimi Cravity, Breona Lawrence, Anna Golden, Bishop Paul S. Morton, Catherine Brewton, Bishop Travis Jennings, Pastor John Gray, Aventer Gray, Y’Anna Crawley, Todd Galberth, Bryan Pierce and more. So I hope you feel like you were there at Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s album release party…
The highly anticipated album, HEART. PASSION. PURSUIT. (Motown Gospel), from multiple Stellar and Dove Award winner and, GRAMMY®-Award winning recording artist Tasha Cobbs Leonard, is available now in stores, and online everywhere.For more information about Tasha Cobbs Leonard visit: www.TashaCobbs.org
Hello World,
I kept telling her this until she decided to tell the whole story in a book 
This is the stage/altar area of the dReam Center…Pretty traditional…
So this teenager or preteenager (The older I get, the harder it is for me to tell…) came up during the middle of the concert and pressed some money in Tasha’s hands….Obviously, she was moved…Photo Credit: Tonya Reeves & Michael Walker/UMeek Images
