2/3/2016 1 Comment Exclusive Interview with Jaleesa "Queen Jo" Copeland for the "Queen Jo's Prom Giveaway!First, I want to say that it was an honor and privilege to interview Jaleesa concerning this awesome giveaway! It is our prayer that every young woman that is apart of this event knows their worth and knows that someone is thinking of them. Corene: Thank you so much Jaleesa for taking the time out to interview with us today. We really appreciate you sharing your story and also sharing this event with us! This is such a wonderful thing that you are doing and I know that this is only the beginning of what is to come. I was so excited when I read your post on social media that you were going to be putting this event on for young ladies so that they can enjoy their senior prom stress free. Before we get into the details of how this got started, please tell us a little bit about yourself. Jaleesa: Thank you so much Corene for the opportunity to share my story and share this event with The Pretty Blog! Corene: You're welcome Jaleesa! I am so excited! Let's get started beautiful. So please tell me a little bit about yourself? Jaleesa: My name is Jaleesa Copeland and I am a senior at Clayton State University where I major in healthcare management and will be graduating in December 2016. I was born and raised in Waycross, Georgia where I was always involved within the community. I was apart of my middle school’s and high school’s cheerleading team, Motions Of Grace Dance Team at Family Worship Center, 2010-2011 Debutant, and other organizations. I have always been pretty much obsessed with the beauty community and everything that involves being a woman. Due to this I have teach free live makeup classes once a month and I am preparing to launch my You Tube channel in May called The Queen Jo Network. My channel will cover everything from makeup application to helping women deal with daily struggles such as anxiety and how to let go of toxic people. One of my favorite past times is to just get together with friends and celebrate even our smallest accomplishments, hence why I’m also called the TURN UP Queen LOL. I’m just a strong believer in making the best of your life and doing everything that makes you happy and brings inner peace. Lets be honest here, life is really what you make it and I’m determined to make mine one where I can be both fulfilled and happy as can be. Corene: That is amazing! You and I are from the same hometown and look at how God brings things full circle. I love what you said about coming together with others to celebrate each other. My husband and I find it very rewarding to celebrate others and their accomplishments rather big or small. Why do you think that is so important? Jaleesa: Growing up, my parents always taught my siblings and I the importance of celebrating accomplishments. They would celebrate us for anything that we did no matter how big or small. They would let us know that our accomplishments were worth praise and they would encourage us to go even further. With validation being on the rise and the way young woman seek attention for the wrong reasons, I feel as if as though celebrating them in a positive way will help build self esteem and shine the light on them in a different way. Instead of wanting to be the next video vixen they can actually create goals that can take them to the next level in life. That is why I feel it is so important to empower young woman. I am still young and I know woman my age would appreciate encouragement and motivation. Corene: That is so good Jaleesa. A lot of times young woman go down the wrong path because they are seeking attention from men and also seeking validation. I tell my daughter everyday how beautiful she is so that she wont be looking for it from other people or men. It is my responsibility with the help of her father to teach her that she matters and to help her understand her worth. Taking the time to celebrate accomplishments with our friends and family lets them know that we care and brings about a level of trust and encouragement. I totally agree with you on this one! I feel as though there is a movement going on when it comes to empowering and encouraging especially women to celebrate one another! Society teaches us to hate one another, belittle one another, call each other out of our names, and so much more. You hardly ever see woman lifting each other up and celebrating one another. That is why I was so impressed with what you are doing. The Queen Jo movement is absolutely amazing! For those that have not heard about the movement, tell us about the Queen Jo Movement? Jaleesa: The Queen Jo Movement is a movement all about helping every women embrace their inner Queen. Women on the day to day wear so many hats such as mom, wife, head of household, nurse, counselor, and so much more. Therefore, so many women lose themselves in playing all those roles and forget to take care of themselves in order for them to continue to be the best they can. I believe women are the most slept on individuals on this planet and we don’t receive the recognition we deserve. This is not saying that Men are not needed in this world, but men can not bring to this world what a woman can and I mean that in more ways then one. Since women are the only people that birth people into this world, they have the biggest impact on the children and the family as a whole. I believe if you help a woman become the best they can be both spiritually and physically they will help their husband become the best he can be as well as helping their kids be the best they can be. The children will then grow to become the best adults they can be which will result in the population being filled with more people who are mentally stable and are an asset to the world rather than a problem. One can’t make the world a better place without making the person who births people into this world a better person. The Queen Jo Movement will help better women in every aspect possible such as motivation, beauty, finances, and spiritually through both social media outlets and non profit outreaches. The target audience of The Queen Jo Movement ranges from middle school aged girls all the way to the most matured audience. I believe there is no age limit to achieve greatness and becoming the best you that you can be so that is where The Queen Jo Movement comes into play. Corene: Wow that is powerful! That is the perfect age to spark the attention of that age group to get them going in the right direction. I am so proud of you for what you are doing to impact young woman. That's what its all about at the end of the day. In the day and age in which we live it is important to lead by example. To push further than that, it is important that we show young girls that we not only support them with our words but we support them with action as well. Giving back to the community is definitely the way to show you care and a way to let the community know you understand. Giving back doesn't have conditions, it doesn't have premeditated thoughts nor does it seek attention. That is why I am so blown always by what you are doing Jaleesa. Tell us about the Queen Jo Prom Giveaway? Jaleesa: The Queen Jo Prom Giveaway is all about giving all girls the prom experience fit for a queen no matter their financial state. Prom is a huge deal to every high school girls’ life and something every girl looks forward to. Rather the experience be good or bad every girl remembers that once in a lifetime night. Prom is typically the first time every girl gets to get all dolled up and live their fairytale dream of being Cinderella for the night or should I say Queen for a night. Since I feel like every girl deserves to live out that fairy tale dream, I decided to create The Queen Jo’s Prom Giveaway. The giveaway will include free dresses, free makeovers for both hair and make up, and cash money to go toward other prom necessities such as the prom tickets, accessories, shoes, and etc. The giveaway will consist of 2 parts which are the Dress Drive and The Queen Jo’s Prom Giveaway Contest. The Dress Drives will consist of girls donating their old prom dresses and girls who can’t afford a prom dress to receive the dresses to cut down tremendously on their cost for prom. The girls don’t have to do anything to receive the dresses but show up to the dress drive and pick the dress that’s best for them. The Queen Jo’s Prom Giveaway Contest will be a chance for girls to win a free makeover which will include hair and make up as well as a chance to receive money to put toward their prom expenses. In order for them to enter this contest, they just have to write me explaining to me what winning the contest will mean to them. The amount of winner will depend on the amount of people who donate their hair, makeup, and nails services as well as money donations. Corene: This is absolutely amazing what you are doing young lady! I am sure you have been hearing this but I salute you for what you are doing! I know when I was in high school, this would have totally been a God-send for me. My mother raised three children on her own and I was the first to graduate from high school. My senior prom was great but I struggled to pay for it on my own. If I had something like this to look forward to, it would have not only took the pressure off of me, but my mom as well. Let me ask you this, why do you think this event will be important or beneficial to the community? Jaleesa: Honestly, I feel like my hometown has lost its sense of community and that’s crazy to me because Waycross is such a small town. Although our community is always 100% behind the football team, that leaves little support for the girls to feel as if they are important or that they have a support system. People always talk so much about how all the girls get pregnant early, but there are very few outlets in Waycross for the girls to get involved in. Instead of being like everyone else, I decided to create something that will not only give the girls something to look forward to but also showing them that the community does care about them. Basically, this is just an outlet for everyone to get involved and feel useful. The girls receiving the dresses and such will receive a boost of confidence and the girls donating will feel good and useful for being able to make a difference in another young lady’s life. This is a winning situation for everyone involved. The Queen Jo Prom Giveaway is just the beginning of how I plan to bring unity among women in Waycross and all over. Corene: I am super excited for you because I know the type of impact something this will have on the community as a whole. How do you think this will impact these young ladies specifically? Jaleesa: The Queen Jo Prom Giveaway is going to greatly impact the recipients in so many ways such a self confidence and the comfort of knowing that someone actually cares about their well being. The girls will finally feel like they’re the center of attention and will receive all the love and support they deserve that they may or may not receive on the daily basis. When someone receives love and support they tend to create great things and give that same love and support to others. I hope with the kindness that these girls will receive they will want to return the favor to the recipients of Queen Jo’s Prom Giveaway next year. I also desire for the kindness to become a domino effect so I can continue The Queen Jo Prom Giveaway for years to come and it can just become bigger and bigger each year . Corene: Jaleesa you such a woman of vision and I am so proud of you! This is such a selfless effort that you are doing and I know this will not only impact those involve but it will inspire others in more ways than one. This event touched my heart in one ways than one and I knew I had to contact you and talk with you more about it. Thank you to much for allowing us to interview you! It has been an absolutely pleasure getting to know you and hearing your heart. I know there is so much in you that needs to come out and I am excited to watch you grow and expand the Queen Jo Movement!! Thank you again for allowing us to speak with you today! Jaleesa: It was my pleasure, thank you for allowing me to share my heart and my vision for the Queen Jo Movement!
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AuthorCorene Gardner is Founder/CEO of Pampered Pretty, a Natural Hair, Beauty, and Fashion Consulting Company designed to "Empower You to Feel as Pretty as You Look!" Archives
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