Do You Austin's First Anniversary Bash

I remember being at the first meeting of this group started by an acquaintance of mine a year ago. Do You Austin (as in Do you, Austin.) started out as a small group of women looking for  solutions to care for natural hair. In just one year, has expanded to over a hundred men and women and kids who come together to celebrate life, encourage and support entrepreneurship, natural living, wellness, art, music, dance and all things beautiful. Do You Austin has come a long way from being just about natural hair care, but you know what? There's no other resource that has been more useful for finding out where to get  your natural hair done or who to consult about caring for your hair at home in Austin.

I remember blogging about being black and new to Austin. I may be generalizing here, but correct  me if I'm wrong. There are two things that black folks look for first when they move to a new city, a church and a hair salon/barber shop. So often, I have chatted up a random black person in public, new to Austin, and have been asked where I go to church and who does my hair. Maybe these are conversations people of other races have too? *shrugs shoulders* A year ago, my answer was a bit long. Now, thanks to Do You Austin, my answer is a lot shorter--something like, "Oh! There'  a social group called Do You Austin. You should google them. It's a great group to join if you want to know where the spots are and what's going on around town. The website is befreedoyou.com." How simple is that? lol Every opportunity I have, I'm telling somebody about Do You Austin (and Mocha Moms, duh) because there is nothing like being and staying connected to people who are about uplifting and supporting other people, period.

The Do You Austin Birthday Celebration went down at Jae Undreas Natural Hair Salon (if you're in Austin and wear your hair natural this is where you go for hair care) on Sunday. Veola, the creator of Do You Austin was, as usual, beautiful and a beam of light as she welcomed everyone to the event and engaged supporters throughout the night. She fought back tears the whole time because, as she stated at one emotional moment, "Cheesecake is on the line." She had bet that if she cried, she'd have to forgo her slice of cheesecake. Long story short and massive understatement: Veola loves cheesecake. There were performances from spoken word artists (Amber Waters was a definite crowd pleaser with her non-erotic work), presentations and demos from local vendors, great giveaways (I won 3 boot camp sessions from OutRight Fitness, and was just a littl J sitting next to the winner of a framed art piece from Mitchie's Gallery), a BEAUTIFUL crowd of supporters who came out in big numbers, great soulful music and of course food. One of the highlights for me was the presentation and hair twisting demo by African Visions. I also got to test out their raw black soap and shea butter, y'all! And their Jojoba, shea butter and rosemary hair and skin oil is SO on my list. If you fllow me on Twitter, you already know I was sold on this stuff after the demo. Shout-out to whoever made the quinoa black bean dish--that was awesome. Great event to celebrate a great social group. Do You, Inc.--one more thing I LOVE about Austin.

Just a few pictures on my Facebook fan page.

Comments

[Veola]

Thanks for the article ROCKQuel!!!! We love you!

[Tannia Q]

This was my first time participating at a Do You Austin event. I am one of those new people (fresh from Seattle,WA in June 2010) looking for natural hair ideas and camaraderie. I had a wonderful time! I appreciate that Veola started this wonderful group with so many positive people involved. I am excited about participating more and hosting an event some day soon :) Thanks for writing about this event! P.S. Thanks for the shout out...I made the quinoa & black bean dish and I am uber glad you enjoyed it.

[Funkidivagirl]

Wow, that sounds like an awesome group! I'm in Mocha Moms here in Atlanta and I can't tell you how many times there's an email on the listserv that says, "Hi, I'm new to Atlanta and we are looking for a church home" or "Can anyone recommend the best hair care products" or "Miss Jessie's is in Target now"

You're right...those are the first questions we ask!

[Homegirl Quel]

LOL! Too funny. I just told an ATX newcomer about the curly girl hair products at Target today. TOO funny. And OMG, Mocha Moms was a godsend for me. I joined after I miscarried during my first pregnancy (very tough to go through with no family in town) and before getting pregnant again with Zack. These women (and their hubbies and kids) are my family.