How It Started

“Progress over perfection.” I tell myself this constantly, but my Virgo mind has had a rough go putting it into practice when it comes to my newsletter. When I launched my website in early 2021, it was years in the making and had a few fits and starts. The next step was to launch this newsletter (and a podcast - stay tuned!) so a couple years later, here I am! I’m grateful to everyone who has followed my online journey since it first started as a Constant Contact newsletter called “The Wise Guide” then morphed into my lifestyle blog, Harlem Lovebirds.

The journal that started it all.

I’ve always had a penchant for curating information, and my blog grew out of own childhood journal I started keeping when I was 7 (my kids ages 9 and 13 get a kick out of my entries!). As I consider this space I want to take into consideration the feedback I often get over on Instagram, the platform where I’m currently most active. I strive to provide a good mix of parenting life, cultural observations, opportunities and resources for fellow small business owners, and dashes of sarcastic and sometimes irreverent humor. My followers regularly confirm I’m good at this mix, and they appreciate my corner of the Internet for it.

I spent some time thinking about where this path began and it all goes back to The Big Book of Tell Me Why. I was an only child until almost 8 years old, and I was adept at entertaining myself especially through books. This tome, a hefty 200+ pages, was one of my favorites. I’d lug it from my bookshelf onto the living room floor and lay there exploring answers to random questions from, “Do dogs see colors?” to “How big is the universe?”

Now as I look at this space, I anticipate bringing that same curiosity which sparked it all. Observing, ruminating, finding connections and more.

Thank you for coming along.

~Quiana