Here’s a behind the scenes interview on the movie set:

I am also working with Dr. Maya Angelou on her Health Equity Plan, raising funds and awareness of diseases that effect women and minorities. We are planning a big event at the Phoebe Beasley Art Gallery in Los Angeles this Spring. My mother, a retired Associate Dean of the Wake Forest Medical School, serves on the Health Equity Board. Michelle Ebanks of “Essence” magazine is a big supporter and spoke at the event we recently held at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC.

Monica Haslip, founder and Director of The Little Black Pearl Workshop

I am proud to serve on the Board of Directors for The Little Black Pearl Workshop in Chicago. The prestigious Arts school kicked off our new “Art of Community Giving” Campaign this summer with a free Jazz concert. We are currently working on programs to address the growing number of murders of children in Chicago. And we recently raised funds for the school with “The Little Black Dress” event held at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Nineteen local designers donated their little black dresses for the auction. I hosted the affair - and bought a fabulous dress!

Check out more photos from the event!

I’m watching Jay Leno the other night and he mentions that as many as 2-million Americans suffer from an obsession with hoarding. We are a nation drowning in our own abundance. I peer into my cluttered bedroom closet and wince.

I cringe as I picture the collected chaos in my office. I break into a sweat at the mere thought of opening my garage door - - and I know right then and there – that I might be a hoarder.

I’m one of those people who can’t seem to let go of anything. I still had 1990s business suits from The Rolonda Show still stuffed inside my exploding closet. Old stuff mushed up against new stuff - some with the tags still hanging on them. Ew. Nobody knew what was in that closet. I couldn’t find a thing. And everyday it got worse as I flung clothes to the floor because I didn’t want to go in there. Getting dressed took forever. I was frustrated every day because I couldn’t find anything.

I knew it was getting bad when even my friends started pointing at my closet mess as if it housed a whale that washed ashore. “Wow,” they’d muse, looking down. “I wonder how long it’s been there?” My closet was a complete mess and so was I, becoming more sick and tired of being sick and tired of the mounting clutter in my life. Something had to change, so I could get my positive, productive, fresh, new energy flowing. In the mess, there was a message.

The universe answered my silent prayers. I met Closet Colin.

Colin Megaro is a fashion stylist and expert with a keen proclivity toward neatness and organization. I adoringly call him Closet Colin. Donned in jeans, a crisp, striped button-down shirt, and an Hermes scarf, Colin literally stripped my closets, helping me say goodbye to things that no longer matter to me, don’t fit my life, style, or body anymore, or, are, in his words, “Just plain disgusting!”

How could I possibly have good things come into my life this New Year without clearing away all this old crap? I still to this day thank Colin for my “closet colonic.” And, I am so much better now about hanging up my clothes, which I learned takes just as long as throwing them on the floor.

Ok – I will admit it, I may have organized closets, but I have one messed up desk. Ah, Rome was not built in a day. But, you know, it’s our little steps that really count.

How are you handling the clutter in your life?

If you need help, contact Colin Megaro: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

http://sites.google.com/site/clutterersanonymous/Home

Maybe I’m cold and heartless – but when it comes to some people – just like old, worn out, uncomfortable clothes – they need to be tossed. Sometimes in life it’s time to let some people go. Like the one who is always negative, acting like she woke up chewing razor blades again this morning. And no matter what you say – how much blessed encouragement you continue to give – all she does is complain. Enough already! I’m tossin’ you!

Or, the so-called friend who is constantly taking and taking and giving nothing! Rarely inviting you to their house, and, if they do, never offering you a thing to eat – despite all the food they’ve gobbled up at every one of your parties. Enough! I’m tossin you!

Or, that guy, who sweetly asks if he can throw a small dinner at your house and it surprisingly turns into a huge party of almost 100 strangers trampling all over your yard. Making matters worse, the scoundrel disappears on your ass when the bill comes and still to this day refuses to pay you back. I’m tossing and finding you!

And then there’s that bunch that just got old and boring, stagnant and judgmental. Yuck.

I often muse to teenagers – “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.” But that little diddy can apply for us as grownups too. I want only wonderful, honest, beautiful, loving people around me, those who inspire me and encourage me to become better. And sometimes that takes a good de-cluttering in life, as if cleaning out another junky closet at home.

Who you tossin’?

Auntie Maya Angelou and me at the Health Equity Plan Event

There are some images I will never forget, like the young woman I saw in court, dressed only in her pajamas and holding a crying baby on her hip. She was there begging for a restraining order against some brut who had beaten her the night before. She still had to go back to work the next day. If she’s like most battered women, she might be looking for a job for the very first time in her life, so she can finally support herself and her children.

Every time I give away one of my old business suits, I think about that woman and so many others who my donation might help have a fresh, new start. I have given away my business suits, shoes, bags, and blouses to my local battered women’s shelter year after year. Having covered so many domestic violence cases, and having lived through some myself, I well know how desperate and alone most women are who have fled their violent homes. I prayed that maybe one of my suits would help a battered woman feel supported by her community, her Sister, and feel better able to support herself.

I also find that “Out of the Closet” is another great place to give un-needed and unused items and clothes. A fun Hollywood thrift shop, proceeds from sales go to Aids Research and Awareness. The store offers free condoms and HIV tests.

If you are unloading big items, like furniture, I recommend The Salvation Army because they come pick up your stuff.

Already feeling like a brand new penny after my big closet purge, I only feel that much better, my heart much lighter, after donating my old clothes and furniture to charities.
It’s a win-win situation for everyone - - and a tax write off too!

So, join me. Clean out your closet for charity this weekend. Oh—and don’t forget your receipts!

What are some of your favorite charities? How does giving to them make you feel?

Check out one of my new favorite blogs by one of my favorite people - James Moore. James was a remarkable producer on “The Rolonda Show” and we often swooned over his good cooking. Now, he’s blogging and we can “Cook Like James!”

http://www.cooklikejames.com/