Need a Fantastik Fix

The Femmes are on a short summer break before we reunite in late August to tour several more military bases in the Washington, D.C. area. It's been a month since we've all been together and I have to tell you, I miss my girls!

I miss Nina and her fantastik 'foxiness'. The girl is aptly named. The woman is crazy like a Foxx. She's a quiet mystery that makes you wonder what's filling those Jimmy Choo's (okay they could be Manolo's). It's hard to categorize her as quiet, though she doesn't say a lot, but when she does you can bet it will be right on point. She's not a jokester and yet you can count on her to come up with some mischievous plot behind the scenes to stir things up and get us giggling. In getting to know her, I've come to admire Nina's quiet ambition, her quick wit and 'let's do it' attitude.

Now I know we throw the word 'diva' around a lot in these reports but Victoria is the diva of the best kind. Behind her Chanel, rhinestone-studded sunglasses is a mega-author in the making and she knows it. But there is no arrogance attached to this bold knowledge only the desire to make sure that as she rises all her girls rise right along with her. Her attitude is always positive, her words kind and encouraging and while she's taking with one hand; she's giving with the other.

I miss Carmen and her crazy sense of humor and sweet vulnerability. What I admire most about Carmen is that despite her prolific publishing record, she's hungry to move higher and push herself farther and to do that she's not afraid to ask for help. Publishing is a very competitive business, one that is built on very fragile perceptions, and it is rare that an author of Carmen's experience and past success is brave enough to step outside the genre where she's been mega-successful and ask for help with breaking into another. Rarer still is the wide-open support by the Femmes to help her do just that. Carmen teases about being the Wal-Mart woman among all the designer divas, but this girl is mega rich in areas where most women are downright poverty stricken.

Getting to know Jacquelin is like coming face-to-face with the stereotypical description of genteel, Southern Belle. But behind that quiet, demure, Louis Vuitton carrying persona is a woman with amazing strength and fortitude. During late night discussions I've come to know Jacqui as an amazingly generous and loving woman. Definitely the most prolific writer among the Femmes, she is a case study of the strong, black woman who lives her life with grace and dignity and has been such an inspiration to us all.

Marissa Monteilh is the Femme whose confident attitude we all want to have when we grow up. She is feisty, flirty and fabulous. She can pull a reader (male and female...okay mostly male) over to the signing table with a wink and a smile, and when she's done with them not only do they have signed copies of each of her books, but leave feeling like they are THE man. And she does it without ruffling one feather among any female in the room. How does she do it?

For me, the Femme Fantastik Tour has been such a reminder of how important it is to surround yourself with women of like minds and positive dispositions. They are proof that when you do personal growth is unavoidable. I can't wait to get back on the road with my girls and grow some more.