ABOUT NSNC
No Sugar, No Cream was born out of a feeling of disrespect. Myself and a group of women, Black women I love, were being undervalued, under appreciated, and unheard. It was a position not entirely new to me or most Black women but it wasn't one I could take lightly. And while I wasn't in the place to remove myself from the environment, I had to do something about it. My goal was to create a space that fostered feelings completely antithetical to what I felt that day, a place where Black women are heard, where we are valued and appreciated. One of the inspirations for the name of the site came from a song by the late Heavy D., "Black Coffee."
The whole song is a celebration of Black women. My dad was a Heavy D fan growing up and I remember hearing the song often as a young girl. But now that I'm older, and recognize how rare these moments of appreciation for Black women can be, I value it even more.
In addition to the song, coffee, without sugar or cream is potent, unfiltered and unsweetened. I don't say unsweetened to mean all the stories here are going to be bitter. Some stories don't require additional sweetening. The goal is to be authentic, whether the result be bitter, naturally sweet or something in between.
ABOUT veronica
I always hate the part of a job interview where the potential employer asks you to tell him/her about yourself. It’s a loaded question and one that’s virtuality impossible to answer with any type of real accuracy. But I’ll try for the sake of giving the transparency I hope to receive from others. At the moment I’d describe myself as a storyteller. It’s an identifier I’ve just recently claimed and it feels right. I’m a lot of bit spiritual, cry more than most people and am consistently tardy. I’m working, daily, on being the most authentic and the most powerful version of myself.
For those of you interested in the more traditional rundown: I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, studied Journalism and Black Studies at the University of Missouri, interned at MSNBC, and currently work as the Culture Editor for MadameNoire.com . My words have been featured on several media platforms including CNN, For Harriet, theGrio, NPR, and the daytime talk show, "The Real."