Knock It Off November

Early December in 2012 I decided I wanted to take advantage of www.sheislauren.com by recording segments that highlighted my peers who were doing amazing things in the community and it revolved around one question..“Who are you?” I quickly compiled a list of people I wanted to interview, and the talented Yavonn “Miss Mama” Clark was one of them.

Almost one year later the direction of the site has shifted multiple times and is continuing to develop. I found myself on Instagram and kept seeing people post pictures about Knock it Off November. So of course I did my research and finally had the opportunity to meet up with the creator to talk about her latest project Knock it Off November which is the sister to No Shave November. No Shave November is when men stop shaving their facial and body hair to raise awareness for Prostate Cancer.

Knock it Off November is a notion for women to unite and to recognize hard work and unity. It also serves as a challenge to do the things we’ve been procrastinating on like challenging yourself to stay up that extra hour to write a business plan, workout, go back to school or even create a list of goals. Whatever you have been lacking Miss Mama wants you to KNOCK IT OFF and make it happen.

I asked Miss Mama what has she been procrastinating on and she said for years she has been procrastinating on her music. She admitted that her ventures as a host caused her to put her music on a back burner. But now she’s back writing music and hounding people who use to hound her to get in the studio. She has also procrastinated on reading the bible and getting closer to the lord but is turning that around because her faith and being closer to the lord is something she feels is vital to her well being. “A lot of successful people were in the church.” She refers to Whitney Houston as someone who inspires her because Houston always followed the Lord first. Her health and working out was also something she decided to “knock” out of the way. Although Miss Mama is confident in her figure she wants to take it up another notch.

Miss Mama wants to create an outlet where woman can share their stories.

“You don’t hear stories until someone is famous but what about the stories while you’re getting famous. You don’t have to be on 106 & Park on behind the music to get your story heard.”

This is more than just a project, Miss Mama is stepped out of her comfort zone as well by opening up to the world and sharing intimate parts of her as well. Miss Mama wants to be the local 106 & Park and wants you to submit your story to her at knockingitoff@gmail.com so she can pick her “Knock it Off of the week” because your story deserves to be heard and can potentially help the next person reading it.

As the interview continued I realized we have more things in common than I thought, but you’re just going to have to listen to the interview to find out just what those things are!