Anniversary Celebration
Cider Enterprises Book Club October Conference Call & Appreciation Ceremony
Many Chicago business icons come to mind in remembrance of the Great Migration’s 100th year Anniversary. Our featured author, Kathleen Y. Robinson chronicles her family’s journey as part of the great migration in her book, The Store. Kathleen provides a revealing insider view of a proud family with strong southern roots and life with her husband Warren, doing business inside and outside of Rob’s.
Her story’s roots began in Mississippi and Tennessee. Cities like Memphis provided a starting point for several million people who journeyed from the south to the north seeking a better life. This was the heart of that generation’s mindset, a time when ‘failure was not an option’ and legacy continued.
Fourth Season of Cider Enterprises Book Club Returns September 15
Welcome back to the Cider Enterprises Book Club Blog. The fourth season of our Conference Call begins on Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 7PM Central Standard Time with a NEW CALL-IN NUMBER at 218-548-7622, Access Code is 20112#.
Our focus on ‘Over-Comers’ will feature several Chicago based authors and promoters who tell their stories of overcoming Chicago’s Literary Desert. And in recognition of the 100th year of the Great Migration, we will also feature personal stories from authors who’ve experienced a time period when ‘failure was not an option.’
Our first guest of the season is Asadah Kirkland, the Soulful Chicago Book Fair founder and promoter. Asadah and her book, “Beating Black Kids,” was also featured last season on the Cider Enterprises Book Club. Since then, she has elevated her status and increased her accomplishments to produce the first Black Literary Art Fair. To her credit, Asadah not only sold the City and corporate sponsors on the idea, but she additionally gathered an overflow of quality authors from a multitude of genre’s to the extent that Soulful Book Fair is already set for 2017! Read the rest of this entry »
Tech Thursdays Chicago Features Cider Enterprises for Social Media Presence
Cider Enterprises – Business Coaching and Consulting – was the featured business for Social Media Presence, during Tech Thursdays Chicago workshop on October 22, 2015 at Malcolm X College. As owner of Cider Enterprises and the visionary of Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action! I, Claudette Redic, put my ‘Big Girl Panties’ on and authentically stepped to the podium with confidence and the anniversary mantra of Sistah’s Home. I am who I say I am: I am worthy, I am deserving, I am capable, and I am purposed to be of service to me and others.
Three Reasons Why Your Business Should Participate in Community Parades
After recently participating in the annual ‘Million Father March’ Back to School Parade that is organized by Phillip Jackson, Founder & Director of the Black Star Project, I am inspired to offer three reasons why your business should also participate in community parades. But first, a little about the Million Father March, a 365 day-a year initiative for Black men who want to educate and develop Black children. This particular parade focuses on men accompanying children for the first day of school. A great time was had by all attendees and we were able to support and promote a long-term committed community organization. I encourage more business owners to consider the intrinsic rewards a parade can provide and contact me at Cider Enterprises for a FREE consultation to discuss this and additional affordable promotion strategies… Read the rest of this entry »
Life is Working in My Favor In Spite of Unexpected Obstacles
Life is working in my favor in spite of unexpected obstacles, like in the case of the Authors Appreciation Celebration that was originally scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 1, 2015. The Cider Enterprises Book Club Conference Call had planned to ‘Celebrate Authors’ who have been showcased during our past three seasons. But, even the best laid plans and efforts can sometimes be unexpectedly derailed because although the event permit was issued and the promotion was in full swing, the City of Chicago decided it was a great time to lay big industrial water pipes in the area. Needless to say, as a participant of the 27th Annual Dauphin Avenue Civic Organization’s Block Club Event, the inconvenience of maneuvering the streets amidst the dust and pipe work, effectively canceled our outdoor event. I extend my heartfelt apologies to all who had planned to attend. However, be aware that I am already planning the 2016 celebration.
Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action! Celebrating the 3-Year Vision
The time of the year is here for acknowledging, commemorating, and celebrating the third year anniversary of my vision for “Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action!” This luxurious resort is in tribute to the powerful, creative and loving African-American women, who share their humanity for the good of many.
The Mission: To be the premier place, where tributes to Sisterhood are evident throughout. Hospitality, Hope and Health are the Pavilions of our connected spirits and the avenues of our expression.
The Vision: To be an opulent waterfront international destination in Chicago, IL. People from around the world will feel the energy of African-American women and use “Sistah’s Home” – as a place of respite, renewal and rejoicing.
Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action: One Year Anniversary!
Aside Posted on Updated on
October 2013 is here and it seems hard to believe that on the 20th of this month, a whole year will have gone by since “Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action!” had its introductory “Prayer and Praise Breakfast.” The outcome of that event will remain legendary to me because I got to see, feel and be with people who believe in me. Although not everyone has embraced my dream for this opulent waterfront resort, this past year has brought a significant group of new recruits. In addition, many more people are seeing this “International Destination” here in Chicago as a tribute to African-American women and the value our Sisterhood brings to the world. “Sistah’s Home” is anchored in Hospitality, Hope and Health and has transformed into a true help for people during this year.
Looking back over the year, I stopped to reflect on achievements and am grateful that there have been many. I count my decisions that shape and influence the ambiance of Sistah’s Home among my greatest accomplishments because of the many options in the universe. Inspiration is the key influence to all of my selections: the vivid colors like those captured in Dr. Yemonja Small’s divine painting, “Like there’s No Tomorrow,” and words that remind us of our connectivity in the poem by Jo Anne Meekins entitled “United.” Ideas and practices that motivate and elevate are in: Celebration permeates the air, colors uplift and engage, and music carries the spirit that emits success and well-being with tones of love throughout all of it. These choices create the feng shui environment of Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action!
THE VISIONING CONTINUES:
Each day at “Sistah’s Home” will begin with drumming music (the soul chakra tone of my people) and an opportunity to listen to an inspirational prayer-based conference call, The Love Journey, Inc., from Monday through Friday. Sistah’s Home, a movement in itself, has the strong, powerful chords of triumph and invincibility in the music. New and cherished sounds of authentic personal expressions flow throughout. Fragrant spices, herbs and flowers that heal and promote a sense of well-being are soothing and richly aromatic. The resort “hums” with energy in each space, according to its design.
The Hospitality Pavilion offers prolific ways of welcome that include young and senior aged Personal Concierges. Our Personal Concierges are available to ensure that each guest’s wishes are fulfilled in accordance with our mission to be a premier place where the Love of Sisterhood is expressed and experienced. Inside the warm atmosphere is a feeling of “come in and relax, you can take a load off here.” Beautiful and magnificent arrangements of flowers and fragrant herbs and spices are part of the elegant backdrop throughout. Spectacular art titillates the eye and imagination. The immediacy and thoroughness of service are rendered according to personal requests.
After cordial greetings and settling in, guests usually look forward to refreshing themselves in Sistah’s Home progressive degrees of elegant eating venues. Great chefs and nutritionists provide delicious and palate pleasing meals and a wide assortment of cultural delights. I can already envision the largest eating area, showcasing the diner with important and powerful seating and lighting while guests enjoy a meal. The designers know exactly how to create the desired setting. Varying degrees of progressive elegance also affords the opportunity to eat with a personal group of participants in smaller and more specialized eating areas, like the upscale luxurious dining area or the paparazzi bar and appetizer areas for observation and networking. The greatest group of staff waiters makes all dining experiences memorable. During a television episode of the George Oliphant’s “Meal Estate,” I heard a dining concept of “no room service” that was pleasing to me as yet another way to promote the connection of our “alike-ness” as people and especially as sisters. The largest area for meals was in a communal space. I think a “room service” concept could exist in a late night experience and in keeping with the artists and the night-time visitors of guests.
Also within “Sistah’s Home” resort campus is the Hope Pavilion, an area anchored by a greenhouse and non-denominational chapel. The greenhouse provides mostly all flora and fauna needed in-house and services the surrounding communities’ need for fresh produce and flowers. Mind you, I know nothing more about greenhouses other than I love them and that it will be a magnificent feature of “Sistah’s Home.” The “therapeutic” effect will be especially great during Chicago winters. Always on the look-out for news and information on how to promote Green Technology throughout the resort, I attended a summer festival that featured a number of green tech entities. Well wouldn’t you know it, I was introduced to Urban Farms South, a bountiful urban garden growing in the heart of South-Side Chicago. The “farmers” turned out to be four men, passionate about organic produce for people living in “food-deserts” throughout certain areas of the city. These four men grow produce and flowers; offer the opportunity for others to rent plots for personal growing; open themselves to providers of nutritional information; provide classes on canning and preserving of garden contents; and even host vegan meal dinners for the public several times a month. My excitement about finding this urban garden pushed me to find out more. After several visits and conversations with these guys, I learned they were more than a little interested in helping me set up the Sistah’s Home greenhouse! They have been gracious enough to steer me to needed resources (i.e. blue prints, expenses and individuals to run the greenhouse) and have also offered to be lead contractors for the greenhouse.
Sistah’s Home – The Place of Love in Action! We are celebrating our one year anniversary with a Fish Fry on Friday, October 18, 2013 at 6 p.m. This event will be held at St. Edmunds Tower Community Room, 6141 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL. Come join us for a festive evening of food, fun and fellowship!
Cider Enterprises Book Club 