BAHIYAH WOMAN MAGAZINE
PAYS HOMAGE TO BLACK MEN WITH
Conversations with Black Men
in Holiday Special Edition

Chicago, IL. – December 2004 – Bahiyah (Bye-hee-yah meaning beautiful in Swahili) Woman Magazine ( www.BahiyahWomanMagazine.com) the magazine of empowerment for today’s woman of color published by Hollingsworth Media Group (HMG) has taken a bold step, which female perspective publications will soon have to follow to stay in the race. The three-year old online publication based in Chicago, Illinois introduces in its December ‘04 issue its second installment of the acclaimed Conversations with Black Men feature and Brown Stone the highly anticipated (www.BrownStoneDrama.com), online drama.

Brown Stone, an original online drama written by Editorial Director and Publisher Serene Bridget Hollingsworth and Managing Editor Sandria M. Washington with music by Aaron Hollingsworth share the lives of five ‘sistah-friends’ of faith who live in a Chicago Bronzeville brownstone and the men who love them. The riveting online series walks through the lives of these women and men, intricately weaving a fine thread of beautiful Black male-female relationships. It’s funny, real, and thought provoking.

The provocative Conversations with Black Men series allows Black men to speak in their own voice from their hearts on issues relevant to the Black male experience from a perspective that mainstream media has chosen not to give face or quality voice to. The ‘conversations’ will run the gamut, including topics from AIDS/HIV to religion. In this issue Conversations with Black Men panelists speak candidly about the 2004 presidential election and its aftermath. Editorial Director and Publisher Serene Bridgett Hollingsworth pioneers the way, giving an unedited voice to Black men from across America, and as such, Bahiyah Woman Magazine is poised to become the leader among publications for women of color. Damany Robinson (FOX-TV NYC) says, “Conversations with Black Men is a triumph from both a publishing and personal perspective. It hits the mark both visually and editorially.”

The December installment includes the voices of Ronald E. Childs (Chicago), journalist and publisher of Afrique Edenic Journal; Mark Anthony Thomas (Atlanta), author of the recently released, “The Poetic Repercussion”; James Ellis III (Washington D.C.), artist/photographer and author of his freshman release, “OnThaGrindCuzin: The School Daze of Being 'Incognegro' in 1619”; Gary Taylor (Los Angeles), songwriter and vocalist, whose song “Woman of Color” from his latest CD Eclectic Bohemian plays as the opening anthem of the online magazine; Dedry Jones (Chicago), Music Promoter and Entertainment Writer; Jabali Kamau LaRaviere (Urbana, IL), educator; and Kenneth Davis (Rialto, CA), playwright and author. Other contributing panelists include Jay King (Los Angeles), Director of Classic R&B for Thump Records and James Lisbon (Rego Park, NY), Founder and Editor of Awareness Magazine (AMAG). These talented and dedicated Black men make their voices heard not only in this issue, but every issue of Bahiyah Woman Magazine. The December installment also includes a tribute to Black men in a photo-montage by photographers Ed Herman (New York) of www.Umojaphoto.com and James Ellis III (Washington D.C.). The pictorial images have been captured by Black men and are reflective of Black men in America including family and social life, community, and spirituality­showing the glory and the shadows of life for Black men in America today.

“A magazine for women of color which does not give quality voice to and welcome our Black men cannot be representative of women of color­for what am I without him?” says Editorial Director and Publisher Serene Bridgett Hollingsworth. “Once a year is not enough. Our men have been castrated, unseen, voiceless, and incarcerated representations in the media long enough. We’ve allowed and have idly sat by while mainstream media has fed to us images which depict our men as womanizing, trifling, drug slinging, criminals, trivial, and unimportant. I am not so much interested in entertaining African American men or women in Bahiyah Woman Magazine. I have taken a bold stand. I am able to do what many publications today cannot afford to do in an effort to please advertisers. I am most interested in empowering men and women of color by giving a voice and face to Black men and women from a spiritual, positive, and cultural perspective who for far too long have been a silent majority in these United States of America.”

Editorial Director and Publisher Serene Bridgett Hollingsworth and Managing Editor Sandria M. Washington are currently available for interviews.