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Creativity can’t be taught. But we’ve all got it in us. Even the most left-brained individuals have an artist inside of them waiting to be set free. All you need to do is create circumstances that allow your creative expression to flow out. If you think your creative muscle is in need of some flexing, here are some exercises to get you started.

For a more in-depth experience, check out The Artist’s Way. In addition to inspiring the creative exercises listed here, the book provides a 12-week program to tap into higher creativity.

(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Fashion designer and Project Runway guest judge Rachel Roy has launched a new digital content portal, The Life, whose mission is to inspire women to live the life they’ve always wanted. Located on her website, the site also has its own hashtag, #RRTheLife.

The press release outlines the layout of the site, which includes five sections: Learn, Style, Giveback, RR/TV, and About, that covers everything from philanthropy to travel, food, and, of course, fashion.

In addition to the text content, there are a series of videos that feature interviews with women that Roy takes inspiration from, including FEED projects founder Lauren Bush Lauren and jewelry designer Jacquie Aiche. Check out the clip below for a sample of the first season.

Will you become a subscriber?

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Since you probably already have dozens of excuses ready to go as for why you shouldn’t exercise — and because sitting on your butt just feels so good —you need to prepare mantras, ahead of time, to repeat at those moments when you don’t feel like moving at all and eating a tub of ice cream! Here are a few thoughts to get you started — and motvated.

Dear Readers,

Have you ever had a moment when after days/months/years of fearing the outcome you finally decided to do it.  You’ve had a passion and a desire for something and you decided to use your gift/talent.  So you work really hard on your first project, and you just KNOW that once you get your work out there the calls are going to come.  Success is imminent, and you know that all you have to do is just get yourself out there, be seen.  So, you put in the work, get it out and… nothing.  Not a blankity-blank thing happens, what do you do then?

Well readers, you’re not alone.  The same people whose success you might idolize or admire have also faced and endured setbacks.  The only difference from them and others is that they continued to persevere.

Sometimes in this day and age, we can be so used to that immediate gratification.  If you want information, all you have to do is look it up online and you get it immediately.  Want your favorite artist’s new single?  Just download it.  You want to contact your friends?  All you need to do is call, text, email; the days of snail mail for your primary communication are gone now.  This can sometimes make us a little spoiled when trying to accomplish our dreams.  You get so used to immediately getting your desired affect that if you face a failure sometimes you’ll want to just go on to something else or something easier.

Now we all know that success (for the most part) isn’t over night, and it’s like working out.  There are times when I’m working out at the gym or doing a work out DVD that right after I get finished, it’s as if I’m expecting this immediate result of a brand new body.  Anyone who’s been to a gym can see those few people who after using a machine gingerly walks to one of the dozens of mirrors that is plastered on the wall and look slightly disappointed that the results aren’t as noticeable as they would have hoped for.

Common sense lets us know that success doesn’t come easy, and with working out you only see positive results after continuing with it.  Even when it gets hard, or disheartening.  When you get on the scale and there’s not a change, it doesn’t mean that you should stop working out, because you could be losing inches instead.  The same thing goes for trying to gain success in your desired field.  Your first time going for it might not give you success.  You might have a few doors slammed in your face.  However, you shouldn’t let it deter you from continuing. Use that failure as a way to strengthen yourself and your talent.  Find out what you did wrong and try to correct it, and then try again.

It might be a long time before you get your desired result, but when you get it, you’ll be happy that you kept at it.  If following your dreams is something that will bring you happiness, don’t you owe it to yourself?

Kendra Koger is persevering, and you should too!  Also, persevere on over to her twitter @kkoger.

Photo: Gregg Newton

If you’re a gospel fan, chances are Yolanda Adams’ music has inspired you over the years. Well, this weekend Adams used her music and her story to inspire the 100 high school students at Disney Dreamers Academy this weekend. MadameNoire had the chance to speak to Yolanda about how she started singing professionally, though she never had an interest in doing so. She also talked about how the high school students ended up inspiring her as well.

Source: Todd Anderson

Singer and former American Idol contestant, Kimberley Locke is passionate about supporting today’s youth. For the past few years, she’s been a part of the Disney Dreamers Academy, a four day long event that encourages and prepares high school students to perfect their crafts and achieve their goals. Locke inspired the high school students with a vocal performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Afterward, MadameNoire got a chance to talk to Locke about her commitment to the program, the woman who supported her dream and the importance of making things happen for yourself.

Why do you continue to be a part of this program, year after year?

I think it’s so important. I think that there need to be more programs like this across the country. I think it’s sad to see our kids growing up the way that it’s happening. There aren’t enough mentors out there. As an entertainer, there’s so many people who have the opportunity to mentor and they chose not to or they don’t know how. But this is such a great program, these kids are here because they want to do something different. They don’t want to do what they see in their neighborhoods every week. They want to get out. They want an outlet. And what this program does, is show them that it is possible. Then they see people like me and people like Chef Jeff and Jonathan Sprinkles telling their story. And when they see that they come from where we come from. Then they become motivated, they become inspired. It’s so important.

Who was the first person you remember supporting or encouraging your dream?

I had a substitute teacher in junior high school and her name was…we called her Rolo…Miss Douglas. But she was like don’t call me Miss Douglas, call me Rolo. So we called her Rolo. For whatever reason she took an interest in me and she called my mom. She came to my house and met my mom and she was like, ‘you know sometimes if I go to the mall or something, Kim can go with me.’ And I learned so much from having her around me. But because she took an interest in me, it made me feel important and it made me feel special. My mom was always working, not that my mom didn’t make me feel special, but my mom was worried about how she was going to provide for me and how she was going to feed me. She really wasn’t trying to make me feel special. She was like ‘Here’s your meal, feel special.” You know what I’m saying? So, Rolo was like that big sister that I didn’t have. She would take me to her house and give me clothes out of her closet. And that went a long way. It meant so much. I’m sure she wasn’t the first, but when I was their age, like junior high school, getting ready to go to high school, she was it for me.”

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If only all it took was one, good, long workout a year to meet our fitness goals… well, we’d all be on board for that! Unfortunately, our bodies demand we work at getting it right and tight day in and day out if we ever want to see those abs—and keep them — for that matter. Incorporating anything new into your daily life takes lots of discipline and we’ve got a few tricks to at least get you on your way to summer time fine — and stay there. Check ‘em out.

Surely, by now you’ve learned that today is our First Lady, Michelle Obama’s 49th birthday. In just the short time we’ve known of Mrs. Obama, we watched her in pride and admiration. In that time of observation we’ve learned a few things from the our beloved First Lady, see what they are…

Never take yourself too seriously

If you’ve watched Michelle in the past 4+ years, you’ve noticed that she’s hit the dougie for the “Let’s Move” campaign, she let the family dog Boo sit on her lap while she was reading a story at a children’s hospital and during the Olympics she let one of the female wrestlers pick her up and both of the women posed for a photo. Michelle is the first lady of the United States of America and could easily have sunk into that “I’m too good for this,” mode. But instead, she’s remained down to earth, approachable and even fun. No wonder the country loves her so much.

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Don’t you love that quiet lull the office falls into between Christmas and New Year’s Day? With clients and coworkers traveling for the holidays, the workplace can feel like an adult version of Home Alone. But, there are better things to do with your downtime than playing Facebook games or building towers out of office supplies with your cubicle mates. This is the perfect time of year to gain perspective on 2012, and get focused for the New Year. Follow these steps to make sure your mind is right for 2013.

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Allegedly…

It must be hard being a famous musician in the public eye. When you say you’re inspired by certain musicians, people (sometimes, THAT musician too), like to say you’re trying to be like them. When you don’t pay “homage” to these people, then fans and musicians fading out of the limelight like to claim you stole their style completely. You can’t win for trying! Over the years, there have been many folks who have been called out for having a style similar to someone else, some we can understand, others we think are getting unnecessary shade. We thought we’d compile these folks and figure out who is killing it on their own, and who is a clone.

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R. Kelly and Aaron Hall

If you ask some people, Aaron Hall put an imaginary patent on the permission to rock a bald head, sunglasses and and sing at a ridiculously loud but melodic level. Hall had that look and sound on lock during the early ’90s, but some say R. Kelly came through and stole it, and even swiped his singing style. I can’t lie, there are some songs from the early days of the R-ruh’s career that make me think if I closed my eyes, I might be hearing Aaron Hall (“She’s Got That Vibe” anyone?), but as Kellz became more popular and Hall started to slowly fade out of the music scene to try his hand at being a dog whisperer…his style and music continuously changed (he still talked about sex constantly, but you know what I mean…). Either way though, Hall isn’t sweating it, because while Kelly may have stolen his style, he says, the singer can’t touch his swag:

“I know a lot of people out there are saying that R. Kelly stole my style. But remember he can’t touch my swagger. I got that old school swag, that 80′s swag and ain’t nobody touching that.”