{"id":1763,"date":"2015-04-30T23:41:21","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T04:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.candoclemency.com\/?p=1763"},"modified":"2022-08-19T15:37:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T20:37:42","slug":"miquelle-west-introduces-amy-to-russell-simmons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/miquelle-west-introduces-amy-to-russell-simmons\/","title":{"rendered":"Miquelle West Introduces Amy to Russell Simmons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet My New BFF<\/strong> \u00a0by Amy Ralston Povah<\/p>\n

\"Celebrity
Celebrity Fashion Stylist Miquelle West<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On April 26th, Miquelle West, fashion stylist extraordinaire for Sean Combs company, Revolt TV<\/em> and daughter of drug war lifer, Michelle West, came to Malibu so we could finally meet in person. \u00a0This woman is so amazing, so talented, so wise beyond her years that I never wanted the day to end. \u00a0We couldn’t stop talking about our mutual respect for her mother, Michelle, who is featured on the CAN-DO homepage; has served over 21 years and, as Miquelle puts it – is her inspiration on a daily basis and was the motivation that encouraged Miquelle to shoot for the stars! \u00a0And boy – has she. \u00a0Miquelle studied under fashion icon Patricia Field while working on Sex and the City<\/em> and Hope and Faith<\/em>. \u00a0She has also styled for BET, The Ricki Lake Show<\/em>, VH1’s Love and Hip Hop, Quincy Combs<\/em> and worked with many prominent celebrities.<\/p>\n

\"Miquelle
Miquelle and Amy after cocktails on Sunday at NOBU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We ventured to NOBU for cocktails and then advanced to Malibu’s\u00a0Duck Dive<\/em> to talk about what it was like growing up as a child without a mother to nurture her on a daily basis. \u00a0Miquelle assured me that Michelle was very involved in her upbringing, even from prison. \u00a0“I missed my mother so much, that I valued every phone conversation we had and took her advice to heart. \u00a0She encouraged me to make something of myself and never look back. \u00a0She didn’t want me to end up working in a dead-end job. \u00a0I have loved fashion since I was a little girl, so I decided to focus on something that moved me. \u00a0Initially, I moved to New York city, because that’s the heart of the fashion industry in the U.S. \u00a0I attended a fashion show for DKNY and Patricia Fields kept looking at me while she was speaking, so I decided to go up and introduce myself. \u00a0The next thing I knew – she took me under her wing and I interned for her, which taught me so much. \u00a0She is still my inspiration.”<\/p>\n

\"Def
Def Jam Comedy is every Wednesday night at \u00a0Grauman’s Theater in Hollywood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Needless to say, Miquelle and I bonded and therefore, we made a second date. \u00a0Miquelle invited me to Russell Simmons’ Invitation\u00a0Only Def Jam Comedy on Wednesdays at Grauman’s Theater. \u00a0We hammed it up on the red<\/p>\n

\"Miquelle
Miquelle and Amy at Russell Simmons Def Jam Comedy Event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

carpet, mingled with folks before and after the show, and Miquelle even introduced me to Russell Simmons, who is not only an icon, but has been a major hero of mine for many years. \u00a0I didn’t hesitate to thank “Uncle Rush” for\u00a0his devotion to the same cause I have devoted my life to – ending the drug war!<\/p>\n

\"Amy
Amy spoke to Simmons on the Red Carpet at his Def Jam Comedy Event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More specifically, I thanked him for the open letter he sent to President Obama strongly urged him to move the failed drug war from a criminal justice platform to a public health approach. That letter, in my opinion, was the single most influential thing that caused AG Holder, just four months later, to back away from using mandatory minimums in all drug cases. \u00a0Holder gave a speech on August 8th, 2013, saying, \u201cAlthough incarceration has a role to play in our justice system, widespread incarceration at the federal, state and local levels is both ineffective and unsustainable…It imposes a significant economic burden\u2014totaling $80 billion in 2010 alone\u2014and it comes with human and moral costs that are impossible to calculate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons is still devoted to the cause, however, he gave Justin Bieber credit for causing the “Open Letter to Obama” to go viral, by tweeting about it. \u00a0 A coalition of over 175 artists, actors and athletes signed the letter, including:\u00a0Will Smith, Dr. Boyce Watkins, Scarlett Johansson, Ron Howard, Mark Wahlberg, Kim Kardashian, Ben Jealous, Eva Longoria, Demi Moore, Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, Russell Brand, John Legend, Sir Richard Branson, Nicki Minaj, Harry Belafonte, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

In part, the letter stated,\u00a0\u201cIt is critical that we change both the way we think about drug laws in this country and how we generate positive solutions that leave a lasting impact on rebuilding our communities. \u00a0We need to break the school to prison pipeline, support and educate our younger generations and provide them with a path that doesn\u2019t leave them disenfranchised with limited options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, we are determined to bring Michelle home to her daughter and together, we CAN-DO it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet My New BFF \u00a0by Amy Ralston Povah On April 26th, Miquelle West, fashion stylist extraordinaire for Sean Combs company, Revolt TV and daughter of drug war lifer, Michelle West, came to Malibu so we could finally meet in person. \u00a0This woman is so amazing, so talented, so wise beyond her years that I never…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,40,4],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-1763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","category-can-do-media","category-can-do-news","tag-can-do-foundation"],"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-10.55.19-PM-e1430546201281.png",100,96,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Amy Ralston Povah","author_link":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/author\/candoamy\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":30,"name":"Activism","slug":"activism","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":30,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":51,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":30,"category_count":51,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Activism","category_nicename":"activism","category_parent":0},{"term_id":40,"name":"CAN-DO in the Media","slug":"can-do-media","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":40,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":199,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":40,"category_count":199,"category_description":"","cat_name":"CAN-DO in the Media","category_nicename":"can-do-media","category_parent":0},{"term_id":4,"name":"CAN-DO News","slug":"can-do-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":4,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":224,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":4,"category_count":224,"category_description":"","cat_name":"CAN-DO News","category_nicename":"can-do-news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":27,"name":"CAN-DO Foundation","slug":"can-do-foundation","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":27,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":461,"filter":"raw"}],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":30,"label":"Activism"},{"value":40,"label":"CAN-DO in the Media"},{"value":4,"label":"CAN-DO News"}],"post_tag":[{"value":27,"label":"CAN-DO Foundation"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14981,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions\/14981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheryanne.com\/cando-new2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}