Angie and Marley - 5 min with Franny

Who is Angie?

Angie is a mature strong minded and determined soul, who seeks fairness at all costs and constantly tries to embrace personal growth, learning from others and embracing spirituality, being mindful of our planet and in turn seeking the most health conscious habits with which to live by, whilst bordering on the edge of perfectionism trying to keep a modicum amount of wild child and eccentricity left to keep a sense of fun and frivolity.

Who is Marley?

I am a soul working to be more conscious. I thrive through observing because it is the best way to learn. I have always used my eyes to love and to create, which at times one would say it’s detrimental. I love all, but simply do not have patience for those who constantly turn down experience as I am the opposite. I experience to make mistakes , I experience to love myself, I experience ultimately to grow.

Marley tell us about your mum? What kind of mum is she?

My mom is a very loving person. I believe she is reasonable, yet knows extremely well when to cut the boundaries between friend and mother which is very hard to do as a single mother. My mom is very open minded to new ideologies, yet there are certain aspects of life that my mom has experienced too often to have any opinion but the one previously formed. Though that is very respectable, and needed to have some kind of structure.

Angie tell us about your Marley?

My daughter Marley has definitely embraced my strength of character as she has matured into her teenage years. Earlier on as she was growing she was wildley funny and energetic and embraced love and great care with all her friends and always showed leadership, in fact needed to learn how to let others lead at times which I believe she has now developed albeit in a subtle fashion. Like me and her father she is a true artist in all areas of her life, her preference is painting but she is very talented at photography, film making, cooking and exploring the arts of tea making. I watch her independence growing up primarily as a child of a single mum in New York, she is really a force to be reckoned with at times while acquiring a softer more spiritual nature with regards to love and developing her soul. When Marley makes decisions she is precise and sure and shows at all times an incredible sense of integrity which I think has to be my most proud trait she owns .

Marley what’s the best thing about your mum?

The best thing about my mother is her communication, majority of things young girls don’t feel comfortable talking to with their families about things we discuss. Of course there are boundaries, but overall my mom lets me indulge in all the things a young teenage girl shouldn’t need to hide from their mother. She understands that when she was my age things were very different and far from liberal, that’s why I think she semi embraces the fact that we live in the city, a extremely diverse city which truly never sleeps, and I shouldn’t have to lie to experience that.

Angie What traits of yourself do you recognize in Marley, are you ok with them!?

My mother use to tell me as I had entered adulthood she had a hard time with me as I child as I was too determined and strong minded for her to cope with at times and so my grandfather would remind her it would keep me in good stead as I entered the world! Indeed Marley has taken this on so much so we have spent many hours arguing and really going at it like two wild animals, as we both aspire to create a sense of will. A few years ago I found meditation and have been practicing it almost for two years now and although we still butt heads I think that mindfulness of meditation has helped me with Marley as she entered the teenage years and although I am am not always right and have definitely made some mistakes in parenting I do think we come together and find peace often and coexist comfortably once we have reset our boundaries. I am therefore ok with them as I know my grandfather would tell me, as the world only becomes tougher in many ways, it will stand her in good stead. On the other hand I think I aspire to have such a sense of balance in my life and peace around me that Marley has really come to seek it too, being an only child I think can be hard at times but she has created a little world for herself with which she is very happy in and can spend time alone and being comfortable which I think is rare in a 16 year old these days, with all the distractions out there.

What music do you guys dance around the house to? Do u like the same kind of music?

Angie: I studied music as a child. Being a flautist and my mother a operatic singer there was always a lot of classical music around and we would often go to live jazz. Whilst living in London for 9 years I embraced house music heavily and then really developed a love for hip hop and R&B, working with a lot of artists then signed to Sony records, such as the Digible Planets and DeAangelo and some reggae artists I really grew to love hip hop and even worked with a bunch of people in London on a hip hop/R&B club before leaving for NYC. I loved it then, not just for the music but also the lyrics. I am not so sure I would still say the same for some of the current artists, however Marley, especially in the last 2 years has really embraced a love for hip hop and seeks out many underground artists and has recently started DJing and really her taste in music is amazing. I would say on my Pandora list the artists we listen too the most would be the Digible Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, Stephen Marley and more myself Miles Davies and Kings Of Leon, Citizen Cope and SBTRKT. Marley will have an entirely different list and she uses Spotify and we rarely dance around the house however the other day I did put on Soul to Soul station on and some 90’s music such as Chaka Kahn & Soul II Soul came on and she starting shaking her stuff and I joined in and it was so funny to dance with my 16 year old in our kitchen to all my favorite hits that I listened when first going out to the clubs in the North of England, Manchester and Liverpool as a then 17 year old !!
Marley: Haha mostly house music I think. Our taste is somewhat similar, back in the day my mom did a job with Digable Planets. As a child she passed me their disk and it’s my soundtrack to life. Blowout Comb is one of the most positive hip hop albums I believe to exist. If you haven’t heard it bump it, it strictly promotes peace, love, and unity. But generally I listen to a lot more old school hip hop & rap, moms more into her classical music and jazz. I respect it, but rap is always been my hierarchy because it can incorporate anything. For example Jazzmatazz by Guru is Jazz Rap.

Best friends, sisters or mother/daughter, how do you see your relationship with each other?

Angie: While raising Marley I decided fairly early on that I would include her in conversations and decisions so as to embody a sense of self and let her feel included as I believe children are very smart and make wise choices when encouraged . My boyfriend would sometimes say it might work against me when she was older and I would say it has allowed us to become great friends, however sometimes the line between parent and friend can be a little vague because of her sense of inclusiveness and that is why we butt heads, however I can truly say Marley is my best friend. Words cannot express my deep sense of love for her and that can be a huge weight for me as I think about her future and her life ahead and what she is and will do with it, however I do realize that in my strive for perfection I also have to sit back and allow what will be, as I know whatever she decides will be the right choice for her and even If I disagree at times I will always be very proud to know her and have her in my life on her own terms with which she fights for every day !!

Marley: We are friends and mother-daughter, it depends what mood we are in haha! It’s still something we must work on, balance. Though asking a Libra for balance isn’t always easy, though we definitely respect each other’s boundaries of what is ok to ask from each other both as friends but also mother-daughter.

Angie with the benefit of hindsight would you have done anything differently bringing up Marley?

I think as much as I have loved living in New York and working here, I think raising a bi-racial child here comes with it own set of complexities which we are faced with often not necessarily within the home as much as being mindful of our environment and the country at large. I often wander how our life would be have we have moved back to London and Marley would have been educated there and yet being a New York kid is such an important factor for her, yet I do think it comes with its very own stresses one just doesn’t have back in England. I also think growing up in the fashion industry and becoming hugely involved in sports primarily running and swimming after I had given birth, I know I made the emphasis about food and exercise too much of a topic which in turn ironically is not healthy and creates negative traits for children. In hindsight if done again I would keep that conversation to a minimum and not bring my own sense of ethics and or worry to her, it can be hard when living in a country which created fast food and corporate greed in farming and working in fashion whereby very slender can be the norm, it is forever a journey of finding balance in those areas of health versus obsession, not to mention the ridiculous world of reality TV whereby we are abused almost with a sense of physical beauty achieved by a plastic surgeon, I am happy to know that Marley has been able to find a safe ground for herself with her own sense of beauty and femininity without following the masses and has a sense of value on being an individual .

Angie what’s the best thing bout being a mum?

I would say although I have loved my career and traveling the world and finding love in different places, I think the best thing about being a mum for me is to have a profound sense of purpose. I always loved children and I imagined myself perhaps with several, yet having a child at a younger age and mostly having done it alone, I cannot imagine my life without that sense of purpose it would just have been so empty. I do need to mention however that without my partner of 8 years, Doughba Canada Martin, whom was and still is such a valuable part of Marley’s life even though we parted 6 years ago, he still is in every sense her Father and so I can’t really use that term single Mother in the same way as it has been shared with him and the values he has brought to both of us have been incredible .

Marley, most annoying thing your mum does!?

Mom tends to give her opinion when it’s not really warranted, but as a mother I think she always feels its needed which is understandable. She has strong ideals on what feminine is, and what “healthy” looks like, that’s defiantly the biggest aspect of our disagreements.

What does the future hold?

Angie: What does our future hold for us? Well I try to take life day by day to avoid the stress of concern for that very question. I have a deep desire to return to Europe and base myself there while still traveling. Marley is finishing up high school and going to pre college this summer for fine arts to get a taste of college life and what it would be like and most probably will go on to study here in the States, but there is always a possibility she might go to England that part will become clearer in the coming year ahead. I am so grateful to have a career which allows me to work both here and in Europe and I still love my job enormously and wish to continue its growth moving more into product development and more travel and developing my blog Beauty5ives into more of a brand. I also enjoy the mountain life and am spending more time upstate with my boyfriend and other friends up there, when not working and this is allowing me more peace and more time for reading and meditation, walking the dog and just slightly simpler way of living, which is nice, I think, to actually have the time to sit down and read the paper is incredible for me.

Marley: I just graduated High School. This summer I’m launching a female run magazine about street style, and creating almost like a platform for underground artist through creating, collaborating and capturing. I’m super excited!!! I am seriously lacking funding right now, but I’m trying to make it work through what I earn at my day job. My dream is to run this online mag successfully while still having time to paint and explore all my creative outlets in VHS videography and film & possibly one day performance art.

Is there a quote or mantra you both live by?

Angie: I have a chalk wall in the kitchen and often write different mantra’s on there based upon my meditations with Deepak, I have had the same mantra up there for a very long time now as it never gets old “Every day is a new belief !!”

Marley: I wouldn’t say I have a definition of this in words, but I can try. I definitely stand strong with the law of attraction, but also being a Leo I feel that I constantly use my leadership “power” to get what I want. It took me a awhile to generate this power, but all it takes is serious self love. When I truly started loving myself, I started getting everything I wanted and needed. Instead of being consumed in what you deemed incompetence, you are able to dispute and hold on purely to love. You are able to think about more than the progression of yourself, but mostly your surrounding because you are sure that you are ok, that you have what it takes to do anything at anytime.