A Quality Black Woman Needs Quality People Surrounding Her

As I've stated before, I consider myself to be on an evolutionary path to become a quality black woman.

I have my days in which that road is surprisingly smooth and drama free, while others are full of potholes I either run into unexpectedly or see in enough time to avoid them.

One of the things that is vitally important as you embark upon this journey besides the spiritual roadmap, love of and confidence in yourself and a little divatude is having quality people around you in your sistah circle.

They not only have to be people who have various positive qualities you admire and wish to emulate, they must be people you know beyond a shadow of a doubt have your back. You need to have people in your life who will call you on your BS, give you a hug and positive reinforcement when you're down, praise you when you deserve it and give you a swift motivational kick in the rear when it becomes necessary.

If that cluster of people surrounding you in love happens to be older, younger, multiethnic, multicultural, cis, LGB or trans, blood relatives or relatives you chose, so much the better.

While it's important as a trans person that you have the sistah circle as part of the journey to quality Black womanhood, the cadre of quality people surrounding you also needs some testosterone based lifeforms in it. There are times when you will need to hear the male point of view as well.

I am blessed to have such a group of people surrounding me, and constantly challenging me to be a better person today than I was the day before. I can count on them to be chewing on my behind to ensure I'm a better person next week, next month, six months from now and next year.

And as a person striving to be a quality Black woman, I want to be farther down the evolutionary path than I am at the moment I am composing this post today.