A Beauty & Style Note From Traciana
Touring the world as a speaker and singer, I’ve experienced beauty and style in ways that go far beyond appearance. I’ve learned that true beauty is how we carry ourselves, express our essence, and claim our space. For me, the Beauty & Style pillar of the Happiness 360 Framework is about embracing who we are at our core—using beauty as self-care and aligning style with our inner truth.
From Harlem’s bold streets to Paris’ elegance, beauty and style have been constant guides in my life. But there were moments when I lost touch with that. In the rush to achieve, I forgot how powerful beauty and style can be for self-care, expression, and healing. I drifted from the joy of dressing with intention, from the confidence that comes when we align how we look with how we feel.
The Traciana Beauty & Style Diaries are my way of reconnecting with that power—and inviting you to do the same.
–Traciana
The Gathering of Tea Leaves for the Traciana Beauty & Style Diaries
I’ve come to understand beauty as something that begins long before we step into the world dressed and ready. It starts with intention. It starts with how we wake, how we move through our mornings, how we listen. For me, beauty has always been deeply tied to the stories of those whose voices are often overlooked. When I think of style, I think of the marketplace—alive with colors, textures, and the quiet exchanges that happen in the early hours of morning.
On tour, there’s a ritual I keep, no matter where I am. It’s my way of grounding myself, of remembering that beauty is something you carry with you—stitched into the fabric of your being, just as much as into your clothing. It always starts with the morning brew.
Morning Brew
After rehearsals and sound checks, after the hustle of preparing for the day ahead, I find myself drawn to the local marketplace. I sit with merchants as they pour thickly brewed tea with a kind of reverence. The tea is heavy, dark, and bold—like the stories they tell as they pour. There’s a great flourish to it, as if the act of serving tea is no small thing, but an offering. I watch, listen, and sip, taking in the world around me.
Morning Pour
The tea is always followed by stories. I listen to the customers stopping by, each with something to say, a bit of counsel to offer. And the merchant, with quiet pride, unfolds bolts of cloth, each one carrying its own history, its own legacy. The fabric spills out like water, like silk, draping the stall in color and possibility. This is how beauty begins—not with the final product, but with the unfolding of stories, the weaving of lives into every thread.
Afternoon Brew
Later, I visit the local tailor, often for a fitting. There’s a dance between us—me trying not to move too much while the tea simmers in the background, its warmth filling the room. The tailor’s hands move with precision, pinning and adjusting, bringing something to life that wasn’t there before. The cloth begins to take shape, and with it, a new story is born.
Evening Gown
By evening, I step onto the stage. The gown I wear, the shoes on my feet, the jewelry that sparkles under the lights—they are all part of the journey. Each piece, carefully crafted, carries the energy of the marketplace, the voices of the women I met that morning, the careful hands of the tailor who pinned the fabric to my form. In these moments, I am not just dressed—I am connected. I am part of something much bigger, a lineage of beauty and style that stretches across time, across borders.
The Traciana Beauty & Style Diary Series will take you on a journey through these moments—moments where beauty becomes something more than surface, where it transforms into connection and legacy. We will explore how beauty, like the woven cloth in a marketplace stall, carries the stories of those who have come before us. We will discover how the simple act of dressing, of creating, becomes a celebration of life itself.
This series is my way of honoring the stories I’ve gathered along my travels, and the beauty I’ve learned to see not just in clothing, but in the rituals of creation, the hands that bring these pieces to life. Beauty and style, for me, have always been about this: a constant unfolding, a quiet, deliberate act of becoming.
Come with me, as we explore beauty not as something you wear, but as something you live.
—Traciana
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