#MyEICLife: The Future of Diversity, a Pretty Pleated Skirt, Homecooking & More 

“My EIC Life” is a dose of marvelous musings straight from ESSENCE’s editor-in-chief,Vanessa K. De Luca. It’s your glimpse into her oh-so-fabulous life, which is filled with amazing people, awesome must-haves and endless inspiration. 

ICYMI: I did a special Facebook Live all about our June issue featuring Andra Day, and our upcoming Essence Festival! Hope to see you in New Orleans in just a few weeks, and while you’re at it,  tell me in the comments section who you’re most looking forward to seeing perform live. My list: Mariah, Andra, Babyface and Maxwell. 

Blush crush: While making my weekly Target run, I came across this sweet deal: a blush-colored pleated midi skirt by Who What Wear that costs under $30 but looks like it’s worth so much more!

The diverse future: This week I had the honor of speaking about ESSENCE at a conference created specifically for multicultural managers in media. The invite-only gathering brings together folks on the edit and the business side for skills-building workshops, intimate networking dinners and incredible access to top leaders in the business. It’s my hope that we’ll see more people of color in the pipeline and at the top of the masthead, which is what makes this program so valuable.

Feeding my other passion: My fave Sunday ritual is to make home-cooked meals for my family. Cooking calms me, and I get to use my culinary skills (Not a lot of folks know I have a degree from the Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC).  You can see some of my #sundaycooking on my Instagram feed @vanmommy. 

Black women vote: There’s a lot at stake for Black women in this presidential election, which is why we’ll explore this topic more at Essence Festival come July. But I’m hoping the conversation doesn’t end there. We have to own our power, and get as many souls to the polls as possible come November. Some hashtags to follow to stay up-to-date and informed: #blackwomenvote #powerofthesistervote #wedecide