[THE LENS] GET TO KNOW DWAYNE HILLS - AUGUST PACK FEATURE

The very first of many features we'll be sharing that highlight our contributors and their monthly images we feature in CHS photo packs. Dwayne is a loving father and professional photographer from NOLA and is now based in Austin, Texas. His company - DHills Photography works with agencies, startups, and design studios on projects that span websites, apps, motion, print and brands. We totally LOVE his awesome work.

So much so that he allowed us to feature a few of his images in this month's August photo pack to our subscribers. If you missed it - you should join the list! Let's chit chat with Dwayne - our only male contributor to such a vibrant community of fabulous women. 

9 IMAGES I NEEDED TO SEE GROWING UP BLACK, THAT MY DAUGHTER NEEDS TO SEE NOW

Growing up there weren’t a lot of people who looked like me in the media. I couldn’t identify with the few positive images that were on TV in the early 90’s. I wanted to see girls who were African or Caribbean and proud that had dark skin and super kinky, long hair and dressed fabulously just like the Halle Berrys, Tyra Banks or Jada Pinketts (no Smith then) of the world. 

Those ladies were gorge and fabulous, but only a small percentage of black girls looked like that. Thank God today we have more diverse imagery for young black girls (Hey Lupita!), but there is still so much to be accounted for and so much more that we need to expose our young queens to.

WHAT THE #CREATEHERS TWITTER CHAT TAUGHT ME

I am new to Twitter. The “It’s 2015 and I just opened an account two months ago to further promote articles that I write” type of new. Crazy, right? How could I have survived so many years without being connected to thousands of people out in the world who are traveling similar paths to me? Well, trust me it was not hard at all to avoid Twitter when it first premiered.

5 INSTAGRAM TEMPLATES YOU CAN START USING TODAY

Instagram is home to what feels like the entire world - if you love taking images or if you don't take them of yourself, you are sure to have an account. For many of us, Instagram is a means to make ourselves stand out, market our products or services, and even be consistent with our brand across the board.

If you're use to seeing how some Instagramers have taken the time to create their own "templates", do believe you can too! There are many ways to alter these examples so be ready to put on your Blues Clues thinking cap! Here are 5 Instagram templates you can check out and even start using today!

OWNING OUR OWN IMAGE #CREATEHERS CHAT + RECAP

Our very first Twitter chat was a huge success! Many of us are still trying to come down from Cloud 9 from all of the beautiful and empowering things shared this past Friday night. With a major thanks to our host (@glamsavvy) - this chat definitely left us with amazing gems. The topic centered around how Black women are taking more control in how we're both received and portrayed. Owning our own image is something many women of color should want to do for themselves.