Last night, I tuned into Bravo and became trapped in a Black woman shade-fest.

Just before The Walking Dead began, I caught the tail end of the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Later, during an extended AMC commercial break, I flipped back to Bravo and ended up watching about two seconds of the Blood, Sweat and Heels reunion show (two seconds of my life I desperately want to have back).

Between the two shows, all I saw was cattiness, pettiness, arguing, crying, drama and high school bullshit – which is a lot to take in while only watching a short clip of a show.

After the Walking Dead was over, I looked for a good comedy program to watch. Now I love ALL brands of comedy (Curb Your Enthusiasm and Modern Family are amazing), but if I’m being 1000% honest, I prefer comedies with predominantly Black casts just due to being able to relate MORE to the humor.

But sitting with my remote in hand, I realized that there was nowhere to turn. There was nothing on TV that accurately represented what I wanted: A show that delves into Black culture while also fully portraying the beauty, diversity and intrigue of Black women WITHOUT making them look loud, ignorant and classless.

And this is the problem I have when I turn on about 90% of TV these days whether I’m looking for a comedy, a drama or just a generally interesting show. For every positive representation of an all-encompassing Black female lead (like Nicole Beharie in Sleepy Hollow), there are far more scandalous jump-offs like the Olivia Pope‘s and the Mary Jane‘s of the TV world. And the truth is, I’m not looking for all Black women to be Claire Huxtable and NOT have real flaws and real problems. But, it would be nice to see Black TV that treats Black women the way I encounter them EVERYDAY of my life.

When I go to work, I see beautiful, educated and business minded Black women making moves and supporting one another. When I go to social mixers, I meet gorgeous, hilarious and interesting Black women. But when I turn on my TV, it has become damn near IMPOSSIBLE to see these women represented on my screen, and that’s why I came to the conclusion that I don’t want to see Black women on TV anymore – because Black web series are doing an AMAZING job of representing Black culture where TV fails.

Shows like Brothers With No Game, The Couple (pretty much anything Black & Sexy TV puts out), Awkward Black Girl and Unwritten Rules,  have done an amazing job of representing Blackness in a way that is funny, serious, real, unique, uncompromising, and still honest. The characters in these shows aren’t perfect, but the dedication to showing the diversity in our community WITHOUT constant classlessness is something to appreciate. I heard The Couple will be on HBO which gives me a little hope, but I would have to see whether or not the show was completely altered by the network execs before I get too hyped.

But I won’t remain on this soapbox too long because of one undeniable fact: Black people are at fault for not demanding better and continuosly supporting BULLSHIT Black imagery. As long as we keep live-tweeting our asses off to so-called professional Black women beating each other down, cussing each other out and pulling weaves off, then most of us really won’t have any grounds to complain.

LAB

Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.

Courtesy of Black Enterprise

Resumes are pretty standard in terms of the job search process, and there have been many articles and experts touting the dos and don’ts for a resume that stands out from the pack.

As with anything, when it comes to job seeking, the more resources of what not to do, the better. A recent Careerbuilder survey offers just that, giving insight directly from hiring managers on the top cliches that will lead them to be more likely to give a resume the boot.

Check out the top ten at Black Enterprise.

[Image: Shuttershock]

A Florida woman who shot her mother is using Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law to claim self-defense.

Shireeka Wilson says she needed to defend herself against her mother Valerie Rushing, who approached her at a convenience store in November 2011. Footage from a surveillance camera at the T&S Food Mart shows Rushing walking into the store apparently looking for her daughter. When Wilson walked towards her mother, Rushing attacked her, according to USA Today.

Stand Your Ground allows people to use deadly force, if needed, during an attack in which they feel their life is being threatened or the attack will cause great bodily harm to them.

“[Rushing] said that she had planned to kill Shireeka,” said attorney Rhonda Peoples-Waters. “Or she at least told Shireeka that she was going to kill her.”

Wilson subsequently shot Rushing in the neck, and she has survived. Rushing later asked to have all charges dropped against her daughter, but the state denied the request. Rushing admitted she went to Wilson’s job to seriously cause harm to her.

[Image: Shutterstock]

The Stand Your Ground law has been widely contested after being used as a defense in the George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn cases in which Black youths were the victims. However, these types of laws haven’t offered much protection for Black people seeking to defend themselves. Marissa Alexander, a black woman who was facing 20 years in jail for firing a warning shot at her abusive ex-husband, was not allowed to use Stand Your Ground as her defense.

A push has been made to tweak the wording of the laws to prevent murders like Trayvon Martin’s and Jordan Davis’ from reoccurring. Several lawmakers and advocates have proposed their assistance

Wilson was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. A judge is expected to make a ruling within the next few days to determine Wilson’s fate.

A naval base shooting late Monday evening left one sailor and the civilian suspect dead, according to a spokeswoman for Naval Station Norfolk.

The shooting occurred at 11:20pm aboard the USS Mahan. No other injuries were reported aboard Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base.

The Navy confirmed earlier that two men, the sailor and civilian, both died aboard the guided-missile destroyer. Due to the circumstances of the shooting, their names are not being released at this time.

The Navy has not confirmed the details of the shooting. However, it is suspected that the civilian obtained some sort of identification badge to gain access to the naval base. Once he reached the pier where the ship was docked, the civilian breached additional security measures to board the USS Mahan. On board the ship, the civilian grabbed the service pistol of a petty officer who was standing guard. Two additional security officers arrived and the civilian fatally shot one of the officers.

Navy Spokesman Jim Moir said the civilian was shot and killed by Navy Security Forces.

The base was on lockdown shortly after the incident. Sailors are not expected to report to duty today and normal activities could resume as early as tomorrow.

Rapper Future silenced rumors yesterday on The Wendy Williams Show to promote his upcoming album “Honest,” dropping April 22.

The 30-year-old confirmed he and fiancé Ciara are expecting a baby boy, saying that he joined the pop-princess at the baby shower held last weekend in Los Angeles. He stayed out of the limelight for most of the event, allowing Ciara to mingle with guests Lala, Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner.

The entertainer also cleared up speculation about Beyonce‘s Drunk In Love, which was called into question  for being a rip-off after an unreleased track leaked early last week by Future, entitled “Good Morning,”  saying, “I demoed it first for [Beyonce] to listen to… ["Good Morning"] is not on the album ["Honest"] because towards the beginning, it’s the same melody.”

He mentioned that Ciara has taken the reigns in planning the wedding, which he feels will ground him, as he has decided to settle down and no longer “chase girls.”

Check out the interview along with Future’s performances in their entirety below.

Alfre Woodard is headed for the Oval Office. She has been tapped to play President Roberta Payton in the upcoming drama “State of Affairs,” also starring Katherine Heigl.

Related: Confessions: Alfre Woodard

The show has been described as “Scandal meets The West Wing” and focuses on Charlie Whitney Tucker (Heigl), a CIA operative who is appointed as the president’s daily briefer, responsible for highlighting the nation’s most pressing issues. She is also the ex-girlfriend of the president’s late son.

While Black and female presidents are nothing new in the world of television and film, this is the first time that a Black woman will appear on-screen as the leader of the free world. Woodard is just the woman for the role, having appeared in Best Picture winner “12 Years A Slave”.

She also has four Emmy wins under her belt, and a collection of nominations in the double digits. Woodard will join a host of Black actors taking on lead roles this pilot season, including Viola Davis (“How To Get Away With Murder”), Jada Pinkett-Smith (“Gotham”), Octavia Spencer (“Red Band Society”), Romany Malco (“Keep It Together”), Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish“), Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard (“Empire”).

“State of Affairs” is set to air on NBC.

“Lol and why iNEVER will be. I’m not on no hop around type time. But summa these fish and chips will NEVER get chose. They needy and have NOTHING but a hole to offer. We off that. [sic]“

– Lil’ Mo brags about her ability to always have a man, while offering single women candid, albeit misogynistic, advice, in a now deleted Instagram post.

After the failure of her second marriage, Lil’ Mo is already coupled up with up-and-coming boxer Dynamite. “I’m like the hood Kim Kardashian and the ratchet Elizabeth Taylor. I will get married 10 times cause I always believe in love,” said the pint-sized singer in an interview. “I’m not going to just be his girl. We are GOING to get married. It’s not a game.”

Do you agree with Lil’ Mo’s opinion of single women?

Well-known TV personality Judge Joe Brown was arrested Monday after a judge ordered him to spend five days in jail for contempt of court in Memphis.

The former Shelby County Criminal Court judge was said to be representing a client pro bono in a child support case, during a Juvenile Court hearing.

Related: Judge Joe Brown v. Liquor

Juvenile Court Magistrate Harold Horne, who was presiding over the case, denied Brown’s request to dismiss the case. That’s when 66-year-old Brown got angry and began yelling insults and became verbally abusive saying, “On what authority do you sit by the way? As a former judge here, we have a rule in the 30th judicial district that says every single magistrate, referee has to be unanimously approved by every circuit, chancery, and criminal court judge. I don’t recall that your name’s ever been submitted sir!”

Horne gave Brown 24 hours in jail for contempt of court as a sign to calm down. As Brown’s voice continued to escalate as he left the courthouse, the judge increased the jail time to five days. To which Judge Brown yelled, “This is a circus sir. That’s three days. You can do all you want! Four days. You don’t have the jurisdiction. Five days.”

After being released from jail, Brown told reporters he was “a little hot under the collar” and felt his arrest was dirty politics.

Brown’s television show “Judge Joe Brown” was cancelled in 2013 after 15 seasons. Since then he is attempting to enter the political ring. Many are looking as Brown’s actions as a publicity ploy for his upcoming election for Shelby County District Attorney. He later compared himself to Martin Luther King, Jr in a Facebook post that angered viewers.

An HIV-positive Kenyan woman slept with over 300 men in revenge for being raped and infected with the virus.

The story first broke on the “Kenyan Scandals” Facebook page, where scandals, secrets and gossip are exposed. The woman, who is a student at Kabarak University, sent a message to the page administrator, saying she will share her story if her identity would be concealed. Upon agreement, the woman revealed her story of being raped and infected with HIV while socializing with other college students.

“Sep 22nd 2013 is a day I’ll never forget. We went clubbing in town and got drunk with some senior students then went back [to] hostels for party round 2,” read her confession. She woke up naked the next day to a man named Javan, who allegedly raped her.

“I wanted to commit suicide,” she shared. “I feared getting pregnant [and] HIV, took contras [and] hoped I was HIV-free. Unfortunately, that was not the case: In November I tested HIV [positive]. I felt like cutting off my neck.”

[Image: Shutterstock]

According to reports, the woman’s goal is to infect a minimum of 2,000 men by year’s end. The 19 year old confessed that 136 of her victims are university students and the others are married men, lawyers, celebrities, and politicians.

“Not a day passes without me having sex, mostly 4 people per day,” she bragged. “Nothing will stop me from accomplishing my mission by continuing to sleep around, you never know but maybe you have slept with me or your husband, boyfriend, brother, father or any has slept with me.”

A 74-year-old woman was released late Monday evening after spending over 32 years behind bars for her conviction in a 1981 double murder.

Mary Virginia Jones was released from Century Regional Detention Facility for Women in Lynwood, California after a judge reduced her charges from first degree murder to voluntary manslaughter and time-served.

“I thank God. I give Him all the glory and all the praise because if it weren’t for Him, I wouldn’t be out. He gave me a miracle. Isn’t that good?” Jones said after being released. “God does everything in His time. Not when I want Him to, but in His time.” She was greeted by friends and family that had waited years for “Mother Jones,” as they call her, to receive vindication.

Jones was convicted for her role in the 1981 murder of two men until law students at USC’s Post-Conviction Justice Project (PCPJ) intervened to assist in the reopening of her case. PCPJ often assists inmates in getting their cases reviewed again by court officials who may have missed key evidence. Jones agreed to a no contest plea to voluntary manslaughter, according to a USC Gould School of Law news release.

USC students argued that Jones would not have been convicted if expert evidence about Battered Woman Syndrome was allowed during her original trial.

At the time of the murder, Jones was involved in an abusive relationship with Moses Willis, a man she took into her home because she believed he wanted to turn his life around. Jones was held at gunpoint and ordered to drive two kidnapped people to an alley where they were later murdered by her then-boyfriend. Jones fled from the scene, as her boyfriend committed the murders, believing he would shoot her next. A week before the crime, Willis shot at Jones and her daughter and threatened their lives if they went to the police.

Now that Jones is a free woman she says she is looking forward to going home and visiting family.

Republican Senator Phil Jensen of South Dakota has argued that businesses should be able to discriminate without legal repercussions.

Jensen, described as the state’s most conservative senator, lobbied for Senate Bill 128, which would allow employers to turn away the “undesirables,” including African Americans, gays, and anyone who offends the business owner’s religious beliefs.

“It’s a bill that protects the constitutional right to free association, the right to free speech, and private property rights,” he said.

Jensen argues that regardless of turning away unwanted customers based on race or religion is right or wrong, he wants the free market, or consumers, to decide, not the government:

[Image: ThinkProgress.org]

“If someone was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and they were running a little bakery for instance, the majority of us would find it detestable that they refuse to serve Blacks, and guess what? In a matter of weeks or so that business would shut down because no one is going to patronize them.”

The proposed bill died in the committee after LGBTQ advocates opposed it, and even Republicans characterized the bill as “a mean, nasty, hateful, vindictive.” It was defeated in multiple states, including Ohio, Georgia, Tenneessee, and Arizona. Missouri is the only state currently considering a similar bill.

As a grown man in 2014, the one thing that doesn’t surprise me at all is racism, no matter how outlandish it is. I’ve read about and witnessed far too much to pretend it’s not a serious issue, and to act like there isn’t tons of precedent for people’s intolerance. So when Belgian newspaper, De Morgen, published pictures of the Obama’s depicted as apes (days ahead of Obama’s expected visit to the country), I couldn’t help being bewildered by their audacity.

Yesterday, the newspaper apologized for their actions, but I for one don’t want any apology from them because they knew what they were doing and they did it on purpose. But their actions have revealed something that should frighten most Black folks who believe our collective freedom can be achieved by respectable integration into a xenophobic society full of white privilege: No matter how high you rise, you can always be considered nothing but a low-class nigger.

Sometimes people think I’m into being a radical revolutionary, but I’m not that at all (at least I don’t think I am). I’m just a man who believes that power is something you don’t ask for, you fight for it. No disenfranchised group in the history of the world achieved socioeconomic autonomy simply by asking their oppressors to be nicer. This doesn’t mean that physical confrontations must be had, but it means that you definitely have to be willing to independently build your own power structure.

But if you listen carefully to the Don Lemon‘s and the John Ridley‘s of the world, they will attempt to convince you that the reason Black folks haven’t achieved social equality is because we haven’t become “respectable” enough as a community. Some of us still sag our pants, litter, listen to rap, complain about police brutality and have babies out of wedlock (all things these people claim are “holding us back” from inclusion). If we cleaned up our act as a collective group, we would be welcomed with warm hugs into the inner-circles of polite, white society. Not only would we start getting the careers we want and living in the neighborhoods we desire, but we would see racism disappear because we would be good people – not niggers. While Ridley and Lemon represent the extreme of that view, there are many Black folks who feel that our frowsy actions almost justify the racism we face – and it’s those people who should be SCARED TO DEATH to see the Obamas’ faces and this kind of racism.

Barack Obama is the President of the United States and Michelle Obama is the first lady. They are supremely educated, refined, down to Earth and “polished” – yet no First Family has had to deal with prejudice on the level they’ve faced at any time in history. We can chalk it up to the belief that birthers aren’t racist – they are just concerned citizens, and attempt to think that Obama’s policies are the sole reason he gets criticized – but people with sense know better. As long as your skin is Black, you are liable to be seen as nothing more than a criminalistic, bottom of the barrel nigger. And no matter how much we believe we can change people’s minds through our “proper” behavior, the truth is it doesn’t matter what music we listen to, how we dress, how we talk or what letters we have after our name – our Black skin will forever unite us in being on the receiving end of pathetic and systemic prejudice.

LAB

Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.

In Sunday’s episode of “Lindsay”, struggling star Lindsay Lohan lands herself in hot water, after trying to reschedule filming, and then complaining about life coach A.J. Johnson, who played Sharane in House Party. When LiLo receives a visit from Oprah Winfrey, audiences bear witness to the conversation we have all been waiting for.

Part-interview, part-scolding, Oprah starts by offering Lindsay the freedom to decide whether to continue with the show. “When you change a schedule, you know what happens. You’re a professional woman. And it’s not just for you. You’ve got a whole team of people who are relying on you right now for this particular experience, for creating this documentary. If you don’t want that, then change that. That’s what I’m saying. If you don’t want it, it’s okay.”

Lindsay insists that she does wish to proceed with the project, and then shares a tearful celebration with Oprah about maintaining her sobriety. The two discuss false tabloid reports, new lifestyle choices, and how many people are rooting for a full recovery. And then Mama O delivers a chilling truth: “The vultures are waiting to pick your bones. And that shouldn’t frighten you. That should liberate you. ‘Cause, if I were you, I wouldn’t let them have me.”

The conversation ends with a particularly candid moment (full of bleeps, of course). Watch below.

Two CNN employees are being accused of trespassing at the World Trade Center site in New York.

Anonymous law enforcement sources tipped the New York Post, saying that the individuals, Connor Boals and Yon Pomrenze, are CNN producers according to their LinkedIn profiles.

An individual told the Post that the two men “were trying to prove a point” about how anyone was able to get into the site.

Since the incidents earlier this week, when BASE jumpers filmed themselves parachuting from the top of the building, and a teenager climbed the World Trade Center and tweeted about it, the security at the 1WTC site has been a source of controversy.

In a statement issued by a CNN spokesperson, the men were doing nothing wrong. “They were not asked to sneak onto the WTC site. They were in the surrounding area to do a story about the recent incidents at the WTC and other sites –- and the notion that daredevils are being drawn to them.”

President Obama declared that despite the problematic actions of Russia, the nation does not “pose the No. 1 national security threat to the United States” yesterday in The Hague, Netherlands, after the third meeting of the International Nuclear Security Summit.

The president stated that he is more worried about the impending danger of a nuclear terror attack targeting New York City.

“I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan,” he revealed.

POTUS addressed statements made by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who told CBS on Sunday he was right two years ago when he implied that Russia was America’s biggest geopolitical enemy. Obama called Russia a “regional power” that is “threatening some of its immediate neighbors — not out of strength, but out of weakness.”

To fight terrorism in  New York, the Department of Homeland Security has spent roughly $20 million annually in the metropolitan region on a pilot program to position fixed and mobile radiation detectors throughout the area.

Courtesy of Hello Beautiful

Gabriella Bambii is an aspiring Victoria’s Secret model who, from the looks of her usual social media pictures, has the looks that might bring her closer to her dreams. But the UK-based beauty shocked Instagram followers and social media friends after she posted unrecognizable pictures of herself mangled, battered and bruised, that have since gone viral.

If the graphic images weren’t disturbing enough, underneath them she retold her account of the domestic violence attack from her then-boyfriend who kicked her out of a moving vehicle and dragged her, leaving her laying in a pool of her own blood. While viewing these photos made me feel sorry for Gabriella, I would never call her a victim. Gabriella says she shared these details in hopes of inspiring women in her situation to get help:

Keep reading on Hello Beautiful …

“Sony has been very, very tight-lipped about this. The first I heard about the Jumping the Broom sequel was online on my Twitter feed. I reached out to [Sony executive DeVon Franklin] to ask him about it and he hasn’t responded. I am hoping that his lack of response means that it is in fact true and that somebody in the media got a leak that the actors have not received yet.”

– Laz Alonso reveals to Sister 2 Sister that he’s just as confused about whether the Jumping the Broom sequel will actually happen as we are. One thing is for sure, he, like us, is waiting in anticipation to see what will happen between Jason and Sabrina and their eccentric families this time around.

[Image: Sony Pictures]

New study results published in the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity, reveals that 43% of men, both high-school and college-aged, say they’ve had “unwanted sexual contact.” Almost all of those cases – 95% – were initiated by a female.

The data indicates that of 284 young men surveyed, 18% admit sexual coercion by force, 31% of men said they were verbally coerced, and 26% say that they had experienced “unwanted seduction by sexual behaviors.”  Half of those surveyed said they ultimately were forced into sex, 10% said sex was attempted, and 40% said the coercion resulted in fondling or kissing.

The study’s co-author, Dr. Bryana French, a teacher of counseling psychology and black studies at University of Missouri says that male victims are often less willing to describe the details of the sexual coercion,  “but when asked if it happened, they say it happened.”

According to French, the study defined “sex” as oral, vaginal, or anal, making it a possibility that the sex didn’t involve an erection. French compared male and female anatomy, saying that even in cases of an unwilling male victim, it is not impossible for a man to become erect, saying “Sometimes when women are experiencing sexual violence, their bodies respond in ways that don’t correspond to how they feel.” She continued, explaining, “they can not want the experience to happen, even if their bodies said otherwise.”

French conducted the study in order to show that men are victimized and hopes to minimize the trivialization of male rape.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

We’re all familiar with the ‘black burden wince‘.

You know, the one you give while watching the news and they introduce a particularly damning story and you realize the person responsible is black. Or worse, the on the street interview where you sit wondering why in Heaven’s name the wildly inarticulate person on the screen is the one they chose to speak to. Or the way you try to shrink into yourself while out somewhere and a black person does something particularly ratchet. Each time it is common to hear some variation of, “Damn, they’re making us look bad!”

I have been a card-carrying member of the Black Burden Wincers for some time now, but then I read something last night that made me reconsider everything. It was a seemingly innocuous Facebook post about a man who had beat his girlfriend shuttled onto my newsfeed through some intricate web of ‘friends of friends.’  This is obviously terrible in any circumstance and I had no intention of watching it, but the way it was introduced gave me pause. The original poster  (clearly a person or people of black descent) introduced the video by saying “Smh, this gives black men a bad name!” Not men in general or boyfriends or whatever else, but black men specifically.

It bothered me greatly that this singular fact was what they focused on in this man. That’s when I realized the pathology of our reasoning.

Our shame is so great and our need to prove ourselves so intense, that we shame others, not for their crimes, but for having the audacity to perform those crimes as a black person. We’re always saying that the mainstream media/white people/The Man lumps us together, yet we willingly attach ourselves to others’ crimes by being especially ashamed by the bad behavior of black people. We can’t ask others to dissociate the crimes of the individual from the description of the whole if we cannot do the same ourselves.

Yes, I know that there are structures in place that will continue to try and create a public perception of us that is unsavory. However, we cannot allow our fear of how others might blanket the race to allow us to commit the same crime. We’re creating an unwarranted burden that only further perpetuates the misguided notion that the actions of one define the many. We have to rid ourselves of the shame we may feel in these instances and remember that these stories are not representative of who we are as whole. Our tapestry is rich and so varied. We are more than the sum of our parts. If we don’t highlight and publicize these situations as universally disgraceful, then we keep fostering this belief that they define us.

Let’s stop being complicit in the fracturing of our communities. Instead of highlighting shame, let’s highlight the factors that may have led to these things. Instead of shaking our heads in shame let’s shake our fists at the subpar schools in our communities, redlining and poor environmental conditions or the plethora of other elements that contribute to the ghettoization of our neighborhoods.

I’m ridding myself of the ‘black burden wince’ and I think that if more of us did we’d come to a more fruitful way of dealing with these things.

Just this past weekend, a baby shower celebration took place in Ciara‘s honor in preparation for one of the most exciting roles she has yet to encounter — motherhood.  But in addition to becoming a new mom, she’s looking forward to her forthcoming nuptials to fiancé Future. Ciara summed up her excitement to Us Weekly:

”This will be the best year yet. I’m doing things I’ve looked forward to my whole life; building a family, walking down the aisle, and sealing the deal with my true love.”

Undoubtedly, there are many reasons for CiCi’s radiant glow these days. The R&B songstress and dancer always amazes onlookers with her fierce style, and is unsurprisingly serving up her signature hot looks even with a baby bump. Her style has evolved through the years, and we look forward to witnessing how it develops in her life’s next phase. Until then, let’s have a glimpse of some of the sexiest looks spotted on this week’s Star Style muse, Ciara.

Although this skin-baring gown is a bit risqué, Ciara managed to make it sexy in a non-sleazy way.

When her bump began to show, Ciara made it a point to let her sense of style shine, literally. The deep V-neck on her gown perfectly opened up her neckline thus elongating her growing mid-section.

 Prior to becoming pregnant, Ciara made a striking statement in this polished suit.

Amongst the many skirt trends of this season is the asymmetrical hemline. Ciara perfectly coordinated an embellished oversize blazer that plays up the edgy appeal of this trend.

A dress with matching vest is a conservative, yet elegant way to make an appearance for afternoon weddings, luncheons, or other posh events.

One of the many steamy dress styles of the season is a maxi or midi length that is sheer from mid-thigh through the hemline, making the style perfect for party nights.

Any mother-to-be who is pondering a sassy shoe that is comfortable and makes just about any look fantastic, should consider the gladiator sandal.

We love how Ciara is keeping it real by finding comfort in a pair of sweats. But, hey, whether a woman is expecting or not — a cozy slim-fitting sweat suit is a great thing to have in your closet for days lounging.

Faux or real leather leggings are the perfect solution for getting chic on a whim.

There’s something to be said about being chic and comfortable, without sacrificing one for the other. This caftan turns the mom-to-be a into a stunning goddess.

Although we are used to seeing Ciara in thigh-high or over-the-knee boots, we understand why she traded them in for warm and soft Ugg boots.