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Reality Star Karen Derrico On Being A Mother of 14
What do you get when you add two parents plus 14 kids? The delightful TLC reality series Doubling Down with the Derricos, following the lives of Karen and Deon Derrico and their fourteen kids – that include multiple sets of twins and triplets – as they navigate daily life with their larger-than-life family.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, xoNecole caught up with Karen to hear what it’s like to be a stay-at-home mother of 14 living children and how their story began. “We met at a nightclub,” Karen says about meeting her husband Deon for the first time. “There was just a boldness about him…and we just danced the whole night.”
It only took three months into their courtship that Karen says the couple discussed their plans around having children. “He asked me, ‘How many children do you want?” She replied: “I want as many as God blesses me to have.” She said it was those magic words that led to her life as a mother to over a dozen kids.
Sets of multiples run on both sides of the family. Karen says that she has cousins with twins and triplet aunts and her husband’s family has twins. Even Gigi – Deon’s mother who also appears on the show – tragically miscarried a set of triplets. “I guess I’m just carrying on Gigi’s torch,” Karen says.
But Karen is a medical anomaly having so many sets of multiple children without the aid of fertility treatments. It’s one of the reasons why TLC producer Lori Ansaldi reached out to the Derricos after reading their story in a newspaper article and asking them about the idea of doing a show. “We just realized there are things in our life that we had a blueprint from someone else to go by,” Karen says about their decision to do the show. “"If someone…says, 'Girl, I got five heartbeats in here and I got to carry them. How was it like for you?'... We just want to provide that loving, caring, non-judgmental blueprint for other families out there [with the show].”
There was only a bit of hesitation from extended family members about why Karen and Deon would want to invite a camera crew into their lives, but for the most part, Karen says that everybody was on board, especially their kids. “We introduced it to them as this is our way of telling our story and what we’ve been through,” she says.
Their lives before the show weren’t much different than now, with Deon working in real estate and Karen raising the kids as a stay-at-home mom. The newfound spotlight also hasn’t created any “pumpkin heads” as Karen describes it. “We don’t drop that ‘f word’ of fame,” Karen says. “We don’t use that word at all.” A part of keeping the kids level headed also includes their weekly Saturday morning cleaning rituals, which Karen attributes to her “old school” parenting style. “You turn your music on, you light some candles or some incense and everybody in the house knows it's time to get up and start cleaning,” she says.
It’s their faith and their commitment to a life of service that keep the Derrico family humble. Besides the ability for the kids to get big boxes of complimentary fruit roll-ups whenever they want (which Karen says she quickly nipped in the bud), it’s been fans' messages about how much the show has meant to them that have been a blessing to Karen especially. Opening up about miscarriage, Karen says she’s had fans reach out to her and thank her for her vulnerability on the subject. “You’d be surprised how much people don’t talk about going through a miscarriage,” Karen says. “I want other mothers to know that it’s okay, not to be okay.”
This Black Woman-Owned Creative Agency Shows Us The Art Of Rebranding
Rebranding is an intricate process and very important to the success of businesses that want to change. However, before a business owner makes this decision, they should determine whether it's a rebrand or an evolution.
That's where people like Lola Adewuya come in. Lola is the founder and CEO of The Brand Doula, a brand development studio with a multidisciplinary approach to branding, social media, marketing, and design.
While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
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The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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Exclusive: After Focusing On His Career For So Long, David Banner Is Now Ready To Find A Wife
During the Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heistpremiere, David Banner, who stars in the film, opened up about his weight loss and his desire to get married and start a family. At 50, David has accomplished many feats, from rapping, producing, and acting, and now he's ready for the next phase of his life. "I want to get married," he tells xoNecole.
"I'm tired. I want to find my wife, have some kids. We chase all of these esoteric goals, and sometimes we look back, and we left the things that really matter. I looked up one day, I had all of them, the music accolades, the film accolades, not all the ones that I want, but a lot of them. I had accomplished my goal, had chased my goal so long that when I looked up, I saw that I ran off and left everything else."
He also shares how working in the entertainment industry can sometimes affect his life and relationships with others. "We forget to be human beings, and people don't allow us to be human beings," he continues. "So, that's the reason why I said what I said, because I know what y'all platform means, and I want people to know that there are still some human beings that's up on that camera, and sometimes we hurt too."
Back in 2016, the "Like a Pimp" artist released the single "Marry Me" and shared in an exclusive interview with us how he is working on becoming his best self for his future wife.
"I just want to be the man that most Black women want to marry. I want to be a Black man that stands strong," he said. "I'm not perfect, but [I want to be the man] women want to marry and that kids want to be their father. I want to be that man. [When I die] I want people to say that that's a strong African man, I am proud that he's a part of my culture."
During our most recent interview with the "Get Like Me" rapper, he also revealed that he lost 35 lbs and dished on how important it is to take care of your body. "I have this thing that I want to be our children's superhero on the screen and off, and people always talk about mental health, but part of your mental health is what you put in your body," he says.
"People always talk about God. People always talk about the church, but the real church is your body, your temple. So I am treating my body and my temple as if God is in there."
Fight Night is out now on Peacock.
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