Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

TV host Iyanla Vanzant was pretty much homeless at the start of the year. Yes, she was living in a cavernous 7,500-square-foot house in Upper Marlboro. But the home amounted to four walls and a roof. There was no reflection of her in it. It was an empty shell.

When her boss Oprah Winfrey, head of the OWN Network that broadcasts Vanzant's "Fix My Life" show, heard about it, she decided to transform the interior of Vanzant's home with all the dcorative bells and whistles.

The metamorphosis was a Christmas, birthday, and anniversary gift all rolled into one, Winfrey said. The makeover was so spectacular that Winfrey created a prime-time special centered on the reveal. "Oprah Prime: Iyanla I'll Fix Your House," chronicles the changes made to the Prince George's County estate with the help of celebrity interior designer Nate Berkus.

"This is a gift on behalf of every wonderful thing you have done for others," Winfrey said on the show, which airs Nov. 29 on OWN. "Your home should be your sanctuary."

Berkus scoured the globe to find products that would incorporate Vanzant's Afro-centric roots, deep faith and vibrancy that has won millions of fans for the life coach guru and best-selling author. He found African textiles online; furniture and accent pieces from a vintage homeware emporium in Los Angeles; stone from Italy; tile from France; and locally sourced items such as wood from an old barn near Vanzant's home.

"Even in a very condensed amount of time, the home feels very layered," Berkus said. "It wasn't a bad house. It just was a bit outdated."

Berkus' efforts worked. Five months later, the end result was a home that left Vanzant speechless, tearful and extremely grateful.

"Everyone is just amazed at the way that Nate was able to capture my spirit," Vanzant, 61, said. "The house looks like me. You would expect that I had done the original design."

Vanzant's new home caps off what has been a remarkable year as she embarked on a nationwide tour with Oprah for "Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend" events. On Dec. 4, she will visit Baltimore for "An Evening with Iyanla Vanzant" at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

More than a decade ago, Vanzant was making regular appearances on The Oprah Show to the delight of millions of fans, but her life was spinning out of control. Following a series of setbacks that included the death of her daughter, Gemmia; a divorce from her husband and a falling out with Winfrey over the direction of Vanzant's career, she eventually lost her television gig and filed for bankruptcy, which resulted in the bank repossessing her home.

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For Iyanla Vanzant, a new home helps mark a new life

By Christine Kern

In news this week, a proposed revenue ceiling could affect IT VARs in the federal IT reseller market, a new strategy will guide R&D investment decisions for federal agencies, and vendors are selling convergence as the next big thing. Also, the Department of Defense (DOD) security requirements are driving smartphone developments, and agencies are adopting flash storage arrays.

SBA Proposal Could Change Landscape For IT Resellers

A new revenue ceiling proposed by the Small Business Association (SBA) could significantly alter the landscape for IT resellers by excluding a large number of small businesses from the federal IT reseller market, according to the E-Commerce Times. The SBA is proposing revisions to the size standards affecting IT VARs who provide hardware, software, or both as part of projects that also involve installation, systems integration, or other IT-related services for federal agencies. The change means that companies with over $27.5 million in annual revenue no longer qualify for small business preferences.

New National Strategy For Federal Agencies Will Guide Big Data R&D Investment Decisions

Fed Tech Magazine reported that the federal government is developing a collaborative strategic plan that should provide direction for Big Data research and development for federal agencies over the next decade. A collaborative effort among government, industry, and academia, a draft of the National Big Data R&D Strategic Plan was published last month. A workshop is scheduled for January to further discuss the framework document and incorporate feedback. No date for finalization has been released.

Convergence Is The Next Big Federal IT Thing

According to the E-commerce Times, IT solutions providers have started to sow the seeds to sell convergence services to federal agencies. They are presenting the possibilities of marketing a full range of capabilities, called Xaas, to federal agencies that currently spend more than $80 billion annually on IT budgets.

DOD Security Requirements Drive Commercial Smartphone Development

According to Fed Tech Magazine. The DOD has shared its security requirements with industry and companies are responding including Apple, whose iOS 6 operating system was approved for government use last year.

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Government IT News For VARs November 26, 2014

Originally published November 26, 2014 at 12:37 PM | Page modified November 26, 2014 at 3:21 PM

The Japanese artist Mr. (yes, the artists name is Mr.) paints big canvases that are vivid and sparkly and inhabited by wide-eyed anime characters. They are everything that the expression Japanese Neo-Pop implies: bright, flat images packed with references to consumer goods and the latest trends in manga.

Born in 1969, Mr. grew up during Japans postwar economic miracle period, and his work usually reflects the shiny surface of consumer culture.

But if you visit the exhibition at the Seattle Asian Art Museum the first solo exhibition of Mr.s work in the United States you will not be greeted with these vivacious images. First, you must walk through a huge installation of garbage.

A towering mound of trash looms in the center of the gallery, like some abstractly constructed beast. You are forced to walk on either side of it, through narrow alleyways. Magazines are stacked up to the ceiling, clothing hangs above you and plastic food containers are practically underfoot.

To take it all in, you have to circle around and then reverse direction again to see the rest of the exhibition. The experience suggests both the cycle of urban waste and the natural disasters of 2011. The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan affected the artist deeply. He traveled to devastated areas, taking photographs and video footage that are part of this show.

As I emerged from the garbage installation, called Give Me Your Wings think different, into the galleries filled with Mr.s upbeat paintings, a sense of youthful exuberance grew, even as the undertones of waste and destruction persisted.

During a walk-through with the artist, he confirmed this duality, saying, Underneath all this happy imagery, I have dark thoughts, especially after the disastrous events of 2011. When considering what to donate to a charity auction, Mr. said, I thought about making something that said, Were suffering. Everyone look at us. Instead, I decided to create very energetic young girls.

These energetic young girls became a central focus in his work. They are archetypes of the concept of moe (which means budding) and, as they cavort, play guitar, and flip up their short skirts, they tap into a nostalgic longing for youth.

I see how they embody the hopeful title of the exhibition, Live on, and I get their appeal. But this very appeal this allure also makes me uncomfortable. I asked Mr. to help me understand the obsession with the schoolgirl type and those variations that seem to be sexualized. He was candid in his acknowledgment that sexuality can be seen as part of that culture and that there are people who say, please dont draw girls in this way.

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Big eyes and a big pile of detritus: Mr.s Japanese Neo-Pop at SAAM

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