MELANIN HABITS | APRIL SPEIGHT
I literally cannot start my day without my Flash Briefing. My Flash Briefing is a moment to educate and entertain myself.
Hi, I’m April and I’m often known for having my hand in a bit of everything. I grew up in Maryland but migrated to Virginia followed by DC after I graduated from college.
I spent the beginning of my professional life working in luxury fashion as a menswear stylist and visual merchandiser. I transitioned into tech a few years ago and fell in love with Natural Language Processing (NLP for short).
Although my dream job is to become a Computational Linguist and do research for a living, I’m currently a project manager for a software company.
I began to document my transition on my blog.
QUICKLY DESCRIBE YOUR MORNING ROUTINE.
My morning starts at 6:15AM with Alexa sounding an alarm to wake me up. I live and swear by owning an Echo Dot. I practically treat Alexa like a human being.
She starts my day by delivering my Flash Briefing which consists of:
- The weather forecast
- Daily tech headlines from Engadget
- The Tonight Show monologues with Jimmy Fallon
- Shakespeare quotes
- The Daily Show headlines with Trevor Noah.
Once Alexa is done, I get up and spend roughly 25–30 minutes in the bathroom doing hair and makeup. I’m known for changing my hairstyle and look constantly! Working in fashion for 6+ years will do that to you. It’s a habit I haven’t been able to break yet — and I hope I never do!
After I get dressed, I download another episode of Mad Men to my phone, put on my headphones, and head out the door. I commute from DC to Tyson’s Corner every morning. Without something to watch on Netflix, I feel like a kid wondering constantly “Are we there, yet?”
HOW OFTEN DO YOU CHANGE YOUR MORNING ROUTINE?
Before owning an Echo Dot, I woke up with my iPhone alarm and played music through my wall speakers as I got dressed. At one point, I used to turn on Cartoon Network as background noise as I got dressed.
As of late, I get ready in silence after Alexa goes off. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it — I just happened to stop playing music one day and never thought much of it.
DO YOU USE AN ALARM OR A SPECIFIC APP TO HELP YOU WAKE UP?
Alexa wakes me up every morning! Unfortunately, I’m usually up before she has a chance to sound her alarm.
I end up using her alarm as guidance for when it’s really time to finally get out of bed.
DO YOU EAT BREAKFAST IN THE MORNING, IF SO, WHAT DO YOU TYPICALLY HAVE?
I eat breakfast shortly after I arrive to work — roughly 8:30AM. If I eat before heading into work, my metabolism kicks into overdrive and I’m left starving by 9AM. Depending on how productive I was the night before, I may eat one of the breakfast bowls from Daily Harvest.
Eating a breakfast bowl depends on whether or not I prepared the bowl the night prior. In the event that I forgot to prepare the bowl, I grab either a toasted blueberry or raisin bagel loaded with plain cream cheese. To be quite frank, cooking isn’t my thing. Breakfast usually only works out if someone else prepared it or if I’m going to brunch.
If I’m staying with my boyfriend, I grab a bite of anything he cooked for himself that he doesn’t mind sparing. He’s the chef in the relationship.
WHAT IS THE FIRST DRINK YOU HAVE IN THE MORNING, AND AT WHAT TIME?
If I’m at work, I usually have a FOCO Coconut Juice shortly after I finish eating — roughly 9AM. I love eating the coconut chunks that are at the bottom of the can. Oddly enough, drinking coconut juice reminds me of being on a vacation. That vacation mindset calms my anxieties before digging into my crazy workload. However, if it’s the weekend, my first drink is usually champagne with a splash of orange juice.
DO YOU EXERCISE IN THE MORNING AND/OR MEDITATE IN THE MORNING?
I’ve been on an overextended workout hiatus for the past 6 months. I was a figure competitor for two years which meant waking up 5 days a week to get in an hour of cardio before starting my day followed by another 1.5–2 hours in the gym after work for weights and additional cardio.
After two years of doing that, I needed a break from the constant trips to the gym. However now, whenever the weather is nice on Sundays (between 70–80 degrees), I wake up around 9AM and head down to the mall. I turn the volume of my speakers up to the loudest sound possible and participate in the Nike Run Global 5k.
I only run on the mall, up to the Lincoln Memorial and back. Now that the weather is practically the tundra, I hibernate and stay inside. I always say that I’ll head down to one of the gyms in my building, but I never do.
HOW SOON AFTER WAKING UP DO YOU CHECK YOUR PHONE? [CHECK/SEND EMAILS, SOCIAL MEDIA]
Depending on whether or not I wake up before Alexa sounds her alarm usually determines how soon I check my phone. With that said, I’m usually checking social media no later than 6AM. I head to bed between 9:30–10:30 most nights (I know, I’m old) — which means that SO MUCH could happen between then and the next morning.
I don’t watch the news so I rely on social media to fill me in on what’s happening in the world. I start with Twitter, followed by Instagram, then back to Twitter. I try to end up back at the last thing I recalled seeing the night before.
As for emails, I review my personal inbox shortly after my final Twitter check. It’s never anything serious — just usually someone having a sale. Work emails can usually wait until I’m on the train headed to the office.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT TASKS YOU COMPLETE IN THE MORNING?
- I refuse to turn the music off that is playing through my headphones until I have taken off my coat, adjusted my desk height (our desks convert to standing desks), and properly laid all of my outwear accessories neatly on my desk. I used to be a visual merchandiser which means that everything to me is a visual display. Everything has a place and everything must be in order before I can function. Once I’ve done that, I take out my headphones and make my rounds.
- I must go to everyone’s desk that I enjoy talking to and chat about anything non-work related. I actually do this periodically throughout the day. I’m not a smoker so I don’t take “smoke breaks” like those in the office who smoke. Therefore, I’ve added “socialize breaks” to my daily work routine. It’s a shame that this isn’t a standard workplace practice.
- I have to eat my breakfast bowl or grab a bagel from the cafe. I take lunch around 2PM — 3PM (I know, that’s really late). Therefore, if I don’t eat once I arrive at the office, I binge on the Milky Ways and Twizzlers from our office candy jar. By lunchtime, I end up with a stomach ache and refuse to eat a real meal.
WHAT IS YOUR BEDTIME ROUTINE?
My bedtime routine starts from the moment I enter my home. The first thing I do is take a shower. My boyfriend has turned me into somewhat of a germaphobe so I refuse to sit on anything in my apartment while wearing the clothes I’ve been wearing all day.
I commute via metro to work so you can only imagine all the germs I encounter. Shortly after showering, I eat and watch Adult Swim. After a few episodes of King of the Hill, Bob’s Burgers and American Dad, I turn off my tv and spend another 30 minutes on social media.
I start off with Twitter, followed by Instagram and then I finish up with Tumblr. Yes, I still actively use Tumblr. I follow a lot of abstract collage accounts — it’s super random but the images make me happy. I prefer to go to bed on a happy note.
ARE YOU ABLE TO KEEP THE SAME ROUTINE WHEN YOU’RE TRAVELING OR IN A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT?
For the morning, I end up losing my beloved Alexa to start my day. My iPhone alarm wakes me up and I still check social media. However, this rarely occurs as I seldom stay elsewhere during the week unless I’m on a trip. I follow the same night routine regardless of whether I’m home or away.
However, when I’m with my boyfriend, I turn the light down on my phone so that I don’t keep him up at night. He usually has to wake up before me so I end up being a night owl at his home — which is odd because I could stay up all night at his place vs. my own.
I think being alone in my apartment makes it difficult to stay up late as there’s no interaction with someone else.
DO YOU STICK TO YOUR ROUTINE ON THE WEEKENDS OR DO YOU TWEAK IT?
On the weekends, my routines slightly differ. In the morning, I usually opt out of playing my Flash Briefing from my Echo Dot. I still do my social media check but shortly after, I turn on my tv and binge watch Teen Titans on Cartoon Network.
If I have brunch planned, I’ll spend about an hour getting ready for that before heading out the door. My friends and I always consider brunch an occasion and therefore one must look their best. As for my night routine, that pretty much stays the same. I haven’t budged on my night routine in years.
DO YOU SEE A CHANGE IN YOUR DAY IF YOU FORGET/DON’T TO FOLLOW YOUR MORNING ROUTINE?
If it’s a weekday, my entire morning is thrown off without Alexa. I literally cannot start my day without my Flash Briefing. My Flash Briefing is a moment to educate and entertain myself.
Alexa not only gives me the top tech headlines, but she also recaps the monologues from the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Without an ounce of comedy to my morning, my mood is very much thrown off.
WHAT PROJECT(S) ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON WHICH ADDS VALUE TO YOUR LIFE?
I’ve been working on launching my own fashion brand for the past 2 years. I finally decided to launch the brand in 2018! With that said, all of the planning that goes into launching a collection is heavy on my plate.
In addition, I’ve been working on defining my next career path in tech. From time to time, I enroll in online courses with either Codecademy or Udacity. I’m looking into completing a Data Science course next.
Eventually, I would like to become a Computational Linguist. However, there’s a lot of baby steps that go into making that dream a reality.
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