I attended a fashion week benefit after party for the Macdella Cooper Foundation, featuring a runway show by Korto Momolu of Project Runway fame (pictured left). MCF is raising $500,000 to build a tuition-free school for Liberian orphans, spurred by the zealous mission of founder Macdella Cooper, a civil war refugee turned glamorous fashionista.

I have never been in a room with more rich people in my life. There were New York Times reporters and fashion execs, Hollywood producers and supermodels.

It got me thinking that, like Macdella Cooper and Korto Momolu, I want to be my own brand. It seems to be the only path to the kind of job and life satisfaction I'm seeking. Working as a freelance writer is tough. Quite often the editor's or publisher's vision is so far off from mine that I have to compromise my creative authenticity, my work becoming so much fodder for a 24/7 news machine.

Deep down, I crave the freedom to define what, when, and how I write. Achieving that goal requires an unyielding determination and audacity.

Right now, I have to fake it to make it, repeating the mantra: I am living in a universe of my creation. Master of my personal brand.