Addey Ababa owner Nardos Stover (left) with author Kalisha Buckhanon (right)
As part of our ongoing series for improved inter-staff engagement and our revolving staff-Buddy system, staff writer and book author Kalisha Buckhanon and Beauty News NYC publisher Kim Taylor met at the new Addey Ababa restaurant in Washington Heights to ask each other questions.
This bright, cheery and modern Ethiopian restaurant offers both vegetarian and meat-eater’s cuisine, along with truly delicious traditional teff bread, spiced tea, and tiramisu and baklava for dessert. It opened in September 2023 as a family-owned business with Stover and other owners. Located just one block from the subway on the border of Washington Heights and Inwood, it’s a perfect dinner destination for meeting with friends or a date. You can also order delivery or pickup. Here is their menu.
We started with Addey Ababa’s tomato appetizer, which was garden-fresh, healthy, and flavorful. Then we moved on to a platter combination of vegetarian and meat-based offerings, followed by dessert. Some of our options were spicy, some were turmeric-based, and some featured corn or lentils. All came with traditional Ethiopian injera bread.
The Questions
1. Kim for Kalisha: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
A: I didn’t know that writing could even be a job when I was growing up. Writers seemed like actors or athletes, but I wrote stories all of the time for enjoyment. Plus, it was free and easy. No one in my family had to invest in a piano or athletic gear. I had lots of talents and interests – including piano and athletics – but writing was always available. When I went to the University of Chicago and met some of my favorite writers – Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, Angela Davis, John Edward Reid, Octavia Butler – then I started to see a path for myself. That’s when I knew it was my career choice. I also imagined being a professor.
1. Kalisha for Kim: Who is your favorite writer? Journalist or fiction.
A: I love the way Russell Shorto writes. His writing is dense but evocative and informative. I also appreciate humor-oriented novelists and short stories. The quality of the writing, or how riveting the plot is, is more important to me than if the book is fiction, non-fiction, a collection of essays, or short stories. I love seeing the world through someone’s else’s perspective.
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2. Kim for Kalisha: How did you find an agent?
A: The author and poet Sapphire helped me get an agent. It wasn’t that difficult at the time – everyone is always interested in the next hottest writer. But the older you get (as we hear women in Hollywood talking about all the time), the more you have to keep fighting for your next project. Also, agents switch careers or retire, so that’s another roadblock. I didn’t have a problem finding an agent. The real challenge is for agents and book marketing people to know how to present my work, how to market and sell it – kind of like the movie American Fiction. I loved the book that film was based on, and it was published right when my first book was coming out. I thought it was hilarious…never knowing it was the plot to my own future. I lived parts of it myself.
2. Kalisha for Kim: When did you start writing or settle on it as a career?
A: In high school, I knew I would tilt toward writing, and I loved the world of books with their kaleidoscope of ideas. I was always overjoyed when tests were in essay form, because then I knew it would be easier. I assumed everyone felt that way, but discovered later in life that some people actually hate to write and view it as a chore. Early on, my mother used to read to me before bed each night when I was a child, which prompted me to fall in love with books, and I could easily get lost in the realm of my imagination. Sometimes she would even read adult poetry aloud, like Robert Browning, and even if I didn’t fully understand it, the language mesmerized me.
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3. Kim for Kalisha: Who are some of your favorite writers?
A: Crystal Smith Paul wrote “Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?,” a multigenerational saga that explores the impact of racism on American families against the backdrop of Hollywood’s golden age. It’s a great book and one of Reese’s Book Club picks, and it’s juicy. I also like Megan Giddings, who wrote “Lakewood,” a horror, sci-fi book. But my favorite ones in terms of making me who I am are Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. They were the writers I found when I was a kid roaming the library. That’s the importance of having diversity in libraries, so a little girl like me in Illinois can be at the library and see someone on the cover of a book who looks like her.
I would read something by Toni Morrison that a 12-year-old shouldn’t have been reading, but I could recognize the way people like mine talk, or the things people like mine ate. Toni Morrison and Baldwin are both geniuses, and Toni Morrison was especially genius with language; she really captured how people speak. James Baldwin came along a bit later, because I was part of a religious black family. He represented Harlem and New York, and that’s how I came to New York. I kept devouring Black writers and discovering the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem is like a rite of passage for writers. It was my North Star.
3. Kalisha for Kim: I was so geeked you covered books and more for Bustle. What did you do there?
A: For a while I was a freelance features writer for a variety of media, and I wrote a feature for Bustle on how pretty much anything can be made out of mushroom mycelium for a more sustainable future. Soft items, hard items, wedding dresses, furniture, even houses. I think that may have been the only thing I wrote for Bustle. It’s tough for anyone to earn a living now only writing feature articles; it has to be a side gig and a labor of love. It was possible when there was only print media, but who would ever give up the internet in 2025 to return to that era? Technology both improves lives and upends them at times.
4. Kim for Kalisha: Where do you want to visit that you haven’t been to yet?
A: Africa – somewhere where they speak French. Burkina Faso, Liberia… I almost took a job teaching English in Africa, and want to still do that in the next few years.
4. Kalisha for Kim: Are you a native New Yorker or did you move here?
A: I’m from the Chicago area too. Then I moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in high school and went to college at the University of Michigan. I moved to NYC after college, but traveled first and very briefly lived in Crete, Greece – unfortunately during its cold, rainy season. I don’t know that I would recommend doing that, but on the other hand, anywhere you roam in the world can be fun and interesting, especially when you’re young and adventuresome. My first job in NYC was for a place that represented castles and 5-star hotels overseas, so I was sent to England to stay in London’s best hotels (The Stafford, Dukes, The Ritz, Inn on the Park). It was also to investigate Cliveden and other estates in the countryside for PR purposes. A dream job in some ways, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to work in media, not PR.
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5. Kim for Kalisha: Favorite movie or series?
A: I feel like I have to check out The White Lotus, but I really like Black Mirror. It’s terrifying but the acting and writing is so good. I also thought the film Nosferatu was really well done. There may have been a bias against horror movies during awards season because everything about it was great.
5. Kalisha for Kim: Have you ever had Ethiopian food?
A: Yes, at an Ethiopian restaurant on Grand Street in Soho. It’s no longer open, though.
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6. Kim for Kalisha: Do you listen to any podcasts?
A: Not at the moment – I’m teaching English right now and doing so many other things that I don’t have the time.
6. Kalisha for Kim: What’s your favorite food?
A. I can put guacamole (with lime or lemon and cilantro but without onions or tomatoes) on almost anything… I think it’s a tie between fresh guacamole, good chocolate, and coffee.
7. Kim for Kalisha: Are you a good cook?
A: Like a lot of cityfolk, I’m a good cook when I have a spacious kitchen to cook in, and I do love to cook, but space is always an issue in cities. Plus, I live in two of the best cities for going out to eat. I like to clean and do the dishes at home – there’s something zen about it.
7. Kalisha for Kim: You’re home on a tight deadline. Where are you most likely to order food from?
A: Probably from a Thai restaurant.
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8. Kim for Kalisha: Favorite artist?
A: (laughs) I’m not going to say Kehinde Wiley anymore. It’s Elizabeth Colomba. I love Elizabeth’s art. Also, Tiffany Gholar. She’s one of my good friends from school. She’s a black woman artist who’s like the American Fiction author; she says “I don’t want to do social justice protest art. I want to do art.” She’s an abstract visual artist and interior designer, and simply amazing with color.
8. Kalisha for Kim: What’s a bit of advice for young people wanting a beauty, news and style writing career?
A: The beauty industry is a billion-dollar industry, so if you’re making a career out of it, treat it like a business and have a passion for it so it doesn’t feel like work. Realize that the definition of beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is broad-based and varied, and general societal definitions are always in flux.
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9. Kim for Kalisha: What do you want to be doing 10 years from now?
A: I would love to mentor people just as I’ve been mentored, and give back in that way. If my fourth novel was adapted to the screen, it would be a great opportunity for a Black actress. It would be nice to change people’s lives for the better. Teaching and writing will always be part of what I do. It would also be great to run something, whether it’s a center, a production company, a publishing house – something that can help or inspire other people. I feel like I’m always mentoring as it is now.
9. Kalisha for Kim: What’s a bit of advice for mature people like me pivoting to a beauty and style career later in life?
A: Every stage of life has its pros and cons. So many people later in life wish they had the wisdom they attained with age back when they were twenty, thirty, forty – but that’s life’s ironic twist: we’re in peak shape when we’re young and have the most energy, but later in life we have the most insight and all of the hard-won lessons that enable better decisions. My advice is to appreciate and savor whatever phase of life you’re in, and use its advantage to the fullest.
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10. Kim for Kalisha: Favorite NYC neighborhood and why?
A: Harlem. The mythic history of the artists and culture there, despite gentrification. At first it wasn’t even on a map, but now it’s on fire. It’s known for Black African-American innovation, and it may almost be reaching that tipping point where it changes into something different.
10. Kalisha for Kim: What’s your go-to print fashion and style magazine?
A: I don’t read print, though I know it’s making a retro comeback. I use the streets of NYC for my style inspiration since I pass hundreds of people every day of all ages, shapes, and sizes. I’ll notice length and style trends or little things that stand out for me personally.
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11. Kim for Kalisha: What makes you happiest?
A: What makes me happy are children, though I don’t have any. I love children. It’s why I’ve taught so much. I want to adopt someday. I have a lot to give and pass on, and it would be a total joy. A lot of work I know, but a sheer joy.
11. Kalisha for Kim: What’s a great Fashion Week tip for a journalist reporting there for the first time?
A: Have an overall take on the show and its theme, along with noticing the finer details and individual pieces that excite you. Imagine how the pieces will be translated to off-the-runway style. Have fun!
12. Kim for Kalisha: Favorite meal?
A: That’s tough – I love so many different types of food. This Ethiopian food is really delicious and fresh. But of course I was raised on African-American soul food, Midwest traditional dishes as well. So those are comfort foods I cook.
12. Kalisha for Kim: Tell me about your screenwriting award at the Tribeca Festival.
A: It was an honorable mention for a screenplay about scientist Marie Curie – her discovery of radium, her struggle as an immigrant, a female scientist, a single mom, and as a general badass. I had a co-writer who was a radiologist.
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13. Kim for Kalisha: What scares you?
A: I think the future of our planet and current politics. Social media is creating so much diversion and division too.
13: Kalisha for Kim: Any film aspirations in the future?
A: I’m working on an historical series from a different era. I have a co-creator partner who knows so much about that era – it’s his passion, so he gives me the juicy stories, I do the screenwriting, and then he provides feedback. I prefer this method because I learned from previous experience that it’s tough when two people try to write a script, unless they’re a comedy team. I’m excited about this project; we’re now five episodes in and will co-produce it with other entities.
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14. Kim for Kalisha: Do you believe in reincarnation?
A: Yes, and I know a lot about it because one of my novels is about reincarnation – a woman pondering whether she wants to have a baby, and the spirit of the child looking at all the times he was almost born, and the situations that blocked his birth.
14. Kalisha for Kim: What is your new app to bring more buyers to designers’ websites called?
A: It’s under wraps until it rolls out…
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15. Kim for Kalisha: Do you speak any other languages?
A: Yes, I speak French.
15. Kalisha for Kim: How does the app work?
A: You’ll have to wait for it to debut! It should debut soon – by the end of the summer is my guesstimate.
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16. Kim for Kalisha: If you had to live in any other country right now, where would it be?
A: Canada or an African country, like Ghana.
16. Kalisha for Kim: What’s your favorite accessory?
Probably shoes, but I also love earrings. The favorite accessory that I own is my great-grandmother’s wedding ring, which is inscribed A.F. to M.F. – Alfred Fleming to Martha Fleming.
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17. Kim for Kalisha: Dogs or cats, if you had to choose?
A: Cats. I also love big dogs, but it’s tough to have enough space for them in NYC.
17. Kalisha for Kim: Who’s your favorite designer or go-to wardrobe brand?
I love the elegant simplicity of Emilia Wickstead and Valentino’s aesthetic. For everyday brands, I like Madewell and J.Crew. I’ve noticed that some seasons I’ll resonate with a brand’s offerings, and other seasons I won’t – it depends on what they’re offering. I’m also not a snob about thrift shops or flea markets because if something is well-made with quality materials, and I like it, and I can have it cleaned, why not? It’s more sustainable.
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18. Kim for Kalisha: Most frightening or challenging thing you’ve ever done?
A: I saved myself from drowning when I was a child. I fell in a pool and didn’t know how to swim, so I had to figure it out quickly. It was a family summer bbq and everyone was enjoying themselves and not really paying attention. It was frightening. I learned how to swim after that.
18. Kalisha for Kim: I know you can’t be biased, but do you have a favorite section of Beauty News?
A: Ha ha, maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but Travel by far is my favorite section. That’s not to say that I don’t relish the play reviews, the fragrance features, the film reviews, or the latest home items, etc.
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19. Kim for Kalisha: Most satisfying thing you’ve ever done?
A: Graduating top of the class from University of Chicago. I was born to teen parents, the first one in my family to be part of such a prominent place. On graduation day, they were so incredibly proud. I had both sides of my family in my life, but my mother’s parents were always there for us in big ways so I wanted them there. I still have the picture of myself shaking President Bill Clinton’s hand that day, with them watching. He was our speaker.
19. Kalisha for Kim: How long have you been at the helm of this oldest beauty site on the internet?
A: Since 2011, but the site was founded in June of 2003 by Kimberly McDonald as the first online beauty magazine. I’ve never been crazy about the site’s name because I associate news with journalism, but the site was too deeply branded and entrenched by the time I purchased it to change it. What I love about the site is all of the people attached to it, and its resilient indie spirit. We have the best team right now – truly a group of fun, diverse, interesting, and talented people.
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20. Kim for Kalisha: Worst date you’ve ever been on?
A: A double date that started off nice in the lounge at the top of the Sears Tower or John Hancock building, can’t remember which. Then the other couple wanted to go to a place called The Spa. I thought it would be a nightclub like one I once went to in New York called the Spa. But it turned out to be one of those by-the-hour love hotels. You know, the heart-shaped mirror on the ceiling and little jacuzzi by the bed. The guy and I ended up sitting in the lobby, waiting for the other couple. It was my first and last date with him.
20. Kalisha for Kim: How can an eager beaver start writing for Beauty News NYC?
A: Contact me with your writing portfolio! Kim = beautynewsbk@gmail.com
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Visit:
Addey Ababa
Address: 736 W 181st St, New York, NY 10033
Phone: (212) 256-0701
