Nikya Hightower
Brunch is more than a meal. It’s an opportunity to empower women.
The Who Is She Brunch Aug. 23 from 12-5 p.m. at Pine, 4100 Raleigh St., will include panels, guest speakers, and networking opportunities. Tickets are $241.94 (including fees) and available at Eventbrite.
The brunch was founded by Marquila Tarrance, Erica Views and Crystal Danielle. Originally involved in separate projects, they collaborated with the mission of inspiring and empowering women in a curated space.
“We always want to make sure that we are bridging the gap for resources, for opportunities, for jobs and partnerships,” Tarrance said. “It’s necessary, and we have to do it, because nobody is going to save us.”
The brunch creates connections but it’s also a pivot for Black women who face challenges with recent rollbacks of DEI initiatives in government and corporate spaces.
“It’s crucial that we continue to have events like this and support each other, because some of the resources that were previously available to us are just simply no longer there,” said Maria Yvette, a business and partnership strategist. “So, we’re having to pave new ways, figure out different ways in the door, going around the back door and the windows. We’re having to be very creative and resilient when we are providing opportunities for women like us.”
The idea of brunch resonated most with the founders, primarily because it’s trendy, not just a meal but a time to connect.
“It kind of escalated to not only a community, but just going across the country with involving women online as well as in person, on ways to strategize and build businesses, to grow their organizations, to have community, to find support, to find a best friend or even a gym partner” Danielle said.
Views added: “Initially, when we decided to come together and create a safe space for women, we knew that the thing that all girls love is brunch, and so we wanted to curate a luxurious brunch.”
Empowerment comes in different forms, but for the brunch organizers, the word holds weight because it’s an opportunity for women to equip themselves for growth.
“In our community, it’s not taken lightly by the women that we’re inspired by, it’s not taken lightly by the women that look up to us and when we hear the word empowerment, we’re looking for strength, strength from the other women, strength from the things that they have built,” Danielle said. “This movement has been built and centered around empowerment from the beginning, not because we had all the empowerment, but we realized at a very, very early stage in meeting each other, that empowerment could grow by all of us joining together and being together and building a community from this.”
The brunch’s theme is “Girl, Stop Sleeping on Yourself,” which reflects the founders’ mission of encouraging women to realize their potential.
“I know a lot of times as women, we kind of miss the mark with that, because we put everything above us and before us,” Tarrance said, “but in this particular event, we definitely want the women to take away that you are powerful, amazing, and your capabilities and your responsibilities should not hold you down. Be exactly who you are in all of your resilience.”
For women who are hesitant to leap into entrepreneurship, the founders encourage them to “do it scared.”
“All three of us are individual creators and business owners at this point, and we had to do it scared,” Views said. “We are very uncomfortable every single year, planning the brunch, executing the brunch, but at the end of the day, we’re doing something that matters to so many more women, other than just us.”
