The Black & Beautiful Brunch aims to empower Black women through humor, real talk, and bottomless mimosas. The event is currently on a multi-city tour and scheduled to stop in the District of Columbia on July 8.
The three-hour brunch, to be held at Provision 14 in Northwest D.C., offers a safe place for Black women to discuss issues that affect them. This year, the theme is: “My Black is Enough: Embodying Self Love, Embracing My Sisters, and Epitomizing Excellence.”
Tiffany Wright is the producer and organizer of the Black & Beautiful Brunch scheduled to be held in D.C. on July 8.
(Courtesy photo)
The brunch is expected to address topics, including racism, colorism, cultural appropriation, natural hair, body issues and debate whether Black transgenders should be considered as Black women.
“We’re at a place where Black women are bothered by the ambiguous or paradoxical narrative going on in the media about Black women,” said Tiffany Wright, the brunch tour’s organizer and a California resident. “I just felt that it would be extremely appropriate to reaffirm women’s blackness – whatever that means for them.”
The women will also look inward and reflect on times they were wronged, when they hurt someone else, how to heal from emotional wounds, and how to love themselves. There’s a networking component included in the brunch as well.
Wright has a professional background in mental health, and through her company she is seeking to create safe spaces for women focused on mental health, mental illness, and self help. She runs the brunches through her company, The Be Life, which uses self love and positive events to uplift women.
The $47 brunch take place in intimate settings designed to make women feel comfortable about opening up. Wright caps the number at 35 women, who vary in age. Food is a celebration, and brunches are a way to look cute, have fun, and sip cocktails in a homey environment – all while discussing the weighty issues of the day, Wright said.
The price covers food, bottomless mimosas, gift bags and program materials. “It’s an interactive brunch,” Wright said. “With that, people feel comfortable to let their guard down and express themselves. And if they’re overthinking everything they’re going to say, they’re not going to express themselves.”
Wright, 29, trains community members on working with foster youth and families. In 2015, she launched the first brunch in Oakland as a response to a Texas police officer violently arresting Sandra Bland after Bland refused to comply with his commands. Bland later died in police custody, galvanizing Black women all over the country to protest and rally around her death.
During that time, people were inundated with images of police brutality and Wright realized many Black women needed a safe space to talk about their feelings. “People don’t realize how that affects them mentally and emotionally, so I wanted to create a space where women could talk about these things and give them the tools to take care of themselves,” Wright said.
She said her brunch the following year in Los Angeles was sold out and after getting requests around the country, Wright took the brunch on the road. This year’s brunch tour also stopped in Atlanta, Ga. and Johannesburg, South Africa. Future stops on this year’s tour are in Chicago, Oakland, Calif. and Los Angeles. Wright said she is also considering other international stops next year.
“All of this has been a passion and comes out of my pocket and so I don’t have the brunch structured to be a highly profitable event, because I want women in the room and I know that we’re in the beginning stages,” Wright said.
A portion of the proceeds from the brunch support StandUp For Kids, which benefits homeless children.
Sire Eminence Zakkiyyiah, an Atlanta brunch attendee, posted a glowing recommendation of the brunch on Facebook June 13. “Black & Beautiful Women’s Brunch I can’t thank you QUEENS enough for this AWESOME opportunity and food,” she said. “The atmosphere was exceptional, the conversation was very uplifting, just a positive all across the board!”