Charity Dean, left, president and CEO of Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance (MDBBA), is a business advocate for Black- and women-led businesses. Teachia Turrentine, right, empowerment coach and two-time author, is curating a tea party-inspired event for women in her community and hosting the upcoming bash on Saturday, April 16, in Romulus.
What does it look like when a strong-minded businesswoman supports another female business owner who is equally successful? They are empowering one another while bringing others along because female-led empowerment is needed now more than ever. Why?
Because Black women have been overwhelmingly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with financial disparities, social responsibilities and economic troubles.
Or maybe it’s because Black women still don’t earn as much as white men and (in 2022) have to work about an extra seven months to catch up to them to make the same amount pay in America. According to the U.S. Census, typically, Black women were paid 63 percent of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2019. A typical working Black woman in 19 months is then paid what the average white man makes in just one year.
The pay and wealth disparities continue to impact Black women, which also negatively trickles down to the families they are raising, especially if they are the breadwinner.
Yet, even with these discouraging facts, it’s important to come up for air and simply look around. One doesn’t have to look too far to see the result of that impact where Black entrepreneurs and businesswomen support others in a space where competition is a non-factor.
That might be a phenomenon elsewhere but in Detroit it’s just another day at work where this kind of collaboration and empowerment coexist for business-minded women who don’t mind showing up, putting in that work and having some skin in the game.
Why do Black women, though, need to continue to push for empowerment? To continue to promote the narrative that despite it all, they are going to come through shining and on top. Detroit has a local example of that with The Lip Bar and Glam-Aholic Lifestyle recently-released limited collaboration on 313 Day in Detroit on March 13.
“Black women have always found a way to conjure up some strength and courage to do just a little bit more and that’s exactly what we’ve done this year,” Texas-based Black businesswoman Katii McKinney said during a past women’s empowerment session.
With women bearing each other’s burdens in the business space, one local woman said that she’s trying to help her fellow sisters in an even deeper way with a BeauTEA BASH: Metro-Detroit Tea-Themed Women’s Networking Event.
Teachia Turrentine, empowerment coach, two-time author and owner/operator of Beautifully Mended, LLC, is curating a tea party-inspired event for women in her community and hosting the upcoming bash on Saturday, April 16, in Romulus.
The BeauTEA BASH will serve to increase awareness of the importance of identity and pursuing purpose, and how they contribute to building a healthier community of women empowering women.
“[The] tea-themed women’s networking event is around identity, purpose and building community,” Turrentine, a certified life empowerment coach, speaker and published author, said.
The agenda includes three themed parts, which together are designed to execute the goal of inspiring women to approach life, purpose and business holistically. Sip & Share is the networking portion; during the event attendees can discover pursuits in the community, opportunities for future collaborations and partnerships, and visit vendors offering special products and services.
From “Spill the Tea” to “Toast & TurnUp,” attendees can learn about fashion, business and building more meaningful connections.
Kristin Lemkau, chief executive officer of U.S. Wealth Management at JPMorgan Chase, said that a business of sisterhood is emerging.
“The biggest legacy for women in my generation is creating a sisterhood for success. I hope the era of the ‘queen bees’ and ‘dragon ladies’ is officially over. Here’s to a new Era of Sisterhood – women empowering ourselves and empowering other women. … Let’s celebrate the women who are the first to support other women.”
Turrentine added that women empowerment is vital, especially in her business realm.
“Thinking about my own triumph over trauma and thinking about some of the things that I had to go through, roadblocks that I had to overcome in life … [I] understand that is so important to be a voice and a light for other women,” she said. “Ultimately my own journey led me to this place of wanting to help women experience life.”
Turrentine added that she wants to do something for her community “not necessarily as a business owner or as an entrepreneur.”
“I want to do something for my community to empower the people within my community to give back to the people within my community,” she said.
Charity Dean, president, and CEO of Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance (MDBBA) told the Michigan Chronicle that Black women not only suffer from racial discrimination but gender inequality as well.
“It may seem more difficult, but Black women have always been ones to save the day for our country, and so we also saved the day for our families,” Dean said, adding that there are more businesses created by women.
“I don’t think that’s an accident,” Dean said of a post-COVID environment. “There are resources out there for women. … [the] a beautiful thing about women is that we know how to kind of encourage each other, right. If there is not a resource out there specifically for one, we’re gonna make one. … We’re gonna inspire each other.”
For more information visit https://mdbba.com/.
For more information on the conference visit www.teachiaturrentine.com/event-details. General admission tickets are $40 per person.
