By: Jasmine West
A group of Lansing-area teen girls spent the past academic year doing what many adults only talk about doing. They built a magazine from the ground up.
They wrote the stories. They shaped the vision. They styled the shoots. They helped curate the images. They made creative decisions that turned their thoughts, ideas and lived experiences into a finished publication.
The result is Black Girl Brilliance: 517 Edition, a magazine created through Grit, Glam, and Guts in partnership with Melt Magazine. For the young women involved, the project became more than a publishing exercise. It became a yearlong lesson in voice, discipline, self-awareness and what happens when Black girls are given the room to create without being pushed to the margins.
Now, the Lansing community is being invited to celebrate them.
Grit, Glam, and Guts will host the Black Girl Brilliance Celebratory and Fundraiser on Saturday, June 13, at 6 p.m. at MSUFCU, located at 311 Abbot Road in East Lansing. The evening will honor the girls behind the magazine while raising support for future programming rooted in mentorship, leadership, wellness, education and creative development.
The magazine project took place over a full academic year and asked participants to think deeply about who they are, what they believe and how they wanted to be represented. Through writing, literacy development, critical thinking and hands-on publishing experience, the teens shaped a body of work that reflects their growth as young women and as storytellers.
Every page of the 517 Edition carries their imprint. The stories, images and design choices were not handed to them. They were built through process, practice and intention.
For Grit, Glam, and Guts founder and executive director Cameo King, the work is about making sure Black girls have access to the kind of support that allows their voices to mature and be taken seriously.
“Black girls deserve spaces where they are seen, celebrated, protected, and poured into,” King said. “Black Girl Brilliance is about honoring who they are today while investing in the leaders, creators, innovators, and visionaries they are becoming.”
That investment is at the center of Saturday’s celebration.
The event will feature keynote speaker Dr. Renee Branch Canady, author and CEO of the Michigan Public Health Institute. Her work in public health, equity and community transformation aligns with the broader mission behind Black Girl Brilliance: treating the wellness, confidence and leadership of Black girls as a community priority.
The fundraiser will also offer community members, educators, advocates, corporate partners and donors a chance to directly support programs that continue beyond one event or one publication. Funds raised will go toward mentorship programming, leadership development, wellness experiences, educational opportunities and creative projects for girls served through Grit, Glam, and Guts.
The celebration is supported by sponsors and partners including MSUFCU, the Desk Drawer Foundation and a grant made possible by the City of Lansing Human Relations and Community Services Department.
For more than a decade, Grit, Glam, and Guts has worked with teen girls across Michigan through identity development, self-awareness, leadership programming and opportunities centered on voice. The organization has built teen-led local chapters, hosted empowerment conferences, led summer camps at Michigan State University and brought Black Girl Day of Play to the steps of the State Capitol.
The Black Girl Brilliance: 517 Edition adds another layer to that work by placing girls not only in front of the celebration, but at the center of the creation.
Saturday’s event will give the community a chance to applaud what these young women produced and recognize the larger meaning behind it. A magazine made by teen girls in Lansing is also a statement about what becomes possible when Black girls are trusted with the tools, time and support to tell their own stories.
The Black Girl Brilliance Celebration will take place Saturday, June 13, 2026, at 6 p.m. at MSUFCU, 311 Abbot Road, East Lansing. Community members can support the fundraiser here.
