Conversations about Black women’s wellness often focus on disparities, struggles and overcoming challenges, says Carla Williams, founder of The View From Here Wellness Collective and host of Black Women Deserve podcast. Williams hopes to shift the focus to joy, belonging, friendship and celebration with Glow & Gather, a self-love luncheon celebrating Black womanhood through food, connection and service. The event will be held Sunday, Aug. 30, 1-3 p.m. at the Burr Oak on Madison’s East Side.
“Glow & Gather, at its core, is a space for women to get together and spend time together. It’s a luncheon, of course, but it also is a place to come together and prioritize our joy, prioritize our happiness, to celebrate ourselves,” Williams tells Madison365. “People talk about self-care, and that’s important, but I feel like I’m really on this campaign of living well right now, and I feel like that’s a major part of Glow & Gather. It’s celebrating us to live well.”
After a successful inaugural event last year, Glow & Gather returns to Madison with a simple idea: Black women deserve to be celebrated while they are here to receive it.
Hosted by The View From Here Wellness Collective, Glow & Gather centers the lived experiences of Black women while welcoming people of all races and genders for an afternoon of food, storytelling and community, including a live recording of the Black Women Deserve podcast.
The View From Here Wellness Collective creates experiences and conversations centered on Black women’s wellness, stories and lived experiences through community gatherings and the Black Women Deserve podcast.
Williams says the gathering comes at a time when Wisconsin is taking a broader look at what it means to be well. The state’s recently released State Health Assessment, she says, recognizes that health is shaped not only by health care, but also by factors such as economic well-being, housing, and social and emotional support.
“I feel like, as I’m building out a wellness collective, oftentimes when we hear about a state assessment coming out, and right away we hear about things like disparities, especially when we’re talking about Black women,” Williams says. “I’m thinking about what happens in between. Do women have spaces where they feel comfortable enough to ask questions, be in community, and really have access to information and people they trust? Are they able to prioritize themselves before they’re in a crisis or before they become part of those statistics?”
(Photos by Dynae Alice Photography)
Williams noted that many people are still grieving and angry over the recent killing of Corey Ruiz on Madison’s East Side.
“We were all mourning together, and as we’re thinking about those moments and those experiences, I think about all the times when we come together when people pass away or something bad happens,” Williams says. “But when are we coming together to celebrate joy instead of coming together in crisis or despair? And that’s what Glow & Gather is. It’s a time to come together and give each other our flowers while we’re here to receive them.”
This will be the second year Williams has hosted this event.
“I think what I learned from the first Glow & Gather is that women do want spaces to connect. They do want spaces that make them feel safe,” Williams says. “I feel like we’re always talking about hanging out with our friends or being in community. We do want spaces to be together that allow us to reflect on how we’re experiencing life, how we’re experiencing joy, and how we’re experiencing our physical and mental health. It matters, especially when we’re doing it in a space that allows us to feel supported.
“When we were in those conversations last year [at the inaugural Glow & Gather], it was an opportunity for us to just breathe,” she adds. “I feel like right now we have financial barriers, we have life barriers, we have all these things … and just being in a space where someone has curated just for you to pause and breathe and be and let your nervous system rest, it feels good. I think that just having more spaces like that and having a room curated specifically for joy is important.”
It’s important to have these conversations about self-care and mental health, but for some people, they can be difficult. How do you overcome those barriers?”
“I think that a major part of overcoming it is being honest, being vulnerable,” Williams says. “I think that at the start of Glow & Gather last year and at the start of the one this year, I think just being honest enough to name those things out loud and acknowledging that this might be uncomfortable talking about certain topics.
“Just being able to take your mask off and let your ego go and admit that life is hard. Life gets stressful. It’s important to be honest enough to say that to someone else, and then give someone else the confidence to say it back,” she adds.
During the live recording of the Black Women Deserve podcast at the event, panelists will share their perspectives on Black womanhood and what it means to navigate life in 2026, telling their stories in their own voices.
Glow & Gather will also extend its focus on care beyond the event through a feminine hygiene product drive benefiting The River Food Pantry and supporting its efforts to address period poverty in the Madison community.
“At The View From Here Wellness Collective, this is the type of event that is exactly what we do,” Williams says. “We’re trying to be a conversation agent, just like a space for connection at each event we host. We are trying to respond to a need for Black women here in this community. I’m trying to create community and trust that matter.
“We are centering African American women at Glow & Gather, but this is a space for everybody,” she adds.
For more information about the event, click here or contact Carla Williams at [email protected].
