Black Women’s Wellness Day is back for the 12th year in a row, and this year the event has been extended into a two-day virtual transformation.
The annual event, which usually draws more than 700 participants, has moved to a virtual stage. Hosted by The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, the event touches on all aspects of wellness for Black women including spiritual, financial, physical, emotional and mental wellness.
The theme for 2020: “thriving in a new world.”
The event will take place on Friday, Sept. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 19 and will have workshops, speakers, giveaways, live networking and a virtual wellness fair. Registration is open now.
Just a few of this year’s featured speakers include Loretta Ross, known as “the mother and co-founder of the Black women’s reproductive justice movement;” Linda Goler Blount, CEO and president of the Black Women’s Health Imperative; Dr. Joia Crear-Perry who is an international expert on birth equity and Black maternal and child health; and Abiola Abrams, who is an empowerment coach and encourages women to take a hold of their lives and build what she calls a “goddess-centered life.”
And although this year’s event has grown to cover two days and now encompassed a national audience; founder of The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, Lisa Peyton-Caire, said the team initially questioned whether Black Women’s Wellness Day should happen in such a tumultuous year.
Everyone, however, quickly agreed that it must still go on.
“It’s absolutely imperative that we provide this experience, which has always been about uplift, about inspiration,” she told Madison365. “Our tagline is information, inspiration and empowerment. That is what Black Women’s Wellness Day has been from its origin. That’s what it delivers every year. That’s what keeps women coming back.
“Those are the pieces that catapult women into really transforming their lives, whether it be mind, body, spirit, financial, and otherwise,” she added. “We just decided that we need information, inspiration and empowerment even more during this very tumultuous year.”
The team at The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness has been planning the event for a couple months — even as the center had to close its doors to the public on March 13, due to COVID-19. The brand new center at 6601 Grand Teton Plaza had been open less than three months. And through the foundations continued virtual programming, events and relief funding, the staff knew this year has a threat of a triple pandemic of “COVID-19, racism and social injustice.”
That is why they landed on the theme of “thriving in a new world.”
“Regardless of the challenges we’re facing, regardless of the upheaval around us, regardless of a lot of the fears that COVID-19 and this triple pandemic that we’re all living through and pushing through right now, we have to be centered on the fact that as Black women, we have to find a way to thrive in this new world. We have to really recreate and rebuild a world that does the fundamental thing of helping us stabilize and secure our life and our future and the life and the future of our families and communities,” Peyton-Caire said.
A transformative lineup
Even though the event has moved to a virtual space, Peyton-Caire said it will still have the uplifting energy Black Women’s Wellness Day does each year.
“When you touch a woman and transform a woman’s life, it has an immediate ripple effect on everyone close to her. And it just flows out from there and continues to impact people’s lives. And we know that we’ll still bring that energy, that transformational power in the virtual space,” she said.
The Friday portion of the event, which has wellness sessions from 8 a.m. to 6:15 p.m., will be issues-based with panel topics such as “The State of Black Women’s Health in America: Where We Are, and the Thriving Path Forward,” “View from the Midwest – Black Women Leading Health Justice and Why Our Lives Depend on It,” and “The Urgency of Now – Transforming Black Mama and Baby Health in America: Why We Must, How We Can.” There will also be music interludes with DJ Ace, Vanessa McDowell, and a live WERQ Fitness session with Keena Atkinson, owner of R’oujie Wellness.
Saturday’s wellness sessions, which will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., is what Peyton-Caire calls the “power hour.”
“It will be just one incredible inspirational speaker after another,” she said.
Kara Stevens, founder of “The Frugal Feminista” will be speaking on “Mapping Your Way to Wealth: The Black Woman’s Blueprint to Financial Prosperity In A New World.”
Dr. Angela Cudger, founder and director of the Legacy Holistic Health Institute and Metaphysical Practitioner will be speaking on “Ignite Your Life! Steps to Powerful Mind, Body, Spirit Wellness for A New Age.”
For a full list of speakers and events visit www.blackwomenswellnessday.org.
Peyton-Caire said beyond the guests at the event, and the team at The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, the event also is driven by local sponsors.
“We want to sincerely and enthusiastically, thank our presenting sponsor this year, which is The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact,” she said. “They stepped forward this year in a big way.”
Some of the other sponsors include Healthy Dane Funders (UW Health, UnityPoint Health- Meriter, Group Health Cooperative, SSM Health), Madison Gas and Electric, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Summit Credit Union and Wisconsin Well Woman Program.
To register and to find more information visit blackwomenswellnessday.org. The event takes place on Friday, Sept. 18 and Saturday, Sept. 19.
