ELIMINATING RACISM. EMPOWERING WOMEN.
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#WWB ON TV | Check out #WhatWomenBring on @Live5News as news anchor Ann McGill interviews our own CJ Gathers. Each honoree has her own moment in the spotlight in this news broadcast! Check them all out here

#WWB WEDNESDAY | Tickets are now on sale! Click or tap to snag yours and #JoinTheConversation! Word to the wise: there’s a high sellout risk for this famously candid, energy-filled event

#WHATWOMENBRING | Check out our 2023 #WWB honorees on Heaven 100.1 FM! Tickets on sale very soon! Mark your calendar for Oct 4. P.S. Did you know this event doesn’t just empower the women at #WWB, but at all our programs empowering women & girls throughout the year? Sponsorships & donations from #WWB also make it possible for us to offer WE 360°, SheStrong, Y Girls Code, and more at no cost to participants. Show your support for women by sponsoring this year at ywcagc.org/wwb-sponsors or text to give by texting WWB2023 to 44321!

#WWB WEDNESDAY | Our 2023 #WhatWomenBring award winners are revealed! ARTS | Zandrina Dunning @thezdexperience BUSINESS | Lee Deas @lee_deas COMMUNITY: Eliminating Racism | Akua Katelyn Page @geecheegoddesskua COMMUNITY: Empowering Women | Megan Manigault @megankapri_ EDUCATION | Tasha V. Joyner @CCSDconnects ENTREPRENEURSHIP | Liz Ashley @liz.ashley_xoxo GOVERNMENT | Loretta Thrower Bookard HEALTHCARE | Nilsy Rapalo HOSPITALITY | Laurie Alderson Smith LAW | Jennifer Owens MEDIA | Marcela Robins TECHNOLOGY | Candice Cohen Check them out here and learn about each one here!

#WHATWOMENBRING | Check out our 2023 #WWB honorees in @HolyCitySinner! Tickets on sale soon! Mark your calendar for Oct 4. #JoinTheConversation #ReadyToGetReal #PowerLunch

NEW SLOTS FOR WE 360° | Check out our own CJ Gathers on Live 5 News talking with news anchor Ann McGill about our upcoming WE 360° session: the last one of the year! We have opened more slots to meet the demand from women entrepreneurs of color who are seeing this show! Grab yours before they’re gone: register at www.ywcagc.org/we360. WE 360° is offered free of charge to participants thanks to donations and sponsorships!

#WHATWOMENBRING | Check out our 2023 #WWB honorees in CRBJ Biz Wire! Tickets on sale soon! Mark your calendar for Oct 4. #JoinTheConversation #ReadyToGetReal #PowerLunch

YWCA NEWS | Next week: the big reveal! 2023 #WhatWomenBring award winners to be announced, televised

#WHATWOMENBRING | Check out our 2023 #WWB honorees in @LowcountryBizSC! Tickets on sale soon! Mark your calendar for Oct 4

SUCCESS STORY | We like to see past #WhatWomenBring honorees in the media! This time, it’s 2021 #WWB Community Honoree Ericka Plater making the news. She has taken the post of interim CEO for our partner Tri County Cradle to Career. Always doing good!

#WWB WEEKEND | What do women bring? Strength, resilience, innovation, and the power to change the world! Organizations, support our mission to empower women, including women of color, as a sponsor of the 6th annual #WhatWomenBring awards on October 4

SUCCESS STORY | Check out our own LaVanda Brown in Charleston Women magazine! “We are dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all,” she says in the magazine’s article about women-run nonprofits. “What resonates most to me is the ‘for all.’ We all deserve dignity, respect, and equitable treatment.” See it here, starting on page 59

BUSINESS COPYRIGHTS | Minority entrepreneurs, take note! At noon on Thursday, @SCORE will hold a free virtual workshop on a little-known topic: how copyrights can help protect your business. Register here

SUCCESS STORY | Paula “Pixie” Dezzutti has long been on Charleston’s empowered-women radar as the CEO of Skirt magazine, and now she has been featured nationally by Forbes magazine on its 50 Over 50 “Age of Disruption” list. Thousands of women leaders and entrepreneurs are nominated each year for a spot on the list. Paula made the list in the Lifestyle category, among powerhouses like Judy Blume, Jamie Lee Curtis, and one of Pixie’s own inspirations, Viola Davis. Pixie, who is also CEO of award-winning Local Choice Spirits, highly accoladed Striped Pig Distillery, and tech-driven wellness leader Sycamore Pharma, will convene in NYWC with the other winners for the Forbes annual 30/50 summit

SUCCESS STORY | French and Senegalese chef Bintou N’Daw worked as a private chef in France and Senegal before taking a job at Chez Nous in New York. The New York eatery reminded her of her grandmother’s French heritage… and ended up as a step in her journey to open Bintü Atelier in Charleston. After finding no African cuisine here, she decided to fill the niche with naturally gluten-free food that currently focuses on Senegal—and in the future, a big community table that will serve 26. If that’s not enough, she also owns a line of hot pepper condiments inspired by African cuisine, for which she moved production from New York to South Carolina. Pic: Mike Ledford

BLACK HEALTH DISPARITIES | Pastors, ministers, health directors, coordinators, nurses, and church members, this is for you! If your church is thinking about starting a health ministry or is seeking to build on its existing Black health ministry, attend the Balm in Gilead’s day-long, in-person Healthy Churches conference on Saturday! Charleston is one of only five US cities to host this event. Its purpose is to equip Black churches to help reduce the impact of racial health disparities. Click to see the full program and register!

ILLEGAL SLAVE SHIP | Tomorrow at 10 AM, learn about an illegal slave trading ship brought to Charleston Harbor in 1858—before the Civil War began—and the role it played on the road to the war. This free learning event will take place at @ChasCoLibrary’s Wando branch in Mount Pleasant

LIVING HISTORY | We love this! @SCETV and SC Public Radio have launched an interactive, immersive website called Reconstruction 360. Designed to complement the PBS documentary series ‘Reconstruction: America After the Civil War,’ it uses a 360° video platform as a storytelling method that lets the audience step inside pivotal Reconstruction events and see the perspectives of multiple characters. For instance, in the “A Seat at the Table” module, you are invited to dinner in Savannah in 1868. The mother of a Black family has prepared a special meal to commemorate the new Georgia State Constitution that her husband & pastor have helped create

THE FIVE JUSTICES | We’re not the only ones celebrating women who are making history! When painted, the portrait ‘The Four Justices’ was a tribute to the four women justices who had served on the US Supreme Court. A monumental piece, it measures 7 feet by 5.5 feet and dominates the west wall of the National Portrait Gallery’s second-floor rotunda in Washington, DC. Here, Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black female Supreme Court judge, joins them

MOJA ARTISTS | Calling all artists! The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs is now accepting artwork submissions for the 2023 MOJA Arts Festival’s Juried Art Exhibition, which will celebrate African American and Caribbean culture from Sept 28 to Oct 8 this year. Applications are due by August 21

WOMEN IN OFFICE | We like to see events like this! At noon on Wednesday, Women In Leadership @SCWomenLead will convene an informal panel of women currently serving on public boards and commissions to answer women’s questions about serving. Join them virtually as they take a deep dive into the questions! Register (free) here.

TOMORROW | Recommended: Learn about the Gullah Geechee Heritage Preservation Project from 6 to 7:30 PM tomorrow, August 3, at Mount Pleasant Waterworks on Rifle Range Road! A two-year initiative supporting the preservation & documentation of historic #GullahGeechee communities, the project will include a nomination for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo: Bailey Davidson

MAKING AN IMPACT | Printed copies of our 2022 annual report hit mailboxes earlier this month! Highlighting the impact of our major programs from the #MLKcelebration to #WhatWomenBring to SheStrong, it offers an easy-to-read summary of our major programs designed to eliminate racism and empower women and girls. Click or tap to see this online!

BLACK CHARLESTON | Looking for something to do this weekend? We highly recommend the 2023 Explore Black Charleston Guide by @ExploreCharleston! It highlights Charleston’s unique African American history & culture, past and present. Check it out!

BLACK WOMEN’S EQUAL PAY DAY | How would you like to work an extra 8 months to earn the same as your counterparts? For so many Black women in America, that’s the reality. The most recent US Census data shows Black women are paid 58% of what White males make. Black women live at the intersection of sexism and racism. While each is a distinct form of discrimination, their effects are compounded when a person experiences both at the same time. This is at the very heart of what we fight at YWCA.GC. Learn more at www.aauw.org/resources/article/black-women-and-the-pay-gap (link also in bio) … and join our parent org @YWCAUSA at 2 PM today for a social media storm to urge Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act!

SUCCESS STORY | Lorna Shelton Beck, organizer of Charleston’s @Carifest Caribbean festival, was honored on Capitol Hill in Washington DC with a volunteer award last month. After a meeting at the White House, Lorna (who was born in Jamaica) and her fellow award winners discussed issues facing Caribbean nations with members of Congress. Dr. Claire A. Nelson, president of the Institute of Caribbean Studies (pictured), said: “Without her South Carolina would not be on the map as far as [Caribbean American Heritage Month] is concerned.”

YWCA NEWS | Announcing our incoming board! Introducing new board members Jennifer Brown, Monique Brown, Sarah Castle, Dr. Tomeka Middleton, and Pamela Richardson... and more

RACIAL EQUITY | Our next Racial Equity & Inclusion workshop is just around the corner! Join us in person on August 2-3, 2023 for this critical workshop led by professional facilitators from the Racial Equity Institute, nationally recognized for helping communities address institutional racism. Not many slots are left! Click here to sign up. (Note: all *REI alumni* slots have been filled at this time. Thank you for your continued interest!)

DIVERSITY LEADERS | Our partners at the @Chas_Chamber have opened applications for their summer Diversity Leaders Certificate program! Led by our own board member & previous #WWB honoree Kenya Dunn, it’s designed to equip business leaders with the necessary tools and resources to thrive in the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) space. Participants will gain a better understanding of how they can lead as an equity-centered leader and make a larger impact on our community. Sessions will take place on Tuesday mornings in August. Apply by next Friday, July 28, here!

SUCCESS STORY | For the past year, Malika Pryor has worked to answer a question that not many people deal with in their lifetimes: how do you convey a story that is historically & emotionally complex to as many different people as possible, in a way that they will understand and embrace? This is the challenge of the newly opened @IAAMuseum’s chief learning & engagement officer… and may we say she has done a fine job of it? Malika’s own story is engaging! From founding the Curlyfest Bahamas Festival to working on digital exhibit “Detroit’s Black Bottom,” check it out here.

FRIDAY | Our partners at The Charleston Forum will co-host Aspiring Toward a Common History: A panel event exploring racial & cultural perspectives on monuments at Mother Emanuel AME Church Church this Friday from 6 to 9 PM. Panelists include author Ty Seidule of West Point Military Academy, Dr. Tamara Butler (shown) of the Avery Research Center, author Dr. Adam Comby of Auburn University, Dr. Felice Knight of the Truth Racial Healing & Transformation Center at The Citadel, Michael Allen of the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Mayor John Tecklenburg, and former Alabama Mayor William Bell. Click to register!

WE 360° | Due to high numbers of registrations, we have opened a small number of additional slots for our WE 360° workshop series! Designed specifically to equip women entrepreneurs of color to overcome barriers in business, it will help those hoping to launch a new business as well as those wanting to sustain or grow an existing one. Remaining session dates for this year are August 7-31 and Oct 16-Nov 9. Click or tap here to sign up before these few last new slots are gone!

#WWB WEDNESDAY | We are so proud of 2022 #WhatWomenBring Healthcare Honoree R. Simone Lee! She shared what she does to empower women, especially women of color who suffer from poorer pregnancy and birth outcomes, with TV anchor @LeylaGulen on @FoxCharleston late last week. Missed it? Check her out here!

SUCCESS STORY | To us, this is just clear thinking: NiAsia Smalls founded public health initiative Wealness to bring solutions to physical & financial wellness issues she was seeing in her own family. “Wealness is a mix of wealth and wellness,” she writes. “America’s African Americans, along with our lower income communities, often lack access to and knowledge of the proper resources to build their wellness. In our viewpoint, health is wealth.” Niasia’s goals? To align Black and Brown people with healthcare providers who look like them, live in their communities, and understand their needs… and to host a summer camp teaching ninth graders how to develop financial health and wellness skills.

#WWB WEDNESDAY | Tune in today at 4:30 PM on Ohm Radio Charleston 96.3 FM for #WhatWomenBring: A Closer Look as YWCA.GC Executive Director LaVanda Brown chats with 2022 #WWB Education Honoree Patrice Black Davis! (Missed it? Click here to check it out!)

WHAT WOMEN BRING | Two days left! It's your last chance to get in your #WWB nomination at www.ywcagc.org

RACIAL EQUITY | Announcing our next Racial Equity & Inclusion workshop! Join us in person on August 2-3, 2023 for this critical workshop led by professional facilitators from the Racial Equity Institute, nationally recognized for helping communities address institutional racism. Designed to help local leaders proactively understand and address racism in their communities, workplaces, and personal lives, this two-day training is designed to develop your capacity to better understand racism in its institutional & structural forms. Moving away from a focus on personal bigotry and bias, it presents a historical, cultural, and structural analysis of racism. Only 23 spots left! (40 seats in total) Sign up now at www.ywcagc.org/rei

THANKFUL THURSDAY | We’re thankful for all the women leaders who have paved the way for other women to succeed & excel in their careers! Join us in recognizing some of them in our state: nominate a woman trailblazer from anywhere in South Carolina for a highly visible #WhatWomenBring award. Choose from more than a dozen categories: arts, business, community, education, faith-based, entrepreneurship, government & law, healthcare, hospitality & tourism, media & communications, STEM, and wildcard.

YWCA NEWS | New Racial Equity & Inclusion workshop announced! The second REI workshop of 2023 is now open for registration... plus a #WWB interview and WE 360°

SUCCESS STORY | Our success story this week is no stranger to the fight for women’s empowerment! #Doula R. Simone Lee, our 2022 #WhatWomenBring healthcare honoree, has continued making strides for Black women and their infants everywhere in her fight for #BlackMaternalHealth. Check her out as news anchor Leyla Gulen interviews her on Fox 24 News Now later this week! #Inspiring #EmpoweringWomen #EliminatingRacism #BlackMamasMatter Plus, don’t forget to tell us who you want to be this year’s #healthcare #honoree in October! Deadline: Friday

SUCCESS STORY | Entrepreneurship with □! College of Charleston junior Michele Graham was volunteering at an animal shelter when she saw how abandoned kittens struggle to eat without a nursing mother: endangering their lives. Moved by their plight, she invented a soothing surrogate milk-delivery device that literally purrs. Now she’s selling her Surro-Kitty® across the US and Europe… while finishing her undergrad work. (!) So far sales have surpassed $50K. Click to see her story at The College Today! | Pic: Catie Cleveland, CofC

COUNTDOWN TO IAAM | We are excited for the official opening of the International African American Museum on June 27, just days away! The museum will be open T-Sun from 10 AM to 5 PM. Plan to spend about 2 hours exploring the interior of the museum and the African Ancestors Memorial Garden. (The garden is open to the public and free to visit at any time.) Plan your visit & get tickets at www.iaamuseum.org!

SUCCESS STORY | Our success story this week, the last full week before #WhatWomenBring 2023 nominations are due (deadline Fri July 7), is 2021 #WWB entrepreneurship honoree CJ Gathers! Listen in on radio show Lowcountry Forever as she shares with host Brian Cleary what it was like to be nominated & chosen for the award recognizing her for her efforts to empower women through her own nonprofit prior to joining us at YWCA.GC: www.ywcagc.org/lowcountry-forever

WHAT WOMEN BRING | #WWB nominations are OPEN. Nominate an outstanding woman in South Carolina by July 7 at www.ywcagc.org/wwb!

SUCCESS STORY | Activist Opal Lee, 96, is known as the Grandmother of #Juneteenth. (What is Juneteenth? On June 19, 1865, enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free. A century & a half later, African Americans continue to celebrate Juneteenth, also called #FreedomDay and #EmancipationDay.) After a four-decade fight by Opal, including multiple walking campaigns and obtaining 1.5 million signatures on a petition to Congress, Juneteenth was made a federal holiday in 2021. She stood beside President Biden as he signed it into law. See her story on NPR!

#WWB WEEKEND | Do you know an inspiring woman who deserves recognition? Run, don’t walk, to nominate her TODAY at www.ywcagc.org/wwb for the sixth annual #WhatWomenBring #PowerLunch. Let's celebrate & uplift the fantastic women in our communities who have worked to be the change they wish to see!

#WWB WEDNESDAY | Did you miss it? June’s #WhatWomenBring: A Closer Look spotlight was 2022 technology honoree Jessica D. Kearse. Don’t miss her interview on Ohm Radio Charleston 96.3 FM today! Plus, don’t forget to tell us who you want the 2023 #WWB #technology honoree to be at www.ywcagc.org/wwb! Nominations are open until July 7

WE 360° | We were excited to launch our 11th workshop series for women entrepreneurs of color yesterday! At 6 PM our latest collection of dynamic, outstanding entrepreneurs hit the ground running with WE 360° workshop coach Courtney Scipio (shown). We can’t wait to see these women take the business world by storm! www.ywcagc.org/we360

FATHERS | It was wonderful to celebrate all the fantastic fathers out there on Sunday! Now, to the best of fathers who have daughters, we recommend this pledge by YWomen - Jeffery Tobias Halter: https://bit.ly/father-of-daughter-pledge

SUCCESS STORY | Tara Sessions founded local natural simple syrup company @Daysie when she discovered a dearth of organic syrups in the flavors she wanted for her home coffee bar. She took on multiple jobs, working nights & weekends to create the syrups she wanted. See what has become of her hard work & brainchild at www.enjoydaysie.com... and note that 2.1% of Daysie’s profits now go to women consumer-packaged-goods business owners! What's not to LOVE? (Why 2.1%? That’s the percentage symbolizing the need to raise more than the 2% of venture capital historically invested in women-owned businesses)

#WWB WEDNESDAY | Who should take the stage this year at #WhatWomenBring? Don’t forget to nominate an outstanding woman from anywhere across South Carolina! Choose from 13 industry categories: make your nomination today at www.ywcagc.org/wwb!

BLACK ARRESTS | Black drivers are stopped more often by police and are more likely to be handcuffed, searched, or arrested. Now a study has found that police officers’ first words in a traffic stop can make a big difference for Black drivers. Traffic stops that begin with an order like “Keep your hands on the wheel” are 3 times more likely to escalate. Useful info for law enforcement agencies!

#WWB WEDNESDAY | Who should take the stage this year at #WhatWomenBring? Don’t forget to nominate an outstanding SC woman! All honorees are selected from the nominations we receive. Make your nomination today at www.ywcagc.org/wwb!

MEN OF CHANGE | Recognizing men of color! The @IAAmuseum is hosting “Men of Change: Power. Triumph Truth.” as a special exhibit now through August 6. Created by the Smithsonian Museum, it presents the history of a nation through the lens of iconic African American men in a historical & cultural landscape, offering new generations notable stories of significant African American men, both known and unknown.

BIRTHING JUSTICE | Tomorrow at 10 PM, catch Birthing Justice on PBS @SCETV! It’s true: giving birth is a battleground for too many Black women and their babies. Going behind the numbers, #Birthing Justice places Black women at the center of the fight to fix a broken system for all women in the US, and focuses on the progress being made by those on the front lines. One of those women on the front lines is our very own #WhatWomenBring healthcare honoree and Lowcountry #doula, R. Simone Lee. Thank you for all you do for Black and Brown women across our region and beyond, Simone! Check out the trailer, show itself, and even a discussion guide at www.pbs.org/show/birthing-justice

HANDS TO HERITAGE | We love this! Bloomberg Philanthropies brought together master sweetgrass basket weavers from South Carolina and master basket weavers from Rwanda to exchange stories & techniques passed down over generations. Together, they collaboratively wove baskets representing peace & reconciliation. Now a film looks at the history & beauty of the Gullah people in Charleston and the art of weaving baskets, one of the oldest West African art forms in America. See the short film, which recently premiered, online

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE | We are so proud of our parent organization, @YWCAUSA! The White House recently released its first-ever plan to end gender-based violence (#GBV), with 14 federal agencies committing to help GBV survivors and their families, and YWCA USA policy staff were invited to the White House for the release… and to have a community conversation on what remains to prevent & address GBV in the US. YWCA USA now looks forward to partnering with the federal agencies to carry out the plan’s commitments, including access to housing for survivors, economic & labor protections, and racial justice needs

“It's important to remember what a miracle this country is. How incredible—how incredibly lucky we are that people, generations ago, were willing to take up arms and fight for our freedom. And then people, inside this country, understanding that there were imperfections in our union and were willing to keep on fighting on behalf of extending that freedom to all people and not just some.” ~ President Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at Fourth of July Celebration