The inaugural BLK Girl Fest is coming to Milwaukee Saturday, May 23 at the Baird Center.
Its mission is to create a space where Black women can connect, express their individuality and foster community.
The one-day event is presented by Black Girl Space, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that focuses on health and wellness for Black women.
"I wanted to make sure that we had a space for Black women where we can just connect and celebrate one another, love on one another, just celebrate culture, our community and doing it in a way where it's festive," BLK Girl Fest founder T’Keyah Bennett told WUWM Race & Ethnicity Reporter Teran Powell.
Here is more of their conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Teran Powell: What is the significance of having this fest now?
T’Keyah Bennett: Oh my goodness. Let's look at the times that we're in right now — everything that's going on with the economy. I feel like that's just forever changing as well as just where we are culturally.
Not being seen, not being heard, not being appreciated or loved properly. I always say I feel Black women need each other more than we think. We need to be able to come together collectively and love on each other and celebrate each other and not a way where it's we feel we have to compete, but more so collaborate. And I feel the only way that we can truly do that is if we tap in internally. Right?
So thinking about our mental capacity, thinking about where we are, our heart space and just where our soul and spirit is. I feel like we can't really give to ourselves or to each other if we're not taking care of ourselves internally.
What does the itinerary for BLK Girl Fest look like?
It's a wellness event. What's beautiful about this space is everyone that is a part of this event is all Black women. So when you think about the performers: Black women. When you think about the panelists and the moderator: Black women. When you think about the host: Black woman. When you think about the DJ: Black woman. And all the other participants, they're all Black women, which is a beautiful thing.
So it includes just the panel where we'll be discussing just mental health in our community and how important that is for us. And then we'll allow the women to just showcase their arts, their their talents. We have spoken-word artists that will be performing. We have a singer. She's from the city, and everyone's from Milwaukee. That's also another beautiful thing. Everyone that's a part of this event is from Milwaukee.
And so being able to have this space to showcase everyone's businesses, and their talents and their gifts is truly a beautiful thing.
Do you have a background in health and wellness?
I do. I do all the things. I am a doula, for one. I've been a doula since the beginning of COVID, so 2020, and I am also a Reiki master.
And what that is — Reiki is — we focus on, again, the internal being. So aligning your chakras and also just cleansing your spirit, so that you can be able to release and again receive something, setting intention for whatever it is that you want to receive. I call it like an internal massage. It's really a beautiful and intimate experience. So, yeah, I've been doing this work for quite some time.
Getting back to BLK Girl Fest, the theme is "Unapologetically Her." What is the significance of that?
Showing up for you, not showing up for other people, just being yourself authentically, however that looks like for you. I feel like we live in a world where society tells us how we have to be or how we should look. And this space is not that.
We take out the societal norms and we focus on who we are authentically. So, showing up as who you are without judgment, without fear, and embracing who you are and doing that in the space with other women, it's a beautiful thing.
_
