The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 200 mothers and daughters are expected to attend a conference this weekend with the aim of improving upon their unique bond while also promoting self-esteem in young girls.

In an effort to build leaders from the inside out, the Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 and its parent organisation, PBG Bahamas, will be hosting a conference for mothers and daughters.

The event, to be held this Saturday at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel, is scheduled to begin at 9am.

According to members of the organisation, it is rare to find a positive, family-friendly environment where mothers can have fun, laugh and learn with their daughters, and this is why there is a need for the conference.

At the conference there will be interactive sessions, a pastry breakfast, prize giveaways and vendor shopping with distinctive items for sale for both mothers and daughters.

Yolanda Darville, co-leader of Pretty Brown Girl Club #14, said the main focus of the conference will be on the topics self-esteem and leadership.

“We have brought this conference here because even though our club has 35 girls who are members, we wanted a way to reach out into the larger community, and so this is in effort to do that. We know that mothers have power and we think that girls look at their mothers as their first image of beauty and self-worth. So we wanted to create a way for moms and daughters to talk about self-esteem and to communicate with each other,” said Ms Darville.

The Pretty Brown Girl Club is an international movement with over 100 clubs within the United States, and Ms Darville said the Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 in Nassau is officially the first club in the Caribbean.

“We started last year March, and the mission is to celebrate the shades of brown all over the world. Every month we get together with our girls and we do activities to really build self-esteem and teach them their value as young women. Last year, we started with 19 girls, with an outstanding waiting list. We then moved to a bigger space at my home, suitable for 35 girls, and now we are out of space. Every time we get a bigger space and run out of room, we know that there is a huge need in the community,” said Ms Darville.

Over the past months, Ms Darville said they have been working with community service projects, food drives for Hands for Hunger and volunteering at the Bilney Lane Children’s Home where they collected school supplies for the kids.

“We have also done a non-traditional career workshop where we had women come in, like fire women, media journalists, businesswomen and an engineer. We shined light on careers that women do not always have a lot of exposure to,” said Ms Darville.

At the upcoming conference, Ms Darville said they are anticipating about 200 mothers and daughters attending.

Ms Darville said she definitely sees Pretty Brown Girl expanding in the Bahamas, however, the only thing that is holding the organisation back is the room to accommodate more girls.

“On a community-wide basis, we do plan to offer more workshops and activities for both women and girls,” she said.

Anita Bain, co-leader of Pretty Brown Girl Club #14, said Saturday’s event is not a conference where you sit and hear boring speakers; it’s a conference where girls and women will move, interact and have fun while learning valuable life lessons.

The conference’s interactive workshops will be presented by speakers such as Gandhi Pinder, radio personality with GEMS 105.9 radio; Anastarcia Huyler, a youth community activist; Simone Gibson, teen motivational speaker and blogger; Tonette Minnis, a social worker and a parenting/teen advocate; Tiffany Hall and Candilaria Thompson, co-founders of the popular local blog, “MarriedWorkingMothers”, and Sheri Crawley, Ffounder and CEO of Pretty Brown Girl, LLC from Detroit, Michigan.

There will also be age-appropriate financial workshops for mothers and daughters by conference lead sponsor, BAF Financial DREAMS.

Through the support of sponsors and donors, Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 has been able to keep the entry fee for this event at just $5 dollars.

Free parking, compliments of BAF Financial, will also be available in the parking lot on Baillou Hill Road opposite Dunkin’ Donuts. Tickets are available at BAF Financial on Rosetta Street or at Girls Will Be Girls at the Southwest Plaza on Carmichael Road. They are also available by calling 376-0850 or 525-9643 or by e-mailing prettybrowngirlbahamas14@gmail.com.