The Tribune

Fifty girls and their mothers got all dressed up in their finest sundresses, fascinators and hair bows to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 anniversary with a "Mommy and Me" tea party at Café Channing Noelle. The event was planned and organised by club co-leaders Anita Bain and Yolanda Darville and sponsored by Café Channing Noelle and the Bible Book and Gift Centre.

"It's been five years since we brought this club focused on self-esteem for girls here to Nassau," said Ms Bain. "We have seen this club grow tremendously. When we started we had just 19 girls, and now we have nearly 60 club members and a waiting list each year. But for us, it's not about the numbers. It's about building confidence in girls."

In the past, the club has held an annual mother-daughter Conference for more than 200 girls and mothers from throughout the community. This year, the club wanted to celebrate in a more intimate and special way with its club members.

"Lately, there's been so much interest in the royal wedding and the new princess, but our focus is on making sure that each and every one of our members think of themselves as princesses," said Ms Darville. "This tea party at Café Channing Noelle's luxurious facility was equipped with everything the girls and their mothers needed to feel royal and to learn manners that are fitting of a princess."

The event was indeed fit for royalty as the girls enjoyed a personalised photo shoot with their mothers, gifts, prizes, a tea party with decorations and live music. Loretta Thomas, owner of Café Channing Noelle, made a presentation to the girls about tea party and etiquette basics. She noted that it was special for her to welcome the Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 for its anniversary since it also coincided with the one-year anniversary of the café.

"It is a huge milestone for Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 to have been dedicated to serving the girls of this community for five years," said Ms Bain. "With the help of our sponsors over the years, including Bible Book and Gift Centre which has sponsored us for the beginning, we have been able to pour into the lives of girls and their mothers. We are grateful to all of our volunteers, sponsors, parents and girls for being a part of this wonderful journey with us."

Pretty Brown Girl is an international organisation that aims to fulfil its mission of "celebrating the beautiful shades of brown all over the world", while inspiring positive self-esteem and confidence in girls and young women. The popular organisation was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 2010 and the Pretty Brown Girl movement quickly started to spread across the United States. In March 2013, Anita Bain and Yolanda Darville brought the concept to the Bahamas, becoming the first Pretty Brown Girl Club outside of the United States. Locally, Pretty Brown Girl Club #14 meets throughout the year to inspire and empower girls in the areas of self-esteem, confidence, leadership and celebrating the shades of brown all over the world.