Afternoon Tea: Grooming Girl Leaders
Afternoon Tea at a cafe on the grounds of a sculpture park and museum! A novel idea by Tashieka Brewer, founder of Melange PR and Pink Girls Run The World. This idea was inspired after seeing the beautiful young ladies from Sistahood Girls Club Hout Bay enjoying themselves at a similar sponsored Afternoon Tea event in South Africa. The event in South Africa was the brainchild of Shawanda Harris Vickers, CEO of SHOO Cosmetics. What Shawanda, Tashieka, and myself have in common is the unrelenting desire to uplift our young women and girls, especially those of color, globally! With this realization, both women included Extra Is My Ordinary to play an integral part in creating these EXTRAordinary experiences for the young women in both South Africa and New Jersey.
In reflection, Tashieka shares “As a young girl growing up in Hamilton Township, my family didn’t have the resources that would enable me to travel off to the foreign lands that filled my daydreams. My imaginary play often involved Japanese gardens, flamenco dancers, African jungles and grand palaces. In between visits to places like the Franklin Institute and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I relied on Mercer County museums and libraries to fuel my dreams until I was old enough to buy plane tickets to visit the places that I had spent years reading about and looking at through art (I speak about this connection between my childhood fantasies and adult travel adventures weekly on the Pink Girls Run The World blog). I wish there was some place like the Grounds for Sculpture for me to visit as a child.
In March 2019, Pink Girls Run The World visited Cape Town, South Africa where we hosted a vision board event for the young ladies of a local Township group called the Sistahood Girls Club Hout Bay. We connected with a group of amazing girls in one of the Townships and we decided to collaborate with a few of the women that traveled with us to host a tea at South Africa’s historical Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel to sponsor a unique afternoon tea that offered the young ladies of Sistahood Girls Club Hout Bay a different perspective outside of their everyday surroundings in their neighborhood. We would like to bring that same experience to the Grounds For Sculpture for 15 underprivileged girls from the Trenton, NJ Area.”
After learning her vision and saying, “Yes” without hesitation, I realized that growing up in the Virgin Islands, I always had culture and arts at my disposal throughout my childhood. Once I moved to the states and planted roots here in Mercer County New Jersey, it became apparent that there were not many places available to share the arts and a diverse culture with my daughter. Too many years rolled by before learning of Grounds For Sculpture (GFS), a sculpture park and museum located in Trenton, NJ. My late Aunt Gerda and cousin Rashida shared the beauty and importance of GFS with my daughter who continues to speak of how her visits there positively influenced her love of the arts and culture. As a former educator in Mercer County, I also would have loved for GFS to have been incorporated into the learning experience for students at the elementary, middle, and/or high school level(s). Sharing this part of the community with students would help to provide an opportunity for dreaming bigger through exposure to the extraordinary parts of life that is right at their fingertips. As an individual who seeks out the “extra” in all aspects of life, I was 100% on board with creating an Afternoon Tea Leadership Event at the Van Gogh Cafe on the property of the Grounds For Sculpture.
We Immediately Got to Work
For the past three years I’ve had the pleasure of being a volunteer with the Center for Child and Family Achievement (CCFA), a non-profit organization in Trenton, NJ (read their mission and vision here). Through my involvement with CCFA, I have served the students who attend the Gregory School in Trenton, NJ in several ways by volunteering with an array of tasks during their school day. Therefore, it was second nature for me to ask Wanda Webster Standsbury, Executive Director of CCFA to identify girl leaders from her program who would be a strong fit for this EXTRAordinary experience.
This was an easy request for the CCFA team because they have an existing program; Lead to Achieve, where young leaders are being recognized and developed throughout the school year. An amazing group of fourth and fifth grade students were selected to share in this leadership experience.
There’s no doubt that these girls are blessed because a group of EXTRAordinary sponsors made donations that covered the full cost of the event!
Thank you to:
Unity Works, Shoo Cosmetics, Mira Dove Designs, Pholk Beauty, Swanky Designs, Bra Bar, teen Author, Kayla Hebbon and everyone who gave donations through the GoFundMe.
With the help of the above named sponsors, 15 girls were provided with a custom gift bag filled with all natural skincare, a sports bra, gift certificates, and much more! The Grounds for Sculpture will honor free admission for each girl to come back and visit the sculpture garden and exhibits. In addition to this, gloves and fascinators for each girl were provided to keep in theme with a fancy tea party.
Tea Time
The wonder of a child is priceless! As the girls walked into the cafe, the room was filled with oohs and ahhs as they spanned the area where they would be seated. From the moment they sat down, we all knew that this event would change their lives. Tashieka, chaperone and CCFA volunteer, Lawanda and I greeted the girls, opened in prayer, and took some time to provide words of encouragement. Alas, it was time to meet teen Author, Kayla Hebbon! Kayla introduced herself and read aloud an excerpt from her book, Anything But Ordinary - The Beginning. Once she completed the reading, Kayla informed the girls that they could find a copy of her book in each of their bags. They were ecstatic! This is a testimony to the work done through Wanda and her team at CCFA because they spend all school year cementing the necessity of needing to “Read to Achieve!” During the Q & A time, the girls learned that Kayla wrote her novel at the age of 12, which gave them hope and sparked a deeper connection between Kayla and all the girls. Immediately they became inspired by her ability to create and write an original story.
After the Q & A session where they asked some very thoughtful questions, it was time to make their tea selections and enjoy the edible treats that awaited them. Providing them with a printout of their tea selections was purposefully done, so that they can use their power of looking at their options to make a choice that they feel great about.
Before long, chatter filled the room while the girls spoke among themselves as they enjoyed artisan sandwiches, tea, and French pastries. As the afternoon went on, they enjoyed taking pictures to ensure the memory lasts forever. Through conversation, I overheard them making connections to knowledge they’ve gained about attending tea through books media. One girl remembered that she learned that “this is what they do in England” and another recalled that “I heard that I could only get macaroons in France” as she chomped on one.
My heart was full and satisfied because I knew that each girl had been blessed by this experience positively and deeply.
A Lasting Impression
This tea event represents so much of what life should be - creating memories, planting seeds, serving others, lifting others up, collaboration over competition, being “extra”, and showing gratitude. Someone may not see how an Afternoon Tea could make such a strong impact on a child. But what I know is that your environment and level of exposure plays a critical role in a young person’s mindset. Both Tashieka and I shared stories and video of our travels with them, and we watched them envision themselves in Africa, Italy, and all the other places that came up. Sometimes it’s hard to dream and have vision when you see the same things day in and day out. For some of them, this was the first time that they were speaking their dreams out loud and for others this was a part of their dreams and visions because they instinctively knew what to do, say, and how to act (ie. fancy).
Now, these future leaders say proudly that “Pink Girls Run The World” and that “Extra Is My Ordinary”!
“Every girl, no matter where she lives, deserves the opportunity to develop the promise inside of her.”