MADISON — The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, a Madison-based non-profit organization committed to eliminating health disparities and other barriers impacting African American women and girls, announces the 6 Day (BWWDAY). The day-long health summit will be hosted on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
This year’s event will feature internationally renowned author, holistic health specialist, and Lifestyle Coach Queen Afua, Founder of the Brooklyn, New York based Queen Afua City of Wellness. Queen Afua’s mission to teach the art, science and joy of wellness-centered natural living has garnered the attention of celebrity clients like Stevie Wonder, Iyanla Vanzant and Erykah Badu. Her many publications include Heal Thyself, Sacred Woman, The City of Wellness, Overcoming an Angry Vagina, and Man Heal Thyself. She will deliver the keynote address on this year’s theme “I Choose Life,” and will co-facilitate an afternoon SisterCircle. The event will also recognize local champions demonstrating exemplary leadership in promoting Black women’s health.
Launched in 2008, Black Women’s Wellness Day aims to inform, inspire, and empower women and girls of African descent to build and sustain healthy, thriving, wellness-centered lives. Through interactive workshops, powerful speakers, an information-packed wellness fair, fitness demonstrations, and heart-to-heart “sistercircles”, BWWDAY motivates and inspires women to make healthy lifestyle choices that promote mind-body-spirit wellness. Known for its appeal to a diverse and intergenerational audience of women, the event has grown into one of the most anticipated health summits for Black women in Southern Wisconsin and is expected to draw another sold-out crowd of over 300 women and girls from as far as Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana.
“We’ve succeeded in igniting a grassroots movement among Black women to save our own lives and to build a new legacy of wellness and longevity outside of the crippling grasp of health disparities”, says Lisa Peyton-Caire, event founder and chair of the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness.
“Women are waking up and deciding to choose life like never before, and to create the conditions they and their communities need in order to thrive. Our mission is to facilitate this transformation and to build a nation of women determined to beat the odds and to change the story”.
Black Women’s Wellness Day is made possible by the generous support of sponsors including Madison Gas & Electric and The New Green Challenge, Meriter-Physicians Plus, UW Health-Unity, Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, St. Mary’s Hospital, Summit Credit Union, CUNA Mutual Foundation, UW WE Conserve, BMO Harris Bank, Agrace Hospice, Journey Mental Health, Dean Health Plan, and others.
Tickets are available at www.bwwday2014.eventbrite.com. Visit the site for details on general admission, senior adult, and student tickets. Limited scholarships are available on a case-by-case basis.
For more information, e-mail blackwomenswellnessday@gmail.com or call (608) 729-1200, ext. 1264.
