FORGING BONDS – Caribbean Women’s Power Lunch Connects Women through Sisterhood

BY: ALYSSA MAHADEO

Sisterhood is a bond not easily broken, and when women stand together they can move mountains.

After it’s roaring success in the spring, the Caribbean Women’s Power Lunch came back to Toronto for part two, filling another luxuriously decorated hall with the bright, beautiful, and powerful minds of women from across the GTA and beyond.

Presented by Kerra Denel of Kerra Denel Entertainment, ladies were invited to a networking lunch where they were able to connect, form new relationships and hear from a panel of powerhouse women who have dedicated time and effort into designing their best lives possible.

Women who invest in themselves go further in life, and the women who the ladies were able to learn from at this event understand what it means to know your worth.

Guest speakers for the day included six amazing and accomplished women from all walks of life and different backgrounds all sharing one common trait; they were all strong and powerful women of colour.

Speakers included: International Speaker, Coach and Author, Makini Smith, Business Coach, Kym Niles, Celebrity Makeup Artist and Medical Spa Owner, Kavita Suri, Music Curator, and Social Media Maven DJ Lissa Monet, Artist, and Community Organizer Reesee Zigga Zagga, and Educator, Lifestyle Architect and Wellness Coach Kim Thomas.

“All of the wonderful things that Kerra talked about, 4-time author, coach, mentor, a candidate in the most recent provincial election all of that is great, but my life wasn’t always that way,” started Makini Smith entrepreneur and single mother of 3 who shared her story of becoming a mother at the age of 17, surviving an abusive relationship, and overcoming the overwhelming grief of losing her sister and closest friend at a young age.

“Where you start is not as important as where you finish,” Makini shared. “I was the child of a single mother, and I became a single mom at the age of 17, I wasn’t expected to amount to anything.” As an entrepreneur, Makini’s words echoed true to the lives of other women in the room. Women who had come from similar upbringings, who had found themselves in unfortunate situations and unsure of what how they would be able to deal with the challenges they had been presented in life.

Each speaker was given 15 minutes to share their story, and interact with the audience, hearing how their stories had resonated with different women, or how these women were fighting their own battles.

“I come to a lot of these business networking events, but if I’m coming here and telling you how great I am and I’m not leaving you with any nuggets of wisdom to leave you better than I met you then why are we here,” stated Kym Niles, Business Coach and Founder of I Can I Will.

“What is your motive? How often do you wake up and ask yourself that question?” Kym asked the audience prompting them to engage in some self-discovery while she shared. “Being a victim will destroy your life, as females we live in an emotional state without recognizing how easy it is to go to the victim role.”

All the panellists shared real and powerful stories that encouraged each of the women present to take a good hard look at their lives. They were able to speak on topics such as the difficulties of entrepreneurship, what to do when faced with doubt, how you need to love and take care of yourself, how to free yourself from toxic relationships and most importantly how to engage in daily positive affirmations to develop a positive mindset.

“After a lot of back and forth my parents finally let me pursue my dreams,” shared Reesee Zigga Zagga an artist and photographer who seemed to live a picture-perfect life from the outside. “In a relatively short time, I was able to gain many amazing opportunities and work with people who were at the top of the music industry,” she explained. “From the outside, it definitely looked like things were really taking off in my career, but behind closed doors, I was being abused by my boyfriend.”

The stories that these women shared over the course of the lunch, really showed how we can never know the situations that people are dealing with. All of these women are bright and beautiful shining stars that know they had come from places of shadow and darkness makes their abilities to overcome blinding. Reesee spoke to her experience of feeling trapped, how it feels as though there is no way out and even shared some poetic spoken word pieces filled with strength and emotion all anyone could do was cheer her on in wonder and amazement.

In a generation of women who are standing up for themselves, for their rights and what they believe in, it is inspiring to see how women bond together and support each other. They share in all of the pain and emotion that each of them experience, and shoulder it as their own, adding their voice to the movement as they advocate to change the conversation and demand what they deserve.

The overall goal of this event wasn’t just to network and collect contacts, but it was about forming relationships and realizing the end goal isn’t about money, it is about living life on your own terms. All the ladies that attended were not only able to take away valuable advice and information but gained a support system of women to include in their sisterhood.

The Caribbean Women’s Power Lunch will be back in Toronto in the New Year, as they work to expand into different parts of the US and Caribbean, they encourage you to own your story and become a part of their incredible sisterhood.