Friday, March 11, 2005 has to go down in St. Louis history as the official “Girl’s Night Out!” And I have three words for the night…A-MA-ZING! It jumped off at Leslie Christian-Wilson’s Diversity Gallery at the Pageant and was put to bed across the street at the Regional Arts Commission.
For one night, women booked babysitters, kissed hubbies, boyfriends, and even the “Mr. Right Nows” goodbye and made room for a little “me time.” A bouquet of 150 women, all shapes, sizes, shades, and ages came out to support “Girl’s Night Out Part 1” for a night of empowerment, cocktails, conversation, and of course, shopping! From 6 p.m. to almost 10 p.m. we let loose raucous laughter, snacked on tasty appetizers, and mixed and mingled over “pre-event” cocktails courtesy of Hypnotiq, nabbing purchases of jewelry and clothing. Then we strolled across the street to the Regional Arts Commission to partake in the main event where we were greeted with the acoustic and vocal sounds of Tee and Koffee, and Mangopolitans, courtesy of Finlandia Mango Vodka. The evening featured readings by my girl Lyah Beth Leflore, from her novel “Cosmopolitan Girls,” and Tia Williams vocalizing her delicious and delightful “Accidental Diva.” We all know Lyah Beth is a big-time TV producer and author since she’s a New Yorker by way of the Lou. Though she’s busy working on her second novel she came and did the sisterly thing. Her author-sista Tia is Teen People beauty director. She flew in with Lyah from her native Big Apple digs. Girlfriend said she’ll the evening was a blessing and she’ll be back. Eh, the energy was electric and the atmosphere was intoxicating. One of the biggest themes for the night was women of color supporting each other, letting go of fear, and pursuing our dreams.
Lyah shared words of encouragement from friend and legendary actress, Ruby Dee, asking the women to make it a daily affirmation to say, “Lord, make me so uncomfortable that I do the very thing I fear!” Diversity Gallery at the Pageant presented the event in conjunction with Traaces LLC. Traaces founder Africa Lake, is a native St. Louisan, based in New York. Her regional rep Danielle Harper was on hand for the festivities. Daneen Busby one of my favorite “St. Louis Divas Doin’ It” was our illustrious hostess. Girlfriend’s powerful presence, beautiful spirit, and fly-girl flair kept the evening fun and flavorful. The Girl’s Night Out movement is inter-generational, and everyone in the house agreed that the big highlight of the night was seeing women like Ms. Vera Gatewood, a retiree, in the front row cheering and clapping. She is living testament that Cosmopolitan Girls can be 19 or 99. Her presence emphasized the importance of each generation reaching back and looking out for the next generation of women stepping up.