I needed to know that I didn’t sound crazy repeating these things to myself. “It wasn’t even that I only needed support in my career, but mentally and even physically. “I got a little bit emotional because I needed a lot of support,” she says. She added “tea party” to the name of the nonprofit because she wanted the events to feel “bougie but accessible.” The parties always feature some form of tea, whether it’s traditional hot tea, iced tea or a tea-infused alcoholic beverage. “We call it a modern take on tea parties because it’s not like everyone’s pulling up in hats and has all the fancy dresses, and like crumpets and everything,” Gravillis says. The dress code for Tea Party 4 Black Girls events isn’t as restrictive as the waist-snatching corsets depicted on “ Bridgerton.” Rather, Gravillis encourages guests to “come as you are.” (Guests have to pay for food and drinks at the mixers.) day party than a mellow tea gathering, you can expect networking, cocktails and raffle prizes. At the mixers, which feel more like a lively L.A. The nonprofit also hosts mixers, which are its only public event open to allies of the Black community. For example, at the recent event at Malibu Farm, the theme was sustainability, so many of the guests worked in that field or had an interest in the topic (environmentalists, foragers, models, herbalists and aestheticians). Gravillis thoughtfully curates the guest lists based on what type of event it is or its industry focus. Gravillis threw the first Tea Party 4 Black Girls event in May 2022, and has since hosted about 10 local events, including ones at Formula Fig (a technology-focused spa for skincare treatments), Tea at Shiloh (a late-night teahouse), Highly Likely (a cafe in West Adams) and Ask Tia (a healthcare clinic created for and by women).Īmong the events are intimate meetups (no more than 10 guests) where they typically do an activity like painting and discuss a topic such as how to embody self-love founder Fridays, at which they treat local entrepreneurs to services like facials and sound baths and branded events (no more than 25 guests) where they team up with companies like Mother Denim for a soirée. She adds, “This space is important because I think other Black women need to know that we are all experiencing, not necessarily the same thing but a variation of a lot of the same stuff, and there’s a lot of ancestral trauma that we haven’t really had an opportunity to really spend time unpacking or just talk through with a vast group of Black women that have completely different backgrounds or different abilities to home in on their emotions.” there’s just such a level of dependency I think so many people have on Black women.” Whether that’s because we have siblings or we have children young. “Whether it’s because we’ve been put in these caregiving positions very early in life. “I think there is across the board a level of exhaustion that our entire Black woman community has,” says Gravillis. Gravillis says she chose to support Black women specifically through her nonprofit because of the unique challenges they face in their personal and professional lives. “I didn’t know how to navigate very important conversations because I was just stressed and exhausted.” Having gone to predominantly white schools since she was a kid, Gravillis longed to have a community of Black women whom she could talk to and “really get things off my chest,” she says. her parents were separating and she was trying to get an apartment for herself and her high-school-age brother. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, she moved from Philadelphia - where she was attending Drexel University - back to L.A. The idea for Tea Party 4 Black Girls came to Gravillis in early 2022 after she experienced a series of tumultuous events. It’s like, is there not just a place that will take care of me?” “I didn’t like the idea of creating something for our community and then having them pay for it,” says Gravillis, adding that she initially paid for the events out of her own pocket with a partner but that they now have other budgetary streams, including brand partnerships. The nonprofit hosts a variety of bimonthly events that are free and invite-only, though people can fill out a sign-up form to attend. The Mid-City native dreamed up Tea Party 4 Black Girls to create a space where Black women, including nonbinary people, could feel like their overall wellness - mental, physical, financial and social - was being prioritized and where they could comfortably discuss issues that affect their community. 85, our editor catches up - and falls in love - with ‘Queen Charlotte,’ plus a visit by ‘With Love’s’ Emeraude Toubia and more. Television With ‘Queen Charlotte,’ Netflix delivers on its promise of vintage Shonda Rhimes
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