Tea Party 4 Black Girls hosts L.A. wellness events for Black women

From the second company arrived at Malibu Farm for a tea get together on a cold Saturday afternoon, they had been handled like royalty.

Although a line of patrons stretched exterior of the farm-to-table eatery on the Malibu pier, the tea get together company had been promptly escorted inside. And earlier than they might discover their assigned seats at an embellished eating desk, a waiter rushed over to supply them a hibiscus tequila cocktail, by no means letting their glasses go empty through the elaborate four-course meal. At one level through the get together, a lady skeptically requested, “We will actually take no matter we wish? after recognizing a show of clothes from Mom Denim, which was co-sponsoring the occasion, amongst different objects. (The reply was sure, completely.)

It’s the kind of service that Bianka Gravillis — the CEO and creator of Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies — says Black girls ought to have entry to wherever they go, no matter whether or not they’re an “influencer” or not.

“I really feel like we’ve been handled as second-class residents” in sure areas, says Gravillis, who floated across the tea get together in an all-denim match, trying as assured as Queen Charlotte, however friendlier. “[Black women] ought to be capable of do the naked minimal and the max, and nonetheless be handled like an absolute queen.”

Via Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies, Gravillis says her “aim is to get Black girls taken care of in each sense of the phrase.”

The Mid-Metropolis native dreamed up Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies to create an area the place Black girls, together with nonbinary folks, might really feel like their general wellness — psychological, bodily, monetary and social — was being prioritized and the place they might comfortably focus on points that influence their group. The nonprofit hosts quite a lot of bimonthly occasions which are free and invite-only, although folks can fill out a sign-up type to attend.

“I didn’t like the concept of making one thing for our group after which having them pay for it,” says Gravillis, including that she initially paid for the occasions out of her personal pocket with a accomplice however that they now produce other budgetary streams, together with model partnerships. “You bought to pay to go to a flea market. You bought to pay to go to a celebration. You bought to pay for all the things. It’s like, is there not only a place that can maintain me?”

The concept for Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies got here to Gravillis in early 2022 after she skilled a sequence of tumultuous occasions. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, she moved from Philadelphia — the place she was attending Drexel College — again to L.A., her mother and father had been separating and he or she was making an attempt to get an residence for herself and her high-school-age brother.

“I wasn’t sleeping very effectively,” she says. “I didn’t know navigate crucial conversations as a result of I used to be simply burdened and exhausted.” Having gone to predominantly white colleges since she was a child, Gravillis longed to have a group of Black girls that she might speak to and “actually get issues off my chest,” she says. So she created it herself.

Gravillis selected to assist Black girls particularly by way of her nonprofit due to the distinctive challenges they face of their private {and professional} lives, she says.

“I feel there may be throughout the board a stage of exhaustion that our total Black lady group has,” says Gravillis. “Whether or not it’s as a result of we’ve been put in these caregiving positions very early in life. Whether or not that’s as a result of we have now siblings or we have now youngsters younger … there’s simply such a stage of dependency I feel so many individuals have on Black girls.”

She provides, “This area is necessary as a result of I feel different Black girls must know that we’re all experiencing — not essentially the identical factor — however a variation of quite a lot of the identical stuff, and there’s quite a lot of ancestral trauma that we haven’t actually had a possibility to essentially spend time unpacking or simply speak by way of with an unlimited group of Black girls which have fully totally different backgrounds or totally different talents to dwelling in on their feelings.”

Gravillis threw the primary Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies occasion in Could of final 12 months, and has since hosted roughly 10 native occasions, together with ones at Formulation Fig (a technology-focused spa for skincare remedies), Tea at Shiloh (a late-night teahouse), Extremely Probably (a restaurant in West Adams) and Ask Tia (a healthcare clinic created for and by girls).

Among the many occasions they host are intimate meetups (not more than 10 company) the place they sometimes do an exercise like portray and focus on a subject equivalent to embody self-love; founder Fridays during which they deal with native entrepreneurs to companies like facials and sound baths; and branded occasions (not more than 25 company) the place they group up with firms like Mom Denim for a soirée.

Gravillis thoughtfully curates the visitor lists primarily based on what sort of occasion it’s or its trade focus. For instance, on the latest occasion at Malibu Farm, the theme was sustainability, so most of the company labored in that discipline or had an curiosity within the subject (environmentalists, foragers, fashions, herbalists and estheticians).

The nonprofit additionally hosts mixers, which is its solely public occasion that’s open to allies of the Black group. On the mixers, which really feel extra like a vigorous L.A. day get together reasonably than a mellow tea gathering, you’ll be able to count on networking, cocktails and raffle prizes. (Friends must pay for meals and drinks on the mixers.)

The costume code for Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies occasions isn’t as restrictive because the waist-snatching corsets depicted on “Bridgerton.” Slightly, Gravillis encourages company to “come as you’re.”

“We name it a contemporary tackle tea events as a result of it’s not like everybody’s pulling up in [fascinator] hats and has all the flowery attire, and like crumpets and all the things,” Gravillis says. She added “tea get together” to the title of the nonprofit as a result of she needed the occasions to really feel “bougie however accessible.” The events all the time function some type of tea, whether or not it’s conventional scorching tea, iced tea or a tea-infused alcoholic beverage.

Doorjé Animashaun of West Hollywood attended the primary Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies occasion final 12 months simply months after shifting from Amsterdam to L.A. She was a brand new mother in a brand new metropolis, and he or she didn’t know anybody moreover from her husband and his family members.

In the course of the tea get together, Gravillis posed one compelling query to the group that signaled to Animashaun that she was in the best place: “The place do you are feeling such as you want assist proper now in your life?”

“I received a little bit bit emotional as a result of I wanted quite a lot of assist,” she says. “It wasn’t even that I solely wanted assist in my profession, however mentally and even bodily. I wanted to know that I didn’t sound loopy repeating this stuff to myself. You speak to your boyfriend, husband, your brother, however typically speaking to a lady, it shifts your perspective on so many issues.”

“That first intimate [tea party] represented what I needed — like what Michelle Obama says — my kitchen desk to appear like,” the 27-year-old says. “These are girls I undoubtedly can be taught one thing from.” She’s been to each tea get together since and is now the communications supervisor for the nonprofit.

Jessa Williams, founding father of an area intersectional girls’s surf collective referred to as Intrsxtn Surf, says she enjoys going to the tea events as a result of she’s been capable of meet different entrepreneurial Black girls who aren’t simply there to community for enterprise functions.

“Individuals are really going to attempt to get to know each other for actual,” says Williams, who attended the occasion at Malibu Farm. “It’s a welcoming vitality. It’s a loving vitality.”

Mia Jenkins of Koreatown says she didn’t understand that she wanted a group like Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies till she went to her first occasion final 12 months.

“I really feel just like the dialogue between all people may be very fluid,” says Jenkins, 25, who runs a jewellery model referred to as Archive 020, including that she all the time leaves the tea events feeling “fulfilled.” “I’ve met so many ladies who’ve their very own companies [and] are inventive, and I’ve been capable of join with them in that approach.”

She provides, “Each time I’ve been to an occasion, I’m increasingly more snug with beginning dialog with those who I don’t know and it’s additionally carried into different areas of my life, in order that’s been a terrific repay for me.”

Most of the tea get together company have been between the ages of 18 and 35, however Gravillis says she’s been exploring methods to get different age teams concerned. Within the coming months, the nonprofit might be launching a brand new occasion sequence during which it‘ll accomplice with native creatives to host actions equivalent to cooking, beading, crocheting and studying books.

Gravillis says her dream is to have a home the place Tea Get together 4 Black Ladies can host occasions frequently, and to finally construct wellness facilities round L.A. that will have a “pay-what-you-can” mannequin to make them accessible. Typically the nonprofit gives Uber low cost codes and parking vouchers for its invite-only occasions to alleviate monetary limitations.

By the tip of the tea get together, the ladies, who began out principally as strangers, had been taking selfies collectively, following one another on Instagram and exchanging cellphone numbers. Gravillis cheerfully handed every of the company Ikea-style reusable procuring luggage, which had been brimming with merchandise from manufacturers that sponsor the nonprofit, together with physique oil, package-free physique wash, rolling paper, socks and a candle.

She feels glad understanding that they left with much more than the free merchandise.

“I hope that everybody leaves just a bit bit extra at peace and the way they got here,” she beams. “And I hope that everybody feels a little bit extra beloved than earlier than they got here, a little bit bit extra seen, and extra fed. I simply hope everybody simply feels taken care of.”

She passionately provides, “We should be taken care of.”