ATLANTA - From July 15 to 17, Black women from around the country will gather at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library to discuss ways to maintain a healthy life balance despite the unique challenges they face. The First Annual National Black Women's Life Balance and Wellness Conference, co-chaired by Shanesha R. F. Brooks-Tatum, Ph.D., and Carrie M. Sawyer, will provide opportunities for Black women to learn from one another's experiences, enabling them to live healthier, happier lives.
Statistically, Black women are more likely to face serious and chronic health challenges due to stress, family and job pressures, lack of self-care, and delayed preventative strategies. Many women experience a lack of support as well as strategies for maintaining their physical and emotional health and wellness over the course of their lifetime.
Having experienced some of these challenges themselves, Brooks-Tatum, postdoctoral research and instruction fellow at the AUC Woodruff Library, and Sawyer, experience architect at Critical Mass, set out to create the conference that they always wanted to attend: one that would allow them to have honest, open dialogue centered on health, family, lifestyle choices, career, love, spirituality, relationships, motherhood, and more.
“The conference stemmed in part from a late-night conversation about the struggles that we as Black women face in achieving life balance while working hard to advance in our careers,” said Dr. Brooks-Tatum. “It's something that Black women always talk about when we get together with our friends, but once we plunge back into work, it's pushed to the back of our minds. Then, the lack of mental, physical, and emotional balance affects our health and well-being increasingly over time. This conference is for women from all career fields, socio-economic backgrounds, and ages. We will address our differences while also highlighting our many similarities.”
“The conference’s goal is to provide a platform for Black women to gain the necessary practical strategies for making healthy life choices,” said Sawyer. Brooks-Tatum and Sawyer aim for conference attendees to learn what might work for them, and how they can prioritize their physical, mental, and emotional health.
Conference presenters include Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College; Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, chair of Education Studies and associate professor of sociology at DePauw University; Sandy D. Welfare, executive director of Cool Girls, Inc.; and Kimleigh Smith, actor and performer. For additional information or registration, visit http://www.lifebalanceconference.com/
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