Sometimes the holidays can get to you, being forced to hang out with a bunch of family members that you may not like, but now, a new trend has emerged. Introducing… Friendsgiving!
Sista Circle, a group of black women in tech, recently celebrated their first annual Friendsgiving at Phenomenally in San Francisco. The event was curated by Isabella Cespedes and hosted by the founder of Sista Circle, Lexi Butler.
“When we were conceiving the event and decided we wanted to do a meal together around Thanksgiving, the holiday itself feels very loaded for folks, in particular folks of color, and so we really wanted to boil it down to its essence,” Cespedes told Black Enterprise. “At the heart of that was this concept of family and communion and at the heart of why we started Sista Circle is around fellowship and communion and support, so we wanted to be able to reflect that.”
The food and drinks were extremely rich and eclectic and even more interesting, it was all sourced from entrepreneurs of color. Hil’s Cooking catered the meal and the McBride Sisters winery provided wine for the group.
McBride Sisters Wine (Image: Ashleigh Reddy)
“This is not your usual Thanksgiving. It includes a lot of diaspora-inspired food and everybody who is involved is a black-owned business, which is pretty amazing,” stated Butler.
“I think that in the tech world, especially as a black person, it could be very isolating, so to have black women in tech coming together for a three-hour experience, with black-owned businesses and just celebrating black unity and womanhood, is very important.”
Additionally, Bianca St. Louis, founder of The CEsuite, had a few key takeaways for self-care while surviving the holidays.
Bianca St. Louis provides holiday tips. (Image: Ashleigh Reddy)
Self-Care Tips
- Don’t spend all your life on social media. Really invest in building an offline community.
- Invest in fortifying different data points that remind you of what’s great about yourself.
- Find what works for you.
- Honesty is key. Take consistent audits of where you are.