Every year The BRA Network, friends, and extended community gather at the stunning Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, California to recognize and celebrate the incredible Members of our network. It is a chance for us to don our snazziest threads and join in celebrating each other and our yearly award recipients. This year’s event was perhaps our most inspirational event yet, with an incredible lineup of winners and an inspiring room of attendees who all share the same philosophy and ethos: together we RISE.
WOTR 2024 Theme
Hello Goddess! Our 6th annual Women on the Rise event was designed by Jennifer Currier and her team at Soiree LA. Attendees walked into a beautiful room, with each table named after a Goddess, so very fitting for our attendees. Some of our Goddess tables include Calliope, Polyhymnia, Hamonia, and Melpomene.
From exquisite centerpieces, to a fun step and repeat for photos, to beautifully designed programs, the location and decor truly lifted the spirits of all in that room. Jen and her team created a lovely space for attendees to greet old friends, meet new friends, network, make connections, and chat about visions and goals for 2024.
Our Vendors
Jennifer Currier of Soirée LA created a celestial mood with whimsical tablescapes, lovely backdrops and an overall goddess feel that lent towards a gorgeous vibe.
Schaffer Catering kept attendees satiated with a wonderful menu of baby gems salad, vegan rigatoni with caramelized onions, roasted fennel and kale with creamy white bean-sage ragout, and a delicious chocolate cherry bomb for dessert.
The meal wouldn’t have been complete without the delicious 2021 Grenache from Tri Cal Wine. The grapes in the 2021 Grenache are from only two rows of coveted vines at Thompson Vineyard that the founders were lucky enough to find while walking the vineyard. These are grown on native rootstock and the farming is done naturally to promote a diverse and balanced ecosystem. Medium-bodied with notes of raspberry, spice and anise. They also provided a refreshing sparkling wine! If you loved what you tasted at our event, please support this amazing brand and shop here.
Mala and Mantra — a Southern California-based brand founded by Judy Compton that creates mindful + meaningful mala bead jewelry — provided beautiful Moonstone Goddess bracelets for attendees.
Each piece is handcrafted by a fair trade cooperative of women artisans in the Philippines, where they provide them with fair wages, a safe working environment, and a sustainable way to support themselves, their families + their communities.
Their designs are made with only the highest-quality materials–such as sustainable wood beads and semi-precious gemstones–and each piece is designed to bring wellness to its wearer, while spreading the messages of mindfulness + meditation.
Moonstone is the stone of new beginnings… What a perfectly positioned gift as Women on the Rise takes place in March, a time during which we say goodbye to Winter and welcome Spring!
The team of Rachael B. Photography was busy capturing ALL the amazing moments, and we’ve included a bunch of pictures in this post. If you want to scroll through almost 1,000 images to find your favorites, they’re available in an online album HERE. Please feel free to download and share via your social media accounts using the hashtags #WOTR2024 #womenontherise2024 #BRAevents #BRAnetwork!
The Keynote Speaker
We were so honored to have Aleya Harris as our keynote speaker this year. To see a clip of Aleya speaking at our event, click here.
Aleya is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a former marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, international award-winning speaker, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast.
Aleya’s message to this year’s attendees was to truly listen to ourselves, trust ourselves and discover our divine selves because we already have the answers we need. We don’t have to find someone else’s voice, we don’t need all the self help books. We have everything we need INSIDE of us. We simply must uncover that part of ourselves, our radically authentic selves. Aleya’s keynote set the tone for an incredibly inspiring afternoon.
The Honorees
Every year we turn to our network and ask our community to nominate members for our Woman on the Rise, our Empowerment Leader and our Visionary Leader. And every year we continue to be so incredibly impressed by our winners.
- Our Woman on the Rise, Diana Greshtchuch, is a trauma-Informed financial literacy coach with a mission to foster a more equitable future, one client at a time.
- Our Empowerment Leader, Crystal Whiteaker, is a photographer by trade and an Inclusive Branding and Leadership Development Consultant who helps mission driven brands and leaders create human-focused messaging and environments rooted in core values.
- Our Visionary Entrepreneurs were Vicky and Charisse Pasche. This power couple transformed their unique understanding of fashion’s gaps into a groundbreaking, inclusive brand. Dapper Boi is not just a clothing line but a revolutionary force that champions inclusivity of every individual, embracing authenticity at its core.
The Beneficiary
We are proud to share that we raised $4,000 for The Grace and Wisdom Institute. The G.A.W.I.’s mission is to cultivate deeper personal, social, and community awareness through life skills development and training for teens with an emphasis on teen girls of color. Giving back to our local women, our future generations, means so much to us and we are proud to support with what they need most: funding.
The Rave Reviews
The BRA Network’s 6th Annual Women on the Rise was an event to remember. Here are just a couple of the testimonials from people who attended:
Coming Up in BRA
Join us for our next IRL (in real life) networking event on Sunday, April 28. It’s a BRA Pickleball Party (no skills required!). Be ready to pickleball and party, serve and schmooze, rally and rub elbows. Register to play with us HERE.
