Inside The Support Your Girlfriends Retreat Where Tamika Mallory, Yandy Smith & Black Women Come To Heal, Dream & Build [Exclusive]

The definition of a girl’s trip has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to Support Your Girlfriends.

Created by Dr. Nikkia McClain in 2017, Support Your Girlfriends initially started as a way for McClain to empower, connect, and celebrate the people in her circle. Today it brings that same community to others.

When McClain’s close friends, Tamika D. Mallory and Lucinda Cross, were in need of the perfect escape from reality, she turned it into a trip for 10 women for a getaway to Jamaica. Now, a decade later, the initiative has morphed into a full movement and 501(c)(3) organization that offers free programming, access, resources, and tools to a community of more than 300 members, and the group recently celebrated another trip to Barbados in partnership with the island’s tourism board.

“I was super excited about this year because, in addition to the annual initiative we do when we hit Barbados with the young girls, we normally work with I Am A Girl. This time, we were able to work with some of the young girls from the churches around the area, which was so good, and one thing I love about these Bajan girls is that they come in with their heads up, like they are very clear on who they are at such a young age,” McClain told Madamenoire.

This year, Support Your Girlfriends also gave self-care a whole new meaning thanks to workshops led by Yandy Smith, Tamika Mallory’s move to mobilize the members, and Lucinda Cross doubling down on the importance of keeping your faith intact.

“We don’t have sponsors during the trip. We don’t have videographers outside of what we capture for the dinners, so it allows everyone to come and be their authentic selves, and it allows, I think, them to show up, but to also receive,” McClain continued. “You’re actually being able to sit and be still and receive what these young ladies are offering, and they change each year. It’s not the same workshop. It’s always something different every year.”

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The post Inside The Support Your Girlfriends Retreat Where Tamika Mallory, Yandy Smith & Black Women Come To Heal, Dream & Build [Exclusive] appeared first on MadameNoire.