Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Blakney.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started the organization SiS which stands for Sisters Improving Sisterhood August of 2018. Although it had been a dream of mine for about three years prior, I just didn’t have the courage to act on it. Mentorship is so important and dear to my heart, and I had the opportunity to be mentored by some of the most influential women in Houston, TX because of my mother. Who is also my biggest mentor and goes without saying but my biggest supporter as well. I believe no matter how old or wise you become you’ll have and need a mentor, and unfortunately, a lot of African American young ladies aren’t exposed to great women that look like them. So, it was really important for me to bring some of my “childhood” of being around amazing women who constantly fed into my life to my University. And thus SiS was born.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road wasn’t always smooth but I had a lot of peers and mentors of my own assisting and encouraging me along the way. When I began SiS, I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of students on campus with similar visions and passions for helping the younger generation of students coming into Prairie View. The hardest part about beginning this journey was learning to balance this new responsibility I had taken on. During undergrad at Prairie View, I was a mechanical engineering major, which is a pretty rigorous course load on its own, so this addition to my schedule was a tough adjustment, but well worth it. Each year, we host a brunch in the springtime, this upcoming spring of 2020 will be our 3rd annual Women’s Empowerment and mentorship brunch held at Prairie View, and the purpose of the brunch is to be a platform for young Prairie View A&M University ladies to network and come together with the women leaders. Some young ladies have never spent time with successful women, especially never interacting with them in a small group setting. They don’t have the opportunity to glean and learn from amazing local women leaders. So, I wanted to bring something that’s fun and cute but also informational and beneficial to the community. In the last year, our brunch attendance has grown tremendously and I couldn’t be more proud. We are also always looking for interested women who want to be a part of the brunch whether that’s giving back financially as a sponsor or even being in attendance to become a role model and mentor for the day. So many girls tell me all the time they are still in contact with women they met at our brunch or have gotten opportunities from women they networked with at the brunch and my heart is so warm.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As previously stated, SiS stands for Sisters Improving Sisterhood, which to me means young ladies improving the idea of sisterhood and what it truly means to be one’s keeper and mentor. I’m most proud of how many ladies are interested in such a positive program that I tried to bring to the university. It’s so easy to get sucked into the negativity all around us and to have an organization that I feel embodies women’s empowerment, I’m so proud young girls are actually interested in. I’m also extremely proud of who I left this amazing legacy in the hands of. Every lady on the 2019 -2020 SiS Executive board shows outstanding leadership and mentorship skills, and I couldn’t ask for a better group of ladies to fully trust and depend on when I graduated.
What were you like growing up?
My favorite childhood memory is going to events and social settings with my mother. It was so inspiring to see so many women in business suits and in leadership roles. I knew from a very young age that whatever I was destined to do, I wanted to be a leader. One memory, in particular, was attending a women’s and young woman conference with my mother and Godmother in Houston, it was so motivational, and just the fact that I had the privilege and access to events like this growing up, molded me into the woman I am today. To this day, those same women that inspired me from an impressionable young girl are women I use as resources navigating me through my adult and professional life out of college. So, thank you to each of them, because they played a huge role in the creation of SiS whether they know or not. I want to continue this legacy I’ve begun on campus by introducing young ladies to professional and successful women in whatever area they are interested in, also another reason our annual brunch is so important to me. SiS wants to represent true sisterhood, so whatever I, Brittany Blakney of the organization can do for someone, I want to do it. I want every young lady to be successful, and follow her dream, the same way my mentors did for me.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 281-541-3844
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @Letstalksis_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrittanySBlakney
- Twitter: @Letstalksis_
Image Credit:
B Mays Productions
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