Councilmember Althea Stevens celebrated her 2nd Annual Black Girl Magic Day Brunch at the Bronx Music Hall, honoring Black women leaders and community members. This year’s theme was “Wealth in Health.”
Stevens passed a resolution in 2023, designating Feb. 15 as Black Girl Magic Day in New York City. The first event was held at City Hall. This year, Stevens pushed back the brunch to coincide with Women’s History Month and specifically to honor Black and Brown women of the Bronx, she said.
“Black women in the Bronx aren’t necessarily [always] highlighted,” said Stevens. “This is important to just bring women together. To celebrate the work that we’re doing, and the contributions that we’re making, and to just really uplift each other. These events give me so much energy and so much life. It’s really a place where we can network and continue to grow and build. This year, the theme is wealth and health, and really about how we use this time and moment to take care of ourselves and have self-care.”
The brunch featured chicken and waffle plates, local vendors selling unique items, dances and poetry performances; and self care activities like facials, massages, and a healing circle were available to attendees.
Ariama C. Long photos
Attendees at the Black Girl Magic Brunch lined up to eat. 
(From left to right) Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, honoree Eva McFadden, and Councilmember Althea Stevens. 
(From left to right) Bronx Councilmember Althea Stevens, honoree Lucille White, and Assemblymember Landon Dais. 
Bronx Councilmember Althea Stevens (left) with keynote speaker, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (right), at her Black Girl Magic Brunch at Bronx Music Hall on Sunday, March 23. 
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a mayoral candidate this year, spoke at the Black Girl Magic Brunch at Bronx Music Hall on Sunday, March 23.
Stevens was joined by Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assemblymember Landon Dais, a representative for Councilmember Kevin Riley, and City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams. Each elected official awarded Black women leaders in community spaces that they chose with a proclamation or citation. “It’s always a blessing to be a Black girl and we are definitely magic,” said Jackson. “But sometimes you get discouraged when you feel like no one’s watching you, no one’s looking at you. A lot of the spotlight is on the elected officials, but the truth is that we know our community partners are the ones doing the hard work every single day. And so it’s important that we let them know they are seen, they are heard, and we want to honor them, make sure they feel special.”
There were 18 honorees: former Assemblymember Latoya Joyner, Lanita Jones, Justina Boateng, Mary Lawson, Leah Richardson, Dionne Ahart, Seleste Burns, Althea Matthews, Gwendolyn Kamara, Edriona Saija Stroud, Miriam Tabb, Eloise Bennett, Jeina Carmen Ettricks, Nichaela Slaven, Felicia Renay White, Destiny Wesby, Eva McFadden, and Lucille White.
Dais, a self-proclaimed member of the “men who get it” club, chose to honor public housing activist Lucille White.
“I think about my mama from Brownsville, Brooklyn, from Van Dyke Houses. My grandmother, Lillian, was the organizer in her building, similar to my awardee,” said Dais. “She has a job that is tough and she doesn’t get paid for it. What I do know is that she gives every day, every second, every minute, every hour to make sure those young people in that community have a leader within Sedgwick Houses. And without more people like her throughout our community, I don’t know where we would be in the Bronx. My job would be impossible.”
White, like many of the honorees, said she was really nervous to speak. She recounted attending the Million Women’s March in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1997. “It was a powerful feeling, seeing all the beautiful women there, and I have the same feeling now,” said White.
Adams, who is running for mayor this year, was excited to speak about the city’s diverse, majority-women city council who have prioritized ending the maternal mortality crisis and its persistent racial disparities, among other key issues.
“Our queens, we recognize you, we see you, we love you, we are you,” said Adams. “We go no place without you, and I’m going to digress just a minute because I’m so proud to be a Black woman I don’t know what to do. I am embarking on certain new plateaus and new higher heights in my life right now, and I’m so proud to be a Black woman. We have to ensure that we are paving the way for our sisters, our cousins, our aunties, our mothers, our grandmothers, and speaking here with you today as the first grandmother, the first mother to lead the city council, I can tell you that nothing feels better than to be a role model to your own people. Nothing.”