Fayetteville event seeks 100 Professional Black Women, and more, for empowerment photo shoot

Tiffany Campbell knows Black women face the same kind of stresses, and when they come together, they can lean on and empower each other.

But first, they need to meet each other.

Campbell is the driving force behind 100 Professional Black Women in Black, where she is encouraging Black women to show up dressed in black for an empowerment photo shoot and an opportunity to fellowship in downtown Fayetteville. The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Jan. 6.

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Campbell said she got the idea while talking to other women in a listening session organized by The Fayetteville Observer for professional Black women.

“We juggle life, we juggle children, we juggle our careers and we don’t have that unwinding time,” said Campbell, who is a youth counselor technician/certified driver for the state Department of Public Safety and owner of Elite Steps, a gun violence awareness and family-building program. “Most of us have the superwoman syndrome. This gives us that chance to just breathe — and see there are other people that understand.”

‘Every day it’s people sharing ...’

Seventy-five women had registered as of Friday, Campbell said, even though she just started to promote the event on Facebook earlier in the week.

She said the response confirmed for her that 100 Black Professional Women will draw many more than 100 people, and she is pleased with the prospect.

“I literally just woke up and dropped it on social media, and the response has been overwhelming since,” she says. “Every day it’s people sharing prayers, sharing their thoughts, sharing their suggestions, what they think.”

Why the Market House?

Campbell chose downtown’s Market House — where enslaved Black people were once sold — as the site for the shoot to show how far African Americans had come. She said several other women she had talked with had gravitated to the same choice and for the same reason.

Campbell said she had ancestors who had been sold there.

“So, my family sees it as a horrible place, as do many other people,” she says. But: “I feel like having that solidarity and having our older professionals come out,  I feel like shows growth.”

She says Black women could reflect on the Market House as a symbol when they did not have voices or control. Meeting there would illustrate that they had regained their power.

“Let’s change the narrative as what people see the Market House as,” she says.

Campbell intends to have several photographers on hand for the empowerment shoot and invites other photographers from the community to also take pictures or video. She also hopes to employ a drone to help capture all the women in one frame.

‘Color Purple’ event meshes well

The same day as the 100 Professional Black Women gathering, another downtown event will celebrate Black women in the context of the remake of the hit movie, “The Color Purple”; both versions of the movie feature an all-star cast of Black actresses.

The Fayetteville event Legacy of a Woman: Dawn of the New Year starts at 9 am. with a private screening at the Omni Cinemas 8, followed by a Liberty Ride to downtown at 12:15 p.m.; a prayer event at 1 p.m. at the Stadium Event Center, and afterward, a Women’s Empowerment Health & Wealth Fair at the center.

The scheduling was coincidental but Campbell says that she and the Legacy of a Woman event’s organizer, Joe McGee, had already talked about how the two events mesh well and can work together. This could include Black women marching from several points downtown to converge at the Market House.

“The messages are kind of similar,” Campbell said of the two events.

Showing Black girls they can ‘do whatever’

Campbell says women and girls of all ages should feel free to come out — grandmothers, aunties, mothers and daughters. She says she grew up with a mother who was a professional.

“A lot of people didn’t grow up seeing that,” she says. “Black women bringing their daughters out will kind of show that you can do whatever. You’re going to see all these different women.

“And the vibe has been so positive and uplifting this entire time that I feel like that same energy is going to flow over to the event.”

She said that too often, Black women are seen as catty or negative about what they can achieve.

“These kids are going to be able to see Black women in a great, positive headspace,” she said.

Campbell said she is already excited to be attending the event with her family — her mother, her sisters, and her niece.

She said more than anything she wants people to understand it is more than a photo shoot, which she believes will be historic. It is also a chance for Black women to connect.

“I can just see like so many connections being made, so much networking happening, collaborating happening from there.

“More than anything, it’s about mental health. We understand each other but a lot of times we don’t know we understand each other because we don’t talk.”

Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville photo shoot a time for Black women, girls to fellowship