Skirt magazine March 2019 Issue

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STRIKE a Balance Make a bold statement with masculine + feminine styles

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR Shelley Hill Young shelley@skirt.com ART DIRECTOR Laura Staiano laura@skirt.com INTEGRATED ACCOUNT MANAGER Susan Norfleet susan@skirt.com Whitney Brenkus whitney@skirt.com PHOTOGRAPHERS Samantha Fuentes, Callie Cranford, Caroline Knopf, Mary Kathryn McConaghy, Jesse Volk, Libby Willams CONTRIBUTORS Cara Delay, Caroline Fossi, Lorna Hollifield, Helen Mitternight, Angie Mizzell, Caryn O’Hara, Allyson Sutton EDITORIAL INTERN Savannah Crocker savannah@skirt.com BUSINESS MANAGER Cassaundra Tebben cass@skirt.com DISTRIBUTION C&R Marketing, Tina Tartaglia ADVERTISING sales: 843.958.0028 sales@skirt.com EDITORIAL AND SALES OFFICES P.O. Box 579, Charleston, South Carolina 29402 843.958.0028 sales@skirt.com, skirt.com PRESIDENT, PUBLISHER Thomas J. Giovanniello, Jr. thomas@holycitypublishing.com

Skirt is published monthly and distributed free throughout the greater Charleston area. Subscriptions are available through www.skirt.com. Subscription rates are $19.95 for 12 issues. Back issues may be obtained by contacting the Skirt offices.

Back issues are $5.99. All contents of this magazine, including without limitation the design, advertisements, art, photos and editorial content as well as the selection, coordination and arrangement thereof, is Copyright© Holy City Publishing, LLC. All rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Postage paid at Charleston, S.C., and additional mailing offices. Skirt is a registered trademark of Holy City Publishing, LLC. Skirt and skirt.com are licensed under the authority of Morris Media Network. Printed in the United States.

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contents

IN EVERY ISSUE

F E AT U R E S 8

Reimagining Fashion Boss Ladies

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The Undergarment Society

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Power Fashion

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8 Reasons Goal-Crushing Requires the Feminine

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Bring it On

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Forward! All Women Make History

By Cara Delay

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You’ve Got the Power

By Angie Mizzell

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Men in Skirts

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Skirt Wellness: CBD Oil

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Skirt Table: Michelle Weaver

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Skirt Community: One80 Place

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Skirt Books: “Educated”

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Skirt Calendar

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Skirt Events 40

skirt.

Don’t Skirt the Issue

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C RL LE ES ST TO ON N ’’ S S FF II R R SS T T W WO OM ME EN N ’’ SS M MA AG GA A Z N EE CH HA AR AZ Z III N NE

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Strike a Balance: Add equal parts masculine and feminine to create a powerful look that demands people pay attention.

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STRIKE a Balance Make a bold statement with masculine + feminine styles

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAROLINE KNOPF

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Styled by Alexandra Munzel Model Mira Kasari from Directions USA Hair by Mac McAbee of Mac Does Hair Makeup by Elina Mille with Bellelina Studio

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editor’s letter Dear readers, I recently celebrated my 45th birthday. Five years ago when I turned 40, I had a 4-monthold and was breastfeeding, so I wanted to sleep more than celebrate. Since then, I have gotten let go from a job, had a second child, moved across the country, bought a new house with my husband, and started a much more rewarding job here at Skirt. It’s been an eventful five years.

My birthday also marks my second anniversary with Skirt, and later this year, in June, I’ll help the first women’s magazine in Charleston celebrate its 25th anniversary. It’s a year of milestones.

The thing about milestones is they don’t mean you’ve reached your destination. But they are a chance to shout out and brag about your accomplishments. It is a time to reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re going and to change course, if needed (or, more importantly, if wanted). It’s a time to review your priorities. It’s a time to recommit to your continued growth and evolution.

Getting older might bring out a few more wrinkles and gray hairs. I can accept that and even appreciate it. I am working to embrace the wisdom and confidence that also comes with getting older. At the Women Rising! event sponsored by the Sophia Institute last month, keynote speaker Pat Mitchell—the first female CEO of CBS and the co-curator of TEDWomen, who is 76—told a story about introducing herself in front of a group of powerful women with impressive titles as a “dangerous woman.” Pat explained that being a dangerous woman means she has “less to prove, less to lose, and she’s very impatient for change.” Being a dangerous woman, she says, means embracing risk to create change.

In March we celebrate all the women who embraced risk and created change who came before us (including the Grimke sisters, Septima P. Clark and the nurses who went on strike at the Medical College Hospital, to name a few) and those who are doing it now.

For International Women’s Day, we’re asking you, our readers, to “Think equal” and to ask yourself how you will work to balance the equation to create a more balanced community and world where men and women are valued as equals. This year we’re excited to partner with the Charleston Wine + Food festival to amplify the “Think equal” message on International Women’s Day. Look for “Think equal” buttons in the Wine + Food retail tent at Friday’s Culinary Village. Members of the Skirt team will be roving the Culinary Village and at the Blended event on Friday handing out buttons.

You’ll find selfie cards on the back cover of this issue. We ask you to grab your girl squad, fill out the card, hold it up proudly, take a photo and post it on your favorite social media account. Tag @skirtcharleston and use the #IWD2019 hashtag. Celebrate girl power! Pledge to use it.

Here at Skirt, our mission has always been to celebrate women’s achievements, to bring attention and visibility to women and their successes. We support women-owned businesses and women-led creative endeavors. Join us!

Sincerely, Shelley Hill Young

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LEFT TO RIGHT: KRISTEN FANARAKIS, LIZA HOLIAN; TERESA TEIXEIRA; ANDREA SERRANO; CARRIE BETH WAGHORN; DANIELLE HOSKER; DANIEL VELASCO; LAUREN LAIL; KRISTY BISHOP; EMILY KOTARSKI

Reimagining Fashion Seriously vintage meets modern in museum’s designer showcase

By Shelley Hill Young • Photography by Mary Beth Creates

CARRIE BETH WAGHORN, ARTIST AND DESIGNER OF WORK INK PROJECT

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magine walking into a closet filled with more than 3,000 articles of clothing dating back to the late 1600s and being able to pull whatever inspires you to create a new, modern look.

That’s the opportunity that seven local designers got recently at The Charleston Museum, which houses an archive of 10,000 textiles, including 3,400 pieces of clothing. The designers’ modern takes on the inspiration they found will be on display for one night, March 14, for an event called Reimagining Fashion. It’s organized by two new curators at the museum in partnership with stylist and blogger Andrea Serrano to bring attention to the museum’s extensive costume and textile collection and to showcase it in a different way.

“My clothing line is entirely vintage-inspired,” says Kristen Fanarakis, the founder of Senza Tempo and one of the designers participating in the event. “I write about fashion history in my social media and blog. So it’s a dream come true to be able to mix my current items with a piece of Charleston history.”

“I’m always drawn to color first, and since the garments are hung together in cabinets, the first thing that catches my eye is a colorful skirt or sleeve,” Kristy says.

Prior to 1985, the museum’s mission was to be a “window to the world,” explains curator of historic textiles Teresa Teixeira. In the 1980s, the museum’s mission changed to focus on Lowcountry history. But the museum still had a collection of clothing items from around the world that often is not on public display.

KRISTY BISHOP

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“Wealthy Charlestonians would go on vacation and they would pick up things specifically to donate to us,” Teresa says.

Many pieces come from the 1920s during the Charleston renaissance, when artists, writers and architects flourished and helped to establish the city as a tourist destination.

Women’s pieces are often what got preserved and passed down from generation to generation until a family member donated it to a museum.

There’s a gorgeous blue satin-woven silk kimono embroidered with silk floss and gold that dates to 1900 that was purchased by a Charlestonian who was on vacation in Panama. Illustrator Daniel Velasco used it as his inspiration for a poster to promote the event.

The oldest item in the archive is a Motte family christening mantle made of brocaded silk woven with gold thread and etched with gold lace, which dates to the 17th century. The family came to Charleston from France and likely brought the piece with them, Teresa says.

The newest piece of the collection is from 2014—the wedding dress Kayla Bennett wore to her ceremony at Magnolia Plantation. She and her partner, Kristin Anderson, were the first same-sex couple to get legally married in South Carolina.

Teresa says this event gives her and the designers the freedom to time-travel and mix items from different time periods, which is not possible when displaying the items in a historical context.

For example, textile artist Kristy Nicole Bishop is planning to pair a 1920s velvet dress with a skirt from 50 years earlier, in the 1870s.

“I’m always drawn to color first, and since the garments are hung together in cabinets, the first thing that catches my eye is a colorful skirt or sleeve,” Kristy says. “I want to juxtapose different styles that are connected by a certain color palette. I’ll be styling the looks with my custom natural-dyed rope necklaces.”

Andrea is pairing a piece from the collection with a handmade dress from the Philippines that her mother wore.

“We’re all about the preservation of the architecture and the food,” Andrea says. “I feel like clothing gets overlooked.”

Liza Holian, the events coordinator for The Charleston Museum, says museum curators don’t want to keep the contents of the costume archives hidden away.

“With such a collection, it’s hard not to want to do anything with it,” she says. “We want to show it off as much as we can.”

“We’re all about the preservation of the architecture and the food,” Andrea says. “I feel like clothing gets overlooked.”

ANDREA SERRANO

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Ladies BOSS

Female chefs dish on finding their passion and the women who influenced them along the way

NINA COMPTON

Three strong female chefs

By Helen Mitternight

coming to town for the Charleston Wine

+ Food festival talk to Skirt about the importance of women in their culinary lives. Katie Button, co-owner of Curate Bar de Tapas and Button & Co. Bagels in Asheville, North Carolina, has two James Beard Award nominations and is among Food & Wine’s 2015 Best New Chefs. She hosted an international television series, “The Best Chefs in the World.” She has worked with Jose Andres in the U.S. and for Ferran Adria at the famous elBulli in Spain. Maneet Chauhan, co-owner of Chauhan Ale & Masala House, Mantra Artisan Ales and Chaatable in Nashville, Tennessee, is a native of India and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. She was executive chef of Vermilion in Chicago, which won several national “Best of” awards and received the 2012 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award for her role as a judge on Food Network’s “Chopped.”

Nina Compton, chef/owner of Compere Lapin and Bywater American Bistro in New Orleans, is a native of St. Lucia and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. She worked with renowned chef Daniel Boulud in New York and worked in Miami. Nina was a finalist and fan favorite on BRAVO TV’s “Top Chef.” After opening Compere Lapin, she was named Food & Wine’s Best New Chef 2017 and won a James Beard Award in 2018 for Best Chef South. She also is the culinary

I took them: peeling potatoes, braising meat or making pastries. I loved it all.

MANEET: It boiled down to the fact that I loved eating. I grew up in a small community in India, and people from all over India were living in that community. Each region had a distinct cuisine. I would finish dinner and then go over to a neighbor’s and say, “My mom hasn’t fed me, can I eat with you?” I was fascinated with the techniques and ingredients and I would come home and try to play around with the flavors. When my older sister went to college, I would take her food. I was the most popular kid on campus, even though I didn’t go there, only because of the food! I thought, if I love doing this and people love me for it, maybe I should take this up as a career!

HOW DID YOU KNOW FOOD WAS GOING TO BE YOUR LIFE? KATIE: I grew up in a family of food. They’ve all been amazing cooks. I was the kid who loved to impress people by slurping down oysters at 7, but it took me a little while to figure out that was my career path. I started down the path of math and science to be an engineer. I got my master’s in Paris where I was surrounded by amazing food and cooking and that got me through studies I wasn’t all that passionate about. I had already applied and been accepted to get my Ph.D. studying neuroscience, but I took a summer off, went to Zambia with Habitat for Humanity, and gave myself time for reflection. When I came back, I quit the Ph.D. program two weeks before I was supposed to start it. My parents were remarkably calm about it, but then I had already burned the bridges before I talked to them. I knew I had to get a job to pay for my apartment in D.C. I got a job in a restaurant front of house and, as soon as I started, I knew it was the right place for me. I thought of the times I was happiest or proudest and it was when I was serving food, so I knew I had to get in the kitchen. When opportunities presented themselves,

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NINA: Christmas is a big time for my family, very fun and festive. It’s not a one-day thing; it’s pretty much the whole month where people come over to the house and hang out. That year, I said, ‘You know, Mom, I think I want to take over the whole cooking program.’

At the first cocktail hour, I made all the canapes and had my nephew and nieces passing things around on trays. Seeing the reaction from the family, I thought, ‘This is good, this is what we are all about.’ I told my mom after that that I wanted to be a chef. She said, ‘Why? It’s long hours, so stressful, not a lot of money and you’ll be working all weekends and holidays.’ I started at Sandals on St. Lucia and then I went on to culinary school. I got bitten by the whole thing.

HOW HAVE WOMEN SHAPED YOUR COOKING JOURNEY? KATIE: The women in my family were the master chefs in my family. It comes from my great-grandmother. My grandmother was raised in the Chicago area and my great-grandmother used to submit recipes to the newspaper. My grandmother loved to cook and my mother ran a cater-

LEFT TO RIGHT: DENNY CULBERT; AMELIA J. MOORE; COURTESY OF KATIE BUTTON

ambassador for St. Lucia.

chosen and created this crazy life. I have a 4-year-old and a 6-month-old and two restaurants. There are so many things that I am juggling. I love that. I make it all happen, but I work extremely hard to make it all happen.

MANEET: Our biggest responsibility is to lead by example. I’m not going to be expecting people to do things I will not do. I will walk into a kitchen and, if there’s no dishwasher, I’ll roll up my sleeves and do that.

At least once a year, I do a lunch where all the women from (my) Morph Hospitality Group who are in management or who are thinking of being in management go out for lunch and sit and talk. And I take part in Les Dames (d’Escoffier, a philanthropic food and beverage organization). I say, ‘Ladies, come into a room with hundreds of accomplished women and get inspiration from them.’

MANEET CHAUHAN

NINA: I have a female chef coming to my kitchen for a week, training under me. I give them life lessons on how to become a chef, how to become a leader, how to get through life. It’s not easy being a woman and pursuing a career. It’s an uphill battle. I get asked how it feels to be a woman chef, how it feels to be the first black chef to win the James Beard Award. At the end of the day, if you are good at what you do, you should

“A t the end of the day, if you are good at what you do, you should get recognized for that, whether you are a man or a woman,” says Nina Compton. ing business out of our home. She started a career in Godfather’s Pizza and quickly became one of the district managers in her youth, then later on got into the catering side of things. She would do some Southern food from her experience from my grandparents’ living in the South and a lot of French-influenced cuisine. That was the most important piece for me because every week the kitchen was being used to produce these amazing professional meals for people. I loved helping my mom cater and it established a deep love of food and food knowledge.

get recognized for that, whether you are a man or a woman. Women deserve it because we are owning restaurants, owning businesses, running for office. Give us a chance, we’re equally as smart. That’s definitely something we are all now doing, not just as chefs but as women: uplifting one another and trying to break that barrier.

For more of Helen’s Q&A with Katie, Maneet and Nina, visit skirt.com.

MANEET: I do think that growing up in India, there is a lot of “can’t” – you are a girl, girls can’t do that—that has been something which has shaped me. Both my grandmoms were such inspirational ladies who would sit and tell stories about the India and Pakistan partition and how they came as refugees and survived and thrived. I grew up at dining tables where the conversation was about survival is the only option. I was born into a family where my dad said, ‘Do whatever you want to do, just be the best.’ My dad constantly encouraged education and there were times at the dinner table where the four of us sat studying. The fact is that we as women can do anything. We find ourselves in situations as moms, as spouses, as bosses, where we have to multitask. It comes natural to us.

NINA: I think it’s been a very male-dominated industry for a very long time. Now, women are supporting women and uplifting and encouraging, which I think is amazing. The best example is Leah Chase (legendary “Queen of Creole Cuisine” from Dooky Chase’s restaurant in New Orleans). She came to dinner and she said, ‘Nina, whatever you do, you have to make it.’ I said, ‘I’m trying.’ And she said, ‘No, you HAVE to make it because people are looking up to you and counting on you.’ I never saw myself as a woman in the kitchen, I thought of myself as a chef. But if women can say, ‘If Nina can do it, so can I,’ then that makes it so much easier for female chefs to succeed.

HOW DO YOU MENTOR YOUNGER WOMEN? KATIE: I hope that my work and what I am doing encourages more women to run their own businesses and step out and pursue a career in the food industry, if that’s their passion. My life is crazy. I love a crazy life and I have

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KATIE BUTTON

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the

undergarment Society b y s ava n n a h c r o c k e r

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very woman who experiences a traumatic event deserves to feel safe and protected. That is why Elizabeth Stribling co-founded the Undergarment Society, which provides bras and underwear for women in need, including those who are homeless and survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Bras and underwear are basic necessities, but are often overlooked when considering the

article about a woman hosting a Mardi Bras party, where she asked women to bring bras and underwear for women in need, and they decided to rally their friends to host their own party with a purpose. Elizabeth had recently taken her daughters to the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and says she was looking for a way to help women.

“It really made us think about how much we take them for granted,” Elizabeth says. “If mine

“ They are a source of empowerment for these women and give them a feeling of dignity in their awful situations.” needs of homeless women and survivors, Elizabeth says. Those who have experienced trauma are given access to clothing and food but there are not often new bras or underwear for women to wear in hospitals or shelters after they arrive.

“These bras are more than just something you wear,” Elizabeth says. “They are a source of empowerment for these women and give them a feeling of dignity in their awful situations.”

Middle school teachers and classroom neighbors Elizabeth and Eliza Chandler both read an

DAWN MARQUEZ, JENIFER FARRELL, ELIZA CHANDLER, ELIZABETH STRIB-

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are bad I just go and get new ones, and it’s pretty expensive to spend the money on quality bras.”

The friends held their first small Mardi Bras in Eliza’s house in 2017 and collected more than 300 bras and underwear and then reached out to local shelters to donate them.

“That’s when we realized that nobody had done anything like that,” Elizabeth says. “The shelters struggle with volunteers using their own money, so it really sparked the idea to keep it going after the first party.”

Elizabeth and Eliza loved the positive feedback from their friends after the first party, so they thought they would get together four times a year. After spreading the need by word of mouth, the Undergarment Society has helped organize 42 parties in only two years.

“We call them a party with a purpose. We ask people to host these events for us, but they can have them in their own venues and invite their own guests,” Elizabeth says. “It’s like your monthly book club, but instead of bringing a hostess gift you bring a bra for a woman in need.”

The Undergarment Society works with nine nonprofits in the Charleston community and it is constantly adding to its list. The nonprofits include My Sister’s House, an organization that provides services for victims of domestic violence; Florence Crittenton, a home that provides shelter to young and at-risk pregnant women; and Doors to Freedom, a shelter that gives resources to sex trafficking survivors.

“After doing this for almost two years now, I have learned that there isn’t one single demographic or body shape for the women we are providing for,” Elizabeth says. “They need underwear of all styles, sizes and occasions.”

This year, the Undergarment Society plans to launch a new resource called the Us Bus. In order to make donations more efficient and dignified, the Us Bus will provide a place for volunteers from the nonprofits to browse sizes and provide a professional approach to donations.

“One of my bigger long term goals and dreams is to branch into education because it is so close to my heart,” Elizabeth says. “I would love to be able to provide job training and tuition assistance for the women we assist.”

Elizabeth finds that the most rewarding part of this organization is the high-level of energy and passion from those who host the events and understanding just how important the work she is doing is for the women.

“The work we’re doing gives these women a chance to start over after trauma,” Elizabeth says.

“It is so crucial for them to feel a sense of dignity in their everyday life.”

get involved The Undergarment Society hosts its Mardi Bras party from 12 to 4 p.m. March 2 at Triangle Char and Bar in West Ashley.

If you’d like more information on how to donate or volunteer, please email Elizabeth at undergarmentsociety@gmail.com.

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forward!

Women All Make History Why we need to study the past to understand how to move forward

By Cara Delay

“While many of my classes begin with the question, ‘Why should we study women’s history,’ they usually end with the question, ‘Why MUST we study women’s history?’” that they have no interest in women’s history but just need that final history course to graduate. Others who are wellversed in women’s and gender studies feel that they don’t know much history and wish to understand where patriarchy came from. Others consider themselves knowledgeable and experienced historians who claim to be fascinated by the topic because they never even knew there was such a thing as women’s history (as if women have no history at all).

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I have noticed a common thread that becomes more apparent as the semester unfolds: Most students, whatever their backgrounds, see a gaping chasm between women’s history and what some think of as “real history” or even “normal history.” They seem confused about how to reconcile women’s history with what they understand to be mainstream history.

While many of my classes begin with the question, “Why should we study women’s history,” they usually end with the question, “Why MUST we study women’s history?” It seems only fair to posit some answers to that question as I write this in March (Women’s History Month)—and here I draw upon not only my own observations or the work of other historians, but also on the wonderfully thoughtful contributions of students over the years: • We must study women’s history because it reminds us that sometimes our “great” events in history were not so great for everyone.

• We must study women’s history because it reveals that sometimes history is as much about continuity—what some historians have called “history that stands still”—as change.

• We must study women’s history because a responsible analysis of women and gender (and not the “add women and stir approach to histo-

ry”) fundamentally revises our accepted chronologies and categories.

• We must study women’s history because through it we can learn that sometimes we need to engage in “women’s” history (viewing women as historical actors) and that sometimes we need to think about “gender” history (recognizing that ideas about both women and men affected the lives of both women and men).

• We must study women’s history because it encourages us to complicate the category “woman”: Not all women historically (just as today) thought alike, viewed the world from a similar perspective, or even had an awareness of themselves as women.

• We must study women’s history because it reminds us that while gender is a primary category of historical analysis, it is not the only one: At times in history, being a woman was only as important as being a member of a particular race, religion, sexual identity or social class.

• We must study women’s history because it forces us to realize that ideas about gender (and, of course, power) have been central to human societies across time and space. Examining how and why this is so can only help us understand more clearly the world in which we live today.

CHRISTINE RAGUSA

W

hen I teach courses on women’s history at College of Charleston, I often begin the first day or week of class asking students to think about why they should take women’s history.

Students’ responses to the question about why they are taking women’s history are, of course, varied. Some students, brutally honest, are clear

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skirt . | march 2019  15

POWER Fashion 16 

skirt . | march 2019

Photography by Caroline Knopf Styled by Alexandra Munzel Makeup by Elina Mille with Bellelina Studio Hair by Mac McAbee of Mac Does Hair Model Mira Kasari from Directions USA

Add equal parts masculine and feminine to create a powerful look that demands people pay attention because you have something to say. Step out and speak up.

Marc Le Bihan vest ($2895) from Worthwhile Manolo Blahnik shoes ($895) from RTW Rochas pants ($695) from Hampden

POWER Fashion Make them take you seriously in all black, but keep the look feminine with wide-leg pants and a sheer shirt.

Giambattista Valli jumpsuit, Hampden; Guidi oxford shoe, Worthwhile; Hat, Carolina Millinery

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Show off your feminine side.

Find your power and strength within you.

Don’t let anyone take it away.

ON KRISTIN MEIN: Shimmer Jumpsuit, Tres Carmen, $144; Moon stone bolo tie necklace, $260; Shark tooth hoop earrings, $125; Tiny stone stud earrings, $28 Right hand: Folly ring, $135, one of a kind turquoise ring, $175, one of a kind fire opal, $135, hammered stackers, $16 each Right wrist: Double Shark Tooth bracelet, $150, Australian Boulder Opal, $260, Mako cuff bracelet, $175 Left hand: Jaws ring, $175, Riad ring $85, Stone stacker, $35 Left wrist: Gypsy Road bangles, $45, Triple Rainbow Moonstone cuff, $220, all Kaypea Jewelry, kaypeajewelry.com Aquazzura Purist sandal, Gwynn’s, $695 Ballons by Cannonborough Collective

POWER Fashion

Marc Le Bihan Ballerina dress; Isabel Marant blazer from Hampden; Guidi oxford shoe, Worthwhile

CONVERSATIONS

Tamika Gadsden & Jennet Alterman o The podcast host and longtime women’s rights advocate talk about high school, their moms and the moments that made them activists Jennet Robinson Alterman is a longtime women’s rights advo-

en and marginalized groups. She organized the 2018 Women’s

cate. She’s the chair of the city of Charleston Commission on

March in Charleston, founded the Charleston Activist Network

Women and the board of the Women’s Rights Empowerment

and hosts the Mic’d Up podcast. Skirt recently invited the two

Network, or WREN, a statewide organization based in Columbia.

powerhouse women to get together to talk about the need to

She’s also a community adviser to College of Charleston’s Wom-

balance the gender equality equation. During the candid con-

en’s and Gender Studies program.

versation, Jennet and Tamika opened up about their experiences with racism and sexism, and while they are vastly different,

20

After returning to Charleston where she graduated from high

the two women learned similar lessons about the need to build

school, Tamika Gadsden quickly became a voice for black wom-

bridges and push for change to help all women.

skirt . | march 2019

Tamika: When you have those conversations and you have someone like me who identifies as African-American, who identifies as cash poor, it’s about intersectionality.

So to even approach equality, we first have to acknowledge those identities and try to repair that and bring them as close to parity with our other female peers and counterparts, so at first acknowledging, not trying to be colorblind. …Acknowledge the separate identities that make a person who they are and also what kind of systematic barriers they face, and try to build bridges to help overcome those barriers. …It requires us to reach across communities and work with other like-minded women, but we can’t talk about equality without first talking about intersectionality. …It doesn’t mean that white women don’t have barriers. Women do.

Women, period.

“Acknowledge the separate identities that make a person who they are and also what kind of systematic barriers they face, and try to build bridges to help overcome those barriers,” Tamika says.

Jennet: I did the REI (Race Equity Institute) training. I’m a history major, and I sat there and I went… “None of this was (discussed), I mean none of this.” And now I see how it’s a cumulative institutionalization of racism and sexism. They work hand in hand. …

There was one quote that I just had spinning in my head. We talked a lot about white privilege. Somebody said, “White privilege doesn’t mean that you don’t have it hard, but at least the color of your skin doesn’t make it harder.” There’s just as many poor, uneducated white women… Single mothers who face the same issues that black mothers do, but they are still ahead of the game because they’re white and they have a better chance. …

I have to say I didn’t grow up with that theory, growing up in segregated Charleston. … Then when I became a Peace Corps volunteer and went to Afghanistan and saw the rainbow of skin colors from Irish white to Nubian black, but they were all Afghans, and there was no discrimination that I could see, so when I came back to the States, it was like, you’ve got to do something to take care of this, you got to at least get people talking about it.

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Jennet: Well, I’m 180 degrees away.

Tamika: You have an open heart, though.

You’re always listening.

Jennet: What I experienced a lot of the minute I got out of high school was sexism, I mean rampant, rampant sexism. I went off to college and I had an opportunity to go to an all-male college. They wanted a few women to come to see if women could handle the academic load, so they weren’t going to admit us. There were five women’s schools and five men’s schools and you could do a year or a semester at any of the others. … None of us made below a B the first semester, so they decided oh, well, maybe women could handle this. We weren’t allowed to stay.

We had to go back (to Mary Baldwin University) after one year, but I’ll give you the story that I tell that showed me that there was a way forward. I went (to Davidson) because they had an excellent history department, and I was a history major, and I wanted to take a particular course in English constitutional history and there was a very old professor, very old and very white, and I was the only woman in that class and I sat on the front row. I had the gonads to sit on the front row, and I didn’t know anybody else in the class. I got to know them all really well. And the first day he was calling roll. Mr., Mr., Mr., Mr., Miss Robinson, I mean spat it out there, like you worthless turd, what are you doing in my class, and I said, “here.” He started teaching, and he got about 15 minutes into it, and he turned around and he looked at me and he said, “Miss Robinson, What is the basis of the salic law?” Well, you know you get that clutch. I knew that I knew it, but I couldn’t remember the specifics, so I said, “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know.” He asked the guy sitting to my left and he said, “I’m sorry, Dr. Lester, I don’t know.” Then he asked the guy sitting to my right. He said, “I’m sorry, Dr. Lester, I don’t know.” And then he asked some smartass in

n on Women’s Equality Tamika: With me, I come from a two-parent household. My parents havereally good jobs. My mom worked in health care for the bulk of her life, her earning years. My dad had a great union job at a factory or a warehouse in New Jersey and we were raised in a nice home in a cul-de-sac in New Jersey. …It wasn’t until I had to finish high school in Charleston that I realized, “Oh, segregation is real.” All my years of school in New Jersey were my friend Tarik from Egypt, my friend Naomi from Korea, my friend Uy from China, you know Jignesh from India. You come down here and I sat in the middle of the lunch room reading my John Grisham “Rainmaker.” The black kids over here. I didn’t speak Gullah. I didn’t understand it. And the white kids over there. I had never seen anything like it. That was in ‘96. …I didn’t even get to the quality of the education. That was a whole hurdle. Teachers not committing my name to memory, telling me it would be better to work with my hands because I wasn’t smart enough to go school. …Thank God the Internet happened because I went

to the library and I applied to all my colleges by myself…because the teachers really would not help me. That was when I realized how bad racism was. This is in the ‘90s.

Compiled by Shelley Hill Young Photography by Libby Williams

the back of the room, who said, “Oh, that’s where women couldn’t inherit the throne,” and I knew it had something to do with women. I want you to know that those two men on either side of me did know and they saved me, you know? One of them, I introduced to my best friend and they’ve been married for 27 years. …

Tamika: That was a moment.

Jennet: That was a moment for me and I didn’t expect it. …This is the ‘70s. …I am embarrassed to say that race wasn’t something that I thought a whole lot about until my junior year in high school and the medical university nurses aides went on strike. Do you know about this? This was in 1969.

Tamika: When Coretta (Scott King) came down.

skirt . | march 2019 21

“So that was my intersectionality,” Jennet says. “Here I am at this private all-girls school, and I’m finding out what’s going on a block away because women have said, ‘We can’t live this way.’”

Jennet: Coretta came down. Mary Moultrie, who was local, she was onof the nurses aides. And the medical university was right there on Ashley Avenue, just that quad, and I’m over here at Ashley Hall, which is one block away, and the National Guard set up tanks in front of Ashley Hall. All I knew was that there was a strike, and we had a three-month curfew during the height of tourist season.…So by going on strike and then prompting

the curfew, they were making an economic statement, which got people’s attention, so there was a push to solve that equation, and it was because the African-American women were paid less than the African-American men, who were paid less than the white women, who were paid less than the white men…But I didn’t know that Coretta Scott King came, I never saw any of the marches because we were completely isolated from it.

Tamika: That’s how it works, though.

Jennet: Yes, it is. To go back to how women start movements, Mary Moultrie all by herself created a movement here. Unfortunately, she didn’t get a lot of help from the white community, but she got it done. …So that was my intersectionality. Here I am at this private all-girls school, and I’m finding out what’s going on a block away because women have said, “We can’t live this way.”

ON THE ROLE THEIR MOTHERS PLAYED IN THEIR LIVES: Tamika: I look at my mom who would never call herself a feminist. She’s not against it, she’s just a country bumpkin.

Jennet: Excuse me, she raised you.

Tamika: She truly is the most fierce feminist I’ve ever met. She left one marriage with two kids on her own, relocated to the Bronx and then to New Jersey, brought her sisters up to help watch after the kids here so she could pursue a career. She tried working in a factory and learned, “Oh, this is a limited salary, let me become a nurse’s aide or something like that.” She learned really quickly about racism, but she powered through her nursing class. She did it as a single woman because she kept saying, “If I don’t work, I can’t do, I can’t provide.” …When you see women working, earning, that’s when you’re like, “OK, she’s empowered.” My mom could do anything.

Jennet: Can I share with you my mom’s story because they are different but they are the same? My father ran the community theater here, the Footlight Players, and they got married in 1950 and started working with them in the 1930s, right after he got out of college. And when they got married, Dad said …—there was still a lot of suspicion around theater people of not being of the highest morals and this kind of stuff—and he basically said to my mother, “We need to live like a preacher and his family.” Mom was fine with that, although she was a bit of a bohemian, and she wanted to go back to work, and he said, “no,” so she started writing. She started writing plays, which were then produced at Dock Street. She then started writing mystery novels with her friend Nancy Stevenson, who was the first woman ever elected statewide, lieutenant governor. So (it was) her way of saying, “I won’t go to an office, but I will sit right here in my little studio, and I’m going to write books and I’m going to publish them and I’m going to make —not a lot of—money.” But that was her way of saying, “No, you can’t tell me that.” And they never would have discussed it at that level, and I didn’t figure it out until years later. …She was a role model for me in that you can do things outside of the box.

Visit skirt.com to read more of their conversation.

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skirt . | march 2019

Eight Reasons Goal Crushing Requires the Feminine Hint: It requires you to slow down and not keep keeping up

By Caryn O’Hara

W

e live in such an instant gratification, “more”-obsessed society that it is increasingly causing stress in our lives. We often hear that we as humans are built to multitask, but that simply is not true, and unfortunately, it puts a bug in our ear that more is better. In the practice of Ayurveda, traditional Indian medicine and healing, we refer to this goal-addicted mentality as vata (vô-tuh) -deranged. The excess of stimulation often turns enthusiasm to anxiety before we know it. There is an emphasis on go, go, go, delivering the message “busy is good.” Ugh. There’s that word again: “busy.” It’s not glorious. It doesn’t mean we are more valuable or more successful than anyone else. It doesn’t equate to happiness. And it’s simply not unique to anyone’s life experience. We all have full lives.

Let’s not dwell in the space of identifying with and declaring our busyness all of the time. Instead of talking about what is on our plate, why not skip the “busy” statement and focus on all of the gratitude we have for the abundance in our lives? Are we praising an over-extended lifestyle with the way we perpetually talk about our day to day?

Instead let’s look at how we can be healthier and achieve more by devoting more time to embracing our feminine energy. This is the time we spend not doing. Yes, that time when we sit and read or bathe or linger. This is the space that contrasts the doing, allows us to check in and determine how are we really? This is when we stop, listen, receive and relax.

All of this busy, go-here, do-that, climb-up-the-ladder-every-momentor-we-are-a-failure belief system is related to masculine qualities. This also feeds thoughts of inadequacy if we cannot find the way to maintain the ever-growing, always going pace. Feeling the push to always produce can be a recipe for anxiety and depression over time.

If we are always initiating, taking action or giving, we aren’t leaving space in our lives to receive. Ever notice how we can do everything our boss asks of us and no matter how much we do, more is piled on our plate?

To top it off, we never receive that promotion for going above and beyond.

The more we crank, the more we adopt the rhythm of a robot and the less time there is for anyone to acknowledge what we have accomplished.

It happens on an individual basis and within industries. We work, grind, hit all the marks, and our company continues to plateau. No more street cred, no more growth, and now we feel stuck in terms of personal development.

Caryn has wisdom beyond her years and offers it to the world by connecting clients to their innate healing wisdom. She is an expert in surviving cancer. She is a published writer, public speaker, and yoga and meditation instructor. Caryn is a natural connector who inspires others daily with her vulnerability and force-to-be-reckoned-with ability to create and hold space for others. Learn more about Caryn at carynohara.com.

It’s proven. We need time to be still so creativity has a window to climb into our consciousness. So how else does grounding ourselves in the feminine qualities support our well-being long term?

1 2

We need down time for our system to rest well and digest optimally.

3

Without ground ing ourselves, we have no springboard for taking action.

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Knowing what steps to take and how to prioritize them is accomplished best after receiving information, a sign from the universe, a call to adventure.

4

Our nervous system cannot sustain the pressure of forward momentum all the time.

5

Psychologically, we cannot maintain mental well-being if we are always future-oriented.

6

Our endocrine system responds to conscious being (versus doing) by releasing a relaxant to the system called dopamine versus the stress-responder hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.

Dopamine helps balance us and keep us clear of adrenal fatigue.

7

The feminine space of being allows creativity to rise, whereas too much action or movement physically and mentally blocks new sparks of enlightenment from landing.

8

If there were no inert force, there would never be an endpoint, meaning we would never actually attain a goal.

skirt . | march 2019 23

BRING IT ON The YWCA’s New Women’s Empowerment Coordinator is Ready to Get Stuff Done

By Caroline Fossi Photography by Callie Cranford

“Charleston’s cost of living and lack of affordable housing are barriers to economic stability for many, especially women of color. Pay equity is definitely important, but it is just one piece of the puzzle.”

D

juanna Brockington aims to help women make positive change in their lives, whether it’s learning to speak up for themselves or gaining financial freedom.

In her new role as women’s empowerment coordinator for YWCA Greater Charleston, she’s eager to build on the nonprofit’s many programs for women and girls.

“The Y is small, but man do they get stuff done,” says Djuanna, who joined the staff in November. “You can’t help but get excited.”

An affiliate of YWCA USA, the local group’s programs help women and girls advance their careers, improve their health and learn high-demand (and well-paying) technology skills, among other initiatives. The group also leads the annual MLK celebration, a 10-day event in January honoring the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. As Djuanna settles into her new role, she says she plans to continue developing the Y’s women’s programs. She’ll also hold focus groups with past participants and other community members to

MISSION: EMPOWER WOMEN Here’s a sampling of YWCA Greater Charleston’s programs and events for women and girls:

• Career Success series: Aimed at helping women succeed in the workplace and as entrepreneurs, this series includes career workshops on topics such as networking and salary negotiation and public speaking workshops for women and high school girls.

•W hat Women Bring: A conference celebrating women’s leadership in business, community and culture. This year’s event takes place May 21.

•Y Girls Code: An after-school club that teaches computer coding and technology skills to girls in elementary and middle school.

• I ndaba series: Roundtable discussions with an expert and up to 10 participants at each

Founded more than a century ago in 1907, the YWCA’s main missions include eliminating racism and empowering women across the Charleston region. Ironically, the local Y began as a segregated institution, with separate black and white branches in downtown Charleston, according to College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center. The group integrated after the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Now based in West Ashley and led by LaVanda Brown, the modern-day YWCA Greater Charleston boasts a diverse membership of more than 500 women from across the tri-county area.

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table, allowing for intimate conversations on topics such as women’s health and increasing the role of women of color in politics.

•C hoose Well: A women’s health initiative designed to reduce unintended pregnancies by offering women affordable access to contraception.

learn how else the organization can serve them.

From what she’s learned so far, economic security is one of the most pressing issues local women face.

“Charleston’s cost of living and lack of affordable housing are barriers to economic stability for many, especially women of color,” she explains. “Pay equity is definitely important, but it is just one piece of the puzzle.”

The Lowcountry native brings a long career in community service to her new position. Her professional background includes leadership roles with Meals on Wheels Summerville, Tri-

dent United Way and East Cooper Community Outreach.

The eldest of five kids, Djuanna, 52, credits her parents and stepdad for her long-standing commitment to social work and giving back to the community. They’ve always lived by the words: “You are your brother’s keeper,” she says.

One incident in particular sticks out in Djuanna’s mind. It happened on a trip to visit her family during a break from college at the University of South Carolina. Traffic was bad, and she was feeling irritated when she arrived home from Columbia. Her frustration mounted when she learned one of her brother’s friends would be joining them for dinner.

“Doesn’t this kid have a home of his own?” she remembers asking, in a less-than-friendly tone.

Her mom immediately escorted her to another room for a calm, but firm, talking to.

“You don’t know what this kid goes home to, or doesn’t go home to,” Djuanna recalls her mom telling her. “Anyone can sit at my table.”

Djuanna never forgot those words. “It gets in your blood,” she says of helping others.

Today, Djuanna also draws inspiration from Christine O. Jackson, the Y’s well-known former executive director, celebrated for her role as a civil rights leader and a strong supporter of local women in business.

“I want to build on her foundation and use that as a launching pad to continue to serve and grow,” Djuanna says.

LEARN MORE Lowcountry residents can get involved in the YWCA Greater Charleston by becoming a member, volunteering or providing financial support.

GET MORE DETAILS HERE: ywcagc.org Facebook: YWCAGreaterCharleston Twitter: @YWCAChasSC Instagram: ywca_gc

skirt . | march 2019 25

essay

YOU’VE GOT THE POWER Become a woman who paves her own way

By Angie Mizzell

M

y mom named me after actress Angie Dickinson. When she was pregnant with me, she was watching an episode of “Police Woman” and liked the way “Angie” looked when it flashed across the television screen. Even then, she knew I was a girl. Even then, she imagined big things for my life.

She was 18 years old and recently married. It was also the early 1970s, a time when people were inclined to look away and pretend not to notice the trouble going on behind the scenes.

For a while, she felt stuck. Then, a few years later, at 21, my

was a housewife. Considering I had my own daughter at 37, it occurs to me that I’m technically old enough to be her grandmother. But my life turned out differently because my mom and grandmother told me that it would. They believed it, and so I believed it, too.

My mom said I would go to college and have a career before marriage and babies. She wanted me to pave my own way. My high school job as a restaurant hostess taught me how to pay for my own gas and extracurricular activities, balance a checkbook and complete a simple tax return. I graduated from college—thanks to affordable in-state tuition and access to student loans—and spent the first decade of my career working in television newsrooms.

I met my husband in a journalism class, and we tied the knot at 25. Nineteen years later, we’ve adopted some of the more traditional roles of running a household with three children, but we continue to operate from the same mindset: equal partners, divide and conquer.

Still, there came a point when I had to reconcile a question that many Generation X women have faced. We were told that we could have it all and do it all; be anything and everything. But what does that even mean?

I’ll never forget the day that I called my mom from work. I was in my late 20s and frustrated about a whole host of things. She listened to me vent and then calmly replied, “Angie, you have more power than you realize.”

I sensed that she was sharing this wisdom as she was learning it herself. To really become the kind of woman my mother and grandmother dreamed I would become—a woman who paves her own way—I would have to claim my true, innate sense of worth—regardless of paycheck or employment status.

grandparents gave her money to file for divorce. Now, living on her own as a young, single mom, her divorce attorney helped her get a job as a receptionist at another law firm.

My grandmother helped raise me, and it’s important to note that she was also young. She married my grandfather at 17 and

26

skirt . | march 2019

CALLIE CRANFORD

“ To really become the kind of woman my mother and grandmother dreamed I would become—a woman who paves her own way—I would have to claim my true, innate sense of worth—regardless of paycheck or employment status.”

When my mom and grandmother told me that my life would be different, I always sensed that they meant better. I wonder if they inadvertently discounted their own power, not realizing they were superheroes in my eyes. When my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack at 52, I watched my grandmother sell the house and downsize, go to cosmetology school—she learned how to do nails, how fun!—and support herself. And mom would eventually remarry, move up in her job and become a paralegal. (I’ll always remember her getting dressed for work each day, looking beautiful—like Abby from the ‘80s TV show “Knots Landing.”)

The badass women who raised me taught me this: Sometimes it doesn’t matter what we want to do. We do what we have to do. Still, regardless of our circumstances, we can learn to make choices, sometimes hard choices, that support our overall well-being. As we pick up the pieces and move forward, we’re making a positive impact on the next generation. We’re all a beautiful and complex combination of the women who came before us.

Today, I observe and admire my own daughter. At 7 years old,

“ As we pick up the pieces and move forward, we’re making a positive impact on the next generation. We’re all a beautiful and complexcombination of the women who came before us.”

CALLIE CRANFORD

she has more confidence and access to opportunities and experiences than I did when I was her age. I, too, imagine big things for her life. I will teach her to be proud of her accomplishments, and at the same time, remind her that her value is never measured by her successes or her failures. She never has to shrink down and place her worth in the hands of others. Eventually, she will see: She has more power than she realizes.

Angie Mizzell is a contributing writer for Skirt and an on-camera spokesperson and host. A Charleston native and mom of three, Angie writes a personal blog about creating a life that feels like home. Connect with her at angiemizzell.com.

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skirt . | march 2019 27

men

There needed to be someone that grabbed the microphone in the middle of a seminar and said, ‘Yo, are y’all out here?

Let’s put on some music and let’s get this party going.’

28

skirt . | march 2019

MILES WHITE

W

hen Miles White and Femi Oyediran began thinking about opening their own wine shop, they wrote down all the pros and cons of their favorite places to buy a bottle.

“We looked at what we liked about every single one of them and said, ‘How can we bring these experiences and consolidate them into one space’ so that all these things we really enjoy, we can channel that energy here,” Femi says.

“I hope we’ve created something that people like,” Miles adds.

There’s little doubt. Less than a year after the duo who formerly worked together at Charleston Grill opened Graft on upper King Street, they’ve been recognized as the top wine shop in the Southeast by VinePair, a website that covers the beverage culture. Graft celebrates its first anniversary this month.

“A lot of the reason why we’re on that list is because we created a wine shop that happens to also be a social destination,” Femi says, “so people can enjoy wine and there’s a different energy around that.”

But Femi acknowledges, “it’s easy to get dis-

Miles, a certified sommelier, had recently returned from Willamette Valley, where he had been working at the Antica Terra winery. He was looking for a reason to stay close to his family in Charleston.

He had come to a conclusion. “If I’m going to stay, I’m going to have to do something on my own,” he says he told Femi.

Femi, an advanced sommelier (he’s passed the third level of tests for wine professionals) was also frustrated. He thought he had hit the ceiling professionally in Charleston and was thinking about leaving. “When I sat down with Miles, I said, ‘Hey, man, I’m getting out of here.’ There’s nothing here.

There’s no opportunity here. The wine scene here is, I think, it’s pretty dry. There’s not a lot of energy. There’s not a lot of excitement behind wine. If you and I had a day off and wanted to drink wine, I can’t imagine how we would start having a wine day. Where would we go?”

They started to imagine the place where they would go, and what it might take for them to create it.

“There needed to be spark,” Femi says. “There needed to be someone that grabbed the microphone in the middle of a seminar and said, ‘Yo, are

Let’s Get This

want, just let me know how many people are coming,’” Miles says. “Wine is always there. ...This time in particular, there were a lot of people who were into wine. … We were drinking whatever my Mom had.”

Femi takes over telling the story.

“We were already having fun and we ran out of wine,” he says.

A friend who had worked with Femi at Charleston Grill and was visiting from New York says, “Alright, let’s go to Bottles (Beverage Superstore).”

“We just grab all these bottles off the shelves, and we load up the cart and we come back,”

By Shelley Hill Young

• Photography by Jesse Volk

PARTY GOING GRAFT OWNERS REFLECT ON BOUNTIFUL FIRST YEAR FILLED WITH ACCOLADES tracted or lost in the allure of lists and accolades.

You have to think, ‘OK, that’s great,’ but there’s work to be done, and I think you have to have your own goals, your own standards.”

Though Miles and Femi have known each other for at least 10 years, they say opening their own wine shop wasn’t on their radar until a “fateful lunch” in 2016. They were both at a crossroads.

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FEMI OYEDIRAN

y’all out here? Let’s put on some music and let’s get this party going. Get out of your seats, put your pens down, and let’s make this happen.’

“I think that’s kinda what we wanted to accomplish with Graft,” Femi says.

Three days after that lunch where the two decided to challenge the status quo of wine in the city, Femi got a phone call from a potential investor asking him to meet. He was told, “There’s a space, there’s a place and there’s some people who would like you to open up a wine shop.”

“I left this meeting, and I called Miles and I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on with the universe right now.’ I was like, ‘Whatever plans that we had, that just got moved up.’”

Femi and Miles ended up walking away from that offer, but not from the desire to create the place they would want to go drink wine. They found the Graft space days later and knew, “This is it.”

Years before the fateful lunch where the idea of Graft was sparked, there was “the perfect wine day.” That’s where the two developed their philosophy of wine.

“My mother would always have these gatherings, and it was always like, ‘Invite whoever you

Femi recalls.

Someone texted Miles and asked him to play the Mike Will Made-It song “23” featuring Miley Cyrus as they entered the house.

“We all come in with our hands full of wine, and everyone is like, ‘yay!’ It was amazing. Everyone was cracking bottles, having a good time. The wine was delicious. The company was incredible.”

Miles weighs in: “It’s all about being together and whatever happens, happens. That was the intention here. It’s one of those days you never forget.”

The point of them sharing the story is to explain that it’s not about what label wine you’re drinking or what grape or region it came from, it’s about the energy created by the people drinking wine they enjoy. Their passion is apparent in the retelling of it.

“If you focus on building great relationships and giving people a great experience serving them good wine, and you create a place that is inviting and is completely, completely in love with the idea of having a good time with good people, that is the focus of Graft,” Femi says. “Good wine is a given.

We know we can give you good wine. What else can we do? And answering that question has been our goal and has been our mission.”

skirt . | march 2019 29

wellness

F

rom coffee and craft beer to lotions, cosmetics and even dog treats, CBD is the latest wellness craze making its way into our daily lives.

Short for cannabidiol, CBD is a non-psychoactive chemical compound derived from the hemp plant. Unlike marijuana, it contains less than 0.3 percent THC, meaning it won’t get you high. Instead, proponents of the plant extract say it can help improve sleep, anxiety, depression and pain, among other health benefits.

Although CBD products have quickly become mainstream, it’s still a nascent industry. The production of industrial hemp was legalized by the federal government in 2014 but only became legal in South Carolina in January 2018 through the S.C. Industrial Hemp Pilot Program, a state-

ASHLEIGH COHN, JEANNETTE BULICK, JENNIFER THACKSTON, PAIGE ALLEN, MALIA YOUNG-WILLIAMS

A BUDDING COMMUNITY

By Allyson Sutton • Photography by Libby Williams wide research initiative that allowed 20 farmers to grow the crop. One of the first to be accepted was Charleston Hemp Co., an organic hemp farm and manufacturing facility here in the Lowcountry.

“We are a seed-to-shelf purveyor of industrialized hemp,” says Jennifer Thackston, who manages the company’s sales. “We grow the plants, process and extract the CBD and manufacture end-user products.”

Founded by husband-and-wife duo David and Jeanette Bulick, Charleston Hemp’s 18-person team includes researchers, a wellness clinician, a botanist and a crew of community educators, marketers and sales reps known as hemp ambassadors. Eleven of the 18 employees are women.

“A lot of women are leading the path in hemp.

It’s not a good-ol’-boys network,” says Jennifer.

“It’s a product that helps so many people – why wouldn’t we want to get involved and carry that baton nationwide?”

Jennifer initially joined the company as a consultant, bringing a 25-year background in sales, but no connection to this buzzed-about plant.

As she continued to hear stories from folks who turned to CBD oil for help with ailments like diabetes, epilepsy, depression and addiction, she was inspired to join the team full time.

“It’s very powerful to hear these stories of CBD really changing people’s lives,” she says. “It’s ex-

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“A lot of women are leading the path in hemp. It’s not a good-ol’-boys ’ network,” says Jennifer Thackston, who manages the company’s sales. “It’s a product that helps so many people—why wouldn’t we want to get involved and carry that baton nationwide?” citing to be aligned with an organization whose product truly provides wellness. It’s something I’ve never experienced before.”

As the industry continues to grow, Jennifer, the co-founders and the rest of their team have placed a significant focus on education and outreach.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about the industry, so we’re committed to educating people, whether that’s by talking to the general public during events or working with legislators to have a shared understanding about the plant and its potential,” says Jennifer. “As part of the state pilot program, we also have research partners who play a big part in our education efforts.”

One such partner is Dr. Melissa Milanak, who leads sleep and anxiety research as well as continuing education efforts for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC. Outside of her work at the university, Melissa serves as Charleston Hemp Co.’s academic expert.

“This team really strives to educate the community around hemp and CBD,” says Melissa. “It’s not just about growing and selling the products, it’s about promoting further research and bringing these benefits to the community in a deliberate and scientifically rigorous way.”

Melissa facilitates research partnerships with educational institutions examining the impact of hemp on sleep, mental health and addiction. She also helps create best practices for new farmers entering the industry and keeps tabs on medical journals and clinical studies to ensure Charleston Hemp’s information is based on current research.

In addition to their education efforts, the women-led team is on a mission to foster new economic opportunities through hemp.

“One of the driving factors to create the manufacturing and processing facility was so we could help other farmers in the state do something with their hard work,” says Jennifer.

The company offers white-label services, enabling growers and wellness innovators to produce and package tinctures, salves or other CBD consumer products they wouldn’t otherwise have the resources to create.

All of Charleston Hemp Co.’s production is overseen by Dr. Xiaojuan Wang, a chemist and doctoral candidate in MUSC’s Drug Discovery and Biomedical Services Department. She tests each batch of CBD to ensure purity and consistency.

“My focus is to optimize the extraction of CBD from the plants so it’s as pure as possible,” says Xiaojuan. “It’s meaningful work because we’re able to provide high-quality CBD to other manufacturers who want to create products that help people with things like sleep and anxiety.”

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As it enters its second year in business, Charleston Hemp Co. plans to expand both its acreage (adding up to 20 acres as well as new greenhouses) and its impact.

“Industrial hemp is very sustainable, and it’s hardy and fast-growing in our climate,” says Jennifer. “We want people to get excited about what this particular crop could mean for the state. It has the potential to bring prosperity back to small agricultural towns; South Carolina can be a leader in where this industry goes.”

With the average age of farmers creeping to 65, Charleston Hemp Co. has focused on hiring millennial employees like Malia Young-Williams and Paige Allen who can inspire young entrepreneurs, farmers and wellness professionals to get involved in the future of CBD. “It’s been so rewarding watching the company evolve,” says Malia, a hemp ambassador who joined the team early on. “Seeing the people we’ve helped, the other farmers who have gotten involved with hemp and CBD, the progress we’re making … it’s really become a community.”

On April 20, the Charleston Hemp Co. will host the first Charleston Hemp Festival, an opportunity for locals to see hemp farming, extraction and manufacturing firsthand.

“We want to break down the taboos about this

plant, build awareness and help people see where CBD comes from,” says Paige, another hemp ambassador. “Ultimately, we hope the festival creates more opportunities for the community to get involved in this industry.”

Learn more at charlestonhempcompany.org.

WHERE TO TRY CBD: •R elax with the “Heaven on Earth Hemp Massage,” a CBD-oil-infused session at Verdant Eco Spa in West Ashley.

•S ip the “Green Dragon,” a CBD-infused cocktail at Millers All Day, or slurp an Instagram-worthy CBD-infused frosé at the Co-Op on Sullivan’s Island.

• I mbibe on the CBD Smash IPA at Fatty’s Beer Works or the newly released Pass the Lemongrass IPA at Revelry Brewing.

•G et through your work week with the Relaxation wellness shot at Huriyali, a blend of CBD oil, lemon, greens, turmeric and rosemary essential oil.

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table

Keep Calm and Create Good Food

BY HELEN MITTERNIGHT

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“Let’s take some of that testosterone and bring it down to a little more of an Om place. Let’s just breathe. We’re here to take care of some people, create some good food.” harassment that have made recent news.

“When I started out, there were still not a lot of women doing this,” she says. “You might be the only female in the kitchen, so you really had to work twice as hard, be twice as tough, be one of the guys. You couldn’t show emotion at all. And sometimes you had to put up with a bit of crap to work your way through those lines.

You’d be tested. It wasn’t a welcome wagon, for sure. Here, I want to create a more level playing ground, more balance for everybody. I definitely do not tolerate disrespect, whether for female, male, color, gender, religion. We all have to do a job, we have to work together a lot of hours, and we’re all alike whether we believe it or not.”

Michelle has “coffee talks” with young women in the industry who call her for advice and encouragement. She says she’s glad that the food and beverage industry is evolving and that “you don’t have to be one of the guys, thank God. You can just be yourself.”

Michelle says she can’t even imagine life after the Charleston Grill.

“Physically, it does take a toll, but I love the energy it brings. I can’t imagine not walking through a dining room and feeling that energy, like when the kids have an epiphany and finally get what you’ve been trying to teach them. It’s kind of like a drug,” she says.

ANDREW CEBULKA

I

f you would have told a young Michelle Weaver that she would be at Charleston Grill for 21 years, becoming something of an institution, a food ambassador for the state and a mentor to young female chefs, she might have laughed.

The young Michelle never thought she’d stick.

“I thought I’d be here for a few years and bounce out,” she says now, sitting in the restaurant’s dining room during a rare quiet time before dinner service.

Michelle grew up in Alabama standing on a chair at the stove while her mother and grandmother cooked with a cast iron skillet, but she was going to be a “marketing mogul,” she says.

After a friend moved home to Alabama to start a restaurant, she realized that there were schools that could teach her to cook and that was way more fun than marketing.

“I packed up my little red Cavalier and

moved off to Vermont to go to New England Culinary Institute, where they had a 7-1 (student to teacher) ratio. I was in quaint little Vermont. I thought this was perfect, little Alabama girl goes off to Vermont … and then the snow came,” she says.

Michelle stuck it out but then headed to New Orleans to cook and, later, to Nashville, where she met chef Bob Waggoner, who would become her mentor and lifelong friend. When Bob was offered a job at the Charleston Grill, Michelle was part of the package deal. She took over at Charleston Grill after his 2009 departure.

Then-Gov. Nikki Haley asked Michelle to become one of the state’s chef ambassadors, a position she finally accepted in 2018, although it meant traveling to festivals and other events to promote the state and its products while still helming the Charleston Grill. The travel has abated this year with a new class of ambassadors being named, but “once an ambassador, always an ambassador,” Michelle says with a laugh.

Her natural leadership has made her a mentor to younger chefs, a role she takes seriously even though, she says, managing is her biggest challenge.

“I get older and the cooks stay the same age,” she says. “It’s a challenge to motivate them. I over-communicate. This generation, they don’t want retirement benefits, although we offer them. They just don’t want to work 12-hour days. I get it.”

Michelle has created a lending library of culinary books and cookbooks for her younger staff to read since they often can’t afford the books themselves. She wants them to be inspired, to “play” with food.

Mostly, she tries to create calm.

“It’s a very demanding job and, yes, there are long hours and yes, it gets crazy at times. But do we want to feed into that or find a way to get a little calmer? Let’s take some of that testosterone and bring it down to a little more of an Om place. Let’s just breathe. We’re here to take care of some people, create some good food.”

Speaking of testosterone, Michelle has seen changes in the attitudes toward women in the kitchen, although she says she was lucky enough to have missed the kinds of

table

NEWS OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS

Charleston got a four-for-one when the Bennett Hotel opened next to Marion Square.

Also opening is Gabrielle with executive chef Michael Sichel, featuring coastal Carolina cuisine and an outdoor terrace that opens directly onto the square; Camellias, a bar that features champagnes and caviar plus desserts; Fiat Lux, a rooftop cabana; and La Patisserie Charleston, featuring sandwiches and pastries.

St. Dalila’s offers Cuban sandwiches, Sazeracs and White Russians at 132 Spring St. If you’ve been to Classic Coffee in Avondale recently, you may have noticed: they have a new name, Highfalutin Coffee Roasters. The new owners said they might as well own the fact that they like their coffee rare and boutique.

East Haven, Connecticut, is bringing Tolli’s Apizza to Johns Island later this year.

MODUS PHOTOGRAPHY

Johns Islanders Kristin and Kayla Bennett are opening The Woodruff, a date night cocktail bar with charcuterie and sandwiches at 1803 Crowne Commons Way. Stay tuned for the opening date, expected this summer.

The Old Village Post House has closed. No word on plans for the space, which was owned

by Halls Management Group.

Monza on King Street is open again after gobbling up neighboring Closed for Business and making it live up to its

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name. The pizza and pasta joint has refurbished and expanded the dining room.

CHEF MOVES

Tradd’s on East Bay Street has a new executive chef, Brandon Buck. He had been chef de cuisine and replaces Drew Hedlund, who has moved to the role of director of culinary operations for Rockit Hospitality, which owns the restaurant as well as Fleet Landing.

Cannon Green on Spring Street welcomes Orlando Pagan as its new executive chef.

EVENTS

In case you didn’t notice, the whole city starts March not like a lion, but like a foodie, with the Charleston Wine + Food festival, which takes over most of the city. Explore Marion Square for a quick peek or visit the website and see if you can score any few remaining tickets to this event.

Goat.Sheep.Cow. north at 804 Meeting St. is hosting a series of Sunday Suppers. The concept is designed to highlight the importance of gathering family and friends and features various chefs and wine pairings. The dinners are from 4 to 8 p.m. and are first come, first served.

Lowcountry Local First’s Good Farming Initiative Chef’s Potluck is coming on April 28 at Middleton Place. Some of the city’s finest chefs create food using local products and

music, farm and stable tours and an interactive photo booth offer entertainment. All proceeds help nurture efforts to nurture future farmers.

Ticket prices go up at the end of the month, so get your early bird tickets now.

CAMELLIAS

What do you know about grits? Experts Nathalie Dupree, farmer and miller Greg Johnsman, and Erin Byers Murray, author of “Grits: A Cultural and Culinary Journey Through the South,” will form a lively—and dare we say, gritty—panel from 4 to 5 p.m. March 7 at Millers All Day, 120 King St. Light drinks and snacks will be served. Call 843.501.7342 or email info@millersallday.com.

Food plus shoes? Sign us up! From March 7-11, leather shoe company, Sabah, will be in residence in the garden at Basic Kitchen. The traveling shoe brand will show off their shoes, along with herb-infused cocktails from the garden. The pop-up is from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.

MENU AND VENUE CHANGES

If you were feeling like Mondays needed more brisket, good news. Lewis Barbecue, 464 Nassau St., is now open seven days a week, including Mondays, when it used to be closed.

Or, if cheese and charcuterie is more your thing, Goat.Sheep.Cow. on Church Street is now open on Mondays.

The Warehouse is going to be focusing a bit more on ramen. New executive chef Colin Connelly says it’s going to be a ramen bar and gastropub vibe.

KUDOS

Kelly Chu, who makes Cirsea Gelato, in addition to owning Betty’s Diner and Red Orchids Bistro, has the No. 16-best gelato in the world, according to the Italian organization that decides these things.

Chef Marc Collins, co-owner of Circa 1886 Restaurant and Kitchen 208, has been chosen as one of the state’s Chef Ambassadors. The honor means he spends the year helping promote the state and its products in addition to helming his restaurants.

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community

Finding a Fresh Start One80 Place preps homeless people for in-demand careers in restaurants

By Helen Mitternight Photography by Libby Williams

I

The shelter offers beds to 80 men, 40 individual dorms for veterans and 40 beds for women and children in a separate building. But those 160 are a fraction of what Angie says are the 500 or so homeless on the streets of Charleston every night.

Most stay an average of 42 days but Angie says if someone is in a program and working toward a goal but just doesn’t quite have enough money for housing, “we’re not going to kick them out.”

The shelter’s culinary training program seemed the perfect position for Angie, who has been in the food and beverage industry since she was a teenager and had her own restaurant, Savory Market, on James Island. She’d been interested in nonprofits for a while and started as volunteer coordinator for a small shelter for women and children in Summerville before coming to One80 Place.

“You say to yourself, ‘I want to change the world,’ and then you find yourself working in an organization and that’s exactly what they’re doing,” she says.

For four weeks, qualified residents or veterans from the community work in the shelter’s kitchen and learn food safety, knife skills and kitchen communication skills such as using the shorthand “Hot!” or “Sharp!” for warning others about hot pots or knives. Everyone receives their ServSafe certification in food handler safety and sanitation. In addition, Angie says, some cooking basics are sprinkled in, such as how to make homemade pasta or mayonnaise.

“We’re no Cordon Bleu here, but if we can get them to cut four quarts of carrots in under an HEATHER HUTTON TEACHES hour, to know what ‘mire poix’ or ‘mise en place’ PRISCILLA DUPONT, EDWARD VEAL AND is, we can get them that position of prep rather YOLANDA THOMAS. than dishwasher,” she says.

Local chefs come in a few times a week to of-

t starts with the premise that nothing should go to waste—not food and certainly not people.

That’s the philosophy behind One80 Place, the shelter whose very name symbolizes starting over. It’s dedicated to ending homelessness. One of the programs designed to providing residents with job skills is the culinary training program, directed by Angie DuPree. It puts qualified residents through a four-week culinary “boot camp” followed by a one-week “externship” and then tries to find them appropriate jobs that will help them move from the ranks of the homeless.

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MADDIE STORTS, DIRECTOR OF THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN; ANGIE DUPREE, DIRECTOR OF TRAINING, HEATHER HUTTON, EDMUND’S OAST

“ You say to yourself, ‘I want to change the world,’ and then you find yourself working in an organization and that’s exactly what they’re doing.” fer lessons. Angie says Kelly Franz of Magnolias is a frequent knife skills instructor, former food educator Susan Wigley teaches egg cookery, and others join as they can.

Graduation comes with a fun competition and a kit that includes clothing and knives for their new careers, as well as a one-time stipend to put toward housing until the paychecks start to arrive.

For Charleston restaurants, desperate for good help, the program is a boon. Angie says about 25 to 30 partner restaurants have signed on, including Magnolias, Hanks, Home Team BBQ, Taco Boy, Whole Foods, MUSC and the restaurants of the Holy City Hospitality group.

“We focus on downtown because a lot of times, transportation is an issue,” Angie explains, adding that she also looks at competitive starting wages, benefit packages and balanced work-life environments.

She says the program has a 95 percent placement rate and has graduated more than 115 people.

The trainees get lots of practice from another service offered by One80—the Zucker Community Kitchen, which serves about 500 meals a day. Residents eat at breakfast and dinner, and lunch is thrown open to anyone who wants to PRISCILLA MAKES TRUFFLES.

come, resident or not, usually about 200 to 250 a day. Ingredients for the meals are delivered by the “food rescue driver” who drives six days a week with a refrigerated truck to Walmart, Whole Foods, Food Lion, Chick-fil-A, Porter Gaud, and Bishop Gadsden to pick up food that is still edible, but would otherwise be thrown out, such as blemished fruit or vegetables. Mondays, the driver YOLANDA AND heads to Coburg Dairy for excess EDWARD LEARN BAKING SKILLS. milk. Prestige Farms of Charlotte delivers chicken weekly, and Limehouse Produce delivers fresh produce to fill in what the food recovery truck couldn’t.

Leftover food comes in at the end of the Wine + Food festival as well—about 3,000 pounds of it.

But One80 Place has another connection to the foodie festival. Ten trainees and graduates help populate the kitchens behind the events. One graduate, Stefan DeArmon, who’s become known locally as “Reverend Cornbread,” is doing a Bread of the South event with local celeb Carrie Morey of Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit.

“The idea that no person should go to waste and no food should go to waste is my biggest driving force,” Angie says. “We literally take food that’s wasted by society, and we take people who are undervalued, and we turn them into success stories.”

How You Can Help The shelter is open 365 days a year unless Charleston gets evacuated during a hurricane. Visit the website one80place.org to: • Volunteer to serve meals.

•D onate. From every dollar, 92 cents goes back to the guests.

•D onate materials for move-in kits (especially air mattresses) or emergency toiletry kits.

• I f you’re a chef, volunteer to teach or reach out to partner with One80.

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skirt . | march 2019 35

books

How to Become the Disappointment You Deserve to Be:

A Review of Educated by Tara Westover

BY LORNA HOLLIFIELD

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mothers who forced us to do pageants against our wills and our fathers who made us take those painstakingly boring golf lessons. We love the people who held us to impossible standards, or those who thought we

weren’t capable of achieving anything at all. It’s different for all of us. Some of us have had to break out of poverty, put ourselves through school and become doctors from a family of factory workers. Others have had

SAMANTHA FUENTES

S

ome would say that the memoir “Educated,” by Tara Westover, is a story about a girl who escapes radical survivalist parents to beat the odds and obtain a Ph.D. from Cambridge. But to me, that’s just the amazing outcome. It isn’t what the “story” is actually about. I find myself instead reeling from this passage from the book: “You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them. You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.” There’s your summary; those hard-hitting, simply put, atomic lines.

“Educated” is a creatively written autobiography about an extraordinary woman with no formal primary education who went on to do great things because she first did the bravest thing of her life. She defied her family, trusted her gut and got out. She didn’t do what was expected of her; she did what she wanted for herself.

Most of us did not grow up in a Mormon fundamentalist family in “Nowhere,” Idaho, like the author.

Most of us were offered at least public education and basic human needs, again, much unlike Tara Westover.

Therefore, not all of us will relate to the severity of her condition, but we will instead be inspired by her will to overcome it. However, I think we all absolutely will relate to the struggle of having to disappoint someone in order to reach our goals.

We love our crazy families (and let’s face it, there’s always a little crazy in the best of them). We love our

“It’s always different. But the point is, to achieve whatever your unique brand of greatness is, you’ve had to shatter someone else’s idea of who you ‘should’ be along the way.” for real joy. Familial love is one of the strongest forms, and perhaps one of the most likely to come with imperfections. Tara Westover shows us that to recognize those imperfections does not mean we don’t love our families, but it might help us to save ourselves.

If you’re looking for that dare-tobe-great moment in your life or the courage to finally conquer that thing your soul wants, then it is a great time to read “Educated.” This author knows your struggle and will help you find your strength to step away from

whatever person, mindset or situation is holding you back. She has blazed a trail with this novel, never hating those who pinned her down, never losing her grace. She just chose to act, and then wrote down what it takes to encourage that girl boss inside of you, the one clawing to get out, to do just the same. This one is a must-read, and it might just change your life. It might help you realize that the best thing you will ever accomplish…is becoming a huge disappointment to someone else.

SAMANTHA FUENTES

to break the Harvard legacy to move to Nashville and sing country songs while eating ramen for a decade.

It’s always different. But the point is that to achieve your unique brand of greatness, you’ve had to shatter someone else’s idea of who you “should” be along the way. It’s a decision that’s so much easier said than done because, like Tara Westover, you love whatever flawed situation you come from.

It could be minor or major flaws. It could be as small as being a tomboy always arguing with a prissy mother or as serious as being abused. But breaking free of whatever it might be that’s holding you back is hard every single time because of the love.

Love leads to loyalty, which leads to allegiance, which, if followed blindly, can sometimes lead to unhappiness.

Sometimes there comes a moment when we have to disappoint someone we still feel love for because they are toxic to our well-being and potential

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skirt . | march 2019 37

calendar

VOLVO CAR OPEN

events MARCH

TEDDY BEAR PICNIC

03.02 Charleston Mom Prom

The Charleston Mom Prom is a ladies’ night out benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year’s theme is “Let’s Glow Crazy,” so grab your favorite neon clothes and your fabulous gal pals! Tickets are $60.

7 to 11:30 p.m. at the Charleston Area Convention Center, 5000 Coliseum Drive. Visit the Charleston Mom Prom Facebook page for details.

Mardi Bras

The Undergarment Society hosts a Mardi Bras event to benefit women in need.

The Undergarment Society raises money to purchase new bras and underwear for homeless women and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Enjoy live music by Midnight City, games, prizes, a silent auction and a fortune teller along with food and beer included with the ticket price. Go crazy and wear your beads and feather boa and celebrate Mardi Gras with Mardi Bras! Tickets are $25. 12 to 4 p.m., Triangle Char and Bar, 828 Savannah Highway. Visit theundergarmentsociety.com.

03.03 Teddy Bear Picnic

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The Teddy Bear Picnic hosted by the Charleston Parks Conservancy is a beloved event for kids of all ages. Children can bring their teddy bears and enjoy face painting, crafts, musical entertainment, seed planting and more. Bring a picnic lunch, blanket and chairs to enjoy this special day! Admission is free, but families are encouraged to register. 1:30 to 4 p.m., Hampton Park, 30 Mary Murray Drive. Visit charlestonparksconservancy.org.

Trident Literacy Association honors female community leaders at a luncheon for International Women’s Day. This year’s honorees include cookbook author Nathalie Dupree, women’s advocate Jennett Alterman, NAACP president Dot Scott, MUSC’s Dr. Deb Williamson, tennis player Brenda Carter and College of Charleston professor Giovanna De Luca. Tickets are $80. Noon at Founders Hall at Charles Towne Landing, 1500 Old Towne Road. Visit tridentlit.org.

ternational Women’s Day with the launch of the new Ibu Foundation. See a runway show featuring the same dress in 25 different textile traditional from around the world and learn how you can join the Ibu Foundation, which will work to disrupt poverty and fashion change for women everywhere. Tickets are $100, 6 to 8 p.m., Gibbes Museum of Art, 135 Meet St. Visit ibumovement.com.

03.06 - 03.24

03.08

Steel Magnolias

Family Movie Night at Medway

St. Patrick’s Day Block Party

The Charleston Stage Company presents the sisterhood classic, Steel Magnolias. Set in the late 1980s, this play is a blast from the past including friendship, drama and romance. Let the laughter and tears flow with your gal pals for this take of the Southern classic hit. Ticket prices and times vary.

Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St. Visit charlestonstage.com.

03.07 Trident Literacy Founder’s Day Awards

Enjoy “A Bug’s Life” in the great outdoors during Family Movie Night at Medway hosted by the Charleston Parks Conservancy. Come early for activities and games and enjoy eats from food trucks. Free. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Medway Park and Community Garden, 2069 Medway Road. Visit charlestonparksconservancy.org.

Fashioning Change: IBU at The Gibbes

The Gibbes and Ibu Movement honor In-

03.06 - 03.10 Charleston Wine + Food festival The Wine + Food festival features more than 100 different culinary experiences over five days. On Friday, for International Women’s Day, the festival will celebrate female chefs and restaurateurs.

Events include Boss Lady, a tea room experience in Anthropologie; There’s Something About Merry, a wine tasting with pioneer female winemaker Merry Edwards; and Whisky Tango Foxtrot, where women will be in the spotlight behind the bar and the grill. Look for Skirt at the Friday Culinary Village and Blended, where you can find our “Think equal” buttons in honor of International Women’s Day. Ticket prices, times and venues vary per event. Visit charlestonwineandfood.com.

03.09 Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a week early at The City of North Charleston’s family friendly and wildly popular event, which includes a parade, a kids section and musical performances. Free. Times and venues vary. Visit northcharleston.org.

Spring Street Artisan Market

Discover jewelry, vintage clothing, bakeries, soap and skin care made by local artisans at this market at Tiger Lily Florist.

Inside the shop, the Tiger Lily Artists Collec-

LEFT TO RIGHT: JAKE SCHOENBERG; OBVIOUSLEE MARKETING; ANDREW CEBULKA

Honor women’s achievements and help support other women all month long at events including the Trident Literacy Founders Day Awards, Fashioning Change, the Be Well Expo and the Rebel Girls Celebration.

tive has a newly installed platform to highlight local artists. Free. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tiger Lily Florist, 131 Spring St. Visit Tiger Lily’s Facebook page.

Dancing with the ARK Stars

Get ready to cha-cha! Local figures dance and compete in the hopes of winning the mirror ball trophy at the Dancing with the ARK Stars! The event includes hors-d’oeuvres, a silent auction and open bar. Tickets are $65 at the door. 7 p.m., Eidson Gym, Pinewood Preparatory School, 1114 Orangeburg Road, Summerville. Visit thearkofsc.org/dancing-with-the-arks-stars/.

03.12 Tank and the Bangas

You won’t want to miss Tank and the Bangas, who meld soul, hip-hop, jazz, and R&B into an original and funky sound.

The winners of NPR’s 2017 Tiny Desk Concert contest will have every one at Pour House getting down. Tickets are $20, 8 p.m. at Charleston Pour House, 977 Maybank Highway. Visit charlestonpourhouse.com.

03.13 - 04.18 Festival of Houses and Gardens

The Festival of Houses and Gardens allows you to get a peek inside some of the city’s most beautiful homes and gardens. Daily events include a morning history walk, a tour of the historic district of Charleston led by experienced tour guides; Wine By The Water, a wine tasting with a lovely view of the Charleston harbor; and Indigo Girl: The Colorful Life of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, an indepth overview of Eliza Pinckney’s life led by award-winning author Natasha Boyd.

Tickets, times and venues vary by event.

Visit historiccharleston.org.

03.16 Rebel Girls Celebration

Celebrate Women’s History Month by taking your rebel girls and boys to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry on March 16 to meet some of the characters from the book “Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls,” which tells the inspiring stories of 100 women from Elizabeth 1 to Serena Williams. Tickets are $15 for non-members.

9 to 11 a.m. Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, 25 Ann St. Visit explorecml.org.

DESIGNER SHOWHOUSE

LEFT TO RIGHT: COURTESY OF CHARLESTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; NOBLINKN PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGNS; OBVIOUSLEE MARKETING

Be Well Expo

The College of Charleston’s Office of Institutional Diveristy is hosting the Be Well Expo for women of color and allies from 18 to 45.

Topics include health disparities, wellness, self-care and self-advocacy. 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., College of Charlesotn North Campus.

Visit go.cofc.edu/be.

03.10 The Reckoning in the Park

Love the Grateful Dead? James Island County Park hosts the local tribute band, The Reckoning. Beer, wine and soft drinks are available. Admission is free with $2 park entrance fee. 1 to 5 p.m., James Island County Park, 871 Riverland Drive.

Visit ccprc.com.

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International Women’s Day Celebration: The ERA’s Unfinished History

Celebrate International Women’s Day with nationally acclaimed author Marjorie Spruill and The ERA’s Unfinished History presented by the League of Women Voters. As the Equal Rights Amendment again stands before the South Carolina General Assembly, Marjorie will speak about historical and cultural challenges to the women’s movement in the South.

Lunch from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Town and Country Inn, 2008 Savannah Highway, West Ashley. Visit lwv.charleston.org.

03.22 Aretha Franklin Tribute

Charleston native Christian “Black Diamond” Smalls and her 10-piece band pay tribute to the Queen of Soul and first female inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. $22, 8 p.m. at Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St. Visit charlestonmusichall.com.

Charleston Fashion Week’s Celebration of Style

The first of three fashion events to be held throughout the year will include curated pop-up shops, a beauty bar and the latest fashion trends. There’s an afterparty. Tickets are $35. 4 p.m. The Cedar Room, 701 East Bay St. Visit charlestonfashionweek.com.

VOLVO CAR OPEN

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03.27 Wine Down Wednesday

Explore West Ashley’s beautiful Old Towne Creek County Park during Wine Down Wednesday. Guests will enjoy wine, food truck fare and live music. $15 in advance or $20 at the door. 5 to 7 p.m., Old Towne Creek County Park, 1313 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. Visit ccprc.com.

03.27 - 04.28 Designer Showhouse

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra League presents the Designer Showhouse, a 1903 Queen Anne Victorian-style home near Colonial Lake. The home was originally built by William G. Harvey, Charleston’s then-mayor and future governor of South Carolina. Each room has been decorated by local designers. A café and new pop-up shop called SCORE will also be on site for guests to enjoy. Tickets are $100, times vary. 16 Rutledge St. Visit csolinc.org.

03.29 Mozart’s Requiem

Mozart’s final composition and one of the most famous pieces of music ever written is being performed by the Charleston Symphony and the CSO Chorus for a stunning rendition of the music. Tickets vary from $21 and up. 7:30 p.m., The Gaillard Center, 95 Calhoun St. Visit charlestonsymphony.org.

ARETHA FRANKLIN

03.29 - 04.27 Young Contemporaries

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art presents College of Charleston student submissions to the gallery. With a wide range of media - paintings, sculptures, and photography - Young Contemporaries exemplifies the strength and diversity of the School of the Arts programs. Free. Times vary, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, 161 Calhoun St. Visit halsey.cofc.edu.

03.30 Charleston Mimosa Festival

A celebration of brunch, the mimosa festival has a wide variety of drink options to choose from, a selection of brunch bites and live entertainment. Tickets are $25. 12 - 4 p.m., The Bend, 3775 Azalea Drive, North Charleston. Visit charlestonwinefestivals.com.

Charleston Walk for Water

Raise awareness for those who lack access to clean water. Join with a team or walk solo, but you will not be alone! Registration prices vary. 9 a.m., Riverfront Park, 1061 Everglades Ave., North Charleston.

Visit watermissions.org.

03.30 - 04.07 Volvo Car Open

The largest women’s only tennis tournament in North America, the Volvo Car Open welcomes thousands of visitors each April.

New features this year include a family weekend, a yoga event and a Sunday Gospel Brunch as well as elevated dining offerings. Tickets and times vary. Family Circle Tennis Center, 161 Seven Farms Drive, Daniel Island. Visit volvocaropen.com.

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social

2.6.19 SKIRT BOOK CLUB

Clockwise: Tanya Robinson, Ditra Sheppard, Amanda Bunting Comen ; Whitney Brenkus, Shelley Hill Young, Lorna Hollifield; Polly Buxton, Thomas Giovanniello; Shelley Hill Young, Signe Pike; Caitlyn Bednarek, Sarah Howell, Jackie Mazade

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SAMANTHA FUENTES

Signe Pike, author of “The Lost Queen,” and Skirt executive editor Shelley Young led a discussion of “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens for the magazine’s first book club presented by Buxton Books. Women who attended enjoyed wine and gourmet cheese and cracker selections from Whole Foods Market and sweet bites from Wildflour Pastry. Lucky raffle winners took home fashionable gifts from Mulberry & King and Tres Carmen. The next book club will be in April, and the book selection is New York Times best seller “The Lost Girls of Paris,” by Pam Jenoff. Pick up your copy at Buxton Books or your favorite local bookstore.

1.24.19 SKIRT NIGHT OUT AT 9ROUND Skirt kicked off the year by hosting our first Skirt Night Out at 9Round, downtown’s newest boxing and kickboxing studio. Women and a few good men learned how to deliver a strong punch and hard kick to build power and also tested the speed bags to develop stamina. By the end of the night, everyone felt like a champion.

MARY KATHRYN MCCONAGHY

SAMANTHA FUENTES

social

Clockwise: Fer Caggiano; Merideth Bonvino and Maddie Cooper; Carolyn Wold; Taylr Sharp; Shelley Young

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skirt . | march 2019

don’t

think EQUAL Listen to those who have had different experiences.

Read and educate yourself about untold stories of the past.

Ask questions about who is left out and why.

Challenge what you’ve heard before.

Strive to be inclusive.

Help amplify all women’s voices.

Remove obstacles and barriers.

Lift up other women.

Push for and create equal access and equal opportunities.

Ask women to join you. There is strength in numbers.

Hire and promote women, if you’re in a position to do so.

Pay them what they are worth.

Nominate them to hold leadership positions.

Honor women for their achievements.

Spend money at women-owned businesses.

Support women-led creative endeavors.

Invest in women.

Vote for them.

Value intuition and collaboration.

Embrace your own feminine energy.

Use your power.

Strive for balance.

@D.VELASCO

Balance is better for everybody.

—Shelley Hill Young

the issue

Morris Washington, M.D., FACS, FASMBS

Rya Kaplan, M.D.

Anna Morgan, M.D.

Karinka Romanowska, M.D.

East Cooper Medical Group welcomes the following new providers: EAST COOPER BARIATRIC SURGERY Morris Washington, M.D., FACS, FASMBS PHONE: 843-352-4154 1280 Hospital Drive, Suite 302 Mt. Pleasant, SC

EAST COOPER GI Rya Kaplan, M.D. PHONE: 843-936-5970 874 Whipple Road, Suite 100 Mt. Pleasant, SC

HIGH TIDE INTERNAL MEDICINE Anna Morgan, M.D. Karinka Romanowska, M.D. PHONE: 843-352-4054 1280 Hospital Drive, Suite 201 Mt. Pleasant, SC

A COMMUNITY BUILT ON CONNECTION

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Schedule an appointment today.

EastCooperMedicalGroup.com 843-849-WELL (9355)

2/11/19 2:40 PM

2:40 PM

EVERYONE HAS A SEAT AT OUR TABLE Join us in celebrating International Women’s Day, Friday, March 8th #IWD2019 #BALANCEFORBETTER

JOIN SKIRT IN CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY ON MARCH 8

THINK EQUAL: How Will You Balance the Equation?

I will forge a more gender balanced world.

I will challenge stereotypes and bias.

I will influence the beliefs and actions of others.

I will forge positive visibility of all women.

I will celebrate women’s achievements.

#skirtforequality #iwd2019 Grab your friends, proudly display these cards and take a photo.

Tag @skirtcharleston and use the hashtags #skirtforequality and #IWD2019

THINK EQUAL: How Will You Balance the Equation?

I will work toward a better balance by:

#skirtforequality #iwd2019