Bridgette Williams

By Monica Montgomery Photos Provided by Still Shots Photography

Demhaj Poetry Lounge is a spot where coffee and community collide.

Bridgette Williams is an entrepreneur who allows divine inspiration to guide her, and it hasn’t steered her wrong yet. Currently, she owns two thriving businesses. Bridgette’s latest product of divine intervention is Demhaj Poetry Lounge, located in High Point, NC.

The name Demhaj is significant for many reasons. “When I first conceived the idea of the coffee shop, I remember thinking about how much love and joy my son brought me so that I would name the business after him. I wanted people to feel what I felt in a way. My son’s name is Jahmed, so I said I would name the shop Demhaj (Dem-hage),” Bridgette said with a little lift.

“The first time the idea about a poetry lounge and coffee shop came to me, I was a young mother and met a woman named Teresa at the social services department,” Bridgette shared. “I was sitting in the waiting room, and there was this older woman staring at me. So, I smiled and introduced myself. We started talking, and she told me she was a poet.” This intrigued Bridgette because she had been writing poetry since she was thirteen years old.

“Writing was a therapeutic outlet for me. I have drawers full of poems I’ve written over the years.” As a result of Bridgette’s passion for poetry, she and Teresa found an instant kinship that exists to this day. “Teresa was one of the first people I shared my vision about the poetry lounge with. I told her I wanted to create a space where people could come together and express themselves while enjoying each other’s company. I asked myself, ‘What brings people together? Coffee.’” The idea came to Bridgette in 2003, but it would be eighteen years before she would see it come to life.

“It’s funny how you plan to do something, and God redirects you,” Bridget laughed. “In middle school, I was part of a mentorship program. A young lady from North Carolina A&T State University came, and she had such a positive effect on me. She made me want to do something with my life. I was so inspired by her that I wanted to become a mentor.”

After graduating high school, Bridgette started at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, NC. Still very passionate about helping others through mentorship, she enrolled in a program to become a certified mentor. “Rebuilding the Walls of Hope was the name of the faith-based mentorship training program I attended. Marie Carter led it,” Bridgette explained. Her goal was to start her own mentorship program for troubled teens eventually. But when she started planning, Bridgette was led in a different direction.

“When I say led, I mean God literally redirected me to something completely different from what I thought I wanted to do. I was playing around with names for the mentorship program, and God started dealing with me about a home health care agency,” Bridgette said, laughing as she remembered the unexpected and confusing shift. “Before I knew it, God had given me a name and a plan on how to start a home healthcare agency. I knew it was God because I had no idea how to start or run this kind of business.”

In 2006 Faithful Nurses Healthcare Inc. was born. It’s been seventeen years since Bridgette followed God and launched her first business, and it’s still going strong. After starting the home healthcare agency, Bridgette switched her degree to nursing. But the demands of being a young wife and mother caused her to leave college a year short of graduating.

“Life was very demanding during that time. Anyone who knew me before then knew the “happy, fun-loving, and easy-going” Bridgette, but I think somewhere along the way, I lost my spark,” Bridgette admits.

In 2021 Bridgette found herself as a single parent. Bridgette was living life with no net or restraints for the first time in over twenty years. Over the years, she continued to share with her family and friends her vision for the poetry and coffee shop she had affectionately named after her son all those years ago.

Newly single, with her only son in college, Bridgette was in unfamiliar territory. “Everything was different. I was on my own, my son was independent, and for the first time in twenty-one years, I could think about what I wanted and what would make me happy. I won’t say it was easy,” Bridgette admitted. “I had to overcome the fear of failing. This would be the first time I did something like this alone. After what I’d gone through, I wasn’t ready to have one of my lifelong dreams fail.”

Bridgette decided to step out on faith, putting everything she had behind her new business venture. Since her son had heard her say for years that she would open this café, he didn’t take her seriously initially, but after seeing the energy she was putting out, he soon got on board.

“It seemed as if as soon as I chose to trust God with my dream, he put everything into place,” Bridgette shared. “Since opening the Demhaj Poetry Lounge, I have my smile back. The spark that made me, me, is back, and I’m grateful. From the moment a customer walks in, I pray they can feel the love, peace, and genuine joy I feel daily. Demhaj is not just a place to get great coffee. It’s a place where people from every walk of life can come and feel comfortable expressing themselves, meet new people, and enjoy being part of something beautiful.”

To learn more about Bridgette Williams and the Demhaj Poetry Lounge, please visit their website.

May 08, 2023

The Greensboro Chapter and the Southeast Region are excited to serve as hosts for Las Amigas, Incorporated’s 62nd Annual National Conclave in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. Greensboro is the residence of their 21st National President, Agatha Bouvìer Martin Grimes, and their Southeast Regional Director, Faye Stanley. The chapters in the Southeast Region are Cumberland, Fayetteville Elite, Greensboro, Lumberton Robeson County, Raeford, Raleigh Durham, Red Springs, St. Pauls/Bladen County, Whiteville, and Wilmington. This is the first time the National Conclave has been held in the city of Greensboro since 1991. We will not have an opportunity to showcase our city, Greensboro, for another 30-plus years. Sisters from the states of Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia will convene to manage the business of the organization. The Conclave will be held at the Embassy Suites located at 204 Centreport Drive from June 21 – June 25, 2023.

Las Amigas, Incorporated is a 501c3 organization of women founded by two educators, Mary Q. Moore and Dora R. Mason. The organization was founded on the principles of Sisterhood and Service. The Greensboro Chapter has been known in the city since 1967. The chapter continues to keep the legacy of the Co-Founders alive and address the organization’s five programmatic thrusts: Education, Economic Development, Health, Family, and Political Awareness, by providing numerous community service projects, including serving meals, providing tutoring, awarding scholarships, participating in COVID-19 vaccination programs and projects, voter registration drives, Comfort of Love blanket donations, supporting the annual MLK Breakfast and Lupus projects and programs, street cleaning in the Fisher Park Neighborhood, and supporting Hayes Taylor YMCA and Bennett College.

The public is cordially invited to join us at the following Conclave activities as we paint the town pink and orchid:

Thursday, June 22, 2023, Opening Town Hall Meeting from 6 pm to 9 pm at the International Civil Rights Museum (ICRM). It includes a museum tour, heavy hors d’oeuvres, music, and greetings by City Officials. The cost is $50.00.

Friday, June 23, 2023, Las Amigas Got Talent Show from 8 pm to 11 pm. The cost is $70, and it includes entertainment, music, a talent show, and dinner. Our distinguished panel of judges will be First Lady Debra Pierce, Ms. Shayla Thompson, and Ms. Tam Yelverton.

Saturday, June 24, 2023, Dora R. Mason Awards Luncheon from noon-3 pm. The cost is $75.00 and includes an awards luncheon, a stellar speaker, Bishop Valerie Melvin, recognition of Las Amigas Most Outstanding Chapter and Most Outstanding Member Awards, Humanitarian Award, and Community Service Award recipients. Our judges for the Most Outstanding Chapter and Most Outstanding Member Awards are Mrs. Beverly Cleveland, Dr. Michele Eley, Mrs. Bettye Jenkins, and Ms. Linda Wilson.

Saturday, June 24, 2023, Mary Q. Moore Orchid Gala from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm. The cost is $125.00 for this formal affair which includes a live band, the naming of three Honorary Members, Honorable Congresswoman Alma Adams, North Carolina Senator Gladys Robinson, and the Honorable Judge Diane Surgeon.

Saturday, June 24, 2023, The After Party from 11 pm to 1:00 am. The cost is $50.00 and the attire for this affair is Sweat Suits and Sneakers and includes music, dancing, and games.

Co-chairs for Conclave 2023 are Felicia Andrews, LaSonya Holmes-Boulware, and Brenda James.

If you have any inquiries or if you would like to purchase tickets, you may contact LaSonya Holmes-Boulware, Greensboro Chapter President - (336-580-2306). h

Greensboro Chapter Members

AGATHA BOUVIER MARTIN GRIMES

LASONYA HOLMES-BOULWARE

TINA GRAHAM

JAMILLA UPCHURCH

ADRIENNE WOODS

DR. AISHA MILLER

LOLA ANNE MCADOO

RUTH GOLDSTON

BRENDA JAMES

FAYE P. STANLEY

FELICIA ANDREWS

BIANCA WOODS

RHONDA WILSON-HENRY

CHANDRA GREEN

EVELYN FARMER

JOANN W. WILLIAMS www.lasamigasincorporated.org

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