The Regalettes, Inc., founded by former L.A. Sentinel Entertainment Editor Gertrude Gipson-Penland and currently led by President Lois Buckman, are once again following through on their promise to give back to the Los Angeles Black community.
The Regalettes have joined forces with Sisters Involved in Linking Knowledge (SIILK) to host the 2024 Teen Leadership Conference: Stepping Into Your Success for girls ages 11-17 to discover and deepen their passions, knowledge, collaboration, and leadership skills. This free event will be held Saturday, July 13, at the South LA Best Buy Teen Tech Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
During an exclusive interview with the L.A. Sentinel, Regalettes President Buckman expounded upon the background, purpose, and workshops of the Teen Leadership Conference.
“We found there was a great need to provide additional expertise to young girls in the L.A. Community. This is an opportunity to provide workshops in various subject matters, allow the girls to connect with mentors, and assist them in processing their day-to-day life. The reason for the conference is to help young Black girls see Black entrepreneurs and workers, to expose them to things they normally would not see,” she said.
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Included in this conference are workshops that most people certainly are not exposed to frequently – a Robotics/AI workshop will assist the girls in not only designing and building a robot, but also learning to code.
“We’re pretty exciting about [this workshop]…we’re hoping that this will trigger their imagination and get them into STEM,” remarked Buckman.
Other activities include fashion designing workshops, a panel with past and current Regalettes scholarship recipients, financial literacy workshop, etiquette class, vision board creation, and a parent workshop. The latter was developed over the course of multiple teen leadership conferences to educate the parents about the types of classes their children need to be taking, particularly in high school.
“We had a retired dean speak to them about their children’s preparation for school. The curriculum is so important. The parents were taken aback…they know their kids are taking classes, but are they the right classes,” recalled Buckman.
She added that this event is the evidence of a promise made by the founding Regalettes over 65 years ago.
“The Regalettes are still here and still doing the mission,” said Buckman.
“Not one year has passed – not even during COVID – where we didn’t follow through on our commitment. I think out of everything, that’s the thing I’m most proud of: we keep delivering.”
To register for the event, scan the QR code.
