Dr. Celeste Reese-Willis, MD, a Birmingham family physician and WIT Board of Directors member, will also speak at the fundraiser.
Michelle Miller, a CBS News national correspondent who serves as co-host on “CBS Saturday Morning,” will be the keynote speaker at Women In Training, Inc.'s Third Annual Mother-Daughter Brunch to end period poverty on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center.
Miller’s work regularly appears on “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” the “CBS Evening News” and “48 Hours.”
From presidential elections to the climate crisis, Miller’s area of coverage is wide-ranging, and her reporting on social justice has been particularly groundbreaking. From her coverage of the killings of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown to the Emanuel 9 Massacre in Charleston, to sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby, Russell Simmons and Harvey Weinstein, Miller has covered many important national issues.
The Third Annual WIT Mother Daughter Brunch will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center, 201 Tallapoosa Street in Montgomery.
“I am honored to be the keynote speaker at the Third Annual WIT Mother-Daughter Brunch, and hope to encourage girls through my personal journey about how to accept themselves as they move through life,” Miller said. “Growing up without my biological mother, I learned to appreciate those in my community who helped fill that void.”
Miller’s story, tinged by both racism and classism, is shared in her New York Times bestseller memoir, Belonging: A Daughter’s Search for Identity Through Loss and Love.
“I will encourage girls and young women to embrace the precious love between mothers and daughters and never take it for granted,” Miller continued. “Often those conversations begin with our first experiences with womanhood. We need to expand our children’s knowledge of period poverty, and encourage providing girls and women with access to products they need when that special time of the month arrives.”
Dr. Celeste Reese-Willis, MD, a WIT Board of Directors member who serves as WIT’s Medical Director, will also speak at the event. Dr. Reese-Willis is a board-certified, Birmingham, Alabama, family physician and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is the author of Vitality: Your Body Loves You, Love it Back, providing expert health recommendations on living a life of vigor and well-being.
“I cannot express how extremely proud I am of the WIT mission and their goal to end period poverty,” said Dr. Celeste, as she is affectionately called. “At such a young age the founders, Breanna and Brooke Bennett, are doing outstanding work and inspiring young girls around our nation. With this brunch we will acknowledge and offer tribute to women who are making a difference and helping move the goals forward. It is delightful at a time such as this to have teenagers LEADING the vision to help other girls their age, and inspiring not just teenagers but adults around the country.”
“We are honored and excited to welcome both Michelle Miller and Dr. Celeste Reese-Willis as speakers at the Third Annual WIT Mother-Daughter Brunch, where our theme will be Mothers: Passing the Crown to Your Daughters,” said state Rep. Rolanda Hollis, the Chairwoman of Women In Training, Inc. “Both of our distinguished speakers will inspire girls and young women to accomplish all that they set their minds and hearts to do. The speakers will also encourage all of us to donate our time, talents and resources to fighting period poverty.”
The 2024 class of the WIT Women of Excellence will also be announced at the Mother-Daughter Brunch on March 2, 2024.
Proceeds raised from the Third Annual WIT Mother-Daughter Brunch will support the WITKITS Campaign to provide bags of menstrual and hygiene supplies each month to more than 600 families in need. WIT’s signature program is the WITKITS Campaign to provide menstrual, hygiene and dental items to young, low-income people who menstruate.
WSFA-12 News, Media Sponsor for the Mother-Daughter Brunch, interviewed WIT Founders Brooke and Breanna Bennett, and WIT President and CEO Adeyela Albury Bennett, about the Third Annual WIT Mother-Daughter Brunch. Click the arrow below.
