On a recent Saturday I stepped into a room filled with rhythm and sisterhood in Inglewood. I was at the first annual Women’s African Drum & Wellness Conference put on by the All Women’s Drumming Alliance, S.H.I.N.E. Mawausi, at Motherland Music.

“You look like the aunt I was named after,” said a woman named Beverly as I walked into the conference. She then requested that I take a photo with her, so that she could remember me.

“You look like my niece too.” It was truly a sisterhood event.
The middle room was filled with drums and women. There was a demonstration by Shin Kanarazu Daiko, a Taiko drumming group out of Loyola Marymount University. There was a bounty of healthful food by vendors.

It was a bohemian “blk grrrl” dream. (Blk grrrl = Alternative black woman.)
I met the organizer of the event, Rene Fisher-Mims aka Moma Nay Nay. She was a shy woman with a youthful face and apple cheeks.

Catch S.H.I.N.E. Mawausi’s at the Leimert Park Artwalk, the last Sunday of every month.