Racial Ethnic Young Women Together Retreat

Loving Ourselves:
Discovering our Identities and Exploring our Places
El Caribe Resort and Conference Center
Daytona Beach, Florida
July 31 – August 3, 2008

Participants at the 2008 REYWT Retreat included young women looking for ways to be more intentional about discovering, exploring and finding themselves as young women of faith. The retreat allowed participants to explore, affirm and challenge one another in worship, workshops and fellowship.

The retreat was open to young women of color — Hispanic and Latina; Asian; Middle Eastern; Native American; Black and African American; bi-racial and multi-racial between the ages of 18 and 35.

See photos from the 2008 REYWT Retreat.

Workshops

Art provides self-expression as well as a mirror for self-reflection. Participants will be given the opportunity to engage in various artistic exercises that will allow them to reflect on their spiritual journeys as young women seeking to be empowered as a member of the Body of Christ. 

Gear up for a super solutions-based conversation on how we can practice being heroines in our own lives and the wider world! Come as you are with every single little missing and mixed up piece!

Life Is A Trip! Choices made on this journey of life will influence outcomes. Just when you think you know what you're doing, opportunity knocks and choices have to be made.  Join me in exploring how God has been at work in my life and the non-traditional journey in vocation, occupation and faith I have taken in my life.

Meet the instructors

The Reverend A. Vanessa Hawkins grew up in Henderson, North Carolina. She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University where she received a B.A. in English/Media Journalism in 1984. After working a number of years, she returned to school to pursue a calling into the ministry. In 1995 she received a Master of Art in Christian Education from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. In 1997 she received a Master of Divinity from Johnson C. Smith Seminary at the Interdenominational Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Vanessa was ordained in 1998 as the Campus Minister for South Carolina State University and Claflin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She later served for four years as a mission partner in Grahamstown, South Africa, as an Old Testament lecturer at the College of the Transfiguration.

She returned to the United States and later served for more than two years as a pastor in Dublin, Georgia. The Rev. Hawkins is currently serving as the associate for the Black Congregational Enhancement Office where she is charged to assist the PC(USA) in addressing the needs of the African-American congregations. She is currently a member of Savannah Presbytery.

Mashadi Matabane is a new member of Racial Ethnic Young Women Together’s Core group. A writer, editor and researcher, she has worked on the editorial staffs of Ladies’ Home Journal, Lifetime and Seventeen magazines. She has a bachelor's in Comparative Women’s Studies from Spelman College, a master's in Magazine Journalism from New York University and is now a first-year Ph.D. graduate student at Emory University. She is a big fan of media literacy and loves to make lists and discuss issues around identity, pop culture, transnational feminism, faith, ethics and fluid notions of personal dignity. She enjoys Tivo, other people’s cupcakes, traveling around the world, networking with awesome people, listening to live music and pretending she can dance.

Sallie Cuaresma is Cherokee and is the associate for Native American Congregational Enhancement in Racial Ethnic Ministries/Women’s Ministry and Presbyterian Women of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She earned a B.S. degree in Human Services from California State University, Dominguez Hills, California, and is currently enrolled in the online Commissioned Lay Pastor Program with Dubuque Seminary. She is an elder at First Presbyterian Church, Gardena, California. 

The Rev. Roula Alkouri is an ordained Presbyterian pastor. She has served at First Presbyterian Church in Bend, Oregon, as associate pastor since December of 2000.  Roula is originally from Damascus, Syria, where she was born and raised.  Roula went to seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where she also worked for the General Assembly offices in a variety of ministries — interfaith and ecumenical relations, global education and worldwide ministries. Roula has been a national speaker and workshop leader. She has also published a variety of articles for several Presbyterian publications. Roula has a passion for economic and social justice coupled with her love for spiritual growth and contemplation. Roula is married to Mike Stuart who is also an ordained Presbyterian minister. For fun and relaxation, Roula enjoys hiking, reading and playing with her 7-year-old daughter, Sophia.

The Rev. Jessica Vazquez Torres is a skilled speaker and workshop leader ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). From 1999 until the spring of 2006 she served as General Staff in the Office of the General Minister and President. She is a graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, and Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. For two years she worked as the National Religious Outreach Coordinator with Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago, Illinois, and in June 2008 commences as the Director of Masters Level Recruitment and Admissions at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. Jessica is also an Anti-Racism Core-Organizer/Trainer with the Disciples of Christ in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Crossroads in Chicago, Illinois. A "1.5 generation" Latina of Puerto Rican descent, the Rev. Vazquez Torres is an older daughter, older sister and beloved aunt to the most beautiful girl in the world.