Shinese Brathwaite is the creator and owner of Bk Girls Night out LLC, a lifestyle and event planning brand. Shinese B is an immigrant to the Borough of Brooklyn, similar to countless others. She received her schooling from the age of five years old, residing in crown heights, Flatbush, and currently Bushwick. She is the mother of a first generation Brooklyn girl, who is mixed with several cultures, similar to her birth place of Brooklyn.
While completing her Master’s Degree in Organizational Management, Shinese felt there was a need to use her degree in a way that told the story of her borough, bring women together, and celebrate all things Brooklyn. Her years in fashion, retail, sales, and marketing made her knowledgeable enough to launch her business BK Girls Night Out in 2014. Since then she has been able to work with over 100 and counting female businesses from Brooklyn, outer boroughs, the DMV area, and Delaware. The line-up consists of women seeking an environment to promote their brand, whether hair or skin products, makeup, food, jewelry etc, all things women would want to shop, and see with their girlfriends.
She is also passionate about parities with a purpose always seeking a way to educate, enlighten or inform women about diseases or causes which affect them. Her annual Think Pink Event celebrates survivors or those working toward decreasing/eradicating breast cancer. BKGNO has drawn out crowds of five plus hundred women annually. Most recently the BKGNO “Let’s Meet Up” Series an after-work event which focuses on connecting women through various intimate conversations. In addition, the event partners with small business locations such as restaurants and lounges to promote their location within Brooklyn. Her work has been featured in local blogs such as OurBKSocial, I Don’t Do Clubs, Leading with Lee magazine, Women’s Empire, and a few others. Most notably she received an Appreciation award from the Tallom Foundation located in Brownsville after she raised money toward the organization’s scholarship fund for their graduating girls.
In this podcast episode Shinese shares with Jo-Ann her recent experience of traveling with her girlfriends as she enters the fourth year of her business. She stresses the importance of travel and nourishing relationships with our friends as we grow in our entrepreneurial journeys. You can read more about Shinese’s trip from her blog post Grab Your Girls and Go.