It was a wonderful day at RCSE as we had another new member initiation - welcome to the club Scott! President Kim Campbell reminded members of the September Social at Forsyth Park for the Savannah Jazz Festival. Once all Rotary business items were discussed and Happy dollars collected, Cheri Dean introduced our speaker for the day, Dr. Kathryn Sophia Belle, who is the founder and owner of La Belle Vie Academy (LBVA).
Dr. Belle began by saying she was first introduced to the idea of a beloved community by Martin Luther King Jr. Her definition of a beloved community is one were there is love, mutual respect, affirmation, and alignment. She was motivated to start her own community while getting her PhD in philosophy when she realized there wasn't much support for black women in academia and philosophy due to a low number of women wanting to pursue this avenue of study. After many years as a college professor, Dr. Belle decided to branch out on her own and founded La Belle Vie Academy in order to help people focus on their work/life balance. She realized she didn't have to be in academia to do what she loves which is building beloved communities. She then talked about people who inspired her as well as how her upbringing modeled what it means to be in a community. To learn more about Dr. Belle and her academy, please visit http://www.kathrynbelle.com/