A Las Vegas native who turned personal adversity into a national mentorship movement is bringing that work back to her hometown this Saturday, when the Girls Who Brunch Tour hosts roughly 500 girls and young women ages 9 to 20 at Northwest Career & Technical Academy. Dr. Ni'Cola Mitchell, who founded the organization and serves as its executive director, said the homecoming carries deep personal meaning for her.
According to KSNV, Mitchell said bringing the tour home to Las Vegas is deeply personal, and she experienced adversity before creating the organization. The August 15 stop is part of the tour's Safe Spaces, Brave Faces initiative, described as an effort to give girls supportive environments where they can speak openly, express themselves, build confidence and embrace their identities, per the same report. Mitchell launched what would become the Girls Who Brunch Tour in 2015 following personal grief and an encounter with young girls at a South Carolina book signing, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. What started as a small gesture has since grown into a global movement that has reached more than 50,000 young women across the United States, Jamaica and St. Lucia, the paper reported.
A Founder's Story Now Told on Screen
Mitchell's own journey has drawn national attention well beyond Las Vegas. The biographical film “Giving Hope: The Ni'Cola Mitchell Story,” starring Tatyana Ali as Mitchell and executive produced by Mitchell herself, chronicles her path from surviving trauma to building the nonprofit, and it premiered on Lifetime in April 2023 before expanding to Netflix, according to reporting cited by Linwood's Inspired Media. Mitchell was also named a L'Oréal Paris Woman of Worth in 2019 and featured on Forbes' list of Change Makers that same year in recognition of her philanthropic work with young women in low-income communities, per Forbes. As KSNV reported, Mitchell said every girl attending Saturday's event should leave knowing she is seen, her voice matters and her circumstances do not determine how far she can go.
The Las Vegas stop will center on a curriculum called SafeT.E.A., which stands for truth, expression and authenticity and is designed to address bullying, emotional health, peer pressure, self-image and healthy decision-making, according to KSNV's report. Nevada's own youth data underscores why organizers say that focus matters. The 2025 Nevada High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Comparison Report, published by the University of Nevada, Reno School of Public Health, found that 36.6% of Nevada high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more consecutive weeks. The same body of state survey data shows more than 20% of Nevada high schoolers experience in-person or electronic bullying, a pattern researchers link to school absenteeism and broader mental health struggles.
What Girls Will Do at the Event
Set for Saturday at Northwest Career & Technical Academy, 8200 W. Tropical Parkway, the day is built around mentorship opportunities, fitness and wellness activities, confidence-building exercises, age-specific workshops and candid panel discussions, per KSNV. Organizers also planned performances, a brunch and community-resource experiences for attendees. Programming will address personal safety, resilience, leadership and future planning, while emphasizing trusted adults and positive support systems and incorporating college and career readiness.
The goal, according to the report, is to help participants identify healthy support systems, strengthen self-esteem, develop resilience and recognize their own voices as sources of power. Attendees will also connect with women leaders, advocates, wellness professionals and mentors throughout the day. The venue itself carries some local distinction: Northwest Career & Technical Academy opened in 2007 as a Clark County School District magnet high school and was ranked fourth among all magnet high schools in Nevada by Niche in 2026, with an enrollment of roughly 1,800 students across specialized career programs.
Local Leaders Lend Their Support
Saturday's event draws backing from several familiar names in Southern Nevada civic life. Nevada State Senator Dina Neal, who represents Senate District 4 in Clark County, is expected to take part, according to KSNV. Neal previously sponsored Nevada's 2021 C.R.O.W.N. Act, known as SB 327, which prohibited natural hair discrimination in public schools and workplaces statewide, per the Nevada Equal Rights Commission. She served in the Nevada Assembly from 2010 to 2020 before her election to the state Senate.
Community leader Lawrence Weekly is also participating, KSNV reported. Weekly served on the Clark County Commission for more than 13 years before being appointed Chief of Staff and Chief Diversity Officer for the College of Southern Nevada in 2021. He previously served on the Las Vegas City Council and chaired the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Board. Tricia A. Bookhart, president of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., rounds out the roster of local supporters named by KSNV. That national organization, established in 1981 to advocate for gender equity and leadership development for Black women and girls, focuses its mission on health, education and economic empowerment, according to the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.
The tour's civic footprint extends beyond Nevada. State and municipal leaders across the country have formally recognized its work through executive proclamations, including former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who once proclaimed May 26 as Girls Who Brunch Day, according to the Girls Who Brunch Tour. Local mayors in South Carolina and Texas have issued similar proclamations. Hoodline previously covered a Girls Who Brunch fundraiser held in New Orleans in 2018 benefiting child advocacy causes, part of the organization's long-running pattern of touring stops nationwide before Saturday's homecoming in Las Vegas.
