Johnraé Stowers built a Milwaukee tradition. Ten years after she started the Divas Brunch, the annual gathering for women and girls returns to Marquette University's campus with tickets already gone and roughly 500 to 600 women expected to fill the room.
A Decade Rooted In Grief And Sisterhood
Stowers, who owns JazzyRae' Jewels & Accessories, is featured in OnMilwaukee's report on the brunch. The brunch honors her late mother, Pastor Petria Diggs-Scott. The report also discusses how the idea for the gathering developed.
This year's brunch, set for Saturday, focuses on empowerment and connection, the outlet notes. Stowers has said the brunch brings over 500 women together, and organizers expect the crowd to land somewhere between 500 and 600 attendees this time around. The event provides what OnMilwaukee describes as a safe environment for women to share personal stories.
Vendors, Fashion And A Keynote From Chicago
The 10th annual Divas Brunch features women vendors, live performances and a fashion show at the sold-out event. Sherry Simmons, who organized the last two brunches and serves as the event's project manager, has helped steer the gathering's recent growth, per the outlet's account.
This year's keynote speaker is K-Love the Poet, a Chicago poet described in her biography as a spoken-word artist, speaker, author and youth mentor, the report states. Her biography says she debuted on the Chicago poetry scene in 2003. She gained national exposure after being featured on a 2007 Malik Yusef album produced by Kanye West, and she is known in Chicago as the Mother of the Southside for her youth mentorship work, according to K Love the Poet's biography.
A Business And A Foundation Grown Together
Stowers' commercial life and her charitable work run on parallel tracks along West Vliet Street. Her boutique, JazzyRae' Jewels & Accessories, opened on West Vliet Street as both a retail shop and what WUWM described as an informal gathering sanctuary for neighborhood women. The shop also takes part in 43rd + Vliet, a monthly community event series launched in 2025 to revitalize the Near West Side commercial district near Washington Park, featuring local musicians, artists and pop-up vendors, according to Denizen MKE. According to the City of Milwaukee's Near West Side Comprehensive Plan, dated 23 Jan 2009, the area’s priorities include strengthening housing, business, retail, transportation, recreational and cultural assets. The City of Milwaukee's Washington Park plan identifies Vliet Street from 35th Street to 40th Street as a corridor and recommends a mix of uses.
The Divas Brunch is an annual gathering for women and girls.
An Educator's Day Job Shapes The Mission
Marquette's Educational Opportunity Program has a much older history. The program was established in 1969 after 200 students barricaded union doors in May 1968 demanding racial equality and minority scholarships, according to Marquette University's own historical account. The program began with 40 students and has since served thousands of students, per Marquette's own reporting on the program's 55th anniversary.
The Divas Brunch also reflects the entrepreneurial and community work surrounding Milwaukee's women-led businesses.
What Comes Next For The Brunch
The report does not detail plans to expand the Divas Brunch to other states or bring it into Milwaukee Public Schools high schools. It also does not detail whether young women Stowers mentors volunteer and network at the brunch or whether she plans to leave the event's legacy to her daughters. The 10th anniversary edition has already sold out.
