Join Sisters and Friends to share, learn, and inspire women from all walks of life at all stages in life. It is a beautiful thing to see our sisters freely sharing talent and life experiences and passing on blessings to each other during our online and in-person outreach!
Connie Portis, Host of Sisters & Friends
What began in 1989 as Womanpower…Seminar for Black Women Only and blossomed into Sisters & Friends. From 1984 to Connie Portis has presented stories, stellar events, and business forums and getaways. She is the founder of Renaissance TOO Magazine, Greater Pittsburgh Black Business Directory, and Renaissance News a ‘good news’ newspaper in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and is the founder and host of Sisters & Friends.
In 200 13 Sisters & Friends gathered in one house on Martha’s Vineyard for a week of sharing, shopping, exploring, and chilling on the porch! In 2022 over 170 women from around the country gathered for the same kind of Sistersharing on the Vineyard. Two weeks, 17 houses, and dropping over $150,000 in revenue during the shoulder season of rentals and tourism on the island. During the 2019 Jamaica Getaway, the group stayed at the Negril Tree House taking over $2000 in school supplies, and donating to the One Love Village and the Montego Bay Boys & Girls Club!
In 2020 plans to Barbados were derailed because of the COVID pandemic, over 161 were registered. Guests will get an opportunity for a do-over from April 10-17 in 2024.
It is a beautiful thing to see our sisters sharing of talent and life experiences and passing on blessings to each other during our online and in-person outreach!
I am guided by Ecclesiastes 9 -10 “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
Lynne Hayes Freeland, Program Host
In 2020, Lynne Hayes Freeland retired from her 45-year career as a full-time Emmy Award-winning television and radio broadcaster, she is still going strong as a sought-after host, public speaker, and part-time on-air personality. She is known in the Pittsburgh region as a newscaster and for her trailblazing radio and television shows, “Lynne Hayes Free Land Show.”
Her enlightening interviews include Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, and Oprah Winfrey to community leaders and activists. Her shows have tackled topics of disparity in health care in the African American community to HIV AIDS and recently the COVID pandemic.
Lynne’s compassion for women and families is exemplified by the “Waiting Child” promotion for adoptive and foster care children and for decades she hosted the “Dollar Bank’s Mortgage for Mothers”. Lynne is sought after in the region to host events and as a spokesperson for companies in the area.
Lynne keeps things moving on Sisters & Friends ZOOM and in-person during Sisters & Friends activities.
Debra Gloster, YOGA Instructor
When I began this yoga journey it was immediately after an injury and I have been hooked ever since. It has helped me tremendously to relax and relieve stress. We live in such a fast-paced society that we all may need to pause and take a moment for self-care by going inward.
Debra Gloster is a certified Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance, which acknowledges the completion of a yoga teacher training with a Registered Yoga School (RYS). Debra is a retired educator and school administrator. For 13 years since retirement, Debra follows her passion for YOGA using her teaching experience. She specializes in Raja Yoga with a Social Justice lens and Hatha Yoga. Whether leading one-on-one YOGA instruction to group classes for adults and youth, Debra uses her calming personality to reach every participant. Her love of sunrise and sunset YOGA on the beach is especially popular with sisterfriends.
