A group of community women invite all Brookhaven women to a women’s conference entitled “What Are You Hiding Behind Your Mask?”

The conference features author and speaker Lori Edwards and seeks to open communication between the younger and older generations of women in the city.

The conference starts Saturday at 9 a.m. and will be held at the Serenity House on 511 North Church Street.

Charlotte Daniels, one of the organizers of the event, said she heard Edwards speak at a Seventh Day Adventists Church in South Jackson when Edwards was speaking on her book, Why Do You Cry.

“When I heard her story, I thought about the women and young ladies in my community,” Daniels said. “A lot of our young women are suffering, and its causing grief, mourning, these feelings of wanting to be in control or that we’re getting off to things too early.”

Daniels said Edwards’s book and story could help women regain consciousness by humbling themselves before Christ. Daniels then approached some friends and colleagues of hers and told them about the possibility of bringing Edwards to Brookhave. They jumped on board.

“We’re hoping it’s a foundation to get started back to basic parenting,” Daniels said.

She said the title’s inspiration came from the fact that “we know how to put on our makeup and how to hide behind what the public sees” so much so that “we don’t know who we are.”

“I love my city, and I want young women to know there is hope, that they don’t have to hide behind their masks,” Daniels said. “If they don’t know their reason for being, there are ladies in the community to help.

Daniels, who grew up in Brookhaven, said growing up it was helpful to her to be able to look up to and respect older women in the community. Now that she’s older, she feels the need to work in her community to help the younger generation.

She said she wants the outcome of the conference to teach women in her community to fight for your children, fight for what’s right, come from behind your mask, walk proudly and know your worth.

“Women in this community need to hear her testimony,” Daniels said about Saturday’s speaker. “She holds that area because she went through it.”

Daniels said Edwards will have a book signing for those in the community who already have her book, and Edwards will also have books there for interested individuals to purchase.