Aqua Girl: Women, Parties, and Entertainment � All for a Good Cause

In 1999, 800 women gathered in South Florida for a one-day event and raised $15,000 for two local breast cancer organizations. The seed that was sown as Sweet Charity has grown into four days of parties and special events attracting thousands of women from around the world and continuing to raise money for charity.

This year Aqua Girl, as it is now called, will take over Miami, Florida, May 12-16, and offer LBT women 14 events from parties to dances to shows, dinners and live entertainment. And Aqua Girl has stayed true to its roots -- all of the proceeds will benefit the Aqua Foundation for Women, a not-for profit organization that promotes equality, health and visibility of LBT women.

Aqua Girl is the brainchild of event producer Alison Burgos. "I think I had this dream in my head of this great party with thousands of women with lights and sounds but I don’t think I had the vision that women would come from all over and become so empowered and that it would become such a positive weekend. It’s really special because it’s done by the community."

“We are looking for the event to be bigger and better than ever,” says Aqua Foundation President Laura Steckler. “We want to make sure that we appeal to a cross section of LBT women so of course we have a lot of exciting pool parties but we have also developed a new cultural path where there is a dine out event on South Beach. We have a comedy show with Elvira Kurt …We have a brunch … we have lots of events that will appeal to women across all spectrums, which is what we want to do.”

This year’s Aqua Girl will reflect some changes and growth for the Aqua Foundation, explains Steckler. “We have grown the board of directors and have hired an executive director as well as another full time director.”

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