With the word “reimagine” as a catalyst, spiritual coach, motivational speaker and author Rita Ricks’ “Little Black Dress Day Affair,” event last year enabled women to dress up and celebrate their spirit and each other.

“We were really just coming out of COVID-19, and in another life I had been a boutique owner and a fashion consultant,” Ms. Ricks said in a recent telephone interview. “I felt like it was time for us to come out of COVID and get dressed.”

Whether worn as a symbol of a provocative woman, or simply defined as chic, classic and glamorous, Ms. Ricks’ fashion sense leads her to state unequivocally that, “a little black dress makes us all feel good. I don’t know anybody who objects to wearing a little black dress.”

On Saturday, April 29, dozens of Richmond-area women will attend Ms. Ricks’ second “Little Black Dress Day Affair” at Main Street Station.

Whereas last year’s event gave women a chance to network and “just see one another again,” Ms. Ricks decided to recast “Black Dress” this year after falling in love with the book, “Yellow Wife,” written by a New York Times best-selling author and Chesterfield County resident Sadeqa Johnson.

The book tells the fictional story of a woman’s struggle to protect her family and survive, but it also details some of the very real atrocities that took place in Lumpkins Jail, also known as “the Devil’s half-acre,” which was located just blocks from the Main Street Station venue.

Ms. Johnson’s book also inspired this year’s focus word — “persevere.” “The main character in this story persevered,” Ms. Ricks said. “Women persevere. We all persevere at some point.”

During the event, Ms. Ricks will interview Ms. Johnson, whose current best-seller is titled “The House of Eve,” about the writing process involved in “Yellow Wife.”

“She did a lot of research,” Ms. Ricks said. “I am really curious to find out how she was able to stomach all the horrors and atrocities she read about.”

Bill Martin, director of Richmond’s The Valentine museum, will share true accounts of Lumpkins Jail and its impact on Richmond history.

As a spiritual coach. Ms. Ricks says she finds purpose in helping women to remove the barriers that keep them from living the lives they were born to live.

“There’s so much that we suppress as women, and oftentimes that is our spirit,” she added. “My role is to show women how to live from the inside out ... to live in the center of who they are and the joy that is offered there.”