by CHRIS BARRY

They’ve existed for less than a year, but clearly Lisa McKenzie and her Deserving Divas organization must be filling some collective hole in the female bonding marketplace because, in that short space of time, the DDs have managed to enlist over 1,000 women to their ranks. In fact, the very first Deserving Diva get-together last March drew somewhere in the neighbourhood of 400 enthusiastic local Phaedras, ranging in age from early 20s to late 60s. No small feat for a burgeoning community organization comprised almost exclusively of anglo Montreal women. But what might a deserving diva be, you ask? And what happens when all that estrogen flows together to form one powerful assembly?

“Well,” states DD founder McKenzie, “the original idea was to empower women. Like, how can I get women excited and empower them and challenge them? And I realized that it was through pampering—not necessarily just pampering, but by getting women out of their box and just enjoying themselves—whether it be for a couple of hours or a weekend getaway.”

“You see,” she continues, “I have a lot of women friends and regardless of how old they are, they seem to be living for everyone else before themselves. I’ve seen a lot of failed relationships because women just don’t take time for themselves. And how can they expect to give to the other people in their lives when they’re not happy themselves? You know, they think they’re being selfish for taking time out. It’s such a shame, because that’s not what it’s about at all.

“A lot of women come to our events alone—which is fantastic. They get to meet other women, be challenged, inspired by other women’s stories.”

That said, McKenzie insists Deserving Divas doesn’t actively support a feminist agenda —not that there would be anything wrong with that. “Look,” she explains, “society drives us to maximize every second of the day to the point where we don’t have any time to just sit back and be with ourselves. This is what needs to be addressed. So a feminist agenda? Nah, I’ve chosen to do this with women because I am a woman and I know what women want. But in general it’s really about all people.”

To this end, outside of organizing makeover parties, all-diva trips to New York City, body image workshops, and, last but not least, attempting to arrange an upcoming trip to Chicago so the DD membership can suffer through a taping of Oprah first hand, McKenzie dutifully pens a bi-weekly newsletter on the DD Web site, (www.deservingdivas.com) chock-full of “interesting articles about how to pamper yourself in five minutes, how to take care of yourself, how to follow your dreams and so on.”

And though McKenzie claims the Deserving Divas organization has yet to turn a profit, the ultimate goal is to franchise the brand across the continent. “Soon we’ll be charging for memberships and, with that, members will be able to go to some events for free. Because Deserving Divas is such a new concept—it’s never been done before—I’m relying on our members to give me feedback to build the business model. But once that’s done, we’ll be going across North America!”