US
FOR BY WHEN AFRICAN WOMEN BY: REHANA MALIK
TALK
‘When African Women Talk’ is a community initiative founded by Rehana Malik-Mbanga under Stimbok Corporation, to support the women in the community as they navigate their lives in Edmonton. It was birthed in 2018 through the first Women Talk Africa event. The forum celebrates Canadian Women of African Heritage and is held annually during Black History month. Rehana Malik-Mbanga collaborated with Brigitte Lessard-Dyell, the founder of Women Talk, to host an annual engagement that would allow other Canadian women to celebrate and learn more about the women of African heritage. The intent is to explore the diversity that exists within the Black experience; from varying religious and spiritual backgrounds, different perspectives from those with Caribbean, African, or even mixed roots and the intersectionality of those within LGBTQ+ community. In the media, Black women are
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too often represented as poor, uneducated, battered, or angry. Rehanna wanted the women in her community as well as others to meet instead, the amazing entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors, philanthropists and artists that reflect the Black community.
“It is important that other Canadians learn how we live, what we go through as Black people, immigrants, professionals and women living in Canada. Our stories of overcoming and fortitude. A space for us to see and be seen.” What started as a space to share stories has evolved into a platform where Black women meet and form a sisterhood; they patronize one another’s businesses and encourage one another to push forward. It has given access to resources and wealth within the community that would have otherwise remained hidden.
