Happy Black History month everyone!
For this newsletter, I wanted to reflect on how the month of February went for me. There are a lot of times when we either accomplish goals or experience things out of our ordinary, that we do not look back to reflect on. And with especially how fast paced life is, it’s almost understandable.
Quite honestly, it wasn’t really a super busy month for me, but there were some interesting things that did happen. Drumroll please! First of all, I officially launched a
book - The Power Within
.
Exciting, right? When I first started out in this business, I was told to write a book and now fast forward to 7 years later, voilà, a book! So why now? Why did I collaborate? Why a book? If you know me, you’ll know that I’ve always wanted to provide women with a platform to tell their stories and compared to a digital platform, a book makes a huge difference, because having to sit in front of a screen to tell your story might make one more vulnerable than having it written down. Plus, these co-authors are able to have that checkmark and say that they are authors, and it sure feels good.
Secondly, in honor of Black History month, I went to watch four plays, back to back! Trust me when I say that I was exhausted after having to sit through them all. But I’m glad I did get the chance to do so. One of the shows, Black Women in Theatre had four short plays in one. It was quite interesting. The first play was about the perception of Caribana on the Caribbean diaspora generation, as to if this generation truly understands what Caribana is about. The next was a dialogue amongst high schoolers and how they see their future. The third was one of my favourites. It was of 6 women and was titled “
Why do Black Women whisper?”
. Because there’s already a misconception of Black women in our society, we are afraid to speak our minds, chase after our dreams and be truly authentic. We are almost always caged in and it has gotten to a point where we are now tired of being perceived in a certain way. We are tired of being treated less than, and it shows. And going forward, we will loudly reclaim what has always been ours.
The last of the four plays I watched was called “
Fish and Rum”
. This was an eye opener for me because prior to this, I had absolutely no idea about the trade relationship between Jamaica and Newfoundland back in the 1920’s. During the prohibition era, Newfoundland traded cod for rum because cod wasn’t found in the waters of the Caribbean. The play ran a parallel between a Newfoundland and Jamaican family. It showed the exchange of salted cod for barrels of rum as the folk in Newfoundland were no longer getting enough money for their catch. Eventually, they started sending lower grade cod to Jamaica thinking people wouldn't notice. The Jamaicans however, started noticing once people became ill and started dying from the tainted fish. In return, they began sending lower grade barrels to Newfoundland. This resulted in people dying from the tainted rum. In the end, a resolution was reached between both parties by mutually agreeing to stop sending low grade goods. Interesting, right? It is safe to say that two of the four plays were definitely not on my radar and it was because of Black History month that I was able to watch them.
I also was fortunate enough to see Hamilton and Caroline or Change. Both productions were nothing less of awe inspiring.
Lastly, I attended an event in Welland, Ontario. The event was focused on its entrepreneurial francophone community and how services could be provided to that specific community. It was hosted by the Mayor's office and The City of Welland and I met some really cool businesses that I could potentially collaborate with in the future. Also, it was awesome to learn of the demographics as I had no idea there were so many francophones in the area!
The bottom line is, I was intentional about this month and I wanted to go out there to find Black History month activities. I didn't want to go to just another City event, but to events curated by us, for us.
On another note, what are you all planning on doing in March for International Women's day?
