Introducing Transatlantic Speakers for
Black History Month!
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Celebrate Black History Month with speakers, who have expertise on topics of resilience and joy. We offer speakers that reflect on their own journeys of perseverance in the wake of adversity and systemic racism, and through their perspectives, they inspire action and guide society toward positive change. |
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Stephen Dorsey is a senior-level business, brand and marketing strategist with 30 years of international experience engaging with Fortune 1000 organizations in Canada, the US, Australia, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean.
Stephen’s articles, essays and op-eds have been published broadly including in the Globe and Mail and Le Devoir, and he has been a frequent interviewee on Canadian radio and television. He is a civically engaged community leader with extensive experience engaging with municipal, provincial and federal government policy makers and agencies to help drive positive change.
In addition to his board role with the Black Business and Professional Association, (BBPA), Stephen is a volunteer director on the Friends of Sorauren Park board, and a founding member of Democracy House, a grassroots think tank and civic minded movement dedicated to preserving and strengthening democratic systems and practices in Canada and around the world.
Stephen believes we can all Be Better, Do Better, and Live Better, Together.
Speaking Topics:
– Overcoming adversity caused by systemic racism
– How to be better, do better and live better, together. A keynote for the ally in all of us.
– Building and Transforming Communities through Practical Activism.
To find out more, please visit Stephen’s speaker profile HERE.
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Chelene Knight is the author of the Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award, and long-listed for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Her essays have appeared in multiple Canadian and American literary journals, plus the Globe and Mail, the Walrus, and the Toronto Star. Her work is anthologized in Making Room, Love Me True, Sustenance, The Summer Book, and Black Writers Matter, winner of the 2020 Saskatchewan Book Award. Her poem, “Welwitschia” won the 2020 CV2 Editor’s Choice award. She was shortlisted for PRISM’s 2021 short forms contest. Chelene’s novel, Junie, released in 2022, and her book on Black self-love and joy is forthcoming with HarperCollins Canada in 2023.
Knight was the previous managing editor at Room magazine, and the previous festival director for the Growing Room Festival in Vancouver. She is now founder of her own literary studio, Breathing Space Creative through which she’s launched The Forever Writers Club, a membership for writers focused on creative sustainability. Chelene has spoken for universities, trade unions, advocacy groups, literary festivals and conferences all over Canada and beyond.
Speaking Topics Include:
– Author Care
– Diversity in Publishing
– Women of Colour as Leaders and Mentors
– Equity & Inclusion: Women of Colour in executive positions
–Turning the Tables On Belonging
To find out more, please visit Chelene’s website HERE and her business website HERE.
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Cecil Foster is a leading author, academic, journalist and public intellectual. His work speaks about the challenges that Black people have encountered historically in Canada in their efforts to achieve respect and recognition for their contribution to what is now a multicultural Canada. He highlights their fight for social justice and human dignity. In particular, Foster addresses the issues of immigration in his critical discussions on who is a Canadian in the ever-evolving social narrative toward a genuine multicultural Canada. He is the author of 13 books of fiction and nonfiction, including his most recent book They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada, was published in 2019.
Speaking Topics Include:
– Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
– Writing and Writing Craft
– Issues of Immigration: Who is Canadian in an Ever-evolving Social Narrative
– The Historical Role of Black Train Porters and the making of Modern Canada
To find out more, please visit Cecil’s website HERE.
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Eternity Martis is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University where she developed a first-of-its kind course on media and the Black community, and an award-winning Toronto-based journalist. Her writing has appeared in Vice, Huffington Post, The Walrus, CBC, and other major media, and on academic syllabuses around the world. Her work has influenced media style-guide changes across the country. In 2020, she was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by Women’s Executive Network.
Her bestselling debut memoir, They Said This Would Be Fun, was a “Best Book of the Year” pick by the Globe and Mail, And one of the CBC's top 20 Canadian memoirs. PopSugar named it one of “5 Books About Race on College Campuses Every Student Should Read.”
Speaking Topics:
– What does it mean to be a student (and woman) of colour on a Canadian university campus today?
– The power of personal storytelling for marginalized groups
– A silent killer: Interpartner violence among Millennial women
– Rethinking Objectivity: The Role Of Journalism In A Social-Justice Era
– The Power of Perception: The impact of journalism on the well-being of Black communities
To find out more, please visit Eternity’s website HERE.
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All speakers can be booked for in- person, or specially formatted for remote conferencing.
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