First conference, WIBCA’s HERstory

Last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to attend the West Islands Black community association conference called HERstory. The event was hosted by Vanessa Manroop, a leading member in the community and a Concordia graduate. The goal of the event was to showcase black women who are trailblazer in their field. The invitees were Alexis Maniatis, owner of pressed and pretty cookies, Nicole Antoine, recently featured on Forbes magazine for her Blaxpo conferences , Jamillah Jean, the founder of hike montreal and DJ Nelles, an emerging DJ with amazing soundtracks.

The conference was extremely pleasant and each woman's story was remarkable. One that stuck out with me is Jamillah Jean's, she founded hike montreal because she loves outdoors but she quickly realized that black people were underrepresented in winter sports. Living in Quebec is a blessing because we have proximity with nature and as black people, we too should enjoy it. I resonated with her because one time I tried to sign up for skiing classes but I didn't get a positive interaction which made me drop the idea of skiing. Jamillah Jean offers numerous activities such as snowboarding, rock climbing etc. Her packages are affordable because she tries to get funding from lots of different places. It includes everything even

transportation.

I am so happy to have attended this conference. Not only because we were served amazing cupcakes and Jamaican food, but because I got to connect with professionals. It was a new experience and I'll definitely attend more.

15/02/2024