Bring Your Own Chair

Twitter: @ImaniOakleyNJ

It’s been quite a year and BYOC has been on a bit of a hiatus. But we are excited to close the year out with a couple of special episodes! During Black Philanthropy Month 2020, Bring Your Own Chair and Domprofit collaborated to create a panel focused on young Black women's experiences in the fundraising and philanthropy sectors. As more attention is being paid to DEI, there can be a tendency to focus on the most visible employees at an organization or company. However, the journey to senior leadership has to start somewhere. Informed by the Building Movement Project's Race to Lead series, which seeks to understand why there are still so few leaders of color in the nonprofit sector, this panel took a look at how young Black women are experiencing the broader nonprofit sector and what can be done to allow them to thrive, not survive the sector.

This episode features the second part of our conversation lead by Adetola Olatunji with panelists Cyronica Simone, Dominique Calixte, Ebony Jones, and Khayriyyah MuhammadSmith. Check out the panel website for link to the resources discussed during the conversation and panelist bios (https://www.khayriyyah.com/thrive-not-survive-panel).

It’s been quite a year and BYOC has been on a bit of a hiatus. But we are excited to close the year out with a couple of special episodes! During Black Philanthropy Month 2020, Bring Your Own Chair and Domprofit collaborated to create a panel focused on young Black women's experiences in the fundraising and philanthropy sectors. As more attention is being paid to DEI, there can be a tendency to focus on the most visible employees at an organization or company. However, the journey to senior leadership has to start somewhere. Informed by the Building Movement Project's Race to Lead series, which seeks to understand why there are still so few leaders of color in the nonprofit sector, this panel took a look at how young Black women are experiencing the broader nonprofit sector and what can be done to allow them to thrive, not survive the sector.

This episode features the first part of our conversation lead by Adetola Olatunji with panelists Cyronica Simone, Dominique Calixte, Ebony Jones, and Khayriyyah MuhammadSmith. Check out the panel website for links to the resources discussed during the conversation and panelist bios (https://www.khayriyyah.com/thrive-not-survive-panel).

Yasmine Sidi Shitta a.k.a. Cheetah Shitta, is the creator and host of Cocktails with Cheetah, a series dedicated to bringing forth the most talented people to share their intimate experiences through craft cocktails and conversation. Before venturing into this creative role, Cheetah specialized in creating and producing multi-million dollar events, meetings and conferences within the B2B, B2C, automotive, beauty/health and fine art industries. While maintaining a strong work ethic is extremely important to Cheetah, so is spending time with family and friends, mentoring Black youth, catching up on the latest graphic novels and being a mom to over 100 plant babies as well as a pup named Piper. Cheetah plans to continuously create content highlighting the successes, encouragement and mental/physical/emotional health of Black women.

Social Media:

Cheetah Shitta

Cocktails with Cheetah

HypeBae Shitta

LinkedIn

This episode features my conversation with Shayne Hearns! She is an operating room nurse at the University of Michigan’s cardiovascular center. Shayne graduated from Oakland University’s School of Nursing in 2017. She would have said favorite activities are snuggling in and watching Netflix pre-COVID-19, but now it’s anything outside! Shayne loves being goofy and making people laugh as she finds it’s the easiest way to connect with them.

Follow Shayne on Instagram @mylifeasshayne!

Today’s episode features Dominique Calixte! I am so excited to share my conversation with her as it takes a bit of a different format. We discussed our experiences in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors as young women of color.

Dominique is a proud Haitian-American, Boston native. She is also a dedicated nonprofit professional, so much so that Dominique is earning her master's in Nonprofit Management at Northeastern in a few weeks. She’s also very involved with several nonprofit organizations as a board member, including the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Boston, which supports emerging young nonprofit professionals.

Links to the Resources Dominique Shared:

Website: www.DominiqueCalixte.com

YW Boston - Stand Against Racism Online Campaign: https://www.ywboston.org/our-work/our-programs/stand-against-racism/

The Rooted:

https://therootedretreat.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/therootedcollaborative/?ref=bookmarks

Women in Development (Boston and NYC Chapters)

https://widgb.org/

https://widny.org/

AFP - Association of Fundraising Professionals: https://afpglobal.org/

YNPN National: http://www.ynpn.org/

YNPN Boston: https://www.ynpnboston.org/

I had the opportunity to chat with Rho Hudson on this episode of BYOC! Rho is a new comedian and improviser but long time funny lady. She’s currently studying at The Second City Training Center in Chicago and visiting various open mics to work on her stand up materiel. Rho’s biggest accomplishments in comedy have been opening for Samuel Comroe and auditioning for Stand up NBC.

You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @ohrrho. And check out her music recommendation, Lucky Daye!

This episode features Kiara Bobo-Byrd! She’s in her junior year at Michigan State University studying an interdisciplinary science degree with the goal of becoming a doctor in the future. Kiara is such a wise young woman who shares her persevering perspective during our chat.

You can follow Kiara’s journey on twitter and instagram at kiaraaleema subscribe to her youtube channel too!

Today’s episode features Haita Toure! She is originally from Anchorage, AK but currently lives in Charlotte, NC. She recently graduated with her MA in Sociology. She is passionate about making content on YouTube and working to end race and gender issues, and human trafficking.

Haita is one of the funniest women I know but you can decide for yourself by checking out her Youtube Channel and following her on Twitter (@HumoruZ_Tr3) and Instagram & Snapchat (@touredefrance).

This episode features Torri Mathes! She is the Media Communications Specialist at the City of Auburn Hills, Michigan and specializes in content writing and editing, social media marketing, and videography. Torri has worked in web, software, and app design and development, as well as branding and collateral development within a range of industries including business, automotive, city government, nonprofits, and healthcare systems. In her off time, she have spent over 6 or so years working with, developing, mentoring, and facilitating non-profit organizations that help girls and women of all ages that aid resources for career development or workforce advancement. Most recently (this past election), Torri and a peer started their own business to help women running for office at a local and county level.

Torri’s quote for this year is: “You've survived what you thought would kill you. Now straighten your crown and move forward like the queen you are.”

Her (longer) quote/daily reminder: “So, do it. Decide. Is this the life you want to live? Is this the person you want to love? Is this the best you can be? Can you be stronger? Kinder? More compassionate? Decide. Breathe in. Breathe out and decide.” - Meredith Grey