Supplied: de Sedulous Women Leaders

By Shaun Penner

Virtual Event

de Sedulous Women Leaders hosting educational virtual event Saturday

Feb 26, 2021 | 6:03 PM

A women’s leadership group led by a Grande Prairie woman will be holding an online event on Saturday to close out Black History Month.

The de Sedulous Women Leaders, an initiative led by Ejibola Adetokunbo-Taiwo, will be hosting the event “The Future of Female Black-Owned Brands in Canada” from 1-5 p.m. on February 27.

Adetokunbo-Taiwo says the intention of the event is to celebrate successful BIPOC, and all, women in the business world, with a list of speakers that includes Minister of Mental Health, Wellness and Recovery in Manitoba Audrey Gordon as the keynote speaker.

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton will also speak.

“I mean, she’s making history being the first female mayor in Grande Prairie right now. So, we see that as a milestone, we see that as a success we would love to celebrate,” said Adetokunbo-Taiwo. “Not only that, she is also an entrepreneur. We thought her talking about that would resonate with a lot of the women.”

Other speakers included in the day of education, but also “fun and excitement”, includes Alberta Minister for Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Leela Sharon Aheer, Associate Professor, Principle Investigator (Health & Immigration Policies & Practices Research Program) at the University of Alberta Dr. Bukola Salami, and Head of Customer Services at the Grande Prairie Public Library Tara Wiebe.

There will be other presenters, including a spoken word poem from Amanda Okafor, readings from books of three Black authors, and more.

“We have another special feature for that day, which would be food photography,” said Adetokunbo-Taiwo, speaking of the presentation which will come from Taiwo Ayinde, who will look to help put a spotlight on international foods.

“She is going to be (giving) us insight into the Black food culture.”

Following that, the organization will be donating books written by Black women to the Grande Prairie Public Library in celebration of Black History Month.

“Our intention doing this is to showcase our black women authors (particularly Sedulous Women Authors), share their books to other cities like Grande Prairie, and have their books sit pretty on the library shelf and be part of the library literature catalog for the young generation of black girls to read it, be inspired by a black woman author and be empowered because we know that if they can see it, they can become it.”

de Sedulous Women Leaders, founded by Adetokunbo-Taiwo here in Grande Prairie, is an initiative that is committed to empowering, supporting, and educating Immigrant and Black women in management and entrepreneurship.

“Where we come together to uplift, empower, to coach and train them when it comes to businesses, or how to grow their enterprise,” said Adetokunbo-Taiwo. “Also, we do have women that are part of the network who are seeking to learn more from other successful women.”

Saturday’s event will be live-streamed over Google Meets. A link to register can be found here.

Adetokunbo-Taiwo adds she hopes those in attendance will start to shape the future they would like to see for themselves.

“Opportunities and security are what we all want and I am committed to raising the voice of every Black immigrant woman in Canada to a place where they can be seen, heard, supported and elevated to a place of success and prosperity.”