While Orest’s family was successful, they encountered many hardships, this is due to the Rwandan genocide that happened from 1993 to 1994. His family fled Rwanda and moved to Congo for a better life. They were forced to sell their property, their homes and everything that they owned. They lived in Congo for about two years before the Congolese government started kicking people out. This led the Ndabaneze family back to Burundi, where Orest was born.

Eve is the founder of Capability Career Group, a Calgary-based organization specializing in diversity, inclusion and belonging, academic advising, career development and employment skills workshops.

Eve started in this industry by working for employment agencies in Calgary and seeing first-hand just how rigged the system is.

Misha was born in Swaziland and raised in South Africa, Australia and Canada. She credits the African continent’s rich culture of music and singing as well as the church, for her early appreciation of music.

On the bright side of stress-pessimism, depressive rage is probably the most appropriate mood for listening to black and death metal, which is, once again, what we are doing here.

You are putting the burden of education unto a student disguised as an “opportunity to share.” You are putting a student on the spot in an environment that has most likely not been optimized for their safety.

In honour of the month where we celebrate Black excellence and love, I want to extend that celebration to Black women revelling in self preservation and self care. Chatting with Calgary It Girl, Femi Akinsanya, I sought to understand: how can a Black girl practice self-care on Valentine’s Day and beyond.

In John Ware Reclaimed, Cheryl Foggo re-examines the story of John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta in the 19th century.

I want to be satisfied with the idea of “care” simply being kind in one’s daily interactions, however caring might mean saying uncomfortable truths, without waiting for the comfort of the cultural climate…

Photo by Pink Blush Photography

Onyx refers to herself as The Stripper Queen of Canada. She is an exotic dancer who has been working across Canada for over 15 years. Among a long list of titles, Onyx is a two-time winner of Miss Nude Canada and also holds the title of Miss Burlesque North America. Yet despite being one of the best in the industry, Onyx has to fight for what most of us see as basic human rights.