Shades of Pearls, a minority female organization with a purpose to engage, empower and encourage African American and Hispanic women, will host its first-ever symposium titled Speak Your Truth, Sis!: The Lived Experiences of Women of Color on Saturday, March 30. The symposium includes a variety of activities and events throughout the day in the Benham-Pence Student Center and the Joseph P. Shouvlin Center for Lifelong Learning.
The symposium will discuss the lived experiences of women of color with respect to the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The focus of the symposium is to center the social, political, and economic narratives of black and brown female bodies, and it will feature several speakers, including comedian Kelly Kellz, Heather “Byrd” Roberts, Lauren Welch, Wittenberg class of 2010, and Amaya Sexton.
Kellz is HBO’s All Def Comedian. She is featured in comedy shows all over the nation, from Black College Homecomings to Broadway Stages. She is also a member of the Greek Comedy Tour, where she tours the country encouraging members of black Greek organizations to challenge negative stigmas.
Roberts is a spoken word poet, performer, and teaching artist. She launched her professional career in diversity and inclusion at Cornell College. She recently released a book titled Mahogany: A Love Letter to Black, and she is working on another poetic manuscript titled HERstory of HIStory. She has recently taken the stage at Wittenberg with her performance partner Gregory Geffard to dramatize many of the complex subjects of her forthcoming Chapbook, such as Black humanity, Black masculine and feminine politics, police brutality, and the Black family structure.
Welch is an activist and a self-defined womanist, which means she advocates for the rights and lives of “outrageous, courageous, or willful black women who love other women and black men, but who are also committed to the survival and wholeness of an entire people.” She is also a member of The Soul of Philanthropy: Reframed and Exhibited, a collaboration of civic and community leaders, volunteer activists, and philanthropist in the Cleveland area. Welch was the vice president of Concerned Black Students (CBS) while a student at Wittenberg. She was honored with Who’s Who of Black Cleveland in 2015 and 2016.
Sexton is a seasoned, biracial, transgender female impersonator. She has been doing drag performances for 10 years, obtaining 40 pageant titles. Sexton has spoken before at Wittenberg on such topics as drag performance and gay and transgender rights. She was recently awarded the title of “Dayton’s Best Drag Queen.”
The symposium will begin at 8 a.m. with registration in the Shouvlin Center and breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Student and guest presentations will take place from 9-11:45 a.m., followed by lunch and an awards presentation from 12-1:15 p.m. The afternoon schedule features a panel discussion from 1:30-4 p.m., and the symposium will conclude with a spoken word/comedy show in Founder’s Pub from 7-11 p.m.
Click here to learn more about the 2019 Shades of Pearls Symposium: https://www.wittenberg.edu/student-life/diversity/shades-pearls-symposi…
Written By: Sidney Reeder ‘22
