The Voices of Powerful Everyday Women
MWP Conversation series: #1
More than 110 women participated in our first-ever Minnesota Women’s Press Conversation, held April 2018 at the Solar Arts Building in Northeast Minneapolis.
You have your choice of watching the full version of each of the six speakers, divided here into two parts:
Amoke Kubat, Judith Guest, Asma Mohammed
comments by moderator De’Vonna Pittman
Nina Berglund, Shannon Gibney, Kalia Yang
A 16-year-old attendee at the event was Sundus Abdullahi, a student of speaker Shannon Gibney, who wrote this afterward:
“The Women’s Press event was truly inspiring. Seeing women of such diverse backgrounds describe how they fight for women was such an amazing experience. This experience strengthened my belief in the importance of understanding the intersectional identities of women from all walks of life. Each and every one of them has their own fight, their own definition of feminism.The 18-year-old woman’s speech was so moving, you could almost hear the pain and suffering Native Americans have been subject to for the past 300 years.
“I felt like I really connected with the Hmong immigrant woman’s accounts, and her sharing the memories of her war-torn country, the refugee camps, and the death and hunger. It reminded me of all the stories my mother told me of how many of my family members didn’t think I would survive either. My mother, displaced from her home country gave birth to me in the Hagadera Refugee camp located in Kenya.
“Asma’s speech was very powerful. It was nice to see someone shining a positive light on my religion [Islam].
After each of the speakers, I moved around and discussed with different groups of women. It was such a great feeling being able to share my thoughts freely. The atmosphere was extremely welcoming.”
After each of the speakers talked, moderator De’Vonna Pittman invited attendees to break out in small groups for conversation.
After the scheduled discussions ended, attendees were invited to Calls to Action. Tables were set up by four vendors: Women Winning, Association of Black Economic Power, Equity Alliance MN, ERA MN. Women were invited to write their personal Power Pledge and add it to a wall reflecting how they individually and collectively plan to use their power as women this year.
