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A Movement and a Platform to Empower all Women to Rise, Achieve, Thrive, and Shine!
Montreal, March 10, 2021 – In celebration of Women’s History Month, Canada’s top 40 under 40 recipient and one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women award winners, Fabienne Colas, announces the creation of a new organization: WOMEN OF COLOUR THRIVE (WOCThrive).
WOCThrive is a community of experts who know how to effectively identify gaps, implement solutions, and create opportunities for diverse female talent to thrive, lead and contribute. The organization works with the spectrum of women of colour to understand their specific challenges, seek solutions that set them up to take their place in leadership.
Recent events galvanized corporate North America to acknowledge that there is a long way to go before we live and work in an inclusive society, and where women and Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) are equitably represented in the workplace.
According to an Oct 2020 Catalyst report, while a 14% higher proportion of women of colour (WOC) have postsecondary education vs. non-racialized women, they are under-represented by 39% in the workforce, whereas non-racialized women are equitably represented. Women of Colour are woefully absent in STEM, management, Boards and government. Furthermore, the Canadian Women’s Foundation indicates that WOC earn 0.67 cents as compared to non-racialized men and non-racialized women earn 0.87 compared to non-racialized men.
As such, Fabienne Colas founded Women of Colour Thrive to be part of the solution. When organizations set inclusion and diversity targets, gender and racialized people are tracked separately. This practice has resulted in the representation of women increasing, the representation of men of colour increasing, however, women of colour have been left behind.
“There have never been more organizations created for and by women. However, the more women organizations we have the less we see women of colour in leadership positions. We believe that parity without diversity is exclusion, inequity & inequality!” – Said Fabienne Colas, Founder and Chairperson of the Board of WOCThrive. “We need to make sure ALL women have access to the same resources, opportunities, and recognition. Together, we can achieve that.”
Originally from Haiti, Fabienne Colas is an award-winning actress, filmmaker, Producer and Business owner who successfully created and manages 10 Festivals in Canada, The United States, Haiti, and Brazil. She has dedicated her career to creating platforms that show a diversity of voices, faces and points of view, mostly through the Fabienne Colas Foundation. Her primary mission is to change the landscape of Canadian TV and film by making it more diverse and equal. Established in Montreal in 2003, Colas is considered today as a true Success Story. Despite a journey full of pitfalls and twists and turns, she went from a young Black immigrant with an accent to the admired successful woman who knows how to overcome the obstacles that women of colour are confronted in their efforts to achieve their dreams and potential.
About Women of Colour Thrive – WOCThrive
WOCThrive is an organization led by women of colour who understand their unique challenges and know what needs to be done to effectively identify gaps, implement solutions, and create opportunities for diverse female talent to thrive, lead and contribute. We know that creating inclusive environments for WOC has collateral benefits for a more engaged, innovative and high-performing workforce overall.
To learn more about Women of Colour Thrive, what they do and how to be involved, visit their website
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For more information please contact:
Talar Adam
press@torontoblackfilm.com
514-833-0274