Black Men in the Community (BMITC) in association with Yaa Asentewaa presents:
Celebrating Our Women’s Advancement and Leadership with Angie Le Mar
Good Friday, 29th March 2013, 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
The Tabernacle, 34-35 Powis Square, London W11
Overview of the BMITC movement
The BMITC movement is a partnership of organisations, networks and individuals working together to support the advancement of Black men and their families that are disproportionately impacted by the current challenging, deteriorating economic climate.
BMITC also aims to brings its members and the wider community together at regular events across the UK, where families, individuals and organisations can come together to share knowledge, ideas, resources and strategies that will strengthen and support the advancement of black men, women, families and the wider community as a whole.
BMITC’s Mission
To provide high calibre leadership and specialist support that will lead to the development of sustainable partnerships between new and existing Black led groups as part of a broader response to the immense financial opportunities and challenges facing Black men and their families in the UK.
BMITC’s Women’s event – Celebrating Our Women’s Advancement and Leadership,
Good Friday, 29th March 2013
Event Partners and host
· BMITC’s 2013 women’s event partner, Yaa Asantewaa, owned by Notting Hill’s Carnival Village Trust, Britain’s oldest black community arts and cultural organisations. It’s named by royal assent, after the warrior queen mother who led the Asante rebellion in Ghana against British colonialism in 1900s.
· The Tabernacle venue where the women’s event is taking place, is also owned by the Carnival Village Trust.
· Angie Le Mar, the community’s beloved comedienne, playwright, producer and presenter will host the inspiring and empowering panel discussion segment of the event.
Aims of the event
· To host a fun evening of edutainment that will inspire and empower black women within the community
· To address serious issues which affect the community, in a positive, progressive, solution-focused way.
· Where women are revered and celebrated with opportunities connect with other forward thinking individuals and organisations
· For BMITC to Build a strong network and raise funds that will go directly to actions helping girls and young women who have been sexually abused as a result of youth violence.
Key messages
· This is the first gala evening event that BMITC has organised and it is dedicated to women
· BMITC honours women during International women’s Month, in recognition of their advancement, leadership and invaluable contribution to the community.
· BMITC are taking action towards preventing violence against young girls and women.
Themes
· Celebrating women’s advancement and Leadership
§ A panel comprising of leading and advancing women from the public and private sectors, faith sector, The Arts, media and human rights spheres.
§ The panel includes young women who have been accoladed as Future Leaders 2013
§ Entertainment from talented up and coming female performers in music and spoken word
· Making a stand against domestic violence and sexual exploitation of women and young girls
· Celebrating Women’s Financial power
· Promoting Healthy relationships
Event highlights
· A powerful and diverse line up of leading and advancing women
· Live Entertainment from talented up and coming female performers
· DJs musically entertaining attendees whilst they network and enjoy Easter Caribbean canapés
· Small businesses and start-ups promoting their products and services
· Giveaway bags for each attendee
· “Pamper and Spoil me” gift bags for first 50 adult ticket purchasers
Opportunities for attendees
· To connect with a diverse range of dynamic, strategic and forward looking people
· To promote talents, businesses and to discuss and address issues that affect women within the community
· To hear inspirational stories and messages and solutions
· An opportunity to join the BMITC movement
· An opportunity to keep updated with BMITC’s activities and initiatives
Speakers’ and Entertainers’ Briefing
Event Programme
Doors Open & Bar 6:00 pm
Caribbean Canapé Reception and Music 6:15 pm - 7:15 pm
Entertaining Panel Discussion and Q&A 7:15 pm - 8:45 pm
Live Soul, Motown, Reggae and Poetry 8:45 pm - 9:30 pm
Networking, Music and Stalls 9:30 pm - 11:00 pm
Panel and Entertainment running order
Entertaining Panel Discussion and Q&A 7:15 pm - 8:45 pm
hosted by Angie Le Mar
Spoken word by Neelofor followed by live 8:45 pm – 9:30pm
music from The Top Level Band and Taymah
DJ Divine and Marc Anthony 9:30 pm – 11:00pm playing background music whilst
attendees network and browse stalls
The speakers and entertainers briefing will take place at 6:30pm for no more than 15 minutes, where Angie Le Mar will talk though the format of the panel discussion and introducing the entertainment segment.
Please ask for Patricia Lamore or Calynda Henderson upon arrival. You will be escorted to where the briefing will take place.
Biographies:
Angie Le Mar
Comedienne, actress, writer, producer, wife, mother and social commentator, Angie Le Mar is a versatile dynamo beloved by audiences young and old, male and female, both at home in the UK and abroad.
Born in Lewisham, London of Jamaican parentage, Angie grew up with four older brothers. She has spoken openly about her difficult experiences at school, the root of which was her then undiagnosed dyslexia. However, those school day difficulties did not prevent her from racking up lists of accomplishments too numerous to recall in their entirety.
Angie was the first Black British performer to appear at Harlem's Apollo Theatre and had the first ever sell out show by a female black comedian in London's West End. Her TV appearances include the BBC’s The Real McCoy and Channel 4’s Get Up, Stand Up, and she presented The Saturday Morning Show on Choice FM. She was also a commentator on Grumpy Old Women in 2005 and made her first appearance on ITV’s Loose Women in February 2011. In October 2011, she opened at the Soho Theatre in a one-woman show called “In My Shoes”; a show she wrote. And, most recently, she wrote and produced a new sit-com called “The Ryan Sisters”, four episodes of which aired online in January and is scheduled to go into full production for television this summer. She hosts a new day time talk show, Ladies Talk on Vox Africa.
Socially conscious and community minded, Angie set up a strand within her production company (Straight To Audience Productions), called Straight To Audience Youth (STA-Youth) using it to develop young actors, writers and producers and to reach younger audiences through shows and activities with which they will identify in theatre productions, workshops and outreach.
Deservedly called Britain’s First Lady of Black Comedy, Angie has won numerous awards, including several Black Entertainment Comedy Awards and the prestigious EFBWO from the European Federation of Black Women in Business. She has been voted one of Britain’s 100 Great Black Britons, one of the New Nation Newspaper’s Top 50 Black Powerful Woman and Pride Magazine’s included her as someone to look out for on their Top 50 UK Talent list. Angie also recently received the UNESCO Award for “Women Leading the Way” from the University of Connecticut for The Daughters Project.
Marcia Dixon
Ms Dixon also runs her own PR consultancy called Marcia Dixon Public Relations, which specialises in helping churches, ministries, business and organisations reach the black Christian community.
Clients that have utilised MD PR’s services include The YMCA, the Metropolitan Police, The NHS, Sony Music, Syco Music, BET, World Vision, Jesus House, the New Testament Church of God and Christian Aid.
For the past two years, MD Public Relations has served as Project Manager/Key Organiser of the Wise Women Awards, the UK’s only award’s event that recognises the contribution of black Christian women in the church and wider society.
MD Public Relations was nominated for a European Federation of Black Women Business Owners Award in 2004, and in 2005, the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance included Marcia Dixon in their list of 21 people who have contributed greatly to the development of Britain's black Christian community.
In 2010 Ms Dixon was appointed as a Faith Advisor to the British Labour Government, and was a member of a panel comprised of 13 faith advisors who acted as a 'sounding board' to advise the government on effective engagement with faith communities.
Ms Dixon has been a Christian since her teens, and strongly believes that the church is one of the black community’s greatest success stories. She currently attends The Arc in Forest Gate, east London.
Her hobbies include reading, watching CSI, Law and Order and keeping fit.
On the day Alice Ukoko (a “full moon” baby) was born, it rained and the sun shone at the same time. Apparently, these circumstances indicated that she was not meant to survive. What no one realised at the time was that a powerful advocate for the empowerment of African women and a human rights defender who has devoted her entire active life to the campaign to end human rights abuses in Nigeria and to being the “voice” for African women and their families, had been born.
As founder and CEO of Women Of Africa, the focus of Alice’s work has been to raise the awareness of the international community to human rights abuses taking place in Nigeria and to restore the status of African women to its traditional place as home, community and nation builders. She speaks widely and passionately on the need to end sexual crimes against women across the African continent and has been a force in raising awareness about the difficulties inherent to adjusting to life as an African immigrant in the United Kingdom.
In November 2000, Britain’s Channel 4 aired “The African Maiden” which Alice wrote to draw attention to the lifelong negative impact of female circumcision. It contributed to the enactment of the British Female Circumcision Act of 2003.
Through her work with Women of Africa, Alice uses her personal experiences to highlight the need to support African women who suffer isolation and abusive relationships while living the U.K. She also uses it as a platform to work with and support young adults in traditional and non-traditional educational settings. Additionally, recognising that far too many African children are taken into care under UK Child Protection Laws, Alice works with families to help them examine child-rearing practices that are more “modern” in outlook and application, and less likely to result in the separation of parents from their children.
Though she arrived in the U.K. in 1970 with no formal education and married into an abusive relationship which ended with her taking her five children and raising them alone, Alice earned an Honours Bachelor of Laws from the University of London in 1992 and is a Graduate member of the Institute of Personal Management of Nigeria.
Recognised in 2012 by Worldwide Who’s Who for showing dedication and leadership in support of women’s rights and gender equality, Alice is working to launch the African Women’s Commission for Africa’s reform and the elimination of violence against women.
Rising community leader, self-styled ‘mum on a mission’, Jenni Steele is an Operation Black Vote (OBV) graduate, Creative Director of Lioness Ladies (a women and families empowerment support network), a model/actress, and full time mum. As if that weren’t enough, Jenni ran as a Councillor Candidate for the Liberal Democrats in 2011 and is Chair of the Bellingham Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT).
It was while on OBV’s Lewisham Civic Leadership Programme in December 2009 that Jenni attended a Safer Neighbourhood Panel meeting and decided she wanted to become more involved in the organisation. Jenni initially joined the SNT team to gain more information about her community and to discover why young mothers, black women, and young people were so strikingly underrepresented on the board. Her goal was to empower people and that is exactly what she is doing.
In 2011, Jenni was honoured at OBV’s Make a Difference Awards and took home the Supporting Others Award given to those who donate their time and support to mentor others. Jenni’s achievements to date are proof that, with talent, hard work and determination, positive strides can be made to ensure that communities are safer and united by common goals. Keep a close eye on Jenni, she’s not just known as ‘Supermum’ by those in her community, she’s also recognised as a leader in the making.
Sonia Meggie
Prior to founding Inspirational YOU, Sonia worked in event organisation in the city of London. Unfulfilled by her job, she mustered the courage to leave her comfortable position and create her own business.
With Inspirational YOU, she sought to develop a meaningful career by designing programs and coordinating events, debates, conferences, shows, corporate training, professional coaching, well-being workshops and youth projects. She is also a mentor and football coach, and is driven by making an impact and giving back. Her objective is to leave a legacy that will support the progression of women, ethnic minorities and young people. Her mantra is
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.
Featured in the Powerlist 2013, which profiles the most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom and listed on Blackenterprise.com as one of London’s most powerful black women, Sonia has a BA in Business Studies and Social Policy, and an MSc in E Commerce.
Inspirational YOU has been supported by global corporations such as Birkbeck, University of London, PwC, Pearsons, ITN, Sky, Daily Mail, BBC, University of London and the UK Supreme Court.
Currently nearing the end of her second year of her Engineering degree at Cambridge University, Osaseri Guobadia was the only first year selected as one of the top ten outstanding black students in the Future Leaders 2012/2013 edition. In 2012, she was selected as one of five shortlisted candidates for the Shell Women of the Future Young Star Award, as a result of her academic achievement and her design of a prototype for a transportable water filter for use in developing countries.
While still hoping to develop this in the future, she has recently founded the WhyNoWater Campaign, a social-media campaign aimed at changing the image of water scarcity and getting young people involved and interested.
Charlene Bello (Future Leader, 2013)
Charlene is a masters student from South London. She graduated from the University of Manchester in 2012, and went on to be named the Second Most Outstanding Black Graduate in the UK by Powerful Media, who also publish the Powerlist. She is now at SOAS, University of London studying African Politics. Charlene is also a prolific commentator on social and political issues in Africa. She writes the blog Journey. Learn. Speak. which has achieved global readership. She recently was a contributing member of the Ghana Decides initiative a non-partisan project, connecting Ghanaians in and outside of Ghana to ensure the 2012 elections were free, fair and well informed. Charlene is the Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Ambassador for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the second largest charity and largest children's charity in the UK. In this role she advises the organisation's Director for BME Communities on how to deliver their five year plan. Before this role she was a member of the charity's inaugural Youth Advisory Board, which would advise on NSPCC and government policy. Charlene has spoken on behalf of the charity at party conferences and the launch of their partnership with Huawei, the telecommunications company, in 2011.
Charlene has proven to be dedicated to charitable causes as she joined the student-led VietnamJUMP charity when she was studying in Singapore in 2011. The charity built a school and taught lessons in English and Hygiene to children in the Vietnamese Highlands, all with funds they had raised themselves, supported by the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore.
Taymah is a talented singer and songwriter from South London. At just 2 years old, her singing talent was recognised and her raw sound has got fans feeling uplifted by her soulful vocals on rnb, hip hop and house tracks.
Taymah has shared stages with other prominent artists and musicians, including the opening for Yolanda Brown at the barbican Theatre. She has also worked with a range of artists and producers in the industry including Yungen and Ratlin. In 2011 she released her mix cd ‘Love & Lies’ which she had written and was produced by Carns from Hill Productions. The CD was nominated for an OMA (Official Mixtape Awards) within the best RnB mixtape category and she was also nominated as best female artist of 2011. She is currently working on her 2nd album UNTAYMAHBLE produced by Dice Beats with features from other producers such as Versa Beatz. It's set to be released soon.
Taymah also has a passion for social issues and is in her 2nd year of studies for a BA Honours Social Work. During 2009 and 2010 she worked for Lambeth Council as a work placement co-ordinator, helping to find work experience for year 10 students in Lambeth Borough Schools.
Since then, whilst studying and spending time in the studio, she has worked for a hostel for 16 – 25 year olds helping to get them back into education and employment and with a mental health charity for adults with poor mental health, supporting them with independent living skills.
The winner of Farrago Award in 2004 for best performance by a London Poet. She has received over 95,000 plays on my spoken word tracks on MySpace and was invited to speak as part of a panel on BBC Asian Network ‘Nihal Show’.
