SNIWWOC announces Boma Brown's L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth awards nomination
MEDIA CONTACT
Dominique Jacobs
Communications & Resource Development Coordinator
Support Network for Indigenous Women and Women of Color
203-2722 Fifth Street
Victoria BC V8T 4B2
domi@sniwwoc.ca
250-277-2545
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SNIWWOC Founder, Boma Brown, is a top-ten semi-finalist for the L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth awards.
The Support Network for Indigenous Women and Women of Color proudly announce Victoria-based Brown’s nomination and asks for public support during the voting round, February 18-March 4th.
Victoria, B.C., Canada. February 24th, 2021 : “Vote for Boma!” has become a rallying cry from Canadian social media influencers across the country since Brown’s semi-finalist status was made public on February 18th. If she wins this competition, Brown will secure a total of $20,000 in funding to continue her community-building work through the Support Network for Indigenous Women and Women of Color, which now serves three provinces: B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
Brown is the embodiment of the L’Oréal Paris tenet that “Every Woman Is Worth It”, as she has been selflessly donating her time to her community for many years, founding SNIWWOC in 2014, so that she could scale up her philanthropic efforts. SNIWWOC now employs seven staff members and has spear-headed anti-racism events and campaigns like the Racism in Healthcare town hall and subsequent informing of the Addressing Racism in Healthcare investigation; and the push for municipal and provincial implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) which led to the All Party Elections Town Hall on Systemic Racism which was attended by NDP Minister Ravi Kahlon and B.C. Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau.
Through SNIWWOC, Brown’s vision of a non-profit organization that supports BIPoC women, youth, children and non-binary, two- spirited folks was realized. SNIWWOC’s work addresses the social, cultural and political realities of immigrant and Indigenous communities and is informed by a commitment to reproductive justice, which recognizes that struggles for sexual and reproductive rights is not a singular issue. It is linked to wider struggles against oppression, like racism, sexism, colonization, immigration rights, income disparities, access to education and more.
The L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth honours extraordinary women who selflessly volunteer their time to serve their communities. Through Brown’s incomparable leadership, SNIWWOC’s current and upcoming programs like free mental health counselling, covid care packages, yoga and wellness classes, traditional medicines and grief recovery workshops (coming in March) continue to do the work at the ground level, reaching the community that she has dedicated her life’s work to serve.
Brown is the 2020 recipient of the Emerging Leader award at B.C.’s Multiculturalism and Anti-racism awards and there is no one more deserving of the 2021 Women of Worth awards. Spreading the word to VOTE for BOMA is a wonderful way to “elevate Black excellence” (#elevateBlackexcellence) this Black History month. Voting closes March 4th.
Background
SNIWWOC's mission is to support and help Black, Indigenous women, women of colour, youth and children take greater control of their lives, providing culturally appropriate services in different languages. All of the programming is developed and delivered by BIPOC women. SNIWWOC offers: One-on-one free therapy, career planning, virtual workshops, seminars, wellness classes, peer support and much more.
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