Last year, Gabriela Long (‘19) and Shelby Desroches (‘19) founded the Women of Color affinity group to create a safe space for female students of color to share their experiences and perspectives on identity.

On Nov. 20, WOC will host its first assembly that will include a video featuring female students of color and a speech from therapist Angela Jones, who will share her experiences of being a woman of color and overcoming the accompanying pressures. 

“The assembly will allow women of color to know that they do have a voice, they do have a say,” WOC officer Subi Farayibi said. 

WOC sponsor Kim Dickson hopes to raise awareness about WOC’s presence on campus. 

“A lot of people don’t even necessarily know about WOC’s existence,” Dickson said.  “We just want people to be aware.”

WOC intends to use the assembly to create a new level of empathy between all female students.  

“Showing the rest of the student body that women of color experience life differently than just women or just people of color is the biggest idea that we want to show,” WOC officer Carolyn Depinho said. 

One of WOC’s goals is to connect female students of color in other affinity groups.

“It’s not just one type of community, it’s a bunch of different communities coming together,” DePinho said. “We want to establish ourselves as a community, but we also want to be able to fill in the gaps between the affinity groups.”