#SpeakTruth Summit 2018

The Impact Alliance in collaboration with Chicago Black Women in Tech and Womanist Words announce the launch of their inaugural Speak Truth Summit. The conference will take place October 20, 2018 and 21, 2018, at Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of Speak Truth Summit is to provide women of color a platform to discuss issues that are often left out of mainstream women’s rights and issues forums. The summit seeks to bring women of color together to identify how to navigate and overcome issues, hurdles, and traumas they face in the many systems they live and operate in on a daily basis.

"I was getting frustrated, leaving forum after forum, march after march, conference after conference ‘for women’ still empty, still wanting because issues were being talked about superficially, or generally, usually from the perspective of white women only and not really acknowledging the difference and, more importantly, the disparities in experiences depending on the skin color, ethnicity, gender identification, or citizen status of other women and those who identify as such. That's when I said to myself ‘Time to make a platform where we can speak our truth,” said Carla M. Kupe-Arion, Esq., founder, and president of The Impact Alliance NFP. Therefore, the summit will consist of workshops, breakout and plenary sessions, designed with a focus on empowering women and equipping them with the tools, resources, connections, and knowledge to succeed, not just survive, in their day-to-day lives.

Over 30 diverse summit panelists and workshop leaders from the public and private sector, community movements, academia, business and other industries will address perspectives on topics such as physical violence against women of color, reproductive justice as it relates to childbirth, intersectional feminism, religion and feminism, hostile work environments, internalizing and defining womanhood, entrepreneurship, and running for office. The first day will conclude with an afternoon of self-care sessions and a spoken word celebration at The Silver Room in Hyde Park, sponsored by Jolly Pumpkin Pizzeria & Brewery - Hyde Park. Day 2 will shift our focus to action-taking through workshops in entrepreneurship, finding one’s purpose, and running for public office.
We are excited to have Alicia Garza as the summit’s keynote speaker. Alicia Garza is an Oakland-based organizer, writer, public speaker and freedom dreamer who is currently the Strategy + Partnership Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States. She is the Principal of the Black Futures Lab, an initiative aimed at transforming Black communities into constituencies that build power in cities and states. Garza, along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, also co-founded the Black Lives Matter network, a globally recognized organizing project that focuses on combating anti-Black state-sanctioned violence and the oppression of all Black people. Since the rise of the BLM movement, Garza has become a powerful voice in the media. Her articles and interviews have been featured in Time, Mic, The Guardian, Elle.com, Essence, Democracy Now!, and The New York Times.

“We are very excited and believe that this summit and platform will have a significant impact on those in attendance but also on the wider community. And, while the summit was created for and is geared towards women of color, all are invited to be part of this to grow in solidarity, understanding, compassion, and alliance.” The 2018 Speak Truth Summit is supported by a network of companies committed to empowering women of color, including: NBC, LYFT, The Silver Room, and Jolly Pumpkin Hyde Park.

visit speaktruthsummit.com for tickets and more information!

IG: @speaktruthsummit
Twitter: @spktruthsummit