The Womxn of Colour Network inaugural semester ends Wednesday evening.

By Andy Mitchell
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Wednesday night was the finale of Womxn of Colour Network event series for the fall semester. All of the events were hosted at the University of Iowa Women’s Resource & Action Center.

The network’s self-proclaimed mission is to create space for dialogue, support, and empowerment among students, faculty, and staff at the university.

Through the co-creation of a supportive community of womxn, individuals will have the ability to explore their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities, share experiences, and discuss what it means to be womxn of color in the UI campus community.

The network’s programs for the semester started off with a mixer, followed by a presentation on emotional wellness, then a talk diving into the concept of self-care, and finally a talk about resisting societal constraints and persisting in spite of them.

Katryn Duarte of the Rape Victim Advocacy Program discussed self-care, conveying a message of redefining what self-care should mean.

“There are different theories on what self-care is,” Duarte said. “I tried to make it so it is something that people don’t feel guilty if they don’t do it.”

She differentiated between the commercial ideas of self-care such as yoga and bubble baths from her idea of the five areas of mindful disconnect, the release of energy, asking for help, community, and well-being.

“There’s a difference between things that make you feel happy and relaxed and self-care,” Duarte said.

Sonatina Fernandes, a UI senior benefits specialist, said she heard about the network through Facebook and the events were positive experiences. The presentation on self-care changed her idea of what self-care really means, beyond the commercial definitions, she said.

“They’re a very great, inclusive group with plenty of positive energy,” Fernandes said. “I’ve met amazing women of all ages.”

For Danielle Martinez, the assistant director of the University College’s Academic Support and Retention, her talk on resisting and persisting was about discussing the kind of changes women of color want to see in themselves and in their communities.

“Knowing that systems are often oppressive in nature, especially to women and people of color, so if we combine those things together, it would seem extra difficult,” Martinez said. “How do we persist and resist those forces that keep people down?”

Jessica Padilla, Iowa NEW Leadership Program coordinator, is the organizer of the network, and she brought it to life with the help of WRAC. She worked with women from different areas of expertise to tackle different topics that affect them as women of color.

“How do we navigate our emotional wellness in a time in our society where we’re told we’re not valued?” Padilla said. “How do we take care of us in our communities while we empower each other and have a space to be ourselves?”

She said that as a woman of color, it could be difficult to find community in the Iowa City environment and wanted to help facilitate a place for women of color in the UI community.

Padilla hopes to expand the the group’s events and venue next semester, teasing a big speaker at the end of Wednesday night’s event.