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[The Black Body Experience: Giving Back, Giving Black 
5th Annual Conference]

Hannah Arendt Center and Center for Civic Engagement present:

The Black Body Experience: Giving Back, Giving Black 
5th Annual Conference

Saturday, March 7, 2020 – Sunday, March 8, 2020
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium
9:00 am – 5:00 pm

  • Overview
  • Leadership
  • Schedule
  • Register
  • Speakers

Leadership

Sage Swaby: TLS Co-Head 
Sage Swaby: TLS Co-Head Sage Swaby is a Sophomore and Written Arts and American Studies joint major. Sage is a co-TLS Leader of the Black Body Experience, as well as an active member in multiple clubs such as the Caribbean Student Association, Womxn Of Color United, Black Student Organization, and the POC Theater Ensemble. Within her co-head position, Sage focuses on media and promotion. In regards to the conference, she is most looking forward to students from other college campuses and Bard Simon’s Rock coming together to engage in dynamic conversations.

Email:  [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sage-swaby-715201156/
 
Talaya Robinson-Dancy: TLS Co-Head 
Talaya Robinson-Dancy: TLS Co-Head Talaya Robinson-Dancy is a Junior and Historical Studies and Africana Studies major. She is the Founder and President of the Black Body Experience Council, co-head of the Womxn of Color United club, a peer mentor, and a Career Development Office peer resume reviewer. She began the BBE council in order to have a more sustainable way to keep the Black Body Experience Conference going for years to come. Talaya feels that is very important for people of color to attend this conference in order to make connections and to learn about issues that affect the black body.

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talaya-robinson-dancy-7469a6170/
 
Teron Byrd: Media and Promotion Director
Teron Byrd: Media and Promotion DirectorTeron Byrd is a Junior and Sociology major. Teron’s activeness within the POC community at Bard led him to join BBE, which had a profound effect on him his freshman year. Along with media direction and coordination for the Black Body Experience, Teron is a club-head and coordinator of several different clubs on campus, including Black Student Organization and the Office of Equity & Access’s GRE Preparation Initiative.

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teron-byrd-7984a7173/
 
Tchad Ross: Media and Promotion Director 
Tchad Ross: Media and Promotion Director Tchad Ross is a Junior and Written Arts major. Her interest in spaces that cultivate intersectional thought and promote the health and well being of black people is what brought her to Black Body Experience. As a Council member, she co-manages the media direction and coordination. In addition, Tchad is an active member of clubs such as the Caribbean Student Association, Black Student Organization, Women of Color United and Queer People Of Color.

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tchad-ross-951b20162
 
Cymone Richardson: Design Manager 
Cymone Richardson: Design Manager Cymone Richardson is a Junior and Sociology major with a concentration in Experimental Humanities. As an artist, a passion for diversity within various creative mediums is what initiated interest in her joining the BBE team. As the design manager, she is responsible for the logo design and merchandise management. She is co-head of the Bard Fashion Committee and has worked on various creative projects on campus in addition to producing her own work.

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: N/A
 
Asha Lane: Department, and BHSEC Outreach 
Asha Lane: Department, and BHSEC Outreach Asha Lane is a Senior Sociology major originally from Maryland. Although growing up in Maryland, Asha found her passion for helping communities of color and sharing the stories of Black students once she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. It was in New Orleans where Asha became encouraged to stand up for young Black women and become an advocate for inclusivity and equitable futures. At Bard, Asha has worked with TLS projects such as Astor Home and co-created Gifted Girls at Columbia, which was a tutoring and mentoring program that went into an all-girls correctional facility. She is the current co-head of the Student Activities Board, an active member in the Black Student Organization, and a previous co-head of Womxn of Color United (formerly Colored Women United) and Beulah Baptist Student Fellowship. Asha believes that the Black Body Experience should be experienced by all Black students who are passionate about their community, healing, and leadership.

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asha-s-lane-/
 

Schedule

Saturday, March 7

9:30 -10:00 am  Introduction & light breakfast
10:15-11:15 am  Icebreakers and Networking Activities
11:15 - 12:00 pm  Workshop 1
12:00 - 1:00 pm  Lunch
1:00 -1:15 pm  Transition 2
1:15 - 2:00 pm  Workshop 2
2:00 - 2:15 pm  Transition 3
2:15 - 3:00 pm  Workshop 3
3:15  - 4:00 pm  Closing Panel (Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room)
4:00 - 6:00 pm  Break before banquet
6:00 - 8:00 pm  Banquet
8:00 - 10:00 pm  Activities
10:00 - 1:00 am  Party (Manor) 

 Sunday, March 8th
Bertelsmann Campus Center12:00 - 12:30 pm  Engaging Activity
12:30 - 12:45 pm  Transition 
12:45 - 1:45 pm  Student Led Panel w/ Q&A 
1:45 -1:50 pm Short Transition
1:50 - 2:10 pm  Closing Remarks (Presentation of Prizes, Warm & Fuzzy/Acknowledgment/Merch)

Register

Buy Tickets Now >>

Speakers

Satara Brown
(She/Her)
Rebuilding Our Children and Community Inc. (R.O.C.C)
http://roccpk.org/

Satara Brown is the founder and CEO of Rebuilding Our Children & Community, Inc (ROCC) in Poughkeepsie, NY. ROCC is a non-profit organization serving children and families of Dutchess County. Their mission is to enhance the quality of life for individuals and their families by promoting positive relationships through community outreach, having interactive events and educational workshops, and peer mentorship. Their main focus is bridging the gap between community members and the resources that are necessary for their personal advancement and growth.

Brown operates both after-school and summer programming for Dutchess County youth ages 5 to 13. She is also the director of Communications and Community Engagement of DAY ONE Early Learning Community. She received her Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Dutchess Community College in 2012 and later received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the State University of New York at Albany in 2013. Brown holds a Non-Profit Leadership Certificate from John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University. She is currently enrolled in the Executive Leadership Program through the Dutchess County Chamber Foundation.

 

Cassandra Taylor
(She/Her)
The Underground Center
 http://www.theundergroundcenter.org/

Cassandra Taylor is the Curriculum Coordinator for The Underground Center (UGC) a non-profit dedicated to social change from the bottom up through education and by empowering marginalized people to create economic and social power through mutual aid and interconnectedness with the land. Taylor is a high school teacher with twenty years of experience, currently teaching at Kingston High School. Her background is in African American Literature, History, Sociology, Special Education, and Critical Race Theory. She has worked as a guest lecturer on many social justice issues ranging from Black feminism (womanism), African Traditional Religions, poetry and literature from the prison system, portrayals of African American culture in the media, and the importance of trauma-based care in residential facilities for youth. She has also worked as an activist in support of public education and mental health while promoting social justice initiatives for people of color, religious minorities, women, those with special needs, and LGBT youth.

The Underground Center has given Cassandra the opportunity to share what she has learned about the connection between environmentalism and social justice, alongside “helping others marginalized by society break through the barriers of entry that currently plague the mainstream sustainability movement.
 

Cammie Jones 
Pronouns: She/Her
Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Civic Engagement
http://www.bard.edu/civicengagement/ 

Cammie Jones has dedicated her life towards civic engagement both professionally and personally and believes in the saying that “service is the rent you pay for the privilege of living on this earth.”  Cammie serves as the Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Civic Engagement and teaches a Women and Leadership course at Bard College where it is the fundamental belief that education and civil society are inextricably linked. Before her role at Bard, Cammie developed and launched Dutchess Community College’s Service Learning Department which served over 50 nonprofit agencies within the county and accounted for over 11,000 hours of service within 2 years. Furthermore, Cammie would be given the opportunity of beginning her career in higher education and civic engagement through service as Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Enhancement at Marist College which led to the founding of a female leadership program, Ladies Empowering Athletics Program and created an expansive life skills program for student-athletes.
Cammie leads a life of service and leadership within the Dutchess County community through serving on several boards and committees for local organizations. Cammie is a Board Member of Dutchess Outreach, the Chair of the KidVenture Creatives Committee for the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce (DCRCOC), Secretary of the Dutchess County Dem Committee and  Dutchess County Young Dems and serves on the Catharine Street Community Center MLK Scholarship Committee, Hyde Park Democratic Committee, and International Women’s Day Committee through DCRCOC. She also serves as an upper elementary Sunday School teacher at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Wappingers Falls.
Cammie has received several awards for her work in higher education and community engagement which include the Dutchess County Regional Chamber Of Commerce’s 2012 Forty Under 40 Class, N4A 2014 Professional Promise Award for Region 1 and the AWCC 2017 Forty Under 40 Class and the 2017 Arc of Dutchess Peggy Martinko Community Trailblazer Award.
Cammie holds a B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Louisiana State University A&M. Cammie is a proud native of Dallas, TX and finds any opportunity to show off her state pride but calls Hyde Park, NY her second home!

 

Virginia Donalds
Pronouns: She/Her
Organization: Buddah.Blend
Instagram: @buddah.blend

Brooklyn-bred, Virginia Donalds, always had an entrepreneurial spirit. While attending Hofstra University, Virginia made the decision to cut off her relaxed, processed hair and go “natural”. With this big transition, she realized that a lot of the products that were available for her to purchase were either way too expensive or had too many unknown chemicals. From there, she decided to do her research and began making her own hair care products. By using natural butters, oils, herbs, and powders, Virginia’s hair was the healthiest it’s ever been. From then on, she started her company Buddah.Blend: a brand catered to holistic living. 
Buddah.Blend’s first product was their Hair and Body Butters, formulated with Shea, Cocoa, Mango and Kokum butters and a blend of herbs and oils. The Hair and Body Butters are Buddah.Blend’s best selling product, right next to their Rhassoul & Black Soap Foaming Wash. From selling online to participating at pop up shops in the five boroughs, Virginia made sure that everyone around her had beautiful hair and skin. Eventually, she partnered with a local, black-owned herb shop called Sundial Herbs, located in Hempstead, NY. There, Virginia held workshops to teach the community on the importance of holistic living in beauty and how the products consumers use are very important to their well-being. Virginia hopes to continue these workshops and bring them into her own community, blending everyone together!
This event occurred on:  *Please note: If you do not see registration, schedule, and speaker information on this page, click here to access the complete conference website.

Our Origins 
The Black Body Experience Conference is in its 5th annual year and was created by alum, Tayler Butler in 2014. It was initially created as a conference under the umbrella of Colored Womxn United, a club at Bard created as a safe space for womxn of color. The first conference was created within a week and consisted of student-facilitated workshops. 2017 was the first year that we had all outside speakers who were professionals in their backgrounds. In 2018, the Black Body Experience Council was created in order to ensure that the conference would be sustained for years to come. Although the theme of the conference varies annually, themes typically focus on various issues affecting womxn within communities of color. Such topics include the following: mental health, reproductive rights, social justice, academics, and politics.  

Goals
As we approach our sixth year of the conference, we are striving to make the Black Body Experience Conference bigger and better than before. The goals that we hope to reach in the coming years include, but are not limited to:
  • Providing a safe space for people of color to connect and converse with others of various backgrounds in order to become more active in their communities as well as others
  • Raising awareness about issues that affect womxn of color, trans and non-binary people in order to spark action within these communities
  • Having over 100+ students attend the conference from Bard, Bard Early Colleges and High Schools and other neighboring institutions
  • Connecting and donating to nonprofits of color in New York
Visit the Black Body Experience web page >>
A Trustee-Leader-Scholar Project

A Trustee-Leader-Scholar Project

TLS is a program supporting leadership development in the context of hands-on, student-initiated, community engagement projects.
Students in the TLS program propose, design, and implement civic engagement projects based on their own passionate interests.

This event is sponsored by the Hannah Arendt Center and the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.
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