草莓污视频导航

Aug. 21, 2023

2 草莓污视频导航 employees to present at GlobalFest Citizenship Ceremony

Empowering stories of immigration come to life as staff prepare to share stories from co-authored book, Landed: Transformative Stories of Canadian Immigrant Women
Co-authors of Landed: Transformative Stories of Canadian Immigrant Women celebrate book launch in front of Landed sign.
Co-authors of the book, Landed: Transformative Stories of Canadian Immigrant Women, during the book launch celebration in September 2022. Shannon Hutchison

In 2022, . This milestone has been mirrored in the 草莓污视频导航 community, with a number of staff members sharing their own immigration stories in the newly released book, .

Co-authored by six 草莓污视频导航 staff members, this book presents an intricate mosaic of the Canadian immigration experience of 37 immigrants from 30 different countries. In particular, two of these 草莓污视频导航 employees, Dr. Charlotte Anyango 翱苍驳鈥檃苍驳鈥檃, PhD, and Elena Esina, MSW鈥12, will be sharing their inspiring stories at the on Aug. 22, part of the larger GlobalFest running from Aug. 17 to 26 in southeast Calgary. GlobalFest is an annual celebration of Calgary鈥檚 multicultural communities.

The book was spearheaded by alumna Gayathri Shukla, BSc (Eng)鈥05, who is certified in a method of storytelling called , regularly practising these skills through her social enterprise , as well as her . Shukla led the authors through a series of storytelling workshops, helping the participants connect with their journey and share their story.

Three co-authors of the book, Landed, read excerpts from the book to an audience.

Elena Esina, left, and Gayathri Shukla, centre, read an excerpt from Landed: Transformative Stories of Canadian Immigrant Women at a book reading.

Steph Hansen

鈥淭here's so much power that's unleashed when we can create a space for women to unapologetically declare their story, their joys, their hardships, their sorrows, but also their power and their love and their gratitude and transcend all of these borders, like 30 different countries, but still be able to transcend those differences and come together united and whole,鈥 says Shukla.

翱苍驳鈥檃苍驳鈥檃, a career development specialist for PhD students at the Centre of Career and Personal Development (CCPD), and Esina, from the , connected for the first time during the creation of the book and they will soon be presenting side-by-side to a crowd of new citizens, knowing they were both in that same position years ago.

Photo of Charlotte Anyango Ong鈥檃ng鈥檃

Charlotte Anyango Ong鈥檃ng鈥檃

Charlotte Anyango Ong鈥檃ng鈥檃

You have to be very courageous to start afresh. The people I know now are people I have had to network with afresh 鈥 find new friends and new communities 鈥 and it takes courage,鈥 says 翱苍驳鈥檃苍驳鈥檃, who came to Canada from Kenya in 2018 and published the book to help immigrants with international credentials navigate the Canadian job market.

So, for me, having to be in a place where I can be invited to speak in such an important event, it's a big deal.鈥

Esina brought her personal and professional expertise to the book as co-author and project manager. Having immigrated to Canada from Russia in 2009, at 草莓污视频导航, Esina serves as director of operations and special projects with .

Shift is a primary prevention research hub at the Faculty of Social Work that is focused on stopping domestic and sexual violence before it starts. One of Shift's initiatives, the Work-Integrated Learning for Immigrant Women Hub, provides work experience for professional immigrant women in the university setting, increasing their opportunities for labour market integration in career pathways that meet their interests and expertise.

鈥淲hen I joined the 草莓污视频导航, I was so lucky as an immigrant woman to be supported in so many ways,鈥 says Esina. 鈥淚 quickly realized that I would love to help other professional immigrant women to be able to gain meaningful employment.鈥

Photo of Elena Esina

Elena Esina

Svetlana Yanova

To date, Shift has provided 50 work experience placements, with a 70 per cent immediate employment rate.

Esina says the Landed project united a diverse group of women for a common goal.  

鈥淢any of us were strangers to each other,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e had never met before and our goal with Gayathri was to share immigrant stories from all different pathways like professional immigration, international students, refugees, sponsorship and even those who came as children with their parents 鈥 there are so many different ways for people to come to Canada and we wanted to represent them all.鈥  

will be held at Elliston Park (near 17th Avenue and 68th Street S.E.) on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. Esina and Ong鈥檃ng鈥檃 will be presenting before the ceremony between 6 - 6:45 p.m.

The goal of is to significantly reduce and prevent domestic violence in Alberta. Created by Lana Wells, 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Brenda Strafford Chair in the Prevention of Domestic Violence, Shift is an innovative project designed to create transformational change using a primary prevention approach to stop first-time victimization and perpetration of domestic violence.  

is an anthology of stories from women worldwide who have made Canada home. It was funded by and, within three days of being made available on Amazon, it became a bestseller in multiple Amazon categories, including Women Writers, Canadian Regional Biographies, and Immigrants and Emigrants Biographies.

Tune into Gayathri Shukla鈥檚 podcast, . In this podcast, Shukla has a conversation with everyday role models, including some of her co-authors of the book Landed. .


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