Our Why
The Womxn of Color Summit® is an equitable community organization focused on creating brave and inclusionary spaces for women/womxn-identifying and non-binary people of color to share stories and knowledge as well as make impactful change. Our work is rooted in our commitment to dismantle oppressive systems that provide access to knowledge and tools for the few at the expense of the majority.
Our summit redefines what wellness and healing can look like when it is accessible to all.
Our mission is to uplift the voices and work of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color, including those self-identifying as womxn. We are deliberately inclusive of members of non-binary, femme, and transgender communities within the healing, wellness, social justice, and creative arts spaces. We hold bi-annual summits gathering BI&WoC pursuing their creative and authentic passions in life in order to give our community a platform and uplift their voices and work.
We care about sharing the stories of amazing Black, Indigenous, and women/womxn-identifying and non-binary people of color because representation matters. We are inherently creative beings, so let’s talk about how we can create a life for ourselves on our terms. How can we express the spirit within us that calls for us to make something? To build, design, make, discover?
About the Co-Creators
Reclaim your power + intuition
Harpinder Mann (she/her) is a Sikh-Buddhist Punjabi-American yoga and meditation teacher currently living on Tongva land, colonially known as Los Angeles.
She is actively working to decolonize wellness by creating community and providing real accessibility to her ancestral practices for BIPOC.
She has over 700 hours of yogic training within the traditions of Raja, Vinyasa, Kundalini, and Prenatal Yoga from the Ananda Sangha Center in New Delhi, India, Stretch Yoga in Brisbane, Australia, Swaha Yoga in New Orleans, and Living Now Yoga in New York. Without her teachers, ancestors, and womxn before her, none of this would be possible.
As the Founder of Harpinder Mann Yoga, Harpinder works with womxn of color 1:1 on reclaiming their power & intuition to be free through yoga asana, meditation, breathwork, and spiritual connection.
Harpinder is also an entrepreneur, storyteller, and community builder with 7+ years of experience in marketing, communications, and business development committed to making our world a better place by enabling people and organizations to reach their fullest potential.
Yoga is a spiritual practice for Harpinder - one that takes her back to her True Self without the noise of the ego and society. This practice gave her the freedom and power to be seen and live authentically. To know that there is nothing wrong with her. It has healed parts of her Self she never even realized needed tending to.
She strongly believes part of that journey is to reclaim our heritage, cultures, and re-center ourselves in our lives. This summit is one way to center BIWOC through celebration, storytelling, and community.
Rest and ease for all women of color
Irene Lo (she/her) is a Taiwanese-Canadian yoga asana teacher and intuitive tarot reader who lives on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Spirituality is meant to be liberation from systemic oppression. Her vision is to nourish the collective capacity to dream of new worlds by working primarily yoga and tarot as intuitive practices that guide us to perceive our true nature - happiness.
Irene is a registered 500 hour yoga teacher who primarily teaches vinyasa yoga movement classes and yin yoga care circles. She leads workshops on trauma-informed yoga teaching. As a tarot reader, her tarot work is influenced by her studies with Mimi Young, Christopher Marmole, and Lindsay Mack.
Outside of the Summit, Irene is the Founder of Irene Yoga Flow, home to online yoga and tarot readings on Patreon. This is a yoga club for people who don’t like yoga spaces. She also offers her signature group program, Radical Rest. Each group program is a new container; previous cohorts include one geared towards ambitious WoC entrepreneurs and workers, and one that honours asian joy.
Irene is a visionary strategist and authentic content creator with a proven track record in telling stories. She has succeeded in the field of public relations through powerful copywriting and her passion for communication in written and verbal forms. She worked in marketing agencies, not-for-profits, and tech companies where she learned.
The Summit is an offering of love, and she hopes that the Summit will inspire BI&WoC to show up unapologetically themselves.
Meet the Team
Community Partnerships
Lea Molina (she/her) is a black queer womxn living in California. The original inhabitants of the land that central California sits on are the Yokuts, Shoshonean and Chumash.
She is currently on a spiritual journey to find purpose and meaning that brings her soul the most authentic and unconditional joy it deserves. Lea was a participant in the first Womxn of Color Summit and was moved by the powerful knowledge and connection she felt with each session she attended.
Lea is currently working as a marketing professional in the education sector and is utilizing her marketing and communication skills to good use within the Womxn of Color Summit as a Sponsorship Lead and Events Facilitator and more.
Resident Artist
Farah Billah (she/her) is a contemporary artist & poet from Sacramento, CA.
She paints, draws & writes because the world is a strange place & she was given hands. Her work is heavily influenced by surrealism, the outrage of the planet, womanhood, the festivity of both Bangladesh & New Orleans, & the very personal violence of it all. Her work is a quiet attempt at honesty. (also blah blah something about survival). Current work includes sculpture, plaster casting her face, shari fabric work, oil paintings, performance and video, linework, & a whole lot of chrysanthemums.
Farah is currently scraping out the inside of her brain (& pursuing her MFA in painting & drawing) in New Orleans, LA.
Design Lead
Alynna Alcira (she/her) is a Filipino-Canadian graphic & web designer based in Vancouver, BC. Growing up, she always knew her career would include design. After landing her dream job and spending 3 years of serving corporate clients with marketing, design and development, she quickly realized that something was still missing. Her dream wasn’t the same dream anymore and she longed for something more purposeful.
She founded Aly Creative Co., a modern graphic design studio focused on building brands for female entrepreneurs. She finds personal fulfillment in partnering with like-minded, ambitious womxn who have a passion in what they do. Her mission is to support her fellow womxn in business achieve their goals through meaningful branding and strategic web design.
Research and Events
Pati Garcia, MSEd (she/her/ella) was born on the lands of Guadalajara, Mexico- the land of her ancestors, the Tecuexe people. As descendent of her ancestors, Pati weaves together her ancestral practices and reiki energy to guide herself and others to their own healing. As a certified Usui Reiki (Master Level) and Holy Fire Reiki (Level II) practitioner, Pati, provides support through healing, in which herself and others intentionally honor their pacha (earth) heart medicine, inspiring deeper connection to ourselves and our ancestors.
As a queer, brown, Latinx mother, that lives with multiple autoimmune diseases, Pati hopes to bring physical ease to the people of her community, but most importantly, she hopes to bring spiritual healing through allowing our ancestors to show up by reminding us of our lineage and inner knowing. Because when she listened, they whispered, bruja.
Pati works with the Womxn of Color Summit on grant research and events coordination.
Writer
Joséphine Mwanvua (she/her) is a second-generation Congolese immigrant, whose practices are based in ancient African spirituality, yoga and reiki. She is a writer, yoga instructor and energy healing practitioner who works one-on-one with her clients and focuses on the energetics of yoga anatomy to access flexibility. She also offers distance Reiki sessions at community prices.
Joséphine contributes to the Womxn of Color Summit through her exceptional writing and design skills that you can see up on our blog.
