Womxn of Color InitiativeS

In the spring of 2016, Yomaira co-founded the Womxn of Color Initiatives Project at Michigan State University. Since then, a collective of women of color faculty and graduate students have organized a bi-annual speaker series, residencies for visiting artists, health and wellness programs, and other related events for women of color and their allies. Past speakers include: Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Ana Castillo, Shani Peters, Nanibah Chacon, Mayra Santos Febres, Elaine Castillo, and lê thị diễm thúy.

The WOCI collective [Estrella Torrez, Tamara Butler, Leslie Gonzales, Delia Fernandez, Yomaira Figueroa, and graduate students Briona Jones and Liv Furman] organizes outreach events for undergraduate and graduate women of color, and allies on the MSU campus. We aim to create spaces for students to be in conversation with each other and engage with women of color faculty, staff, and community members. Through the WOCI speaker series and other events we aim to create spaces for the discussion of sociopolitical issues and critical research, and allows Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native, Black/African American, Mexican/Chicana, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Puerto Rican/Latinx Caribbean women to address issues at the intersections of race, class, sex, and gender, and other intersecting identities.

You can reach us at: msuwoci[at]gmail[dot]com or at https://woci.cal.msu.edu/