Historically, for women of colour, shame in telling our stories has prevented us from healing from the trauma of the racism and oppression we’ve experienced. In parallel, being childless not by choice or by circumstance can lead to feelings of shame, and add not only to isolation and exclusion from wider mainstream society, but also from within our own communities and cultures.
Join Yvonne John, author of Dreaming of the Life Unlived: Intimate Stories and Portraits of Women Without Children activist and Licensed Gateway Women Reignite Weekend Facilitator, and Sophia Andeh, an award-winning childless coach, Founder of Butterfly & Beyond and also a Licensed Gateway Women Reignite Weekend Facilitator, for this free GW Masterclass.
In this free public Gateway Women Masterclass, Yvonne and Sophia will share their personal experience and discuss what they have found helpful with navigating the sense of not belonging that can be caused by the intersectionality of race and childlessness.
To sign up for future free GW Masterclasses click here. To watch previous sessions click here. To access/join the 'Women of Colour' subgroup in the GW Membership Community click here.
Yvonne & Sophia will also be co-facilitating our first UK Live and in-person Reignite Weekend for 2022 on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd of April in Central London. Full details, videos, testimonials and to book: here.
This Gateway Women Masterclass Webinar was hosted by:
YVONNE JOHN is a licensed Gateway Women workshop facilitator (GWS), a trainee counsellor and the author of the book Dreaming of the Life Unlived: Intimate Stories and Portraits of Women Without Children. She is childless due to unexplained infertility with her ex-husband and is currently dating. A gifted public speaker and passionate about creating inclusivity for black women and women of colour in the cultural narrative of childlessness, Yvonne has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, including BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’. She leads a private subgroup for Women of Colour in Gateway Women’s private online community (the only such support for black and brown childless women we are aware of) and is quoted extensively in the 2020 edition of Jody’s book in the section on ‘Grieving as a Black Woman or Woman of Colour’. She also blogs about her own evolving recovery from childlessness at Finding My Plan B.
A graduate of Gateway Women’s 2016’s year-long Plan B Mentorship Programme, Yvonne is also a World Childless Week Ambassador. She works in the medical services industry and is also a talented photographer and singer. You can learn more about Yvonne in her own words in her guest blog for Gateway Women, The Black Woman in the Room, you can email her at yvonne@gateway-women.com and connect with her on Instagram @y.vonnej
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SOPHIA ANDEH is a licensed Gateway Women Workshop Facilitator (GWS), an alumnus of Gateway Women’s 2017 year-long Plan B mentorship programme, an award-winning coach and the founder of Butterfly and Beyond, it is her mission is to help women who are childless not by choice reclaim their sense of self and move from existing to truly living whole and fulfilled lives. Sophia has coached team members in the corporate sector for over 20 years, and now has a special interest in coaching to help childless women create fulfilling lives without children. Her Master’s research exploring the experience of coaching in childless women received an award from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council UK, for ‘the dissertation with the highest potential for societal benefit.’ Sophia is childless by circumstance having not found a partner to have children with and having subsequently been unsuccessful in her attempts to pursue solo motherhood through fertility treatments.
In tandem with her work with Butterfly and Beyond she promotes inclusivity and raises awareness of the unconscious bias that marginalizes, isolates and strips women of their self-worth and role within society, including the workplace. Sophia is also a qualified yoga teacher and holds classes especially for Gateway Women run via the GW Membership Community. You can contact Sophia directly at sophia@gateway-women.com or on Instagram @butterfly_beyond
