COMMUNITY MEETUPS

A Recurring Space to Share, Learn, and Grow 

Thousand&One hosts recurring virtual community meetups for Women of Colour and allies, centred around a theme. We aim to create brave spaces where our community can share knowledge, experiences, and ideas, and connect with one another.

Past Meetups & Speakers

  • Beyond Visibility

    APRIL 2026

    Parul Yadav is a communications strategist and Founder of North Wave Media, a boutique PR and strategic communications agency working across Canada and the United States. With over six years of experience across agency, nonprofit, and government relations environments, Parul specializes in helping organizations and leaders build credibility, thought leadership, and relationship-driven growth, particularly within healthcare, community, and social impact sectors.

  • Power and Confidence with Surabhi Jain

    FEBRUARY 2026

    Surabhi Jain (she/her) is Chief Catalyst at Surabhi Jain Consulting, and brings over two decades of experience in designing, implementing, and managing racial and gender equity-focused programs. In her 20-year career, she has mobilized over $20M to nearly 100 non-profit organizations across Canada and the US. As a systems thinker, Surabhi approaches challenges holistically, seeking innovative solutions that address the root causes of inequity. She supports Women of Colour in developing their leadership and helping them advance to executive level positions.

  • Rest, Healing, and Justice with Fiore Bran-Gorvetzian

    AUGUST 2025

    Fiore Bran-Gorvetzian (she/ella) is a trauma-informed educator, yoga teacher, and community advocate committed to healing justice, equity, and collective care. With deep roots in immigrant and refugee communities, she weaves together body-centered practices, trauma-informed education, and storytelling to support equity and resilience with a focus on BIPOC women and youth. She currently works as an International Education Advisor at the University of New Mexico and is co-founder and co-director of Kula Yoga in Albuquerque, NM. 

  • Deep Listening with Marlo De Lara

    JUNE 2025

    Marlo De Lara (they/siya) obtained a PhD in Cultural Studies (University of Leeds) and an MA in Psychosocial Studies from the Centre of Psychoanalytic Studies at Essex. Their creative practice works within the realms of sound performance, visual distraction, and film. Using found objects, installation, and various forms of amplification, environments/structures use sound to impart meaning and affect for the participant. As the child of Philippine migrants, De Lara’s unabashed feminist sociopolitical practice/research editorializes on contemporary global conditions.

  • Managing Up with Karen Patwa

    FEBRUARY 2025

    Karen Patwa is an executive coach, leadership strategist, and founder of Karen Patwa Consulting. She’s on a mission to help women of color leaders thrive in senior leadership while being ethical and true to themselves. Karen has innovated learning and leadership development models for women of color in corporate and non-profit spaces, and across multiple industries such as fashion, education, and leadership development. Karen draws power from her non-linear experiences, and helps women of color leaders advance and make an impact in traditional environments.

  • Decolonization in Practice with Mahrukh Hasan

    SEPTEMBER 2024

    Mahrukh (Maya) Hasan is the founder of Fearless, a leadership development and systems change studio. She helps social impact leaders - especially women of color and underrepresented people - go from reactive problem solving to strategic changemaking for a future where everybody wins. Maya is also the facilitator of Shifting Power Accelerator, a cohort-based online course for non-profit and philanthropic professionals to gain the skills and confidence to build equitable partnerships, advocate for proximate leadership, and shift power to the communities they serve.

  • Community and Inclusion with Sapna Agarwal

    JUNE 2024

    Sapna Agarwal uses play, stories and everyday conversation to explore social justice issues, working primarily with young people, intergenerational groups and POC groups. She is an artist, educator, community activist, facilitator, organiser and someone who loves to stop and talk. She established and runs the Woodlands Community Anti-Racist Library in Glasgow and organises satellite projects from this, specifically for People of Colour. She has a background in community arts and facilitation.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • Each meetup features a guest speaker and fellow WOC who shares their expertise on a chosen theme, incorporating interactive exercises, reflection and dialogue, and an opportunity to connect and network with others.

  • Thousand&One will facilitate community meetups on a quarterly basis. This however might change, depending on the interest and availability of our collaborators and community members.

  • The meetup structure, including each theme, has been codesigned with our community. Our members voted on the themes they’d like us to cover, and we will continue to collect feedback after each meetup, and ensure that themes are driven by our community's needs.

  • Thousand&One’s offerings cater specifially to WOC. Our community, however, is made up of allies and practitioners who don’t identify as WOC. They are welcome to join, unless specifically advertised for WOC.

  • Although community meetups are not free to attend, we are mindful of ensuring no one is left behind. Our affordable rates ensure that events are accessible to our community, while also striving for sustainable practices that can pay our speakers for their time and expertise.

  • Meetups might be recorded, as recordings are valuable to T&O as assets to use in the future. However, due to privacy concerns and sensitive conversations, we will not distribute it afterwards. and will only share if attendees specifically request it.