Street Voices Presents: She Needs No Introduction Series - Featuring Teshyla Bailey

By Lauryn Stewart

The professional world has historically been a place of gender inequality for women, yet women of colour endure the sexism present in the workplace along with racial basis. In present years we have witnessed an uproar in demands for gender equality. Women have shown the World that there is power in being a woman, and womanhood should be celebrated and valued. The month of March marks the celebration of Women’s History month, where we celebrate the progression of Women's rights throughout history and acknowledge the issues that we must confront to create a better tomorrow for the young women of the future. 

This month, in particular, Street Voices will be highlighting a few of the many trailblazing women who have made an impact within the GTA. Street Voices is proud to acknowledge Teshyla Bailey, the founder of Sis to Sis, a Toronto-based Non-profit that supports Black Women and Women of colour in finding their stride in the professional world; while fostering community, networking and personal development. 

1.) What does being a woman mean today?

Being a woman today means showing up authentically and showing up as our full selves in spaces that traditionally were not open to that, especially myself as a Black woman, entering spaces and speaking to my lived experiences. I like to say as my unmuted self, allows other to see that were able to step into any space that we want to enter without the presser of feeling like we don't belong. 

2.) What does it mean to be a Black woman in the professional world today?

To be a Black woman in the professional world isn't historically accepted; to be a Black woman in the professional space means constantly having several eyes/opinions steered your way, just because our embodiment goes against what the social norm of professionalism is. Whether that's our outer appearance, to how we style our outfits, or choose to do our hair, down to the way we speak or share our opinion, we're always going to be met with some resistance because it goes against what society traditionally thought professionalism means. What I find now is as a Black woman we're redefining what professionalism looks like and what that means, and creating space for other Black women and women of colour in general, to step in and show up vulnerable and as their full selves. 

Did you experience any hardships in your own professional journey?

My biggest challenge that i'm still coming to terms with, was my own self doubt, with not feeling super equipped to be in the Non-Profit space specifically; the way that i've been working through that is reminding myself of the power that I have in my lived experiences. My education is only complementary to the work that I do, but a lot of the impact that we were able to make  from the organization comes from the skills that we've pulled from the community/ pulled from our livelihoods. I try to take that with me now and not let it be a deterrent in terms of how I enter these (professional) spaces. As I work through the Nonprofit world more and more, I am starting to learn more about these spaces and how these institutions are really set up. There wasn't predominate support towards the Black community; I think in the last year we’ve definitely seen an influx. When we started in 2019 those conversions were just being stated on a mass route on social media; it wasn't a Hot topic like it is today, in terms of supporting and funding Black organizations.}