Taking a leap into the future as CNBC women: Without a well-defined and socially sanctioned path to follow, how do we move past what we don’t have and find the courage to take the plunge into an expansive and meaningful life?
This webinar interviews women who have done just that and who share their experience, strength and hope as CNBC women.
DATE: Sunday 22nd September
TIME: 3pm BST - Find your timezone HERE
REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE
Please note: Whilst the panellists will be recorded, your camera and audio will be turned off. If you are unable to attend the webinar live, you DO NOT need to register to watch the replay. Just subscribe to the World Childless Week YouTube channel and you’ll be notified when new recordings are added.
PANELLISTS
Sandra (Sandy) Sjollema - Canada
Sandy is a poet, writer, researcher and caregiver who lives in Montréal, Canada on the ancestral lands of the Kanien’kehà:ka and Anishnabe peoples. In addition to being CNBC, she identifies as Queer and lives with chronic illness.
Sandy is an activist and has volunteered her time for a variety of causes, including against conjugal and gender-based violence. For ten years, she was the volunteer coordinator of a poetry collective in Montréal.
Sandy holds a Ph.D. in the social sciences from Concordia University (Montréal) and currently works for an LGBTQ-based research organization.
Sandy has recounted her story of childlessness by contributing her poetry and writings to World Childless Week as well as to other CNBC forums (e.g., Tutum Magazine).
She has also performed her poetry live and on radio programs in Montréal.
Sandy lives with her longtime friend and their fur baby, Shulamis.
Laura Curtis - Canada
Laura holds a PhD in Music Education from Western University, and is a lecturer at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario, and Western University in London, Ontario. Laura’s research interests include the social and affective impact of group singing on involuntarily childless women, the impact of childlessness on social and musical identity, and lifelong musical learning.
Since 2004, Laura has established herself as a self-employed private music teacher. She is also Music Director of the Addison Women’s Choir in Cambridge, Ontario.
Rooted in her personal experience with involuntary childlessness, Laura is passionate about raising consciousness of the experience, and working to support those who are childless not by choice, particularly in the Canadian context. She facilitates two groups on Meetup.com for childless individuals in Ontario and, most recently, founded the Involuntarily Childless Researchers facebook group.
Rachel Cordon - UK
Hello my name's Rachel and I'm an involuntarily childless 41 year old Psychotherapeutic Breathworker, Business Improvement & Change Manager, and CNBC Diversity & Inclusion Leader. It sounds like a crazy combination, but I love the variety!
For the last 11 years I've trodden this path of infertility and childlessness.
As many of us have, I've been through terribly dark times that I thought would never end, but in 2020 I found and embarked on a 3 year intensive Breathwork training programme that totally transformed my life physically, mentally and emotionally. Breathwork has enabled me to embrace acceptance and find feelings of gratitude, joy, value and positivity about my life and future. It's brought life back in to my heart, and I have found my place in community.
During 2023 I spearheaded a Diversity & Inclusion campaign at my Corporate workplace of 40k employees to raise awareness for our involuntarily childless community, and founded Papillon Breathwork with a vision of supporting our involuntarily childless community's' healing journey.
Palo Barker - UK
I was a professional auditor when diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. I tried to continue working but it was not possible to stabilise my condition, until after an emergency hysterectomy (2005). My infertility journey was concurrent.
I believe we save ourselves by saving others. That became my purpose. I know that no matter how hard it is, we are never alone.
Time has given me a perspective that the throes of grief couldn’t. 25 years of helping others has given me considerable experience of the variety and nature of pain, loss and suffering but also the will, despite everything, to survive and thrive. My journey has been painful beyond comprehension and, for many years, beyond my ability to articulate. But I have endured it and become reconciled to it. I am now thriving and enjoying my life, more than I could’ve believed, certainly in 2002.
REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE
