0:00  
Just before the event I was laying out disposable packs of tissue on each, every other chair. And I remember someone said what are you playing tissue for us and just in case and at one point there was a story where I saw the tissue being passed up and down the rows because it's so moving to hear someone's narrative.  

0:27  
Give it up for Veronica.

0:34  
He looked like Liza Minelli. He looked nice. 

0:39  
I'm nine years old. The hairdresser steps on something and the chair sinks down in size, and my shoulders drop. Because I feel the same way the chair does  it's not cool to look like Liza Minnelli.

1:08  
My name is Veronica Antipolo and I am the co founder and co producer of housewarming storytelling. And our first event was September 21, our inaugural event and we had seven women of color tell their personal stories and it went amazing. So I had been living with my daughter's father, we had been living together as a family. And I wanted to leave the relationship and at the time, I worked in a job that paid well. And I saw it as a vehicle to buckle down and move up the ladder and leave and be financially self sufficient. And so I left him with this job in my back pocket with my daughter and I, I got let go. I had been frustrated because I had lost my job and I was just feeling like burnt out because there is no way for me to let down my guard.

2:30  
I had a moment where I was like, in my apartment, and I felt like everything was falling apart and I was up in the middle of the night. And I was I really wished that there was somebody that I could like listen to that said, Hey, I have stories that are similar to yours. So my name is Georgette Stubbs, I'm the co founder and co producer of housewarming with Veronica. I was an international student from the Bahamas, that's a predominantly black country. Before I moved to Canada being black wasn't a thing. 90% of the people around me were black, so when I came to Canada, and people had a bunch of assumptions about who I was, because I was black, that was mind boggling.

3:06  
I wanted a platform where women could feel safe, talking about how they would feel this way, the way I was feeling or they would be able to share their personal stories without any judgment. As a woman of color, you're on guard a lot, and I go to work I'm in this role where I have to present myself. And I feel like as a woman of color, I have to prove that I'm capable and that I can keep up with what everyone's doing.

3:39  
I find it's really difficult to put into words the way the event feels. Partly because this you don't hear a bunch of other women of color telling their stories. You're not sure there's anybody out there that will relate to you.

3:57  
Oh my gosh, what kind of paper is this? So it's January of this year, and I see her at a comedy show. I saw her out in the bar area and now she's sitting two seats away from me. And I feel pulled towards her and she feels familiar. Like you know, when you hear a song, and you ask, where do I I know this from? And it's not the name of the song that you're actually trying to get but you're trying to remember the connection to that song because it prompts a feeling. And I think is that another one?

4:41  
There's more of us. She like me, is a Filipino with curly hair.

4:51  
One of the things that we do try to emphasize is that as a woman of color, not all of your stories are negative. Our lives are not just trouble. We had a at our last event ranged from death of a parent to racism from an intimate partner to humor and jokes and laughing about the cultural differences and interactions that can happen in the workplace. So for people to tell stories that are so personal for them, it gives everybody a chance to let their guard down and it creates a very transformational and opening open space that is hard to put into words until you've experienced it

5:37  
To be stronger, you have to break it down and be vulnerable first. And then once you're stronger, coming together as a community that's a force to be reckoned with.