Thank you everyone who supported the Womxn of Color on their journey. The students are getting prepared and excited for next week. In total, from our alumni, friends and Western Washington University community the group received a total of over $18,000 - exactly $18,661... 124% above goal. As mentioned, any proceeds that exceed the cost of sending the Womxn to the conference will go into the creation of the Multicultural Business Scholars Association, a new student club with the purpose of creating more opportunities like this.

We appreciate, thank, and are humbled by the support from our community at large. We will share updates when the womxn return from their adventure next week. Thank you again and have a wonderful end to your week! 

We are excited to announce that during the course of the visit, students will be visiting with some important DC and Legislative contacts from the State of Washington! More will be shared upon return.

Thank you everyone who has already given - the students are about 80% to our goal which is incredibly exciting. They hope to get that last $3,000 needed so there is no financial burden but are humbled at what has already been provided from both the internal and external Western community.

Some people have asked why we chose to write "womxn" versus "women" so here's a quick summary below:

"Recently, womxn has been used by feminists to indicate the same ideas, with explicit inclusion of transgender women and women of color, although intersectional feminists have since indicated the term has an exclusionary tone."

A great article if anyone is interested is here:

https://medium.com/@knottyvibescompany/intersectional-feminism-101-what-is-womxn-36c0a3140126

Some individuals claim that the modification in spelling could be a minor adjustment that doesn’t do something important or meaningful; however even as micro-aggressions work to subtly enforce racist ideals and tendencies among individuals, the word ‘women’ subtly enforces the concept that womxn are second to men. because it could be a new word, transfer it up in conversation can even result in opportunities to open a discourse concerning the barriers womxn face and have encountered globally for years. It takes bravery to start employing a new word that you’re not quite certain everybody around you’ll perceive, however next time attempt identifying yourself a womxn as a chance to teach others and help this small change become an everyday habit.

We might have had an opportunity to open some doors in Congress and meet some womxn of color in legislature during our time in DC. If you have a contact, or interest in meeting us (if you are in the DC area) we are happy to make some time.

Thank you supporters for the first financial chunk of our journey, we are opening the dialogue to alumni in our programs and continuing to share on social media. The students are excited and eager to head to this conference, and the Wonder Women Tech organizing body have agreed to hold the reduced rate as a special rate for our students.

More to come!