Nov. 15 : Spelman College and Braven Nonprofit Announce New, Innovative Partnership

Spelman College recently announced a new, innovative partnership with Braven, a national nonprofit helping promising college students on a path to economic mobility, as part of its Spelman Pathways: Creating Your Path to Life and Career Excellence initiative.

The partnership will offer all Spelman sophomores a two-part career-accelerating experience. Fellows will receive additional support to land a strong first job or enter graduate school.

Spelman has a long legacy of helping Black women achieve what was historically not always possible because of our country’s systemic inequities. This partnership will further that legacy by ensuring Spelman students receive additional support to sharpen and further develop the skills, confidence, experiences, and networks necessary to launch careers that maximize their potential.

"The new partnership will provide access to career guidance that Spelman scholars will benefit from for years to come," said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman.

"Our goal is to provide students with the competitive edge they need to excel in any field," said Dr. Campbell. "Through this exciting partnership with Braven our students will enter the job market equipped with the skills necessary to navigate a 21st century workplace and thrive as leaders in a competitive marketplace."

The Spelman English Department, in conjunction with the Comprehensive Writing Program and the Social Justice Fellows Program, will host a Spelman Community Read this semester.

This year, the event features Atlanta-based writer and activist Da'Shaun Harrison's recently released book, Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. Harrison will join a student-led book discussion at 6 p.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 15 on Zoom.

"This book puts critical Black studies into action, outlining how the superficial clichés of 'body positivity' can be complicit with anti-Blackness, transphobia, fatphobia, and ableism," said event organizer and English department faculty member Rebecca Kumar, Ph.D. "Harrison combines historical analysis, cultural criticism, memoir, and ethnography, modeling for our students how intellectualism and the art of writing can be powerful tools for activism."

Empowered Houseworkers in Argentina with Natalie Alcoba

The Gordon-Zeto Center for Global Education, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, will present a virtual event with journalist Natalie Alcoba.

An Argentine-Canadian journalist based in Buenos Aires, Alcoba will give attendees an inside look into her reporting project about the organizing efforts of household workers in Argentina during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alcoba writes extensively about the feminist movement in Argentina and is interested more broadly in collective organization in Latin America and how resistance and community are forged on the so-called margins.

Alumnae Honored for their Work in the Music Industry

Two Spelman graduates were among this year's American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers annual Women Behind the Music honorees.

Phylicia Fant, C'2000, executive vice president and head of Urban Music at Columbia Records Motown Records and Alicia Ferriabough Taylor, Esq., C'96, entertainment attorney with The Law Offices of Robert A. Celestin were both honored for their groundbreaking work in the music industry.

The two were honored during the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Homecoming SZN virtual events, which aligned with homecoming festivities taking place at historically Black colleges and universities this fall.