{"id":492396,"date":"2026-02-22T17:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492396\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T17:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:14:17","slug":"new-exhibit-by-gta-students-celebrates-black-professionals-in-a-variety-of-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492396\/","title":{"rendered":"New exhibit by GTA students celebrates Black professionals in a variety of fields"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Students across the Greater Toronto Area are recognizing inspiring Black professionals in a variety of fields in a new exhibit to mark Black History Month.<\/p>\n

The We Are Canada exhibit opened Saturday to celebrate the essays and photos taken by students showcasing leaders of the Black community in different areas of work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We Are Canada gives students the opportunity careers, career progression and become inspired by what they see,” said Angela Henry, director of communications for the Lifelong Leadership Institute. <\/p>\n

“And also gain the understanding that Black people have been involved in areas of work across many positions in Canada.”<\/p>\n

Participating students are part of the leadership by design program, which has been run by the Lifelong Leadership Institute for 10 years, said Henry at the exhibit’s premiere. <\/p>\n

She said it was inspiring to see students push their boundaries and do something “that scares them a little.”<\/p>\n

\"CrowdAt the opening of the We Are Canada exhibit, members of Toronto’s Black community gathered to hear speeches and the goals behind the project. (David Hill\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Student Bemi Esisi said her takeaways from the project was the importance of good communication and having passion for your work. <\/p>\n

“Being Black in Canada, sometimes you don’t see yourself represented. So getting to see what my future could look like is really inspiring,” said Esisi.<\/p>\n

“These opportunities are really important for [students.] It allows us to showcase our voice, our place in the world and that we can be more than what people expect from us.”<\/p>\n

‘Overjoyed’ to learn from a role model: student<\/p>\n

Oakville grade 11 student Michael Aikens said he was eager to find a way to mark Black History Month this year.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201coverjoyed\u201d when he got to be a part of the We Are Canada exhibit and through that met Toronto Symphony Orchestra CEO Mark Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unbelievable, what are the chances,\u201d he told CBC Radio\u2019s Here and Now. \u201cI was so overjoyed that I would finally have something to push for Black History Month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aikens said it was fascinating to learn from Williams that he was the first Black CEO of a major orchestra.<\/p>\n

\"StudentMichael Aikens interviews Toronto Symphony Orchestra CEO Mark Williams for the We Are Canada exhibit. (Submitted by Michael Aikens)<\/p>\n

Williams said the interview experience was just as much of \u201ca gift\u201d to him. He said as a person of colour that has \u201cachieved,\u201d there\u2019s a sense of responsibility in giving back to the community any way you can.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything I can do to shine a light on the work that Black Canadians are doing, I\u2019d love to be a part of that,\u201d he told CBC Radio\u2019s Here and Now.<\/p>\n

Williams added he was grateful to go from learning about Black history as a youth to now being able to inspire young people in the future.<\/p>\n

“During the interview I had this moment, where I realized the roles had shifted and it really made me grateful \u2026 to give something,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AOakville high school student Michael Aikens took portrait photos of Mark Williams for the We Are Canada exhibit for Black History Month. (Submitted by Michael Aikens)<\/p>\n

For Aikens, he said he learned from Williams to always try new opportunities and \u201cput yourself out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially as a Black individual, where those are so limited you just need to jump at what comes to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Banner (CBC)<\/p>\n

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians \u2014 from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community \u2014 check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-492396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}