Today we’d like to introduce you to Iliana Panameño, Mu-Chieh Yun.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Iliana, Mu-Chieh. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We started We, Ceremony for us. As both women of color, living in an extremely racist and segregated city, we found validation and solace in sharing our experiences and stories with each other. Through this connection, we realized that other women of color may be in search of a similar safe space and we decided to channel our frustration into something creative that would bring our communities together. Combining our backgrounds in fashion and community organizing, we began We, Ceremony’s journey by conducting on-the-spot interviews in different neighborhoods in Boston. Initially, we focused on identity through self-expression but quickly realized that in order to truly honor the stories of the women in our communities, it was necessary for us to create an entire platform devoted to storytelling while uplifting the voices of women of color.
While we started off as two people, we have been fortunate to work with so many women of color who are just as much a part of We, Ceremony as we are. Through mentorship, networking, and supporting similar platforms and organizations, we’ve been able to build each other up. It is because of our community that we are able to get to where we are now.
Now, We, Ceremony is a community of women of color who are unapologetically themselves. Our website features full-length interviews (http://www.weceremony.com/spotlight), with women of color from around the world who are positively impacting their communities, special projects (https://www.weceremony.com/projects/) and events (https://www.weceremony.com/events-1/) that we produce with local organizations, and a robust list of subscribers. Our work is locally recognized and we look forward to bringing more visibility to our stories and experiences.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As a Salvadoran cisgender woman and a Taiwanese cisgender woman, we recognize our experiences and the privileges afforded to us do not encompass the diversity of identities within our community. It is incredibly important for us that We, Ceremony is an inclusive, open space that welcomes feedback and different voices to contribute to our platform. We are not here to say we know what’s best for all women of color because we can only speak to our own stories, but we hope to teach others about ourselves just as we continue to learn from other women of color.
We, Ceremony – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We, Ceremony is a digital platform that uses storytelling to empower and celebrate women of color. In using personal narratives as a tool, we create representation and genuine and dignified opportunities for women of color. We host events to uplift women of color and to bring the issues that are affecting our communities to the forefront.
We are most proud of the community we’ve built and we really cherish the trust that the women of color we’ve met have put in our platform to share their stories.
What sets us apart from others is that we do not see inclusion as a trend or the next diversity-building tool. As we mentioned before, we created We, Ceremony for ourselves first. We genuinely want to see our community’s progress and fully achieve liberation from this single narrative of who women of color are supposed to be as a result of colonialism and white supremacy.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our first event, Gallery Talk: Women of Color Empowerment, was a defining moment for We, Ceremony. We exceeded over 200+ registrants and we felt affirmed in our work to see so many women of color in attendance, many of whom shared that this was either the first or one of the very few events in Boston where it was for and by women of color. This was a clear sign that a space like We, Ceremony is needed and we are onto creating something meaningful for our communities.
We also recently produced our first e-book, “Unapologetic Women of Color,” which highlights three women of color who are changing our city and defining what it means to be an unapologetic woman of color. We created this e-book with our community in mind and it’s another piece of representation that we want to see for our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.weceremony.com
- Email: hello@weceremony.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/weceremony
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/wecrmny
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeCeremony
Image Credit:
Founders photos/portraits by Ally Schmaling
Gallery Talk photos by Steve Osemwenkhae
CreativeMornings Photos by Patrick Daly
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