Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 3, 2023) - Earlier this week, SheaMoisture Canada celebrated the 2023 Dream Fund grant recipients in a beautiful carnival-themed Awards celebration in Toronto. With the city already buzzing with excitement for the Caribana weekend, SheaMoisture transported guests to a tropical carnival oasis to commemorate the brand's mission to empower Black female entrepreneurs in Canada through the Dream Fund program, shedding the spotlight on the 2023 grant recipients and their businesses.
Inspired by Black Canadian women and their entrepreneurship journeys, the evening began with networking over light bites with cocktails and was hosted by Catriona Smart, Founder of creative agency That Good.
Catriona is an experienced entrepreneur and advocate for the independence of women and people of colour. Vivian Kaye, Business and Empowerment expert and Founder of KinkyCurlyYaki, delivered the keynote speech in front of 200 guests at Transmission Studios, one of Toronto's only Black owned event spaces downtown. Vivian's speech celebrated and inspired this year's winners to truly own their entrepreneurship trajectories and harness their individual power to continue winning in their respective industries.
Epitomizing the vision of The Dream Fund - creating successful Black female entrepreneurs with trailblazing impact in the community - the two inspiring leaders set the stage for the celebration of this year's grant recipients.
Adding to the evening's carnival flair was a 2022 Dream Fund grant recipient - Carnival Spice - a dance and fitness organization supporting artists of colour through empowerment, dance training and mentorship with a mission to bridge the gap between Black artists and paid work. Carnival Spice welcomed guests and ushered them into the celebratory experience, emblematic of the Dream Fund's mission to build community through bringing past and present winners together at the event. Attendees included prominent members of the Black community and entrepreneurship space, key media and brand partners.
In partnership with The Diversity Agency, SheaMoisture awarded this year's five Dream Fund recipients a $10,000 grant each and support to unlock their entrepreneurial dreams. The selection process for the 2023 Dream Fund program began with more than 300 applications that were narrowed down to 10 semi-finalists who were then involved in a public voting process via social channels and the SheaMoisture website.
The 2023 Winners of The Dream Fund
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Catriona Smart of That Good addresses the crowd.
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Andria Barret from the Diversity Agency
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Maureen Kitheka, SheaMoisture brand manager
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Vivian Kaye, Keynote speaker for the evening.
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Carnival Spice, 2022 winners, performing for the attendees.
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"In year two of the Dream Fund grant program, we evolved the programming to strengthen our support for the grant winners. In addition to the financial grant, the recipients will be matched with a Business Coach to support their unique business goals over 6 months. This is all possible because of our partnership with The Diversity Agency and we were thrilled to celebrate every grant recipient at the party & cheer them on in their journey!" says Maureen Kitheka, SheaMoisture Brand Manager.
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This year's winners included:
IncluSV Beauty Solutions: Located in Windsor, ON, a beauty supply store, a barber shop and a hair salon offering natural hair solutions only. A one stop shop for hair care needs and products all under one roof.
Gyallivant: Based in Brampton, ON, Gyallivant is a dynamic full-service event and wellness services company that allow black women to embrace their wellness journeys through entertainment and recreation in a holistic and culturally relevant way.
Roun Beauty Inc: Based in Kitchener, Ontario, Roun Beauty Inc. is a producer of plant-based hair extensions to help black women to look and feel their best in their protective style and braids, while eliminating plastic waste, eco-guilt and the scalp irritation that comes from synthetic hair extensions.
Hello Hair: Based in Stoney Creek, ON, this children's consumer brand is on a mission to rewrite and celebrate the Black hair experience through multiple art forms, including a Hello Hair storybook, an educational workbook and styling dolls.
Arbre: Based in Toronto, ON, this sustainable sun care brand creates SPF products that work for people of all skin tones. The first product, Spruce, is an innovative tinted mineral based dry shampoo SPF for the scalp.
SheaMoisture looks forward to seeing these young and emerging businesses bloom over the year and continues to stand by its commitment to celebrate and inspire Black women everywhere to follow their dreams and positively impact their communities.
For further information on the SheaMoisture Dream Fund, interview opportunities or more information,
please contact:
Amanpreet Dhami | Account Director, Langton PR Inc. | amanpreet@langtonpr.com
Daniel Pillai | Vice President, Langton PR Inc. | daniel@langtonpr.com | 416-333-2356
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/175785
