Actress keynote speaker at Vaughan Black History event

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 19, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Ngozi Paul spent the winter hiding out from the cold in Los Angeles, but the celebrated actor/producer will appear on GTA stages quite a few times this year, beginning with a stop in Vaughan this weekend.

She is among a slate of guest speakers at a free Black History Month event taking place Saturday, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Vaughan city hall.

“I was invited to come and speak to our community about being in the entertainment industry and having a voice as a black woman in the entertainment industry."

“And what it means to create work and have a vision and see that vision realized,” said Paul, best known as co-creator, co-executive producer and actress on the television series Da Kink in My Hair.

“Because the shows that I’ve produced and acted in, most of them, have been the first of their kind in Canada.”

Paul, whose father hails from Dominica while her mother comes from St. Kitts and Nevis, intends to focus her talk on steps required to “see your vision manifested” from the perspective of a Caribbean Canadian woman.

It’s a topic she knows a lot about.

Da Kink in My Hair, which aired on Global TV for two seasons, was recently picked up by The Africa Channel in the United States. And she’s currently developing a new show with the network.

This summer Paul will be showing off her acting chops.

She’s performing in a play called The Watershed, which is being staged during the Pan Am Games in July. In August, she’ll appear in a play that she wrote titled The Emancipation of Ms. Lovely, which will be staged in Toronto and, possibly, in Vaughan.

She’s also working on The 1st Time Project, billed as a “multi-platform” project about women’s first sexual experiences from an inter-cultural and inter-generational perspective.

Paul is excited to speak to people, especially local youth, on Saturday about how they can make their voices heard and share their stories with the world.

“I’m hoping that people will walk away with some level of personal inspiration and context in terms of what it means to be a storyteller and having your own voice heard,” Paul sad. “I think everybody really wants to feel recognized and there are stories everywhere and everyone deserves to be heard. My goal is to really demystify the process of how that happened for me and making it happen for other people.”

The event also features a screening of A Commemorative Tour of Owen Sound’s Black History Heritage, presented by the Thornhill African Caribbean Canadian Association.

An official welcome takes place at 2:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served.