Compassion and Care with Angela Henry

For Registered Nurse and Private Label Designer, Angela Henry, she feels blessed that she has found her calling in life to make a difference, and that difference is to improve the lives of others.

For 25 years, Henry has been in the nursing field serving her community and helping others. Following a career change from working in the fashion industry in Toronto for eight years, Henry enjoyed working in private label design. However, the industry was changing as more domestic production moved overseas.

While facing a layoff from her previous job, she knew that it was the time to make a career change, since she felt like she needed to feel more relevance and purpose in her life.

“I took advantage of all opportunities in nursing starting out in neurosurgery and trauma. That led to working at Sunnybrook Hospital for seven years upon graduating from George Brown College, in Toronto,” she explains. “I left Toronto needing a life change at 40 years old and worked as a critical care travel nurse in San Diego for a year. I lived a dream being in California with perfect weather, sand and margaritas. I think it’s amazing to watch someone start their day surfing then going to work.”

Sharing that her career has brought her great joy to see success in healing and improvements to an individual quality of life, at the same time, she has also seen great tragedy and death that makes you reevaluate life and its purpose.

When asked what empowers her daily, Henry shares that her faith in God, her mother and practicing what she preaches are just a few of the things that keep her moving forward.

“I power through the disappointments but have to keep focused and moving forward. This life is too short to dwell in negativity, or what drains your energy,” she shares. “Overcome the obstacles by prioritizing and saying to yourself, is it really worth it? Pick your battles and move past them.”

For CEO and Founder of IncluSVBeauty, Salem Berhane’s vision and passion is to support those who want to learn how to embrace their natural hair with confidence. When she opened her salon in August 2020, Berhane gave the public a one-stop-shop to get all your hair needs, products and services under one roof.

What has been a passion of hers for a long time, she knew she wanted to satisfy her clients’ needs, which enriched her with the desire to help people who might not know how to manage their hair. As she describes the hair on your head as “a crown,” Berhane is all about protecting that crown with love.

“My success in Windsor did not come overnight. Through hard work and dedication, I was able to perfect my craft that met the needs of the Windsorites I serve and surrounding areas. I have had clients drive from as far as Ottawa and New York to be serviced by me,” she shares. “ Aside from my social media and word of mouth, the uniqueness of my business is that all my clients become walking advertisements.”

But that’s not all that Berhane offers to the community, she is also a huge advocate for change and equality.

Berhane was born in Eritrea in 1983, fled to Sudan with her family at the age of 2 due to a war and came to Canada at the age of 5.

“I moved to Windsor in 2007 to study Psychology and Dramatic arts at the University of Windsor. I wanted to become a child therapist. Through my volunteer work, I gained a love for wanting to assist youth with their future plans,” she says. After moving here, I immediately seeked out for the Eritrean Community of Windsor. I was disappointed to hear that there was not one, but that gave me the opportunity to start one.”

Berhane and a few other members started The Eritrean Canadian Community of Windsor, which is a non-political, non-religious organization to gather Eritreans in many avenues.

“Amongst many objectives that we had, my focus was on assisting the youth with direction and opportunity to brighten their future.

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In 2019, 2 phenomenal women and I co-founded an organization called Family Fuse,” she explains. “We offer support in the education system for Black Canadian parents, guardians and caregivers across Windsor and Essex County.”

“If you can dream it you can achieve it. You have to believe that whatever you want to pursue is the best thing that is out there. You need to be able to convince people why your product or service is like no other.”

Describing herself as phenomenal, determined and adventurous, Berhane’s advice to anyone that has a dream is it’s better to try and fail than to not try at all.

To learn more about IncluSV Beauty, check out their website: www.inclusvbeauty.com

There’s been a debate surrounding transgender athletes recently due to Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, winning this year’s NCAA women’s swimming championship.

Lia Thomas won the “Ivy 2022 Champion” in swimming - celebrating victory in the 500-yard freestyle and the 200yard freestyle.

Lia’s participation and eventual win sparked controversy and criticism about whether it’s “fair” for someone assigned male at birth with a male muscle structure to participate in a swimming category with female-born swimmers.

She currently ranks #44 among US female swimmers and #31 among female college swimmers, which means there are still female swimmers with a faster time than Lia, despite the “advantages” she’s being criticized for having.

Lia has built her skills as a swimmer for years as she’s been an avid swimmer since age 5, training and setting new records for herself. Unfortunately, her skills and accomplishments as a swimmer have been eclipsed by discussions of her gender.

It’s because of that reason why Lia kept her identity a secret because she didn’t want to risk losing her swimming career.

CNN reported that she started hormone replacement therapy in May 2019 and came out as trans that fall, yet she still had to compete on the men’s team. She said it was awkward and uncomfortable, and her speed suffered as her muscles weakened from hormone therapy.

As a result, her times were even slower than they were after she transitioned, which is what many trans athletes go through. It’s not uncommon for trans women to find a slight decrease in performance overall because of hormone therapy.

The NCAA requires that transgender athletes have one year of hormone replacement therapy to be cleared to participate, which Lia did.

Affirm Trans Athletes

There’s already a stigma against the trans community, and trans people already have a hard time finding safe spaces. Trans people enjoy sports just as much as cisgender people. Should they be taken out of sports because of how they identify?

Regarding athletes, they only have a short window to participate in their sport. Many athletes retire before they turn 40 to avoid permanent physical injuries.

For example, fellow swimmer Michael Phelps retired from competitive swimming at the age of 31. It’s also not uncommon for professional football players and hockey players to quit before they hit their mid 30’s.

As of May 2022, 18 US states have banned or limited the participation of trans athletes in schools.

With this short window for an athlete’s career, these sports bans stop their athletic career before it begins and holds them back from playing the sports they love.

With these changing times, discussions need to take place between trans individuals and sport organizers to discuss these concerns and to better understand what would make for a fair competition.

More conversations and research will equal better policies.

If an athlete, whether trans or not, has the skills and is ready to rise to the occasion, they should be able to participate.

To even the playing field, men’s and women’s sports have always been kept separate, but there are examples of women beating men when challenged based on having superior skills.

For example, Billie Jean King famously beat Bobby Riggs in a 1973 match dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes.”

And in 2006, Michaela Hutchison made history by winning the 103-pound title at the 2006 state wrestling championships to become the nation’s first girl to win a state high school championship against boys.

Lia Thomas and other transgender women like her should be allowed to swim equally with the gender they identify. Believing her muscle mass to be the problem because she got it before transitioning and not “naturally” from her assigned birth sex does not automatically make her a better swimmer.

Scientifically, there is not an unfair advantage to transgender women, and the argument of “fairness” forgets the mental anguish of not being affirmed.

Let transgender women play sports and be on the team that matches their gender identity.