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Metamorphosis Embracing Our Intersecting Identities and Excelling

The 2025 Trailblazers of Color Leadership Conference (TOCLC) theme is Metamorphosis Embracing Our Intersecting Identities and Excelling, celebrating an eleven year commitment to empowering gender-diverse individuals of color across the Five Colleges, Western Massachusetts, and beyond. The TOCLC provides a space to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of gender-diverse individuals of color through opening dialogues and raising consciousness on issues relating to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc.

The conference is coordinated in collaboration with the Division of Student Life, the Office of Community and Belonging, Students of Color Students of Color Committee (SOCC), and the Weissman Center for Leadership and co-sponsored by the Five College Consortium, UMASS Women of Color Leadership Network, and various Mount Holyoke departments and student organizations.

REGISTRATION FEES

  • Free for all MHC and Five College students, faculty, and staff
  • $15 for non Five College attendees
  • $8 per person for groups with 10 or more attendees
    *Keynote speaker is FREE and open to non conference attendees*

    Contact toclc-g@mtholyoke.edu or community-belonging@mtholyoke.edu

    The registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, conference swag, entrance to the BIPOC/POC Business Expo and a ticket to the VIP meet-and-greet with the keynote speaker.

    Register

    Ready to Get Involved?


    Vendor Registration Propose a workshop

    • About this year's theme
    The theme this year, “Metamorphosis: Embracing Our Intersecting Identities” aims to promote the principle of embracing each other’s diverse intersecting identities and life experiences while excelling/growing in our careers, education, and journeys of self-growth. Understanding metamorphosis as a process of self-discovery and a journey to realizing an improved form of self. We use this metaphor to honor all those with identities that have been marginalized or questioned, understanding that these multifaceted layers empower us all. As people of color, we come from various backgrounds that have been a part of our metamorphosis. These backgrounds and identities are not always a monolith or homogenous. There are intersecting identities–ethnic, racial, linguistic, gender, and more– that shape our life experiences and the obstacles we face in our education, career, entrepreneurship, and self-growth. We must learn to move forward not simply acknowledging these intersecting identities, but also respecting and embracing them completely. We must do this for ourselves and others to grow in our personal journeys while uplifting people of color around us.
    Students of Color Students of Color Committee (SOCC)
    The lead student coordinators of the conference is the Students of Color Students of Color Committee (SOCC), who prides itself on creating spaces where students can continue to question, challenge, and cultivate their minds to advance personal growth, commitment, and social advocacy for historically underrepresented communities. In addition, the SGA SOCC strives to encourage open dialogues and raise consciousness about issues and intersections prevalent in modern-day society regarding race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and many more identities. The SGA Students of Color Committee aims to meet these goals by continuing to open the event to all individuals. Honoring Mount Holyoke’s commitment to gender diversity, the primary audience is self-identifying gender minorities and women of color in 9th grade and up from the Five­ Colleges, Western Massachusetts, and beyond.

    Learn more about SOCC

    Business Expo Vendors
    Business Expo Participants will be charged a $15 registration fee (must register as a non-5 College attendee unless otherwise instructed). We will provide each business with 1 table and 2 chairs, expo participants will have one hour to showcase their businesses that are owned by, support, and/or serve people of color. This is a chance for vendors to show off and sell their products and/or services. This is a chance for vendors to show off and sell their products and/or services.
    Workshop Presenters
    We are currently accepting workshop proposals for this year’s Trailblazers of Color Leadership Conference. We are seeking POC, women and gender minority workshop presenters, or that work with and/or service these communities. Most importantly, we invite and encourage submission proposals from all five colleges and the surrounding community related to leadership and empowerment of people of color. Workshop presenter registration is FREE.

    Events

    Conference Events Concurrent Workshops
    Breakfast spread of fruits, pastries, coffee and eggs.

    Registration and Breakfast

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 9am to 10am

    This is a past event.

    Come pick up your registration packet which includes a TOCLC tote bag, pen, notebook, and other goodies while enjoying a continental breakfast.

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Deadlines & Important Dates
    I'm Interested
    2025 TOCLC hero image

    Opening Plenary Session

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 10am to 11:15am

    This is a past event.

    This year’s Opening Plenary Session we will include welcome and opening remarks by the chairs of the SGA Students of Color Committee and the President Danielle Holley, President of Mount Holyoke...

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Lectures & Presentations
    I'm Interested
    WOFA - Pioneer Valley Performing Arts West African Drum and Dance Company

    Lunch and Entertainment

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 12:30pm

    This is a past event.

    Entertainment provided by Pioneer Valley Performing Arts WOFA West African Drum and Dance Company. WOFA is a drum and dance company founded in 2009 by Alpha Kabisko Kaba at Pioneer Valley...

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Gatherings & Meetings
    I'm Interested
    POC Owned business with hand drawn shop fronts.

    BIPOC/POC Networking Business Expo

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 2:30pm to 3:30pm

    This is a past event.

    Because the expo is in the same venue as the Student Highlight Workshop and the Keynote Speaker we ask that all purchases do not resume until they are over or there is a break. During the BIPOC/...

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Conferences & Symposia
    I'm Interested
    Campbell Kelly Waters (they/she/he), ‘25

    Student Highlight Workshop

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 3:30pm to 4pm

    This is a past event.

    Presenter: Campbell Kelly Waters (they/she/he) ’25 Born and raised in Harlem, NY, Campbell is a Film Media Theater Major and Asian Studies Minor with a focus in Korean Language. They are currently...

    Trainings & Workshops
    I'm Interested
    POC Owned business with hand drawn shop fronts.

    BIPOC/POC Networking Business Expo

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 4pm to 4:30pm

    This is a past event.

    Because the expo is in the same venue as the Student Highlight Workshop and the Keynote Speaker we ask that all purchases do not resume until they are over or there is a break. During the BIPOC/...

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Conferences & Symposia
    I'm Interested
    Susana Morris ’02

    Keynote Speaker: A Conversation With Susana Morris ’02

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 4:30pm to 5:30pm

    This is a past event.

    Undoing the Master's Tools: Creating the World We Want to See A Conversation with Susana Morris ’02 During this conversation, Dr. Susana Morris will discuss how communities can navigate...

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Stream Available

    Conferences & Symposia
    I'm Interested
    POC Owned business with hand drawn shop fronts.

    BIPOC/POC Networking Business Expo

    Sat, Apr 5, 2025 5:45pm to 6:15pm

    This is a past event.

    Because the expo is in the same venue as the Student Highlight Workshop and the Keynote Speaker we ask that all purchases do not resume until they are over or there is a break. During the BIPOC/...

    Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium

    Conferences & Symposia
    I'm Interested

    Our Sponsors

    Mount Holyoke College Departments and Organizations
  • Alum Association
  • Biology Department
  • Critical Social Thought
  • Department of Environmental Studies
  • Department of Geology and Geography
  • Department of International Relations
  • Department of Physics
  • Department of Psychology and Education
  • Division of Student Life
  • Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Weissman Center for Leadership
    • Five College Sponsors
  • Five College Student Coordinating Board
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst, Women of the Color Leadership Network (WOCLN)
    • Special Thank Yous
    Thank you to the following individuals, departments, and/or organizations for making this year’s conference possible.
  • Event Services
  • AnnMarie Murdzia
  • Annie Clattenburg
  • Facilities Management
  • Kim Lavorie
  • Marketing and Communications
  • Office of the President
  • Student Government Association Executive Board
  • Tim Dietrick and the Stage Crew
    • SGA Students of Color Committee
  • Andrea Kekula
  • Meghna Karmacharya, Co-Chair
  • Elizabeth Oluwasuyi, Co-Chair
  • Maelyn Brade
  • Marielena Savino
  • Margaret Wu
  • Tehani Chandrasena Perera
  • Karoline Bastien
  • Ashley Herrera Mantanico
  • Jieun Paik
  • Testimony Akinkuolie-Ibidapo

    Advisors

  • Latrina L Denson, Associate Dean of Students, Executive Director of Community Belonging
  • Katie Dick, Program Coordinator, Community and Belonging