carla in the media:
Please see news media, podcast interviews and television appearances below.
I am available for press and news interviews, podcast and audio recordings and television interviews and panels. My areas of expertise include healing racial and oppression-based trauma, the importance of somatic and embodiment practices in healing intergenerational trauma, developing health equity and culturally-responsive wellness practices and building restorative and transformative educational spaces.
For media and interview requests, please send me a detailed email with podcast or media name and links, including themes and topics you’d like to speak about, interviewer information, timeline and relevant technical details.
INSIGHT TIMER | 2021
Carla is a mixed-race (Guyanese-British-Canadian) woman and is a strong advocate of cultural and racial justice. She is a writer, speaker, movement and meditation teacher, founder of the WOKE WO/MEN speaking events, and a relationship coach for inter-cultural families and couples. Her audio talks and meditations combine breath work and real-talk conversations for intercultural individuals to practice adaptability, self-love and self-trust, and self-worthiness.
BLU MATTER PROJECT | MINDFUL MATTERS PODCAST | OCTOBER, 2021.
Carla Beharry is a mixed-race, intercultural, Guyanese-British-Canadian, specializing in health & education equity and in healing racial trauma from a somatic, body-based perspective. In this episode, she speaks to us about antiracial trauma biases & power dynamics in wellness culture, What racial trauma is & how we can recognize it, implicit vs. explicit bias, how can we begin to educate ourselves and others about anti-racism & anti-oppression and how we can be an advocate for the racial justice movement
#TRENDING WITH ALEIA ALLY | celebrating guyanese culture | september, 2021
Carla Beharry and #Trending host, Aleia Ally sit down to talk about their shared Guyanese culture. In this vibrant conversation, Aleia and Carla talk about the celebration of food and family and of the devastating impacts colonialism has had on Guyana.
DISRUPTIONS WITH PURPOSE PODCAST WITH AMY DEHNE | AUGUST, 2021
"Humanity for white folks is deeply tied up in this work as well, so it's impossible to live in a world with as much injustice and think that you will be unaffected by it" - Carla Beharry.
“This is a conversation about racism for white people. We talk about being white and the implicit and explicit harm it has caused for generations. We talk about racial justice and racial trauma. We talk about the various ways we can teach our children about racism and how to start the process of dismantling it.
#TRENDING WITH ALEIA ALLY | ANTIRACISM WORKSHOPS | MAY, 2021.
#Trending host, Aleia Ally and Carla Beharry discuss the importance of wellness practitioners and educators developing a strong antiracism lens to build healthcare and educational spaces that are both equitable and transformative.
ROGERS TV | DIVERSE + CONVERSE WITH KWEEN AND ALEIA ALLY | MARCH, 2021
“Local BIPOC community groups come together for a roundtable about actionable steps, allyship, protecting BIPOC organizers, increasing diversity and inclusion in the workplace and education system, and combatting fake news.” This month's panelists were Kween, Nadia Hussein, Carla Beharry, Bonita Uzoruo, and Lannois Carroll-Woolery.”
GOOD COMPANY PRODUCTIONS | RACHEL HICKEY | March, 2021
“Black History Month is a time for us to really become aware of the systemic changes we need in our communities, but also to highlight the community leaders making a difference right here in KW. “It is important to join together in community to amplify voices and support each other, to understand Black history, Black presence and Black futures. Action needs to be taken in our communities, our businesses, our leadership boards and more …”
CBC NEWS | KATE BUECKERT | February, 2021
"I think this year, we've spent a lot of time on that end of the spectrum, the heaviness, so it's so important for health care and for sustainability in this advocacy work to have joy and to really to have celebration." Both Beharry and Debs say while the event is happening during Black History Month, they hope the message and celebration of the event carry on throughout the year. "We're here to sing and to dance. But we're also here to create tangible, systemic change within our communities.”
THE RECORD | ANAM LATIF | February, 2021
“So often our narratives get told for us,” said Carla Beharry, one of the organizers behind WOKE WO/MEN, a series of inspiring speaking events for the local Black community.“ This is an opportunity for us to acknowledge these speakers and hear stories from each of these Black leaders.” Local anti-racism instructor and advocate Selam Debs is also behind this Friday’s WOKE WO/MEN event, called Stories of Resilience + Challenge in WOKE WO/MEN.
THE COMMUNITY EDITION | ALYSSA DI SABATINO | February, 2021
“The event will include stories of resiliency and overcoming adversity from speakers such as: Dr. Kathy Hogarth, Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor, Nicole Brown-Faulknor, Umi Mohammed and Dr. Olafunke Oba. The event will also feature artwork from Trisha Abe, videos from Good Company Productions, DJing from Jon Corbin, a dance performance from Tawheed Musa, spoken word from Jaleel Debs, music from Rufus John and will be hosted and moderated by Utamika Van Zyl.”
#TRENDING WITH ALEIA ALLY | CARLA BEHARY + SELAM DEBS ON THEIR BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPEAKING EVENT | FEBRUARY, 2021.
Carla Beharry and Selam sits join #Trending host, Aleia Ally, to discuss their upcoming virtual WOKE speaking event, featuring Black youth and leaders in Waterloo region.
LION’S ROAR | January, 2021
Active empathy is a skill that we can nurture. In our moments of pain and suffering, we can shift our attention from cycling back through our traumas to opening up to others in the present. If we can challenge ourselves to really hear someone’s words and feel their pain, we can help them with their burdens.
This is where we can go in moments of trauma, and this is where we can choose to arrive in the moments that follow. It’s not a direct path. It’s a rocky road to navigate. But it is necessary if we want to move beyond survival to genuine happiness.
YOUTH MIND MAG | SHINEAD OROTAL | October, 2020
Selam Debs and Carla Beharry, co-creators of The Anti-Racism Community Collective (ARCC), believe that it is imperative that everyone — young people included — should be educated on systemic racism in Canada, in order to continue to make change. “That is systemic racism: Being comfortable with looking around and seeing white-only spaces, white boardrooms, white judges, white lawyers, just a whole sea of white people around you and that doesn’t trigger something inside of you to go ‘Oh, something needs to change.”
DISTRESS + CRISIS ONTARIO | BRENDA OKOREE | October, 2020
Carla Beharry, an antiracism consultant, writer, speaker, mental health advocate, relationship coach, and owner of WOKE WO/MEN’S movement. In this episode she shares her insights on how systemic racism impacts mental health, how her job helps people dealing with mental health and systemic racism, her personal story, what we can do as a community to support each other.
HILLSIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL | July, 2020
Carla Beharry is a mixed-race, Guyanese-British-Canadian Antiracism Consultant, writer, speaker, and mental health advocate. She works as a relationship coach for racialized individuals and intercultural and multi-ethnic families.
Carla is the founder and co-creator of the WOKE WO/MEN’S Stories of Resilience + Challenge Speaking Events and works to build platforms for racialized and marginalized individuals to have a space to share personal stories of overcoming adversity. The WOKE events focus on reducing isolation can have extreme impacts on our Black, Brown, Indigenous People of Colour who live carrying the weight of trauma and anxiety alone.
KW PEACE | June, 2020
The KW community will peacefully march in solidarity for the lives lost to police brutality, institutionalized racism and hatred. People of all races and backgrounds will come together to show our solidarity against anti-blackness and injustice.
Selam Debs, Carla Beharry, ACB KW & with the support of Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region bring to you KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter.
CTV NEWS | NICOLE LAMPA + CHASE BANGER | June, 2020
Thousands turned out for a peaceful solidarity march in downtown Kitchener on Wednesday evening to protest anti-Black racism and police brutality.
The KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter was organized following a number of recent high-profile, police-involved deaths of black people in both Canada and the United States.
THE RECORD | ANAM LATIF | June, 2020
“Local activists will gather in Kitchener’s Victoria Park on Wednesday to march in solidarity with Black communities across North America. “We don’t want to sit at home and watch what is happening to our community and be silent on this.”
THE COMMUNITY EDITION | MELISSA EMBURY | June, 2020
On June 3, an estimated 36,000 people gathered in downtown Kitchener for the KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter to peacefully protest against police brutality and racial injustice. Additionally, almost 5,000 people watched the march online via the live stream on the Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region’s Facebook page. The video has been viewed over 100,000 times. The event was organized by Selam Debs, Carla Beharry, Aaron Francis, Fitsum Areguy, Lang Ncube, Fiqir Worku and Eden Mekonen, in collaboration with Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region, with the ACB Network WR, The African Community Wellness Initiative (ACWI) and ACCKWA.
THE CORD | ALYSSA DI SABATINO | June, 2020
Carla Beharry, one of the organizers of the KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter, told The Community Edition that in order for change to happen, allies need to educate themselves and work to address unconscious biases.
“The more people hear these words, the more people are going to get used to them because, at the end of the day, these conversations are just beginning. People will have to get [uncomfortable],” Beharry said.
DRINK THE COFFEE. DO THE WORK. PODCAST | LINDSAY COULTER + TIMOTHY MUZA | May, 2020
Carla takes us through some of her personal stories that shaped her life and how she is using these experiences to push awareness of the daily obstacles to POC that are deeply seeded in our culture. Carla generously shares her knowledge with us on how we can be more effective allies, and how we can better show up for the BIPOC community. We recorded this episode with Carla last week, in the wake of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, but Carla has been doing this work for years. We also want to mention that this was recorded prior to the many protests that have erupted across the world, calling for action to stop the violence against black men and women.
COMMUNITECH NEWS | ALEX KINSELLA | February, 2020
““Toxic masculinity is a problem. [Boys and men] end up having fragmented experiences during their lives – they don’t get to be the full range of who they are,” said Debs. “We want to help boys and men show up as themselves and not as a stereotype.” For Beharry, the event is a chance to redefine the narrative of what it means to be a boy or a man. She pointed to the #metoo and Black Lives Matter movements as examples that have shown there is still much work to be done. “We’ve done so much work for women, but for things to change, men have to be part of the conversation.”
THE PRINCESS CINEMA | October, 2019
Selam Debs (JUICI Yoga) & Carla Beharry (WOKE Women's Movement) present: TONI & TALK
DOORS OPEN at 6pm with a night full of spoken word, stories shared, readings from The Bluest Eye, Sula & I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings & more. All in the ambiance of Gerima Harvey's drumming.
Join US on this journey into Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison's literature, life, artistry and Truths.
TRINI JUNGLE JUICE | KERRA DENEL | September, 2019
CWPL is a platform curated to empower, educate and connect women of color. It is a welcoming space for women of all cultures with a focus on women of the Caribbean diaspora.
The event encompasses delicious food, empowering conversations and a warm environment to network and form relationships with other like minded women.
Panelists: Camille Dundas, Social Storyteller | Carla Beharry, Founder of Woke Women’s Movement, Empowerment | Amoye Henry, Strategic Partnerships Facilitator | Natasha Ramsahai, Meteorologist, 680 News | Karlyn Percil, CEO & Founder of SisterTalk | Trudie German, CEO of Body Envy
ASHLEY CARON | TRINIDAD & TOBAGO | March, 2019
As women who are healing from generations of systemic and personal adversity, we have a voice that matters.
We are intelligent. We are brave. We are courageous. We have a story that needs to be told. Stories that remain stuck within your heart, can be an invisible barrier to moving forward. There are women and men, who need to hear your words. The shortcomings of your oppressors are not your weight to carry. You are made for more.
Your strength is within your story. The words I live by.
FEMALE LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY | BELIZE | May, 2012
The OCEAN ACADEMY FEMALE LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY (FLC) is an elective enrichment program that empowers young women to strengthen their leadership skills, while experiencing growth and identity development through the power of sharing, teamwork, and earned success.
Encourage them in becoming a strong, fierce, and empowered woman! A leader for their community! Working with other young women to create a unique community entirely dedicated to their needs.
The FLC is conducted around 3 units: ignite, educate and agitate.