SHE SOARS

Lydia Collins on intersectionality and transforming sexual health advocacy for all

• CARE Canada • Season 3 • Episode 8

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Lydia Collins is a facilitator, content creator and advocate with over 10 years of experience in sexual health education. In this episode, Lydia joins Shreya and new host Lauren to discuss what an anti-racist and intersectional approach to sexual health advocacy means and why it matters. They discuss overlapping identities like race, sexuality, gender and ability, and how these affect young people’s access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Lydia shares insight about breaking down practical barriers to SRHR for marginalized groups, the necessity of centering community needs and voices, and going beyond tokenism to truly listen to those directly impacted and act on their priorities. The group swaps personal stories about what sparked their passion for SRHR advocacy and shares tips about how youth can get involved. 

*SHE SOARS, funded by Global Affairs Canada, is the Sexual and reproductive Health and Economic empowerment Supporting Out-of-school Adolescent girls’ Rights and Skills project. Learn more at: https://care.ca/shesoarsproject

Episode transcripts are available in French and English at: care.ca/shesoars.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the SHE SOARS podcast are the speakers’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, standards and policies of CARE Canada. The SHE SOARS podcast is a youth-led initiative that provides space for young people to discuss global Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights with the purpose of raising awareness in Canada. Listeners acknowledge that the material and information presented in the podcast are for informational purposes only and do not constitute advice or services. The podcast is for private, non-commercial use and speakers do not necessarily reflect any organization they work for.

[00:00:00] Paniz: Hi, and welcome to SHE SOARS. Her voice. Her rights. 

[00:00:05] Jacqueline: We are CARE Canada's Youth Champions, a group of young people across Canada who are passionate advocates for Sexual and Reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

[00:00:13] Paniz: We're excited to discuss and raise awareness about young women's rights and choices in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. ​

[00:00:18] Jacqueline: Together, we will explore how these global issues connect to our lives as Canadian youth and discover ways in which we can all take action. 

[00:00:26] Paniz: We will also talk about the SHE SOARS project, which improves access to health and education, which are areas we want to see change in. Join us!

[00:00:38] Shreya: Hello everyone and welcome back to the SHE SOARS podcast where we're diving into Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and we're exploring what equality means in this space and how we can build a future where youth around the world have access to the information and services that they need.

[00:00:52] My name is Shreya Rao and I’m studying environment resource and sustainability and minoring in entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo, and I'm incredibly passionate about decolonizing the SRHR space and advocating for youth voices to be part of the conversation. I am joined by my co-host for today's episode, Lauren Keller.

[00:01:09] We are the Youth Public Engagement Champions here at CARE Canada. Lauren, I would love to get everyone to say hello to you, so if you would like to introduce yourself, that would be awesome. 

[00:01:17] Lauren: Hi all, I'm Lauren. I'm so excited to be co-hosting the podcast today with these two super cool people. A little bit about me, I'm a fourth year student at Thompson Rivers University. I am majoring in English, minoring in Sociology, and I'm also part of the communications team for the student faculty anti-racism support group on my campus. I just love combining what I'm studying, like feminism and CRT, critical race theory, together. That's kind of my thing. So today's episode is not just about sexual and reproductive health.

[00:01:48] It's about power and privilege, who is included, who is not, and what it means to fight for health that is intersectional, accessible and actually liberating. So intersectionality was a term coined by lawyer and activist Kimberle Crenshaw. This concept stems from the idea that everyone has different overlapping identities that can lead to unique experiences of privilege or discrimination.

[00:02:10] So for example, I'm a white woman, so while I gain certain privileges as a white person, for example, I do at times get discriminated against for being a woman, whereas Shreya and Lydia have different identities than myself. Shreya?

[00:02:28] Shreya: For myself, I'm a woman and a person of colour, specifically South Asian, and I'm also bisexual and living with a disability. So there are a lot of different things and issues at play there. But today's episode is going to be all about diving into why it's time to challenge the way that we have been taught to do advocacy because of the different layers to identity and the different communities that we all represent. We really want to talk about how we can become better advocates and what intersectionality really means. 

[00:02:54] So today we have an amazing guest to talk about all things SRHR. I would love to introduce Lydia Collins. She brings an accessible, anti-racist and intersectional approach to sexual health education. And through her work, she aims to equip individuals with the necessary tools to make informed decisions about their bodies. So welcome to the podcast today, Lydia. It's so exciting to have you. And I would love if you could introduce yourself. 

[00:03:14] Lydia: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be in conversation with you both today. So as mentioned, my name is Lydia, pronouns, she/her, and I've been working in the sexual health space as an advocate, an educator and facilitator for over 10 years now.

[00:03:29] And a lot of my work started during my undergrad experience. I am a Black woman, born and raised in the Niagara region in Ontario Canada, but kind of went back and forth between here and some areas throughout the United States where part of my family is from. And my family is also Bajan, which is a small island in the Caribbean called Barbados. If you know Rihanna, then you know. So yeah, that's a little bit about me, my identity. I'm also queer and I really try to intersect all of these different aspects of my identity in the work that I do as well. 

[00:04:01] Lauren: Oh, that is really interesting. Could you tell us a little bit more about your journey getting into your work today and what led you to this place?

[00:04:09] Lydia: Yeah, for sure. I started off during my undergrad experience being really involved in facilitation work in regards to equity. So I was working at the student justice center and I was working in the newspaper because I'm a writer as well.

[00:04:25] So I was working at all these different places on campus and really just interested in learning more and incorporating what I was studying, which was majoring in English literature and then minoring in women's and gender studies. So I was having a lot of those conversations similar to you, Lauren, in your program around feminism and what that looks like in intersectionality and then hearing some of these terms for the first time.

[00:04:44] I actually ended up co-founding with some friends and peers of mine something called ‘D and D,’ which is not Dungeons and Dragons. It was ‘Decolonize and Deconstruct.’ So we created a program with the help and guidance of some women's and gender studies professors and sociology professors where we were creating content around specifically consent education that was decolonial. We were finding on campus a lot of the campaigns around consent were very surface level. It was like, ‘consent is sexy, consent for pizza.’ It was very just surface level.

[00:05:14] And we were like, okay, but as people of colour and as many of us being survivors of sexual violence, we were like this isn't enough. We didn't see anywhere on campus or elsewhere that was having conversations about the intersections between race and racism and sexual violence and how that's been used as a colonial tool for as long as we can remember. Right? And so thinking about consent; yes means yes, no means no, but if somebody is racist, how does my no hold up? And so we ended up creating that curriculum and offering it in lecture halls at our university at Brock University. And then also, one of my peers and I ended up presenting some of our research at Congress in Regina, Saskatchewan during that time. 

[00:05:52] I was going to say a few years ago but I'm 30 now so I'm trying to remember that it wasn't like two years ago. Yeah, so it really started there. That's where a lot of the passion, a lot of the grassroots work that I was doing started. And D and D, we hosted a conference, and that's where I met a lot of connections who were in a similar space doing sexual health related work as well. And then I ended up working in my region at a place called Positive Living Niagara, which is an AIDs service organization, and that's where I got really interested in HIV prevention specifically for African, Caribbean and Black communities. I was a peer worker for that particular priority population. 

[00:06:25] And then I ended up moving to Ottawa, typical small town girl story. I was like I want to move somewhere bigger. I want to move somewhere else. So I moved to Ottawa in my early twenties and I ended up working, at the Somerset West Community Health Centre, and I was working as an HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) prevention specialist. Then from there, with the African and Caribbean Council for HIV and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) in Ontario. 

[00:06:45] Then I ended up working at the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity in gender-based violence prevention, which was really great, exciting work, especially alongside a lot of other queer and trans youth and young people working at the organization doing sexual health, safer sex education, consent education and gender-based violence education.

[00:07:04] Yeah, so now I continue to do a lot of that work even on a freelance basis anywhere from youth shelters to gender-based violence prevention spaces to universities and colleges to elementary schools and high schools. I've been doing a lot of this work throughout Canada over the last 10 years and I've been really fortunate and excited to have been in a lot of different spaces and get to connect with a lot of different people in the sector, which has been really nice.

[00:07:30] Lauren: Yeah, that's really amazing. I think we're all very grateful for the work that you have done and especially decolonizing a response to gender-based violence, you know? Canada is a country where gender-based violence was used to colonize Indigenous people, for example. And I think it is still so relevant that we decolonize our response today because I think there is a lot of change that needs to be done there. Do you have a specific moment where you're like yes, I want to be involved in SRHR?

[00:08:02] Lydia: Yeah, I love that question. I think for me, the first one that kind of stands out is I think of myself maybe in my late teens, early twenties. For some context, we'll spill some tea for you guys. When I was in my early twenties, I had gotten out of a relationship with somebody that I was with since high school. So we were together from the time I was about 17 until about 21. So by the time I came out of that relationship, like Tinder was brand new. I had never heard of all these things. And so I was starting to explore dating again for the first time as an adult really.

[00:08:32] Throughout some of these experiences I remember thinking about my own complicated relationship with my body, my own romantic relationships. I had this kind of epiphany moment where I was like when it comes to sex, it's not supposed to be something that happens to me. It's supposed to be something that happens with me. And that kind of really triggers something for me, which is funny because most of the work that I do as a sexual health educator isn't actually about sex at all. It's really about sexual health and reproductive rights. But that was something because it related to so many things, it related to my race, my identity, my queerness. It related to all these things where I was like, I don't feel like I have that kind of agency.

[00:09:10] In regards to my sexual relationships, especially at the time, I didn't start dating women until I was in my early twenties. So at the time I had only had experience dating men and even that straight cis (cisgender) men. And that dynamic was very specific in regards to me feeling like okay, pleasure isn't something that I necessarily get to enjoy too.

[00:09:30] And so that was a big thing that helped spark a lot of my interest around this work to be honest. And then of course that kind of led me to my passion around equity and around injustice and around anti-Black racism, like all of these things that already existed were melting together with sexual health and reproductive rights, realizing that sex ed isn't just like this separate thing and then racism and homophobia and transphobia are all these separate things. It's like, no, I think one of you mentioned earlier, they all exist together. And so when that really clicked for me and I realized how much it impacted my own personal relationships, I was like, oh. And that I would say was a big thing that helped spark that. 

[00:010:08] Lauren: That's totally understandable. I think that's something that most everybody relates to as well is just realizing the agency that you should have. Yeah, and you were talking a lot about your different identities and stuff. So I was wondering what does intersectionality mean to you personally?

[00:010:24] Lydia: Yeah, I love that question too. I think for me it really means not watering down our identities. For so long, especially as Black women, femmes, women of colour, I think we've always kind of been forced to divorce our identities—to be like, oh, I'm just advocating for women or I'm just advocating for people of colour, you know what I mean? Where we know that we can't divorce those identities.

[00:10:44] We know that we need to be able to name the fact that sexism and racism and ableism, all these things are existing at the same time. And as you described intersectionality earlier, creating these unique experiences for us, which is why terms like misogynoir are so helpful and have been so helpful for me. Right?

[00:11:05] Recognizing that yes, women experience misogyny, but Black women experience anti-Blackness and misogyny. That creates this specific issue, which is coined in this term misogynoir. So these unique experiences I think are really important. Even when people are like, okay, well all women face this or all people of colour face this and I'm like intersectionality doesn’t allow us to just keep it that simple and just water it down to that and saying, we all experience this. We know that first wave feminism was for white women. It was so that white women could vote. And it wasn't until I think 40 years later that Black and Indigenous and other women of colour could actually vote. Right?

[00:11:42] So we recognize that just being women isn't enough to bond us to have the same experiences. There are so many different aspects of identity. People who are living with disabilities, they're having a complete different experience than people who are able-bodied. It's so necessary to be able to name that. And so for me, intersectionality is really shaped around not watering down our identities and recognizing that multiple things, multiple truths can exist at once.

[00:12:10] Lauren: Especially with like hidden identities. 

[00:12:12] Lydia: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:12:14] Lauren: I think everybody here is part of the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual +) community, right? It's not always obvious.

[00:12:22] Shreya: Yeah, I was smiling when you were talking because I was in a relationship from around 17 years old up until I was 21 and that was such a weird time of my life because I was grappling with like, who am I as a person? What is my identity? Like fundamentally, why do I even exist? Why do I matter? Simultaneously being in a heterosexual relationship but not being that myself and questioning those feelings was really difficult for me because I felt like I didn't know how to go look for my community when I wasn't overtly presenting as being part of that community and trying to find spaces where I could be myself was really challenging.

[00:13:03] Lydia: Absolutely. 

[00:13:04] Shreya: I feel like you touched on something really important with the intersectionality piece of there being multiple identities present and having a community to help all of that. Like it's not enough to just have an organization on our campus that is solely focusing on women and feminism, period. There are so many layers to that, so many identity pieces that we're missing. And I think that really ties into what we wanted to talk about, understanding what some of the barriers are that people face when trying to access Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and services, especially across the lines of race and class and sexuality and ability. Do you have any thoughts on that? 

[00:13:43] Lydia: You know what's funny? One thing I'll always say after working in the nonprofit space for a long time and working with marginalized groups specifically—I will die on this hill— some of the biggest barriers I see are some of the really practical pieces. So for example, when I worked at a community health center, I used to have a program called Do Right Discussions. It was for Black youth. They could come in. Literally, it was right before the pandemic so it ended up being virtual. But the whole purpose of it was for Black youth to be able to come in, in Ottawa, decorate durags and bonnets, and have conversations about sexual health.

[00:14:15] And for me, whenever I was creating programming, it was always so important to think about some of those really practical pieces. So even just geographically, I know that in Ottawa a lot of Black folks are in particular areas and where we know that there are higher Black populations they're far from a lot of the places where the community services are.

[00:14:33] And so I was like, okay, we're telling people to come out to this. We're telling people to get tested. We're telling people the importance of this. But I need to make sure that they can get here. So we would provide bus tickets or like cab tickets or things like that and see what we could cover.

[00:14:48] Same thing with food, like culturally, Black people don't want to gather if there's no food. Like respectfully, we just don't. So I would always make sure that there was food ordered and not just like pizza but we would order from like Y2K Chicken or from Caribbean spots, doing what we can. And again, everybody’s budget is different, especially for grassroots organizations, which I completely can appreciate. But whatever you can do within your means, consider those things. Right? Consider is food a barrier? If it's a virtual program or an online event, do they live in a multi-generational home and they don't have the space to be in a room by themselves for two hours? So just considering some of these different things that could be really practical barriers.

[00:15:28] I think of course some of the other kinds of more maybe institutional or systemic barriers could obviously be rights, like depending on politics and particular things, what access people have. But I think in regards to services, also being able to know that you have the community to be able to facilitate that kind of care or particular need. So for example, if you are looking to access an abortion, but you don't have family or close friends and you don't drive. That's going to be tough, right? Ubers aren't cheap. 

[00:16:03] You don't have anybody to help you in regards to that healing process. So again, I think the community piece is huge. And just some of those practical needs around when we're creating our programming, are we thinking, who's being represented here and whose voices are being part of it?

[00:16:16] If we're creating programming for youth, why are there no youth involved? Why is everybody in the room at the table over 40 [years old]? We have to really consider how some of these things can be barriers and making sure that the right people are at the table to create some of these programming.

[00:16:32] Shreya: Yeah, absolutely. Just recently, we launched a blog post that I wrote on the CARE website. The reason I bring that up is because one of the things that I talked about is aestheticized activism and organizations who claim to try to be supporting young people or trying to dismantle these barriers, but they're only platforming a person who looks a particular way or who acts a particular way or who has a certain background, university degrees, professional experience and having all of these accolades when in fact, most of the time the people facing these barriers are people who don't have access to any of those things.

[00:17:10] And the fact that you're looking for a young person who's like a poster child for some particular group or identity piece is not fair. Like one person who is South Asian, like myself, is not the spokesperson for all South Asian people, and I don't have the same right level of understanding about my community as someone who is living in India where I'm from, like I can't speak on their behalf. So I appreciate you're highlighting that conversation and mentioning there are very small things that you can do but they have significant value. I feel like that's part of that glamorization of the startup community or people trying to come up with innovative solutions to problems but they're just missing the key understanding of what people actually face.

[00:17:52] Lydia: And not only what do they need, but this is a huge lesson that I learned working in community health centers is what do they actually want? Like if somebody comes in, you can't decide, oh, they need this... Like they might have substance use issues but that might not be what they're coming in for treatment for. Maybe they're coming in because they need a dentist, you know what I mean? Because we had physicians there too, we could do referrals and things like that. So we can't decide for people what their particular needs are. Right? Like you offer the resources available and you see what resonates and what they want.

[00:18:25] Shreya: Yeah, because of just not sitting down and listening to communities like we often face barriers and challenges. And in hindsight we're like, dang, like maybe I should have done more consultation. Maybe I should have learned more about the pain points and asked, is this a feasible idea? Because I feel like that would have saved everyone so much more time and money. But yeah, this whole story that you just told and your experiences made me think of these. So in your opinion, what is the difference between reproductive health rights and justice, and why does that matter?

[00:18:57] Lydia: So the main difference for me is that reproductive health is really relating to our overall health concerning our reproductive systems and how they work, so things like fertility, contraception, sexual health, etc.

[00:19:11] Reproductive rights on the other hand is more of the legal aspects. So those are the legal rights that we have to access, things that we may need to take care of our reproductive health. So this may include, you know, abortions, birth control, health clinics and community health centers. And this gives people the freedom to make informed decisions about their bodies in relation to their reproductive health.

[00:19:33] And then justice, which is the most exciting part for me, reproductive justice is really making sure that everyone, regardless of their social determinants of health, regardless of who they are, where they come from and different aspects of their identity, everyone can freely and safely access the things that they need to take care of the reproductive health.

[00:19:52] So what I think is important to note here as well is that even though we may all have certain rights or technically access to the same rights, we know that when we look at it through a justice lens, not everybody has the same access to utilize some of these rights. So for example, not everyone has a family doctor or a gynecologist or not everyone can afford fertility treatments.

[00:20:14] Not everyone can easily, you know, access birth control. Not everyone has access to safe abortion. So the justice piece for me is getting to a place where every single person, regardless of gender, race and everything, can safely and freely access what they need with ease to facilitate the best care possible for their own reproductive health.

[00:20:36] Lauren: Having equity, we all get access depending on our unique circumstances to sexual and reproductive health and what we need. And I feel like the landscape of what's accessible and what's not is always changing and it's different across Canada. Like I know in BC (British Columbia) for example, we get birth control for free. And I don't think that's everywhere in Canada. 

[00:20:59] Lydia: No, unfortunately. But that's awesome to hear. I didn't know. Okay, BC. Yeah, I didn't know. That's really awesome to hear. Again, like even though birth control is something that exists, that people have the right to, not everybody can access it with that kind of ease, which they should be able to for sure. Absolutely.

[00:21:15] Lauren: So, why do global advocacy efforts often feel disconnected from the communities they claim to serve? What do you think about that? 

[00:21:22] Lydia: Yeah, that's a really great question. So thank you for that one. I think oftentimes the disconnect comes from a lack of honesty and what I mean by that is a lot of times when we talk about power dynamics, one thing I often hear is like inviting people into conversations, bringing people to the table. Right? But not everybody actually means it when they say that. So they'll say like it's important to bring different voices or diverse perspectives to the table but then those people aren't willing to be uncomfortable at the table.

[00:21:58] And so I think a lot of times realizing that as Shreya mentioned, the people who are most marginalized aren't going to be the picture perfect Black person that you're looking for. It's not going to be the picture perfect queer person that you're looking for. It's not necessarily always going to be the person with the degrees or with housing. There are so many perspectives that we have to consider who are the most impacted by these systems. 

[00:22:24] You have to ask yourself, will I be actually willing to listen to what they're going to say? Are they going to be somebody who I fully agree with everything that they're saying? And for me, that's not the point, it needs to be to listen. Right? And so I think a big disconnect is that lack of honesty like we want diverse perspectives but then it just kind of becomes like this tokenistic thing. So yeah, are we willing to sit and to listen and to sometimes experience discomfort at that table if we're bringing in diverse people?

[00:22:51] Shreya: Can I add a thought on that, please? I think another issue that I've noticed is like when we're saying we want diversity or we want these perspectives, we are looking for someone who's palatable to that organization who is only going to speak like what we want them to speak.

[00:23:08] And I think part of letting them show up as their most authentic self is also acknowledging that they might show up with anger, they might show up with sadness, and there might also be conflict because of the oppressive system that they have been under for so long.

[00:23:22] So if you're looking for that representation, you have to be comfortable with them criticizing the system, criticizing your service, the things that you do and how you serve that community. And if you're not comfortable with that, if you're trying to curate a specific type of voice, there's no value with doing that either.

[00:23:39] So yeah, that's just what came up for me is sometimes we're always searching for a voice that fits the narrative of what we are trying to have rather than what true representation actually looks like. I just wanted to throw in my two cents. 

[00:23:53] Lydia: No, I love that. It's so important because that is the thing a lot of people think representation is just bringing in someone who happens to be of that marginalized demographic, while also forgetting that just because someone is part of a particular demographic, you don't know that they're necessarily advocating for that particular group of people. Like not every Black person is coming in being pro-Black, right? So we have to also consider that just having the face isn't always enough and can sometimes be also harmful. So yeah, I love the points that you brought up and that ability to be honest and to listen is a huge skill that a lot of people don't want to build on and to learn because we would rather look good or we would rather be able to have the face of the organization continuing to be seen as what it is rather than actually liberate in regards to the work that we do and how we change systems. 

[00:24:46] Lauren: What does it actually look like to move from symbolic inclusion to actual meaningful engagement? How do we move past those images to actually doing something? 

[00:24:57] Lydia: So for me, such a key piece is moving past that symbolic advocacy and moving to a place where it's actually consistent. So I think being able to avoid things like the one-off trainings. Right? Like not just the one-off person comes in and provides a 30 minute training, and then you never have another conversation about ableism or you never have another conversation about racism or any of these kinds of topics.

[00:25:20] I think that can be really dangerous and sometimes create more harm because now people are left with all this information in these topics but no way to understand how to actually put it into practice and how to be an active ally. How are you actually regularly showing up for particular groups and for people, embedding it into policies and practices? Again because saying things is one thing but especially in an organization, if it's not written somewhere then it's not helpful for me.

[00:25:50] I think having a leadership team that is a hundred percent onboard when it comes to advocacy makes it a lot easier to move that work forward.

[00:25:58] And so I think, again, moving to a more consistent approach really requires ongoing initiatives, ongoing policies, procedures, practices, resources and education.

[00:26:10] Lauren: Going beyond what is spoken and what is written down and actually seeing that action consistently is what is so important. And I think this probably makes our listeners also wonder what they can do in their personal life as well. So what is one thing that listeners can do today to support reproductive justice or global health equity?

[00:26:33] Lydia: I love that. I think when we think about global health we go big before we go into our own inner circles. Right? And so I always encourage people to start with where you're at, I know we all talked about our work in advocacy throughout our schooling and through community programs. I think looking at what you can do that's practical and tangible within your own community, if that means volunteering at a community health center, helping redirect your friends to where they can go to access contraceptives or other things like that.

[00:27:02] And for me, the biggest thing is always going to be community. That's at the center of everything I say and do and all of my work. As an artist, as a sexual health educator, it's really at the core for me because I think that when we are able to show up better and be in community, so much of this work moves forward.

[00:27:22] One thing that people can do is think about what is your understanding of community? Is community just an aesthetically kind of pleasing thing that you think of where people come together and they all just get along and do the same thing? Or are you recognizing community as more of a radical concept of like people come together with diverse perspectives? We don't always get along. Conflict is inevitable but we're there to support each other and advocate for the best for one another. For me it's really asking yourself and reflecting on the question: How can I show up better for my own community or communities if you're part of multiple?

[00:27:57] Shreya: Thank you so much for the answer. When it comes to young people and their advocacy work, I feel like it's sometimes hard to take that first step, especially if you're a person who has never been involved before. If you could speak directly to any youth who feel powerless in their work right now or who want to take that next step, what would you tell them and what advice might you give to them?

[00:28:16] Lydia: I think the one thing that's unique and that's so great that exists for a lot of youth right now is the blessing and curse of social media. As much as it can be a place where we see a lot of misinformation and sometimes some negative things being spewed, one thing I've learned through my content creation as well is it's also a great place to meet other people who are doing similar work to you or who are doing things that you're interested in doing.

[00:28:39] Doing sexual health content creation over on Instagram and on TikTok over the last four years, I've met countless other queer and trans and racialized people who are in this sector. And so that's been such a cool thing from all across North America and the world. It's been really cool to watch their content, follow along and learn so much from them.

[00:29:01] And so I would encourage something as simple as even just taking a look at what resources are being shared on some of these pages. What information can you learn from them? Are there community health centers or organizations that are looking for volunteers?

[00:29:13] That's how I started out was doing mostly peer work. So it was more of a casual position but it was still a paid position. So looking for opportunities like that. And again, utilizing whatever resources you have, podcasts like these I think is a great way to get started. As I mentioned, people that you can access, content that you can engage with, I of course have to plug my own. So if you want to follow any of my content, you can reach out to sexedwithlydia on Instagram and on TikTok. And it's just lydiacollins.ca for my website. So you're always welcome to reach me in any of those places. 

[00:29:46] Shreya: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming onto the SHE SOARS podcast. Again, this was such a blast. I had so much fun getting to know you and learning so much from you so I appreciate you coming on and I hope you had fun.

[00:30:00] Lydia: Thank you, I did! This was great. 

[00:30:04] Shreya: Before we wrap up, just a really quick reminder about how important it is to know that your voice matters. The Canadian election is just around the corner on April 28th. Elections are not just about politics. They're about people and about building the kind of future that we want to see together.

[00:30:18] And young Canadians have the power to shape that future in a big way. If you are a Canadian citizen and at least 18 years old on election day, be sure to get out and vote. Many people think that one vote isn't going to make a difference but that's why understanding collective activism and action is key to solving challenges that we've talked about today and beyond. So don't sit this one out, get informed, get registered, and when the time comes, go vote. 

[00:30:41] For our secret word of this episode, it's ‘intersectionality.’ These secret words are all going to play into the end of the season. And be sure to listen to all of our previous podcast episodes to stay in the know. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:30:54] Jacqueline: Thanks for listening to SHE SOARS. If you liked this episode, please share it on social media, connect with us in the comments or give us a like.

[00:31:01] Paniz: Make sure to catch our next episode by subscribing to our channel and following us wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:31:07] Jacqueline: Follow @CARECanada on Instagram for updates on our show and the project.

[00:31:12] Paniz: SHE SOARS stands for Sexual and reproductive Health and Economic empowerment, Supporting Out-of-school Adolescent girls’ Rights and Skills in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

[00:31:21] Jacqueline: The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada. Check out our global partner organizations: The Center for Reproductive Rights and Restless Development for even more project updates. 

[00:31:31] Paniz: Thanks again for listening. Until next time!