Innovators

In Healing

As an Innovator, Kitana Holland engaged in leadership development as a health and fitness coach for communities of color. Her goal is to promote and create accessibility to health and wellness in communities so people feel liberated, inspired, and transformed as they learn to be present and aware of the needs of the mind, body, and soul. Today, Kitana is owner and founder of BELITGETFIT and identifies movement as a form of radical self-care and activism.

In Narrative Change

As editor-in-chief of an anti-colorism and body positivity campaign for and with South Asian women in Minnesota, Monali Bhakta is raising awareness about the problematic Eurocentric beauty standards imposed on South Asian communities. Monali seeks to reframe harmful narratives to ensure that all South Asian women feel the self-worth to lead confident, happy lives. She is determined to redefine mainstream beauty while building agency with South Asian young women and gender-expansive people in Minnesota.

In Health Care

In 2018, Hilal Ibrahim used her Innovator grant to source materials and create handmade hijabs and henna by and for Muslim women. Working as a phlebotomist, Hilal was able to identify a need for high-quality hospital-grade hijabs and is now working with hospitals across the world on healthcare hijabs. In 2020, her business, H&H, launched a COVID-19 response by donating their sanitary, breakthrough hospital hijabs to more than 700 Muslim frontline healthcare employees in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area. Hilal continues to scale her business and in 2021, H&H collaborated with Nordstrom for a first-of-its-kind partnership to bring quality, fashionable hijabs and headscarves to Nordstrom stores.

In Policy

A two-time Innovator, Dieu Do convened young transgender women and nonbinary individuals from cities across Minnesota to learn and build their capacity for political and civic engagement. Dieu hosted convenings in Dakota, Rice, Wadena, Crow Wing, St Louis, and Beltrami county and connected elected officials who are women, transgender women, and nonbinary individuals with other young women and youth interested in advocating for their rural communities. She developed the curriculum for the Future Leaders of Local American Government Fellowship, which uses a trifold model consisting of education, networking, and policy engagement.

In Activism

Nelsie Yang is the youngest and first Hmong American woman to be elected to St. Paul’s City Council. As a first-year Innovator who started the Women of Color Climate Initiative, Nelsie connected with 20 women of color to learn why and how they got involved in climate work. Nelsie found that organizers in and out of state were fighting to stop construction of Line 3, a pipeline in northern Minnesota that violates Indigenous rights and would carry the pollution equivalent of 50 coal power plants through the treaty territory of Anishinaabe peoples. The Innovators program has helped Nelsie become more courageous and execute her vision.

In the Arts

As a two-time Innovator, Za’Nia Coleman grew the work of her Tangible Collective, an art and performance showcase, to include a four-part series focused on Black femmes.

“Since starting out in the Innovators program, I now have a fully operational nonprofit and have been able to fund my projects and community programs.”