Cicely Belle Blain (they/them) is a Black, mixed, queer non-binary femme from London, United Kingdom, now living on the lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people. Their ancestry is a mix of Gambian (Wolof), Jamaican and English.
Cicely Belle spent their formative years between London, the Netherlands, and a small Catholic village in France – each home presenting a pivotal opportunity for awakening and growth. Cicely Belle is descended from a long line of feminist educators and developed a passion for justice from a young age. They moved to Vancouver in 2012 and completed a bachelor of arts in modern European Studies and Russian at the University of British Columbia.
Cicely Belle is noted for founding Black Lives Matter Vancouver and subsequently being listed as one of Vancouver's 50 most powerful people by Vancouver Magazine twice, BC Business's 30 under 30, and one of Refinery29's Powerhouses of 2020.
Cicely Belle founded Bakau Consulting Inc. in 2018 and has grown the company to serve thousands of clients worldwide. Their public speaking, equity consulting, and literary prowess has impacted people in Canada, the USA, the UK, South Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Ecuador, Senegal, South Africa, Eswatini and many more.
Some of their most notable professional achievements include speaking at the United Nations Summit in Quito, Ecuador, developing an intersectionality toolkit for the City of Vancouver and presenting the keynote address for the 2020 graduating ceremony at the University of British Columbia, their alma mater.
Cicely Belle is also an instructor in the Executive Leadership program at Simon Fraser University, the editorial director of Ripple of Change Magazine and the author of Burning Sugar (Arsenal Pulp Press and VS Books, 2020). Cicely Belle also serves on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation.
Burning Sugar was shortlisted for the 2021 Pat Lowther Memorial Award and longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Their debut book also garnered them spots at some of Canada's top literary festivals, including Vancouver Writer's Festival, Word of the Street Toronto, and FOLD, as well as features in CBC Books, Autostraddle, Indigo and Essence Mag.
Upcoming courses taught by Cicely Blain
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