Sitti X Millie Speaks Recap

It was an emotional and inspiring evening on November 28, 2019. Sitti co-founder and CEO Noora Sharrab, was the featured speaker at this year’s final installment of Millie Speaks in Toronto. 

The intimate gathering was limited to less than 40 women, in an effort to encourage honest, open, and authentic discussions. The event was hosted by celebrity make-up artist and beauty guru Victoria Radford in her beautiful Toronto-based, Radford Studio. Each woman walked away with a sponsored-by-Millie limited edition Sitti x Millie Gift Box and a lot to think about when it comes to the marginalization of the global refugee community and the journey of creating Sitti in response to repeated personal and professional encounters with such systemic marginalization. 

Chelsea Brown, founder of Millie, led the discussion with Noora on global conscious consumerism and the fundamental importance in making informed decisions in our buying power. This is precisely why Sitti worked closely with Millie to co-produce a Gift Box that would contribute to this discussion further. 

"Sitti means 'my grandmother' in Arabic and this name brings to mind a grassroots, 'back to basics' approach and, really, that was what Noora was advocating. Small steps. Digging deeper. Forging authentic relationships. We realized that even though we are thousands of miles away from the women of the refugee camp (and women all over the world who need support), they are our sisters."

- Chelsea Brown, Millie Speaks

And if you did not have a chance to attend the final Millie Speaks event of the year, we’re offering another opportunity to share the story of Sitti and the women of our community while also making a positive impact in the lives of women and girls in the Palestinian refugee community in Jordan. The exclusive gift box we custom-made for the Millie Speaks event is now available online! 

Proceeds from every limited edition Sitti X Millie Gift Box will go towards funding higher education scholarships for Palestinian refugee girls and women in Jordan through Sitti’s partnership with our beneficiary organization Hopes for Women in Education. Higher education scholarships are critical to women and girls in the Palestinian refugee community in Jordan and throughout the Middle East. Currently, only 3% of refugees have access to higher education. Scholarship programming in the first country of asylum is one of several approaches to solving this problem and addressing the larger Sustainable Development goal of Quality Education. (In the coming year, we’ll be sharing more about Sitti’s commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.)  

We’re excited to be collaborating with Millie to amplify the voices of women in the refugee community through employment and education, and we’re thrilled to be sharing their stories with you through this initiative.  

All-in-all, we are so grateful for what this year has brought us. Particularly, a community of women who we can turn to for support along the journey of building and growing a social enterprise. A big hug to Chelsea and the Millie team for inviting us to be a part of your community and share our story.