March 31, 2021 by Oneeka Kerr
This March, Black Lives for Change has dedicated the entire month to help educate, inspire, and uplift women in the Black community. We have done this by highlighting prominent Black women both from the past and present, held discussions surrounding mental health, as well as, hosted fitness classes. Now that the month is coming to an end, we would like to highlight a woman who has inspired not only us in the GTA or even Canada, but the Somali community worldwide. Hodan Nalayeh was a TV host, a journalist, an influential public figure and most importantly a proud Somali - Canadian.
In 1984, Hodan Nalayeh and her family were one of the first Somali families to arrive in Canada, choosing Alberta as their home. Due to Nayalyeh’s family believing that people thrived better in networks, they relocated to Toronto in 1991, since there was a growing Somali community. Nalayeh was passionate about becoming a reporter for CNN and received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Windsor to do so. Unfortunately after graduating from Windsor, Nalayeh found it difficult finding a job at CNN and decided to pursue another career and in her own words ‘settled to earn a living’. Even though she didn’t get her dream job as a reporter on CNN, Hodan Nalayeh made a name for herself, she even served as a producer on shows like So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol.
In her late 30s and a single mother of two, Nalayeh decided to go back to school to obtain her postgraduate certificate in Broadcast Journalism. After the scandal in 2013, involving both the Toronto’s current mayor at the time Rob Ford and the Somali community, Nalayeh decided that she wanted to revisit her past passion and pursue her passion in journalism and as a media influencer, since she was not pleased with how the Somali community was being portrayed. She wanted to use her skills and her voice to help change the image both within and outside of the Somali community. And took it upon herself to take action. In a statement posted by Nalayeh’s family on her Facebook page, they said;
“She spent her life devoted to serving the Somali people and reporting on positive, uplifting stories. Her dedicated mission was to spread light and love to the Somali world through her work in journalism. She died serving the Somali community everywhere and doing what she loved most. She brought inspiration and hope to the Somali people through storytelling.”
She accomplished her mission and continues to do so today, from launching her own TV show called Integration TV, her YouTube channel, her social media presence. Even after her death in July 2019, Hodan Nalayeh continues to inspire us, so much so that Black Lives for Change and other Black community groups worked on getting a secondary school in Vaughan (which was previously named after an anti-slavery abolitionist) renamed after her.
So to honour Hodan Nalayeh and the renaming of Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School (previously Vaughan Secondary School), we have dedicated this month to all the outstanding Black women that have influenced us and continue to push the community forward.
