March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD). This is a day to celebrate all women and highlight their accomplishments and the ways in which they have changed the world. But it is also a day to remember that gender equality has yet to be achieved.
This year’s IWD theme is Action. According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate, it will take until 2158 to reach full gender equality. Accelerate Action is a reminder that the world urgently needs gender equality, and that there are effective strategies to achieve it.
One of these strategies is putting women and girls into positions of leadership. And 17-year-old Eden-Belle O’Neill from Vancouver, British Columbia proves that you don’t need to be an adult to make an impact.
O’Neill is the founder of the Black Queen Collective (BQC), a for Black teen girls. The collective attend workshops, panel discussions, and other events which sisterhood. In February, O’Neill was even invited to speak at the National Black Canadians in Montreal, Quebec. This event highlights the ways Black people are helping to shape Canada’s future. O’Neill discussed the BQC’s work. It all started in 2023 when she formed an online group chat.
O’Neill created a group chat called Black Queens after attending a in Vancouver called Empowered Black Girls. O’Neill told News-o-Matic (NOM) that after attending their launch the year before, she “realized that isolated Black teen girls need more than a meet-up once a year.” She wanted to keep the important conversations they had at the conference going. But she wanted this safe space to extend to real life, too.
Soon after, O’Neill started the Black Queen Collective. She organizes and hosts bimonthly meetings for the group, not just to talk, but to learn.
The BQC’s launch event was called Continuing the Conversation: Finding Identity. It brought in four Black therapists to discuss their experiences as Black women in Canada. The attendees, ages 13 to 17, were able to ask the therapists questions about finding their own identity.
Other focuses of the BQC meetings are positive affirmations, learning how to set , trips to local art galleries to see Black artists, and other activities that strengthen their community.
The BQC’s volunteers Alex Anokwuru and Raniya Reebye spoke to CBC about O’Neill’s impact. Reebye said the BQC has helped her feel confident in talking about her feelings and Anokwuru said the BQC made her “feel seen.”
O’Neill has made a significant impact on the lives of other Black teen girls through the BQC—and she wants to keep it going, even after she graduates high school.
“I will take Black Queen Collective with me. It is a sisterhood and support system that can be transported anywhere,” she told CBC. And she hopes that other young women and girls will start their own groups and . “If you have even one thought that it’ll impact even one person, just go ahead and do it.”
By Maria Couto
Updated March 7, 2025, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
