Alumna led community-oriented initiative celebrates fourth anniversary

Didihood (external link) , a community-oriented initiative created by three School of Journalism alumni, recently celebrated four years since its launch in 2018.

Arti Patel, Nikki Gill, and Roohi Sahajpal, 2011 and 2012 graduates, created Didihood as a space for South Asian Canadian women who work in media and the creative industries to form community, collaborate, and make friends. 

Since launching, Didihood has hosted events with companies like Twitter and the Toronto International Film Festival and has launched a mentorship program that connects those in the creative industries across the country. They also launched their initiative in Vancouver a couple of years ago because Patel says they learned that the creative industry there was very unique, but the support for South Asian women was lacking. 

They have most recently launched the Didi Creative Fund, a collaboration with Tamil Women Rising and The South Asian & Tamil Women's Collective that aims to support South Asian and Tamil women and gender diverse people to pursue new creative opportunities or to support existing creative work.

Patel says that there were very few South Asian women in their journalism program when they attended, and that South Asian students in the creative industries also might not have mentors in the community or have family support. She adds that even if they have supportive families, these students are typically the first in their families to pursue a creative career, which could be an isolating experience.

Patel says that they’ve learned from students over the years about how important mentorship was for them because a lot of young students didn’t have mentors in their field. 

"Workshops and panels and getting people to network is great and all, but I think what it really comes down to is actually helping each other in the industry,” Patel says. She adds that this includes helping someone prepare for a job interview, recommending someone to a job, or having access to ask someone for advice to apply for a management position. 

"It's really different coming from the perspective when someone is also a South Asian person because you're not just dealing with facts about the job,” she says. “You're also dealing with being a South Asian person who's a journalist, not just a journalist." 

Patel says that in-person events are where the community really thrives, and they're hoping to host them again this year after the pandemic previously moved them online.