2024 Annual Retreat

2024 Annual Retreat

Join the UJIMA Mentorship Circle for a soft, restorative afternoon curated for Black femme and non-binary students and professionals!

By UJIMA Mentorship Circle

Date and time

Sat, Dec 7, 2024 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST

Location

Verity

111d Queen Street East Toronto, ON M5C 1S2 Canada

Refund Policy

Contact the organizer to request a refund.
Eventbrite's fee is nonrefundable.

About this event

  • Event lasts 9 hours

This year's theme is... STORY!

In 2022, we restored our truths, in 2023, we took time to rest, and in 2024, we will explore the power of story.

This year's retreat welomes a special guest!

The incredible Simone Dalton, of Island Scribe Retreats will be leading us in an empowering, affirming and playful workshop designed to restore and celebrate your value to our profession.

We can't wait for her to help us enter the brave space of self-reflection so that we can reclaim our stories.

About our 2024 Annual Gathering: STORY

Stories abound in legal practice. We tell our clients’ stories. Our clients tell stories about us. We refute the stories of our adversaries. We try to solve problems by discovering where opposing stories align, even for a moment.

Meanwhile, in school and within the practice, we encounter the stories told by underrepresentation in the profession, high attrition rates, and intersectional racism in its many forms. What if we could apply our talents and skills to examine and correct the stories told about us, or the stories we tell ourselves in response?

The day's agenda will include:

  • A powerful workshop by Simone Dalton of Island Scribe Writing Retreats
  • A nutritious lunch catered by George Restaurant
  • Complimentary hand and wrist massage by Danielle Smith, RMT
  • Optional, post-retreat visit to Body Blitz spa

About our Writer -in-Residence: Simone Dalton

Simone Dalton is an author, teaching artist, playwright, and writing coach who spent more than a decade storytelling as a public relations professional. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Simone curates and hosts Island Scribe writing retreats in the Caribbean for women of colour to rest, reflect, rejuvenate, and write their stories.

About UJIMA

Founded in 2015, UJIMA is an intergenerational, gender-inclusive mentorship group for Black femme and nonbinary students and lawyers. “UJIMA” means “collective work and responsibility” in Swahili. We provide mentorship, mentorship matching, and an annual retreat. Each annual retreat is based on an empowering theme:


  • “Let’s Connect!” (2017)
  • “Courage is Not the Absence of Fear” (2018)
  • “Restoring Our Truths” (2022)
  • “What if you could rest?” (2023)

Frequently asked questions

I am not a Black person. May I attend the retreat?

Respectfully, no. UJIMA is a group curated specifically for the needs of Black legal professionals and students. You may support UJIMA by sponsoring a ticket for someone who is not able to fit our ticket price into their budget this year. Thank you.

Is UJIMA connected to any organization?

Again, no. :) UJIMA is an independent group founded by Njeri Damali Sojourner-Campbell in 2015. UJIMA events are organized by Njeri, with the support of her wife Tomee Elizabeth Sojourner-Campbell.

When you say UJIMA is a "gender inclusive space", what does that mean?

Thanks for asking. It means that UJIMA is working practively to ensure that non-binary, transgender and genderfluid students, lawyers and legal professionals are safe in our spaces. This welcoming space is central to our core values.

I can't afford a ticket right now, but I want to come. Do I have options?

We get it. Yes. When regular ticket sales open, we will create a list for requests for sponsored tickets for a nominal fee. Sponsored tickets will be distributed first come, first served. We hope you can make it.

What should I wear to the retreat?

Dress code: Business Cozy. That is, comfortable, casual clothing that you could wear outside the house. Athleisure is welcome - tights, jeans, joggers, running shoes, hoodies and cardigans. PLEASE NOTE: We will be taking a group photo, so wear something you're okay being photographed in.

Organized by

$0 – $150.43