Having watched her Ghanaian mother support the African community in Madison, Wis., Nana Asante-Smith knew what advocacy looked like before she could even spell it. Following the spirit of public service embedded into her childhood, Asante-Smith will be launching the Black Women’s Talent Network at the end of September.
It will function as a free online platform meant to foster professional development for Black women in North Carolina. In the group, Black women at any stage in their professional journey can network with other professionals, find job offerings and post roles.
Asante-Smith’s latest project comes after years of working in public service, first as a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor advocate in Durham, then as a prosecutor in Wake County. Now, she is a white-collar crimes and business investigations attorney with the Parker Poe law firm’s Raleigh office.
She says public service “lights her fire” and that following her mom’s death in 2021, she feels especially called to serve her community. She recalled that through their local chapter of Community of African Women, her mom would open their home to recently immigrated families or spend hours on the phone counseling women about education opportunities.
“My mom always found a way to show up for our community and the people she loved without any formal title,” Asante-Smith said. “Any time she saw a need come up, especially within the African community in Madison where I grew up, she always filled the gaps where they existed. So for me, developing this idea is a reflection of that.”
Upon hearing stories of other Black women professionals, Asante-Smith became concerned about the significant access barriers they faced in seeking professional opportunities. Then she asked herself: “What can I do?”
“Access has been compromised and undermined for Black women in so many ways. I thought it would be really nice to have an online platform that brings Black women together and provides a network through which they can seek job opportunities and engage with other Black women and their professional endeavors, whatever that looks like,” Asante-Smith said.
By word-of-mouth outreach around the Triangle, she has already recruited 30 women to create profiles on the platform.
“We encourage and want Black women to share opportunities that they have proximity to, that they may be in charge of. We want to create a space that welcomes all Black women to see jobs, post jobs or just engage in discussions relevant to professional development and job seeking,” Asante-Smith said.
Asante-Smith hopes that, above all else, the network can be an accessible and useful space for Black women. She says that she does not envision the network as a solution for harm enacted against Black women, but rather a welcoming, intentional space of growth.
“This is not another mechanism by which the labor is imbued upon the people whom this harm impacts the most,” Asante-Smith said. “It is about creating a space for us and by us, and to see each other and to acknowledge each other.”
The organization’s website is still under development; the link to register and create a profile can be found here: https://bwtnnc.com
At top: Nana Asante-Smith. Photo by Halle Vazquez – The 9th Street Journal
Halle Vazquez
