Adedoyin Omotara founded the Unmask movement for one reason. “As one person, you can go fast, but as a community, you can go far,” Omotara told CTV News Saturday from the Best Western Hotel in northeast Calgary, where she hosted the 11th Unmask Conference. The event brought together around 300 Black professionals, entrepreneurs, business owners and community leaders. “It’s a community of women coming together to really talk about building a deeper identity, building a deeper capacity in business, building deeper in our workplaces, and basically building deeper in our personal brands,” said Omotara. The event featured keynote conversations, fireside chats, networking, live music and poetry. Event strategist Banke Tolu-Orinola has been part of four Unmask conferences. She said they are simply inspiring. “It gives you that audacity to know that you can do anything,” she said. “You know, if anybody can achieve this, then I can achieve this!” Conference attendee Odinaka Ezekeke said the event gave her the opportunity to learn how to take her career to the next level. “I get to see a lot of women who have already done it, and how do they get there?” Ezekeke asked. “So a lot of times you kind of have all these big ideas, and you might feel like it’s impossible or it’s too far out of reach for you. “But when you see someone who has actually done it, you get to learn what did I do or what did they do to get to where they are today. It just makes it feel a lot more realistic that you can do it too, right?” With files from CTV Calgary’s Tommy Osborne
