Congratulations to Toufah Jallow on winning the YWCA Young Woman of Distinction Award! YWCA Toronto’s 2022 Women of Distinction Awards Gala will be hosted by Gill Deacon, host of Here and Now on CBC Radio One 99.1FM. The celebration and award ceremony will be held on Thursday, June 9th at the Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto.
From the Jury Citation:
At 25 years old, Toufah Jallow is already an accomplished educator and advocate speaking out against gender-based violence on the world stage. In 2015, Toufah was forced to flee her native country of Gambia at the age of 18 after the country’s violent dictator sexually assaulted her. After the dictator was deposed, she returned to her country to testify against him, breaking several taboos by speaking publicly on the assault. Her testimony inspired an outpouring of stories from West African women and sparked a social media campaign, #IamToufah, to address sexual assault and gender-based violence in the country. Most recently Toufah has published a bestselling book, entitled Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement, which she co-wrote about her experiences. It was released in Canada in February of 2022.
Toufah is represented by Marilyn Biderman.
To see the full slate of honorees, please visit: https://www.ywcatoronto.org/