2020
Ashlee A Burnett
- Age: 26
- | She/her/hers
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As a young Caribbean queer woman, I have learned the importance of intersectionality. We, the youth, have been placed in a unique position where we can now create and contribute to making the world we want to live in; a world of equality with access to SRHR and inclusivity.
- Ashlee A Burnett
Bio
Ashlee Burnett is queering, querying, and carrying the Caribbean forward. The Trinbagonian-born educator and advocate is a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow and a 2022 Chevening Scholar pursuing an MSc Education (Policy and International Development) at the University of Bristol. She is a 2020 Women Deliver Young Leader and the 2022 Colin Robinson Hard Head Award Winner for her transformational leadership and activism. She is the founder of Feminitt Caribbean where she leads a dynamic and passionate core team and volunteers that uses education, social good, and conversation to advance access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services for young people in the Caribbean. She is an Advisor to the Global Advisory Committee for the Caribbean region at FRIDA, The Young Feminist Fund and serves as the Co-Coordinator of Transform Education hosted by the United Nations Girls Education Initiative. Ashlee holds a BA English Language and Literature.
What ignited your pursuit for gender equality?
In the Caribbean, I've often been the only woman in many spaces, as most spaces are male dominant. Throughout my engagement in various institutions, I've always seen the gender gap and difference in treatment and made a vow to myself to create better spaces for me and everyone one step at a time to ensure that girls and women have a seat at the table, always.
Please share your biggest wins as an advocate for gender equality.
In 2020, I founded Feminitt Caribbean, a queer, youth-led NGO working toward gender justice in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean region. This experience has been my biggest win as I have seen Feminitt grow to become a space of radical inclusion and innovation currently sustained by the work of 20 amazing activists from around the Caribbean region. We currently lead two projects, namely Safe Cycle which has led phenomenal work to achieve menstrual equity in Trinidad and Tobago, and The Right Way, a community-based project working to help people understand and access their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Outside of your gender equality advocacy work, what do you enjoy doing?
I enjoy visiting independent coffee shops and imagining myself as a Barista!
Languages Spoken:
- English (Advanced/Native)
Publications:
Speaks On:
- Comprehensive Sexuality Education
- Education (Gender Transformative)
- Menstrual Equity
Past Awards, Certifications, or Fellowships:
- Colin Robinson Hard Head Award Winner (2022)
- Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow (2022)
- Young Women In Leadership Certification by ParlAmericas and CIWIL
- Youth Parliamentarian by ParlAmericas, CIWIL, and the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament
- NGO Management Certification by The State University of New York & Luther College at the University of Regina
- Gender-Based Violence Crash Course Workshop from the Institute for Gender Development Studies
