Meet the Honorees: Shelley Flaherty, Dita Obler, and Erinn Pearson
“Honestly, I have to pinch myself sometimes to ensure that I’m not in a fantasy. That there really is a place where I can gain a wealth of knowledge, awareness, and insights about my physical, mental, and emotional health within a circle of sharing, candor, trust, and healing.”
– Community Conversations Member
We’re excited to introduce Shelley Flaherty, Dita Obler, and Erinn Pearson, Co-founders of Community Conversations: Sister to Sister and the recipients of our 2023 Josephine McNeil Community Impact Award.
Lawyers Clearinghouse staff chose to recognize Shelley, Dita, and Erinn because of the work they have done to empower and educate Black women, connect them with vital healthcare resources, foster a vibrant community, and address racial and gender disparities in our healthcare systems.
Community Conversations: Sister to Sister was started in 2009 at Simply Erinn’s Hair Salon in Cambridge, where Shelley and Dita often found themselves involved in deep, invigorating conversations with Erinn and the other women in her salon.
They soon realized these discussions focused largely on people’s respective health concerns and navigating confusing medical systems, so they created Community Conversations to provide a safe and welcoming space where groups of multigenerational Black women from across the diaspora (ages 16-90s) could connect, have these important conversations, speak with medical professionals, and explore other matters that impacted them and their communities.
Today, the Community Conversations: Sister to Sister network has grown to comprise nearly 1500 women, medical providers, and partners, many of whom gather regularly at Simply Erinn’s to continue these crucial conversations–which center around an agenda and topics chosen collectively by the organization’s community leadership–support one another and take actions to improve health outcomes.
In addition to this health programming, Community Conversations also provides workforce development assistance to women of color with an interest in medical, scientific, and public health professions, and collaborates with other sister organizations to build a wider, health-focused community that exists outside of the traditional medical system.
We look forward to celebrating Shelley, Dita, and Erinn, and highlighting the work of Community Conversations: Sister to Sister at our upcoming 35th Annual Meeting, where we’ll also recognize Nolan Leadership Honoree Rick Muraida, of Rockland Trust, and Pro Bono Excellence Awardee Sara Frank, of Choate, Hall & Stewart.