Cellular: Edmonton

*This post is dedicated to Jacob Marfo, the father of Ezra Marfo, whose journey inspired our CEO, Ufuoma Muwhen, to create Cellular, our very own stem cell drive.*

On January 18, 2020, NotJustYou held our last in-person event before the world would face the new, unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As difficult of a decision as it was at the time, the NJY team made the conscious and informed decision to withhold from hosting any virtual/non-physical events, despite many other organizations transitioning to online programming. Why?

The sickle cell warriors we support are at the heart of what we do. As a team of multiple sickle cell warriors ourselves, we’ve gone through the motions of attending events in spaces that never really felt tailored to our needs. As an organization, we didn’t believe that our resources could accommodate the scale of support that we know sickle cell warriors deserve. We decided that if it couldn’t be done right, we wouldn’t do it at all.

This is when the real work began. Over the course of the 38 months that would follow, our team spent thousands of hours strategizing, re-structuring, growing, refining, and recommitting ourselves to our mission. We knew that one day the time would come to touch the lives of our community the way we do best, and we needed to be ready. Throughout this period we raised over $30,000, successfully transitioned our programming to direct donations to sickle cell patients in hospitals, and multiplied our network and access like never before.

Finally, on March 3, 2023, the day had arrived. Our inaugural stem cell drive and networking event would mark the beginning of our reintroduction to our local community. Welcome: Cellular.

After months of planning and hours of execution, to say the event was a success would be an understatement. Here are some highlights:

• We welcomed over 100 individuals to the Amaleena Lounge for an opportunity to meet new people, learn new tools for growth, and sharpen their entrepreneurial skills. And let’s not forget, JOIN THE STEM CELL REGISTRY. If you didn’t get to join the stem cell registry on that night but you’re ready to now, click here to become a stem cell donor today!
• Reni Odetoyinbo, professionally known as Reni, the Resource, came all the way down from Toronto, Ontario to encourage our audience to bet on themselves, against all odds.
• Our founder, Ufuoma Muwhen, kicked off the night by reminding our audience why it’s important we continue to remain resilient with supporting the Sickle Cell community, especially through the donation of stem cells (the transplant that saved her life).