Hillary LeBlanc is a 30-year-old Senegalese-Acadian woman, born and raised in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Raised by an Acadian single mom, Hillary didn’t have much of a Black community growing up and often felt quite isolated. She didn’t have much of a relationship with her father or the Senegalese side of her family. Hillary has described the household she was raised in as emotionally and psychologically abusive, though her mother did love her and do the best she could. She excelled in school and often participated in as many extra curriculars as possible to socialize.
She received a full-rise scholarship to university but unfortunately half way through completing her degree her mother fell ill – first loosing the ability to walk, then 11 months later being diagnosed with dementia. Because of the lack of community around her and the abuses she had suffered while living with her mom, Hillary was completely lost and left to her own devices after her mother became ill. Hillary started drinking which led to a drug addiction. Despite this she completed university, and even worked three jobs. Though she always knew this was not a path for her, Hillary wasn’t sure how to clean up the mess she had made and thought moving to Toronto and pursuing Fashion Communication could help her get sober. Though she did move, it was not enough to help her become sober. Hillary would spend a total of four years battling her addictions before finally calling her father for support.
Her father recognized his need to help his daughter and encouraged her to live with him and allow them to build a relationship. Hillary moved to Ottawa to get acquainted with the other side of her family 5 months before the pandemic started. The pandemic, coupled with therapy and fostering a relationship helped her get sober. During that time, she shared publicly the experience of learning about the Black side of her family which led to her current work amplifying voices in the Black community. She realized that the Black community she was missing in her youth needed her voice to share their stories and build the infrastructure she needed.
Since sharing her story in 2020, Hillary has co-founded the BlackLantic podcast – a podcast with the goal to uplift Black East Coast voices, worked with CBC, written for ByBlacks, Addicted Magazine, done interviews on several red carpets, been to New York Fashion Week and interviewed celebrities like Winnie Harlow.
Hillary hopes BlackLantic, and her work, will provide to the Black community in the Atlantic Provinces what she was missing in her childhood: a sense of belonging, a sense of community and an appreciation for the thing that made her different – being Black. Hillary was recently given distinction for her work with BlackLantic by the House of Commons, has recently won the Feminist Creator Prize, was nominated as Youth Entrepreneur of the Year by the Black Business Initiative and is celebrating over four years on her sober journey.
In Hillary LeBlanc’s journey, we find not just a story of survival, but one of triumph, empowerment, and the enduring power of identity.
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