From Atlanta to TMU: Ciboney Pennyman's journey of growth and discovery
September 16, 2025
The chances of a student stumbling upon a photo of a parent during a research project are slim -- but that’s exactly what happened to Ciboney Pennyman.
Last year, she began an archival research job with a focus on the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), a community organization her mother was involved with in the 1980s.
The project is part of a broader initiative led by Dr. Melanie Knight and Dr. Anne-Marie Lee-Poy at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) to preserve and digitize the archival documents of Black organizations and personal collections, including those of the JCA.
With nearly 10,000 photos, brochures, annual reports and other documents to go through, the young lady didn’t expect to find anything personally familiar.
“I knew my mother was with the JCA, but I wasn’t expecting to find any photos of her,” said Pennyman who completed TMU’s Language & Intercultural Relations-French degree program with honours last May. “There were other researchers scanning documents who did not know my mother.”
But to her surprise, she came across several photos of her mother, Yasmine Pennyman, who had volunteered with the JCA and led summer camps with UJAMMA.
“It was such a cool moment, and I could not wait to break the news to her,” said Pennyman who was born and raised in Atlanta.
The phone call made Yasmine Pennyman’s day.
“I was really not thinking about her seeing a picture of me during her research even though I knew it would be somewhere,” she said. “I was happy because, as Caribbean people, we talk about our life and history so that our kids would get a sense of what we went through. I told her stories about my grandmother whom we called ‘Gong Gong’ and she understands some of the connections of our family heritage.”
Ciboney Pennyman found this photo of her mother (centre in black and white top) while sorting through photos for digital archive (Photo contributed)
Yasmine Pennyman’s mother was a cousin of the late community worker Eva Smith who introduced her to the JCA.
“Before that, I was not involved in the Black community,” she said. “After doing a few sleepovers at Aunt Eva’s home, she took me to the JCA or arranged for me to go there. I did a lot of volunteering at events she took me to.”
A postal clerk and American-trained dental technician, Smith migrated from Jamaica in 1956 through the Caribbean Domestic Scheme program which brought small quotas of single women from the region to work here as domestics. They were subsequently granted landed immigrant status in return for their services.
After finishing her contract, the mother of two and TMU part-time student worked as a switchboard operator at Scarborough General Hospital, a liaison officer with the then North York Board of Education where she helped set up the Learning Enrichment Academic Program which identified North York schools that provided learning enrichment programs for newly-arrived immigrants, and project coordinator with the JCA.
Concerned about the high drop-out rate of Black high school students, Smith organized workshops and seminars and worked assiduously with parents to facilitate their understanding of the Canadian school system.
She also co-founded the North York Emergency Home for Youth and, through the JCA, single-handedly established a program for youth on Bathurst Street, which was later relocated to the Jane & Finch area.
“Aunt Eva was a phenomenal woman who was well respected in the community,” said Yasmine Pennyman. “While doing outreach work in the Jane & Finch community, we were warned not to go there alone. One night, while attending an event where our summer camp students were performing, I overheard a young man near the entrance tell a group of guys not to bother me because ‘she is Mrs. Smith’s daughter.’ All of the young people doing community work with her were considered her sons and daughters. That is when I grasped her power and the high esteem in which she was held. She was the impetus for us doing what we were doing.”
Ciboney Pennyman originally had no plans to study in Canada.
A graduate of DeKalb School of the Arts in Georgia, she was accepted to Kent State University and offered a $40,000 scholarship to attend Ithaca College, where her parents collaborate through the Martin Luther King Scholar Program.
But at her mother’s suggestion — and with most of her maternal family living in Canada — she looked into Canadian universities. Soon after, TikTok's algorithm began showing her videos about schools in Canada, including TMU.
“I saw a video showing the hot spots where to study on the TMU campus and one of them was the Student Learning Centre which they said was new,” she said. “In the video, there was mention of the campus being very close to Yonge & Dundas which is a major space and cultural hub. That appealed to me because all of the schools I applied to weren’t in college towns. I did not want to be in a small and close-knit area. I wanted to be able to do other things in the city. I wanted to meet and be among people rather than being in a boxed-in space.”
Ciboney Pennyman on the TMU campus (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Yasmine Pennyman said that what appealed to her daughter the most was TMU’s sign language program.
It is the only Canadian university that offers a dedicated program.
“She wanted to do sign language since age four,” her mom said. “As she got older, we could not get her into a place that offered it because they were far from where we live. Seeing that TMU is the only school that includes it as part of its official curriculum appealed to Ciboney. That is what sealed the deal for her.”
While happy that her daughter chose a Canadian school, Yasmine Perryman was even more excited because she had completed a certificate program there herself in 1993.
She did family life counselling while working at Lawrence Heights Community Centre.
Yasmine Pennyman graduated from TMU in 1993 (Photo contributed)
Moving to Canada with only one childhood visit behind her could have been challenging for Ciboney, but family support made the transition smooth.
She lived in Scarborough with her aunt, Michelle Koczor, who offered a comforting presence.
“If I ever felt down, she was there to cheer me up,” said Ciboney. “It was also nice being close to my grandmother who lived just 10 minutes away.”
Though she considered living on campus, staying in Scarborough gave her a peaceful balance away from the city's daily chaos.
The CanStudyUS Fellow thrives in active, hands-on environments where she can apply what she is learning to real-life situations.
Participating in the Women in the House experiential course, blending academic theory with real political immersion, was one of the highlights of her time at TMU.
The program provides participants with a comprehensive theoretical and practical understanding of women in Canadian politics and intersectional policymaking. A key feature is the opportunity to shadow a woman Member of Parliament and her staff in Ottawa, offering an invaluable firsthand look at women in leadership roles.
It was perfect for Pennyman who is interested in working in or with the Canadian government.
With parliament dissolved because of last April’s federal elections, she didn’t get to meet MPs.
“We visited the Supreme Court and interacted with a panel of journalists and senators,” said Pennyman who voted for the first time in Canada in the last elections.. “I enjoyed talking to the senators because the roles, powers and how they are chosen are quite different here than in the United States. I was also impressed with the diverse makeup of the Senate and I relished meeting Marnie McBean who was an Olympian.”
The triple Olympic gold medallist in rowing was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2023.
Pennyman also visited the Canadian Parliament Chambers.
Every Prime Minister gets a personal chair in the House of Commons Chamber.
Pennyman and her group sat in Mark Carney’s seat before he did.
“That was so cool and we could not help bragging about it,” she said.
The TMU experience, noted Pennyman, turned out to be one of the best of her life.
“It allowed me to understand myself better, explore the facets that truly interested me and take initiative in pursuing different paths for personal and academic growth,” she said. “I also got the opportunity to make new friends and build connections with people from diverse backgrounds.”
On Pennyman’s first day on campus, she met another student who is now a close friend.
“We passed each other about four or five times, looking for our classroom,” said the former Vice-President of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility. “The last time we were about to pass each other, I turned around, asking, ‘Are you lost?’ She said ‘yes’ and I replied, ‘Me too’. She ended up being in my class and is one of my best friends.”
Outside academics, Pennyman’s other interests include dancing, tennis and playing the viola which allows her to express creativity and unwind from her studies.
“I started playing the violin when I was about six and switched to the viola seven years later,” she pointed out.
Math and science were never her strong suit, and her parents never pushed her to pursue them.
Instead, they encouraged their daughter to pursue what she was truly passionate about.
“They never pressured me to do something,” said Pennyman who did research on Black Political Rhetoric in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries that piqued her interest in Black-centred focus research. “They told me to think about what I wanted to do could lead to. That was very helpful.”
Her father, Roger Pennyman, is a retired flight attendant and historian who founded Pennyman Tours in 1986. The whole family now serves as tour guides, sharing history across the U.S.
At the end of September, Ciboney will head to Galicia, Spain, for an eight-month contract teaching English as a second language.
When she returns in May, she plans to pursue graduate studies in international relations.
