In 2005, four women founded a non-profit organization built around empowering and advocating for education and to provide networking resources and services to minorities. Gathered over lunch, Leticia Arellano, Francisca Rangel, Laurene Simms, and Thuan Nguyen expressed their concerns towards deaf women of color. In Washington DC Deaf women of color lacked a sense of community and support. The founders met regularly and eventually established a vision for the organization Deaf