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Am has previously been Director of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, Co-Director of SFU's Community Engaged Research Initiative and host of the podcast, Below the Radar. He has additional affiliations at SFU with Graduate Liberal Studies, Labour Studies and the Institute for the Humanities.

He has been on the boards of the Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancity Community Foundation, Indian Summer Arts Society, Impact on Communities Coalition, 221A, Greenpeace Canada, BC Alliance for Arts and Culture, the Or Gallery, the City of Vancouver’s Arts and Culture Committee and the Vancouver City Planning Commission. In 2020, he was recognized with the Warren Gill Award for Community Impact and in 2024 with the Hari Sharma Community Award.

He is the author of 'Ecological Metapolitics: Badiou and the Anthropocene' (2015), co-author with Matt Hern of ‘Global Warming and the Sweetness of Life: A Tar Sands Tale’ (2018) and 'O My Friends, There is No Friend: The Politics of Friendship at the End of Ecology' (2024).

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Azaria has worked in communities for over the past 15 years with 10 years of cross-sector leadership experience leveraging strategic partnerships and launching high-impact programs for diverse populations of children, youth, families and seniors. More recently, she has pivoted into the field of mental health and is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying). She embodies a relational, holistic, compassionate, person-centred approach grounded by an intersectional, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, culturally responsive, trauma-informed lens. As a body of culture with Afro-Caribbean roots, she continues to explore the impacts of imperialist white supremacist hetero-patriarchal systems. A fundamental part of her work is to move toward collective liberation and healing.

Azaria is a University of Toronto graduate with a background in psychology, health sciences, community development, food justice, and program management. She has a love for music, movement, nature and spicy cuisine.

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Celina is a dynamic professional with a remarkable track record across business consultancy, politics, academia, and advocacy. An acclaimed business consultant, coach, and international speaker, Celina also serves as the Senior Advisor for Cultural Transformation and Strategic Initiatives at Queen’s University, where she lectures part-time.

Her political career includes serving as a Member of Parliament for Whitby and holding prestigious positions such as Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and to the Minister of International Development. Known for championing mental health, equity, justice, and gender issues, she garnered numerous accolades during her tenure, including being recognized by O (Oprah) Magazine and Chatelaine Magazine. Celina continues to serve her community through roles on the Lakeridge Health Foundation Board and Elexicon Corporation Board.

Celina's educational background is equally impressive, holding an Executive MBA from the Rotman School of Management, an MBA in Healthcare Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology, among other certifications and ongoing academic pursuits, including a current Neuroscience PhD program at Queen’s University. She is a [Deepak] Chopra certified health and meditation instructor and coach.

Before politics she was the founder of Resolve Research Solutions, Inc., where she led a highly successful research management consulting firm aimed at enhancing the lives of individuals living with neurological conditions and their caregivers. Additionally, her tenure at various healthcare organizations and her role in influential national studies underscore her dedication to impactful research.

Celina’s best-selling memoir "Can You Hear Me Now?" was published by Random House Canada in 2021, and she has contributed to various publications focusing on politics, health, and social issues. Her speaking engagements at global platforms, including the United Nations, Harvard University, and various conferences, reflect her expertise in leadership, diversity, inclusion, and social change.

An award-winning advocate, Celina has been honored with prestigious awards like the Chatelaine Magazine Woman of the Year, Mental Health Parliamentarian Award, and the Bob Marley Award, among others, acknowledging her outstanding contributions to politics, mental health advocacy, and community service.

With an extensive portfolio spanning consultancy, academia, advocacy, and political leadership, Celina Caesar-Chavannes emerges as an influential figure dedicated to fostering positive change, championing justice, and driving transformative initiatives with the aim of restoring our collective humanity. She can be followed on all social media platforms @iamcelinacc

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Chiyi is an urban planner and anti-gentrification organizer raised in Vancouver, on unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) lands and waters, in the translation between places and culture. She is currently the executive director of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust. She also organizes with Friends of Chinatown Toronto, which is also exploring community ownership as an anti-displacement strategy for racial & economic justice in Toronto’s Chinatowns. She frequently consults with groups regarding social enterprise legislation, governance and cooperative strategies. She aims to reciprocate knowledge into community.

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Daniel Sarah is the founding managing editor of Midnight Sun, a magazine that seeks to be a forum for strategic thinking about how to build sustainable social change movements, networks, and organizations.

They have served as a coordinator of the Toronto-based activist network Artists for Climate & Migrant Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty (ACMJIS), of which they're also a co-founder, and have collaborated on political initiatives that range from organizing large street mobilizations against transphobia to building coalitions to demand a more equitable public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The author of six published books, most recently the poetry collection Plenitude (Book*hug Press), they have been recognized with the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Artist Award, the CBC Fiction Prize, and the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Award, and served on the board of directors of the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Paprika Festival, a youth-led performing arts organization.

They're keenly interested in the intersections of art and activism, poetry and political change work, and excited to dream towards social transformation with you.

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Daniella is a community-driven activist and strategist with over a decade of experience working alongside QTBIPOC-led grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and equity-focused initiatives. As a Black Queer Caribbean immigrant based in Toronto, her work is grounded in anti-oppressive and anti-racist frameworks, with a deep commitment to collective care, justice, and systems change.

With a background in program design, policy advocacy, and community engagement, Daniella continues to support organizations in building sustainable strategies, securing funding, and centering the voices of those most impacted. Whether facilitating collaborative planning sessions, leading cross-sector coalitions, or advising on inclusive practices, she brings an approach that is grounded in equity, authenticity, and building strong, collaborative relationships.

Daniella has held leadership roles in the housing, mental health, and harm reduction sectors — including Manager at the Toronto Drop-In Network and Mental Health and Direct Services Manager at the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention ( Black CAP.) She has contributed to city-wide campaigns, network building, and funding advocacy. Most notably, her recent advocacy efforts played a key role in securing an additional $1.8 million in municipal funding to strengthen Toronto’s drop-in sector.

Daniella’s practice is rooted in listening, building trust, and co-creating with communities to advance transformative change.

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Diana has over three decades of experience in the non-profit sector working on human rights, climate change and biodiversity, and food system change. She has also worked on Parliament Hill, in public broadcasting and feminist organizing. She works in both English and French. After leaving her position as Executive Director of Food Secure Canada in 2019, Diana became certified as an Integral Associate Coach and now works to enhance the effectiveness and well-being of her clients who are mostly involved in the non-profit sector. Diana has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities of social change work and sees practices of mindfulness and self-awareness as essential components of the new world we are seeking to build. When not at work, Diana enjoys gardening, cycling, swimming and generally delighting in nature in the Laurentian mountains where she lives.

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With 15 years of experience in human resources management, Kaitlin is a leadership development coach, consultant and mentor to business and community leaders. She specializes in the empowerment and growth of new leaders and first-time managers, helping them build their skills and confidence, and helping them build leadership habits intended to serve them and their teams throughout their careers.

Kaitlin’s coaching practice centres around a core insight: new managers are not typically set up for success which can lead to less-engaged and ineffective teams. Bringing a lens of balance, equity, inclusion and empowerment, Kaitlin helps her coaching clients to navigate difficult conversations, have candid communications, and develop strategies for empowering teams and working within and navigating patriarchal, racist, capitalist structures. Kaitlin’s approach to supporting managers reflects how employees want: to feel like their work is valued, to feel like they are heard, and to feel like management and the employer are communicating clearly and honestly.

As a professional with ADHD, Kaitlin also offers support and coaching around neurodivergence in the workplace. She brings a unique perspective on levering employees’ super powers, and helping managers find ways to best support them.

Kaitlin’s human resources consulting practice specializes in applying those same principles on an organizational level. Kaitlin helps organizations identify their values, and then works to embed and reflect those values in policies, procedures and operational practices; and she holds her clients accountable to those identified values. She supports leadership in decision making and communication, and is called on to offer her counsel for difficult conversations. At the forefront of that work are diversity, inclusion, belonging, equity and justice. She has experience working with organizations that focus on vulnerable communities, as well as non-traditional governance models and decision-making frameworks.

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Kell is a transformative HR & people practices leader, coach, policy writer, and anti-oppressive facilitator. With a labour background in anti-poverty activism and housing justice, and an M.Ed in Adult Education and Community Development, they have worked in all aspects of ‘HR’ management, community organizing, conflict transformation, curriculum & policy development, coaching, and advocacy campaigns.

Kell works to build unbreakable solidarity across divides in order to strengthen all our movements for social change, specifically through increasing our skills in communication, conflict, deep listening, power analysis, and leadership. They particularly enjoy working with young workers, new managers, and folks going through transformation - in their work life, personal journeys, or the rocky process of learning and unlearning that can occur at any time.

They are a co-founder of a worker cooperative of queer and trans nonprofit workers, offering services in values-aligned operations, people practices, policy development, training and bookkeeping. They are a queer, non-binary person living in rural Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia, a life that suits their joy of long walks along coasts and rivers.

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Laëtitia is a co-founder of Evenings & Weekends Consulting, and comes from a mixed professional background in science, engineering and project management.

She has over 10 years of experience working in the non-profit sector and has focused her career on leading projects and initiatives to increase organizational impacts and financial sustainability, while supporting individuals and teams navigating organizational change.

From 2017 to 2023, Laëtitia was a Senior Director at FoodShare Toronto, Canada’s largest food justice organization. In her role, she provided strategic leadership and support in areas of food distribution social enterprises, risk management, human resources, organizational structure, health & safety, facility management and IT.

When not at work, Laëtitia can be found outdoors with her son and partner or enjoying some delicious food with her family and friends.

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Mercy Ayesha is determined to help people around them—fuelled by passion, transparency, and authenticity.

Awarded with Seneca College’s Stephen E. Quinlan Award and Nicolas Esper Liberal Arts Award, their continued work to actively improve our community was widely recognized. As the recipient of the Julianne Pettigrew Award at the 2021 OACUHO Residence Life Conference for their outstanding presentation on anti-racist and anti-oppression frameworks in programming.

Having lived an incredibly turbulent life as a child, they are determined to make sure no one experiences the difficulties they have as a Peer Advisor on Lumenus Community Services’ Harm Reduction Hangouts Advisory Committee and CAMH’s Youth Advisory Group to support young people with lived experience of mental illness, substance abuse or sex work.

Mercy Ayesha has always been an active citizen, performing various roles in political and electoral campaigns in both her home of London, UK and her new home of Tkaronto, Canada, with a lifelong commitment to contributing a positive change to their community.

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Mihret is a trauma-informed, culturally attuned coach with over 15 years of experience supporting people through life’s big transitions. As a second-generation immigrant stepping into first-generation entrepreneurship, she knows how much courage it takes to face the unknown.

Her journey has taken her through grassroots community work, community health, mental health advocacy, and roles as a Paralegal and Mental Health worker in the criminal justice system, places where she witnessed deep injustices firsthand. Her family’s own struggles with mental health challenges and the criminal justice system have been a powerful source of inspiration, fueling her passion to support others facing similar barriers. She also led efforts to build schools internationally, deepening her commitment to equity, education, and finding purpose that truly aligns with your values.

After experiencing the limitations and disempowerment of the old corporate world, Mihret made a bold choice to leave it behind and trust in her own vision through entrepreneurship. She now helps those struggling with empowerment, whether in their careers or personal lives, by guiding them to build confidence, develop leadership, and create clear plans that help them take control and move forward.

Mihret’s coaching blends empathy with practical strategies, using tools like facilitation, confidence building, reflective inquiry, and goal setting to support lasting growth.

Specializing in career transitions, personal development, and authentic living, Mihret helps clients break free from limiting beliefs, rewrite their stories, and step confidently into their next chapters. She guides them to uncover inner clarity and create the momentum needed to lead with purpose and courage.

For those ready to challenge old narratives, live intentionally, and lead from within, Mihret is a trusted partner on the journey forward.

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Njeri (pronunciation: J-ee-ri) has worked in the non-profit sector in Canada and internationally for over a decade. Her work’s approach is through the lenses of intersectionality, justice, decolonization, equity, inclusion and diversity. Her professional experience has encompassed working on global socio-economic issues of gender equity, refugee rights, access to clean water and sanitation in rural areas to local systemic issues including philanthropic reform, anti-Black racism, poverty, food justice, public legal education for non-profits and youth unemployment.

Njeri coaches, mentors and advises non-profit and social impact leaders on values-aligned strategies in various areas of organizational effectiveness including organizational development, governance, stakeholder relations, fundraising, grant writing, government relations, and public policy.

As a member of the Advisory Committee for the Charitable Sector, she brings to the table insights about the needs of the Canadian charitable sector particularly those of Black-led, Black-serving and Black-focused non-profits. Her contribution has informed equitable and inclusive practices and regulatory changes by the Charities directorate and the Federal department of finance. Njeri has completed a Masters degree in International Relations and a Certificate in Public Policy and Management. She volunteers her time to mentor young professionals and with local grassroots organizations. Njeri is a granddaughter of a Kenyan freedom fighter and lives in the traditional, ancestral, and stolen territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations - also known as Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Mojdeh is an impact and results oriented community builder and leader. For nearly 15 years, Mojdeh has coached organizational leaders and consulted with institutions across all sectors seeking to heighten their equity lens and carry the principles of justice, equity, inclusion and belonging into all elements of their business operations. She is an award-winning facilitator and learning and development designer, inspired by the popular education model to mobilize knowledge through an anti-oppression lens.

Mojdeh believes that a supportive, inspiring organizational culture where there are shared values and goals is how cross-functional teams in complex systems thrive. Mojdeh has expertise in labour relations, change management, government relations, and issue-based campaigns and advocacy. Most recently, her thought leadership on radical accountability has been nationally recognized in her tenure as President and CEO of Pillar Nonprofit Network.

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Mueni is a Kenyan-Canadian with a passion for meaningful conversation, and seeing and meeting people where they are at. She is skilled at fearlessly cultivating and nurturing meaningful connections and strategic partnerships for enhanced cooperation through facilitation, coaching, training and mentorship, leading departments and building networks.

Mueni is a conscientious, focused and assertive leader, who has successfully built and maintained strong teams, both in Canada, and across East and West Africa. Mueni’s analytical expertise is demonstrated in her passion and commitment to engage at a system’s level through a conscious equality lens. For Mueni, real and sustained transformation can only emerge when all of us are included and able to fully participate in building and rehabilitating broken relations (seeing ourselves as deeply interconnected), to co-create equitable, inclusive, engaging and meaningful spaces, ideas and possibilities.

Mueni is the founder and principal consultant at Mutinda Consulting, an Equity and justice-centered, and radically inclusive approach to program management. She recently led community consultations in collaboration with the Province of Prince Edward Island, a partnership which contributed to the province' first Anti-Racism Action Plan. Mueni is delighted to work with others and sees the opportunity to do so as the gift of this present moment. In this way, Mueni is a disruptor, truth-teller with love and vision for the possibility of the energy inherent in each one of us.

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Paul is a long-time activist, non-profit leader, educator, media commentator, and a co-founder of Evenings & Weekends Consulting.

For the last several years, he has also taught in the areas of organizational leadership, people resources and fundraising at Simon Fraser University.

From 2017 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto, Canada’s largest food justice organization. At FoodShare his leadership was consistently recognized for inspiring adoption of equity-focused people policies and practices in organizations well beyond FoodShare.

Paul’s experience includes Executive Director roles at Gordon Neighbourhood House and the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House. He has also chaired the British Columbia Poverty Reduction Coalition, served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and as Vice-Chair of Food Secure Canada.

He has written several op-eds on leadership, the non-profit sector and various social issues. In 2020, Paul was named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40, one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most Influential Torontonians and voted as Best Activist by Now Magazine readers.

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Rickesh believes that we are all responsible for each other’s success, and that social impact organizations will do their best work when they are nurturing from within and grounded in truth and trust.

He has over 15 years of experience in the social impact sector, including serving as the Executive Director at Future Possibilities for Kids, a community-based organization serving children, and as the Director, Campaign at United Way York Region, leading an $8M annual fundraising campaign. Rickesh is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), sits on the Global Council for the Community-Centric Fundraising movement, and has volunteered with numerous causes and boards.

He enjoys spending time with his family including his 3 children, camping, bike riding, cooking, and playing drums.

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Roxanne is an experienced mission-driven executive with deep expertise in non-profit leadership. She began her career in the cultural sector, driven by a belief that art is a powerful agent for social change. She has led major capital projects, fundraising campaigns, complex partnerships, and has steered organizations through transformational growth, supporting teams through turbulent times of change.

She has worked at the intersection of public policy, business, law, academia, science, technology, media, and art, creating space for difficult conversations across diverse perspectives.

Roxanne’s coaching helps people find their leadership voice, manage governance and board challenges, create clear intentions for career transitions, make values-aligned decisions for themselves and their organizations, and create vibrant organizations that operate with care for people and communities.

She currently serves on the board of directors for Rise Up!, a digital archive of feminist activism in Canada. Outside of work, she finds joy snacking at the beach, walking in the forest, singing loudly in the car, or curled up with her darling cat.

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Sally has over a decade of experience working in the fields of public health and public policy. Currently, she works full-time as a public servant for a provincial government, where she works collaboratively across multiple sectors on issues related to harm reduction, substance use, and mental health. In addition to her government work, Sally has been providing career coaching to equity-deserving professionals who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Colour and/or as a member in one or more marginalized group(s) since 2021. She has mentored and coached dozens of clients from diverse backgrounds and sectors to help them achieve their career goals and aspirations.

Sally is a graduate of both McGill University and the University of British Columbia where she specialized in psychology, anthropology, and public health. She is also a Cantonese Canadian,1.5 generation immigrant with a weakness for a good bowl of noodles.

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With over 15 years as an activist and community leader Terri’s vision is to live in a world free of racism, inequity, and injustice. Where everyone has the resources to heal from historical, institutional, intergenerational, persistent and pervasive (HIIPP) trauma and thrives in collective liberation rooted in community care.

Terri is the founder of Tuf Lov consulting where she gives clients the skills to actively dismantle systems of oppression in their workplaces, homes, and communities by creating brave spaces for uncomfortable and challenging conversations.

As an antiracism, justice, equity, diversity, decolonization, and inclusion (JEDDI) consultant, coach, and facilitator Terri uses liberatory coaching principles and somatic abolitionism techniques to support her clients to get on their path to healing, justice and true liberation.

Terri is also an advisor and facilitator of the Food Trade Game, co-founder of Black in BC Aid and an organizer and facilitator with Women of Colour Talks (WOC Talks) a space for all women of color to gather, share resources, uplift each other, heal, and be joyful inclusive of trans women, cis women, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, and intersex folks.

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Thanuja is a Sri Lankan-born antiracism practitioner with over two decades of dedicated experience in holistic human resources. She is a seasoned professional expert in various facets of the field and her journey encompasses talent acquisition, talent management, equity, diversity, and inclusion, all centered around cultivating an environment where every individual feels a sense of belonging. Thanuja's passion for fostering inclusivity and fairness has led her to become a prominent advocate for equity and diversity, consistently driving initiatives that bridge gaps and promote understanding.

Beyond her HR expertise, Thanuja holds an MBA and MEd and currently pursuing her Ph.D. She is a devoted antiracism researcher presently engaged in the research phase of her Ph.D., further exemplifying her commitment to dismantling systemic prejudices and generating knowledge that fosters meaningful change.

As a mental health advocate, she’s a board member of GenWell Project, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting human connection.