In this section, you find profiles of diverse leaders who have participated in the DiverseCity project.
- Ray Cao
Ray Cao is very aware of how others have shaped and supported him along the way. He counts his parents as well as other key individuals as major influencers in his life and career. As a member of DiverseCity’s Steering Committee he now has a platform to give back himself.
- Brandon Hay
Brandon Hay took advantage of the media training offered through DiverseCity Voices. Today, he is a go-to media source on issues related to male identity and crime in the black community.
- Glem Dias
As a talent management professional Glem Dias understands the value of networking. “DiverseCity has opened up huge opportunities and has helped me reinvent myself and raise my profile in Toronto.
- Jessica Farias
Rather than reject her past in order to assimilate, Jessica recognized early on that “background does matter.”
- Christopher Charlesworth
Christopher got his first taste of activism when he supported his dad’s efforts to stop the fixed link to the Toronto Island airport.
- Gelek Badheytsang
Gelek, like many young men arriving in a new country, settled in Canada not sure about his place in this new home.
- Bilal Khan
"I wasn't born into privilege. I didn't inherit any networks,” Bilal explains. “DiverseCity Fellows fast-tracked that for me."
- Louroz Mercader
When Louroz started the DiverseCity School4Civics program, he found a network of knowledgeable and engaged city-builders he could tap into.
- Patsy Russell
Patsy arrived in Toronto equipped with a great résumé. Unfortunately, hers was the classic immigrant story.
- Sonia Dong
Despite being naturally quiet, Sonia assumed the challenge of speaking on behalf of diversity in the environmental NGO where she worked.
- Tatum Wilson
For Tatum Wilson, leadership is not a solo sport. He credits other leaders with playing an important role in supporting his efforts.
- Desmond Cole
Desmond ran as a candidate for Toronto City Council in 2006 where he campaigned on extending the right to vote in municipal elections to non-citizen residents. He says that the platform came to him from residents in his riding who wanted to support him but couldn't.
- Juan Carranza
Juan Carranza describes himself as a reluctant leader. As the eldest of nine children growing up in El Salvador, he really had no choice in the matter. "I had to take responsibility for the younger children and show a good example."
- Mitzie Hunter
As a leader, Mitzie Hunter has always been ahead of her time. She shares this with her former employer, Goodwill Industries.
- Tina Tehranchian
"An effective leader is one who lets go of power and paves the way so the organization can carry on without that leader."
- Cameron Bailey
Before long he was negotiating with Hollywood studios to bring Precious to Toronto as a gala performance. But showcasing an African-American filmmaker would be a first.
- Priscila Uppal
"Some people hoard their knowledge," says Priscila Uppal, "and this keeps a community stagnant and marginalized." As a writer and educator, keeping what you know to yourself is a foreign concept to Uppal. For her, leadership is about sharing and is a serious responsibility. "It's about shaping knowledge into a form that people can take away and build on." Uppal puts this into action every day in her classroom at York University, where she teaches English.
- Cadigia Ali
As a newcomer to Canada, Cadigia Ali recognized almost immediately what volunteering could do to help her integrate into Canadian life. After just two years in Canada she was profiled in the Toronto Star for her work with the United Way and the Red Cross. During the height of the Somali crisis in 1992, Ali led an effort to mobilize performers and other volunteers from her home country of Somalia in a fundraising concert that raised $22,000 to send home some badly needed relief supplies through the Red Cross. She soon became a member of the organization's Etobicoke District Council.