In reference to her leadership roles Mitzie Hunter says she has always been “ahead of her time.” She shares this with her former employer, Goodwill Industries – the frontrunner in the social economy movement – where she was VP of External Relations. In this role Mitzie was a connector, bringing donors, the community and government into the organization’s “virtuous circle.”
Her first touch with leadership was in high school when she became student council president after just one year at a new school. And in her professional life she was the first black woman to be the head of a Toronto-based technology association at the age of 28. At 26 she was a regional director at Bell Canada. Hunter attributes her early ascension to the encouragement of other leaders. “I was very blessed to have the support of mentors along the way.”
She appears to be passing on this gift to others. As the co-chair of the Toronto City Summit Alliance’s Emerging Leaders Network, her job is to help build processes that make it possible for this group of business, community and government leaders to put their ideas and energy into action. They held a summit in April where seven great ideas surfaced to help realize the potential of the Toronto region as “dynamic, productive ecosystem where people live, work and play.” Her role is to “unlock their potential,” she adds.
Hunter’s potential surfaced early and it was her father who first recognized it. “He encouraged me to take a long-term view of my life so I wouldn’t make the short-term teenage mistakes.”
Mitzie Hunter is candidate in DiverseCity Voices, available to speak to journalists on a range of topics.