Diane Bahati

Diane Bahati has extensive experience in youth civic leadership, working to empower African youth and promote youth agenda in major development issues in Africa. Her areas of focus include: Climate Change, Social Entrepreneurship, non-profit, SDGs. She has traveled extensively in over 10 countries across the world to learn and share best practices on the above. She co-founded in 2011 Rwanda YACA (Youth Alliance for Climate Actions), the biggest youth movement promoting climate actions, youth and community resilience in Rwanda. Diane has also been involved in other continental initiatives such as the project Pakati with the African Leadership Institute which seeks to harness the collective influence of Africa’s young leaders. She has represented Rwandan youth and served as a volunteer to various international fora including the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow and Sochi in October 2017 with the invitation by the Russian government, and the Model African Union Summit that took place in May 2018 in Cairo, Egypt where she had a chance to deliver a speech in front of HE Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt.on critical issues facing youth across the continent. Diane has a bachelor degree in Logistics and Information Management from Mount Kenya University and various professional certificates. She is also an alumnus of Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership program named after the late president of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Olivia Bechthold | Strategic Partner

Olivia is a communications professional and engagement expert. She has developed and managed numerous digital communications strategies for publications and organizations in the public and private sector, including government bodies, crown corporations, start-ups, post-secondary institutions, not-for-profits and NGOs. Olivia’s recent experience is primarily focused on community building, crowdsourcing, and action-based engagement, providing her with a fresh perspective on comprehensive communications and design thinking. Olivia holds a BA from the University of Guelph, an honours diploma in Public Relations from Algonquin College, and a graduate certificate in Digital Marketing from the Telfer School of Management.

Derek Ferguson | Strategic Partner

Derek Ferguson is sports fan who can help you put your message in the end zone. A results-oriented communications strategist, Derek has more than a decade’s experience as an award-winning leader in the federal public service and 20 years as a provincial and national political journalist. Derek has served as the Director of Public Affairs for Export Development Canada, and as General Director of the National Liberal Caucus Research Bureau. Previously, reporting for Canada’s largest daily newspaper, The Toronto Star, he served as Prairie Bureau Chief and national political reporter specializing in financial and investigative journalism. When he isn’t advising clients using sports metaphors to explain communications strategies, Derek can be found cheering for the RedBlacks, Roughriders and Raiders.

David Fodrek | Strategic Partner

David Fodrek is a film director, writer, and marketing consultant. He graduated with honors from Vancouver Film School and has since put his efforts towards building a production company dedicated to the creating inspiring media. After facing a life-threatening situation in his youth, he found support in the stories of others who had faced similar circumstances. He saw the motivating power of sharing stories of transformation and it was at this point he began working in film. From David Evram’s struggle came his desire to help youth transform their own personal challenges and by doing so become the hero’s of their own lives.

Mick Gzowski | Strategic Partner

Mick began his career as a newspaper reporter, winning the Jack Wasserman Award for best journalist in the province of B.C. He moved on to become the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin's official videographer. After the 2006 election, Mick remained in politics as Senior Broadcast Communications Consultant for the National Liberal Caucus. Here, Mick refined his editing skills and set YouTube records in the News and Politics section. He has written for magazines, radio, television and films. As a filmmaker, Mick's documentaries have been broadcast by CTV, Global, the Discovery Network, the History Channel, National Geographic US, CBC TV, the Life Channel, CBC Newsworld, the Documentary Channel, and Vision TV.

Lynne Hamilton | Strategic Partner

Lynne Hamilton is a creative, results-oriented government relations professional with a track record of designing successful solutions to diverse issue and communications challenges. Her extensive communications background ensures an integrated approach to stakeholder outreach, strategic planning, issue & crisis management and media relations. She has a history of securing significant regulatory change and investment in the high tech and healthcare space for clients such as Netflix, TekSavvy, The Heart & Stroke Foundation, and Merck Frosst. Lynne holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. She is the President of the Internet Society, Canada Chapter. She is the former Chair of the Board of Equal Voice; an organization dedicated to encouraging more women to get involved in politics and was named several times as one of Canada’s Top 100 Lobbyists in the Hill Times.

Nitin Jaiswal

Nitin is a Junior Applications Developer skilled with Android, iOS and Cross-Platform mobile development. He is currently studying computer programming at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada and is a recent graduate from Bavaria Institute of Technology in India. He is a regular volunteer with International Students Mentor at Algonquin College, helping with international students’ academic orientation and EXPOSE: aiming to create a smoke-free campus and decrease social tobacco use. In his spare time, he likes to build home automation tools and robots – such as a gesture and voice controlled robotic hand that he built in two weeks over the holidays.

Tara-Lynn Charbonneau

Sid Lee | Strategic Partner

Sid Lee is an award winning senior Creative Director for EarthLore Communications. He has decades of experience in overseeing national and international projects most especially in the field of communication, new media, advertising and social awareness. He is a dedicated creative professional and combines his talent with a strong technical proficiency in current media technologies. Sid continuously strives to be a driving force behind adopting immersive new media strategies engaging Aboriginal Peoples. He has been the creative lead for challenging social communication assignments affecting Aboriginal Peoples: Youth Suicide, LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS and community health issues.

Krista Murphy | Strategic Partner

Krista Murphy brings over 15 years of experience in the graphic design industry. Graduating with honours from the Graphic Design Program at Algonquin College (where she also now teaches), she has worked her way up from production artist to art director at a fast-paced advertising agency in Ottawa, Canada. She has branded and designed for many businesses within the city, all while growing her own stationery company for weddings and events. A multitasker at heart, you can find Krista coaching new designers wanting to get into the wedding scene, raising two little humans alongside her number-loving husband, and learning new skill sets to better help her clients soar and fall in love with their brand.

Qaiser Nawab

Qaiser Nawab is an award-winning strategic communications expert with nearly 10 years of experience as an advocate for social change. In 2014, Qaiser founded a global youth organization “THE” Society International (Together for Health and Education). By utilising his training, leadership and development skills, he aspires to help youth work on their aspirations and realise their potential for Sustainable Development. He also advocates for marginalized members of community particularly Transgender and was endorsed by the Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. In addition to his international leadership roles, Qaiser is a United Nations Sustainable Development Goals expert and advocate. He has collaborated with the United Nations, Commonwealth, OIC and European Union on different occasions. He was a speaker at both the World Investment Forum (WIF) and UNCTAD Youth Forum at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland as well as at the Commonwealth Youth Forum, CHOGM 2018 London, where he represented issues around youth, women and gender minorities’ empowerment, trade and emerging technologies.

Mylene Paquin | Strategic Partner

Mylene Paquin is an award-winning film director, producer and marketing consultant. Her works have screened on national television which garnered her the opportunities to pitch and/or produce for national brands such as Coco-Cola, Deloitte, MBNA Mastercard, and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. She has also worked with and/or pitched for musical artists such as Lights & Motion, Alt-J, and Delerium. Mylene connected with Heroa because she saw the unique approach and its potential impact. She strongly believes that we can use media as a force to drive positive change in the world.

Jenna Potter | Strategic Partner

Jenna Potter is a customer experience and video marketing strategist based in Montreal, QC. With over seven years of experience in the digital marketing space, Jenna has collaborated on online social campaigns with international brands including Boston Pizza, Ko-fi and CHS Group UK. She co-founded Vision Vloggers in 2019 to help SaaS companies fight churn and boost retention with customer onboarding videos.

Don Runge | Strategic Partner

Don is a motivated and results oriented senior marketing professional with over 35 years experience leading teams on communication assignments and pioneering purposeful and meaningful strategies for engaging and communicating with audiences across Canada and the North. He is a leading resource for research and sharing of expert knowledge as it pertains to Aboriginal languages, cultural sensitivity and creative strategic messaging and campaign strategy. As Executive Producer, he led the team that created a series of highly praised, culturally appropriate and informative videos for the Canadian Human Rights Commission in multiple Aboriginal languages.

Kristy Strauss

For nearly 15 years, Kristy has worked closely with communications agencies, universities and other not-for-profits to deliver compelling and accessible content - helping clients to communicate their stories and reach wider audiences. Her career has spanned a variety of sectors including business, finance, trade, technology and print media. She specializes in news-style writing, blogs, personal profiles and website content creation. Prior to her communications and public relations work, Kristy was a journalist in the Ottawa area and wrote for the Metroland Media chain of newspapers. She covered a variety of beats, including education, municipal politics, health and the arts. Kristy attended Carleton University for her Bachelor of Journalism degree.

Amanda Sussman | Strategic Partner

Amanda Sussman is a Canadian author, speaker and strategist. Over ten years, Amanda's Art of the Possible method has bridged the gap between Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, multilateral and non-governmental organizations and the people they represent to drive change and improve lives through policy change. To this effect, Amanda has worked with dozens of organizations in Canada and around the world such as: The Global Partnership for Education, The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Plan International Canada, and The Canadian Cancer Society, among others.

Elyssa Teslyk

Elyssa Teslyk brings a unique combination of cross-sector experience, focusing on strategic research and reporting for impactful decision making, communications and engagement, policy and program development, training, and performance management. These combined enable her to tactically navigate and build rapport with interest groups, businesses, and citizens to create sustainable private-public partnerships. Principal strengths Elyssa brings include consensus building, negotiation, conflict management skills, and the ability to communicate technical knowledge using business communications, as well as economic returns on social impact. She has managed and facilitated research projects and software development integrated training programs in partnership with Alberta Labor, the University of Alberta, SAIT, and Manpower Services, and worked with various organizations such as the City of Edmonton to develop public policy recommendations. Elyssa holds a BBA in Finance, Marketing and Human Resources from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Her most recent experiences have focused on government relations and digital transformation to improve civic services.

Ana Maria Zurita Delphin

Ana Maria Zurita holds a BA in Graphic Design, as well as a Marketing and Mobile/Social Media Management degrees from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. With more than six years of international experience in Printing and digital (UX and Marketing) design, Ana Maria has the skills and personality to develop, implement and manage different kind of Graphic Design projects for M&C Consulting and Mcrowdsourcing Canada, Inc (MC2).

Stephanie Mitton | Strategic Partner

Stephanie Mitton, Founder and Principal of Beacon North Strategies, is a public affairs veteran known for her effective campaign-style government relations with impacts nationally and globally. Her experience spans public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, with noteworthy roles as the Managing Director of Children First Canada and Director of Government Relations at Universities Canada. She has built a career based on a powerful mix of passion, problem-solving, and a people-centric approach. She is passionate about inspiring women through her podcast and blog, ``WOMENdontDOthat``. Stephanie's leadership and degrees, a master’s from Wilfrid Laurier University and a bachelor’s from Carleton University fuel her commitment to driving client success and innovation.