Dreamer Day 2022

Mayaan Ziv

Maayan Ziv is an activist, photographer, and entrepreneur. In 2015, she launched AccessNow, a mobile app and website that collects and shares information about the accessibility status of places worldwide.  

What began as a response to her frustration when trying to navigate inaccessible places, AccessNow soon grew to become a mission-oriented social start-up. Within just a couple of years, AccessNow has vocalized a movement for inclusion, inviting people of all abilities to contribute to the platform. 

As CEO of AccessNow, Maayan has created a powerful shift in thinking about the importance of accessibility in our world, from accessible technologies to infrastructure, public policy, media and communications. To date, AccessNow has shared accessibility information in over 35 countries. 

An influential public speaker who is often in the media, Maayan collaborates with private sector companies as well as government and not-for-profit organizations. She is leading a movement, challenging norms and empowering others to make the future accessible and inclusive for all. 

Maayan and her work with AccessNow have received numerous awards including MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (2022), Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2021), the Governor General’s Innovation Award (2020), WXN Top 100 Canada’s Most Powerful Women (2018), City of Toronto Access Award (2016), David C. Onley Leadership in Accessibility Award (2016). 

Alyssa Atkins

Alyssa is the founder and CEO of Lilia, the most enjoyable egg-freezing experience in the world. Lilia is on a mission to bring reproductive freedom to every woman by making egg freezing affordable, accessible, and convenient. Alyssa raised Lilia's first round of funding in 5 weeks with no product, deck, or website, and went on to gain backing from Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's most prominent investor. 

Dr. Gillian Mandich

Dr. Gillian Mandich is an award-winning, internationally recognized happiness researcher, speaker, educator, and author. With a PhD from Western University in Health Science, Dr. Gillian’s primary areas of research are happiness and health. She is the founder of The International Happiness Institute of Health Science Research; Research Associate at The World Database of Happiness, based out of Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands; co-lead investigator of The Canadian Happiness At Work Study; and was recently named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a prominent media personality, Dr. Gillian has appeared on The Social, Marilyn Denis, Breakfast Television, The Morning Show, Global, ABC News Philadelphia, WWL New Orleans, and CBS Pittsburgh. She is a top-rated keynote speaker and has given two TEDx talks.

Claudette McGowan

Claudette McGowan is a global information technology leader with more than 20 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service and cybersecurity experiences. She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank.

Claudette completed her studies in Canada and holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration along with certificates in Artificial Intelligence, IT Management, Project Management and Smart Buildings.

Over the past few years, Toronto Life recognized Claudette as one of the city's Top 50 Most Influential Torontonians, Digital Finance Institute honoured her as one of the Top 50 Canadian Women in FinTech, IT World Canada named her as Top 20 Canadian Women in Cybersecurity, and the Women’s Executive Network recognized her as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

In 2022, Claudette received the DMZ Women of the Year Award and NACO named her as a Nation Builder of the Year in Canada.

Claudette is an active member of the Canadian innovation ecosystem. She is the chair of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR), a group of senior business leaders committed to fighting systemic racism within the innovation economy. McGowan recently co-led the launch of Phoenix Fire & The Firehood, a multi-million dollar women-focused angel fund and network for women in technology.

Her commitment to community is evidenced by her multiple board seats for leading organizations such as MaRS Discovery District, SickKids Hospital Foundation, Black North, CILAR, Elevate and First Book Canada.

Judaline Cassidy

Judaline Cassidy, who hails from the beautiful twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago, is a hero in a hard hat, one of CNN's 2020 'Champions For Change’, and the founder and activist behind the trademarked phrase, "Jobs Don’t Have Genders". As a history-making plumber in NYC (Plumbers Local Union No. 1), Judaline has broken countless barriers in fighting for equity for women in the male-dominated construction trades for the last 25 years. As the founder of the pioneering nonprofit Tools & Tiaras, Inc. (est. 2017), Judaline is inspiring the next generation of tradeswomen through hands-on, mentoring workshops and summer camps for girls (ages 6-14). The organization's mission is to advance girls’ interest in pursuing non-traditional careers in S.T.E.A.M. professions, which include all aspects of the construction industry. To do that, T&T puts tools directly into girls’ hands, helping them realize - and believe - just how capable they are. A powerhouse role model, captivating speaker, and the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, Judaline has been featured by the Associated Press, CNN, BBC America, Good Day LA, No Barriers Podcast, and countless other media outlets. Her ability to inspire crosses generations and genders, and the impact she makes extends to her industry and beyond

Desiree Norwegian

Desiree Norwegian is a member of Liidlii Kue First Nation, she is part of the Dene clan, meaning the land of the people from North West Territories. Desiree graduated from Algoma University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Accounting. With Desiree’s strong determination and drive she next went on to obtain a Chartered Professional Accountant designation. 

Desiree has worked in senior-level accounting positions for the Municipality of Wawa and in the Energy Sector for Brookfield Renewable Power and Plasco Energy Group. Working in these roles had given Desiree the skills to take on her next big adventure, the purchase of Abraflex 2004 Ltd in early January 2016, which she owned until August 2020. 

Since then, Desiree has decided to pursue her passion through Atunda Inc. and strive for Indigenous engagement, rights, equality and reconciliation, gender diversity, and teach/talk about the huge advantage that clean energy plays in our society and great careers in stem & skilled trades. 

Anjalee Narenthiren

Anjalee Narenthiren is the 19-year-old speaker, Program Director at Startup Dojo, and host of the Youngpreneur with Anjalee Naren podcast. Anjalee is an international VEX Robotics champion, having beat over 20,000 teams in two consecutive years. She also founded her first startup at age 15. Currently, she is enrolled in the Jerome Fischer M&T Program at The University of Pennsylvania – pursuing a double degree with the Wharton School Of Business and Penn School of Engineering. 

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson

Nkechi Nwafor-Robinson is an award-winning Technology Executive, with over 20 years of experience. She is an AVP in Technology Solutions, currently serving in the role of Solution Train Engineer at TD Bank Group, supporting Data-as-a Service Enterprise Product Family and responsible for overall orchestration of large solution level events – but that is not all. She is the Founder and CEO of Empowered in My Skin Inc., author, professional bodybuilder, host of Empowered in My Skin podcast, and an inspirational speaker, with speeches that have been viewed over 7M times worldwide. Most recently she was awarded the 2020 WXN Most Powerful Woman Canada – Top 100.

Nour Hachem-Fawaz

Nour utilizes her 15 years of experience as a workforce advisor, mentor, and influencer to inspire youth to make informed career choices that challenge the status quo.  

Nour Hachem-Fawaz wants to change global perspectives on women’s contribution to society. Inspired by her mother’s perseverance to excel in a male-dominated field, Nour dug deep into the ‘why’ behind the lack of women in skilled trades. She realized that the barriers keeping women out of these rewarding careers were common to other male-dominated paths and created a non-profit to encourage and empower young women to explore careers they may never have considered. 

Nour’s challenge to listeners is that one must first address internal preconceptions before being capable of making significant strides that transform our work and world. A brilliant connector and facilitator, audiences are drawn to her candour and unique perspective from an extensive career in workforce development and her lived experiences as a woman of colour. She shares energetic stories of what leaders are doing right and offers real-world examples of how embracing diverse workplaces accelerates success. 

Nour earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Windsor and expanded Build a Dream across Canada while completing her MBA, raising children, and earning many awards and accolades. She spends each day following her passion: creating equity not just in the workplace, but in all of the spaces around us. 

Vanessa Vakharia

Vanessa is the founder and director of The Math Guru, a super cool boutique math & science tutoring studio in Toronto. She is also the author of Math Hacks, a new book that totally makes math fun, stress-free and relatable for young kids and parents, and the host of Math Therapy, a podcast that works through guests’ math trauma. She has her Bachelor of Commerce, Teaching Degree, and Masters of Math Education. She appears regularly on national television and news outlets as an expert in math education and speaks globally at conferences about re-inventing media representations of women in STEM. Her #goals are to be Lady-Gaga-famous and to totally change math culture so that STEM is finally as cool and accessible as basically every single Taylor Swift song ever. She failed Grade 11 math twice, which was the best thing that ever happened to her. Sidenote, but totally relevant: Vanessa is a founding member of Toronto indie-rock band Goodnight, Sunrise. Mindy Kaling is her idol and Vanessa believes that she should be yours too. 

Kate Campbell

Kate Campbell entered the skilled trades in 2005. After graduating high school and realizing that the university path just wasn’t for her, Kate applied to a "Women In Skilled Trades" (WIST) course based out of Burlington, Ontario. After being accepted to the course and picking up a power tool for the first time, Kate realized she had found her passion. During the three-month program, she was introduced to carpentry, electrical, plumbing, finish carpentry, and several other trades. Kate had always known that she wanted a career where she could stay active, be creative, and constantly be challenged. Well, she found one! 

Kate has been working in the television and renovation industry for over fifteen years and has been taught by some of Canada's top renovators. She can be seen as part of the crew for HGTV’s Holmes On Homes, Holmes in New Orleans, Holmes Inspection and assisting the final contestants as a part of Handyman Superstar Challenge.  

While working on these shows, she was faced with many challenges and was also exposed to every aspect of home renovation and building. Kate was personally involved in building several homes and helped with countless renovations. She’s worked with some of the best designers, builders, and most cutting-edge building materials out there. 

Kate Campbell has also been featured as one of the crew in HGTV’s hit shows Decked Out, Disaster Decks, and Deck Wars, where she helps build some of the most interesting and unique decks featured on TV.  

Kate is also one of the hosts of HGTV’s Custom Built, which combines her skills from her early renovating days and her creative, fun attitude from building on Decked Out. 

To top it all off, most recently Kate was asked to participate in HGTV Canada’s hit show Home to Win and Family Home Overhaul as one of the hosts and celebrity contractors. 

When she’s not filming, Kate also runs her own company - Kate’s Contracting Inc. She specializes in real estate investment and rehabbing run-down properties, concentrating mainly on century homes with lots of character.  Kate just finished a complete gut and renovation of a 170-year-old Stone Farmhouse while documenting the process for YouTube and her social media channels.  She also represents several companies such as Dewalt, Trex, Ontario OneCall, and American Standard.  

Kate is extremely passionate about speaking to young women who are considering entering the trades. She is focused on “changing the face” of the skilled trades and ESPECIALLY passiis onate about being an advocate for women and supporting causes that are important to her. Kate’s mission is to use her story and experience to help as many women as possible feel empowered to get into the trades or feel confident in the world of real estate investment.