Speakers
Omar Alghabra P.C., M.P.
Member of Parliament for Mississauga Centre
Omar from Ryerson University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and am a York University MBA graduate. He has served in a variety of senior positions with General Electric Canada, Enbala Power, and the Ontario Energy Board. He is currently the Federal Member of Parliament for Mississauga Centre, as well as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Public Service Renewal) and to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. He has previously served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs) and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade Diversification.
Fiona Haynes
Program Director, Headstrong, Mental Health Commission of Canada
Fiona Haynes is a mom, wife and works with the Mental Health Commission of Canada. She has a lifetime of family and personal experience with mental illness and describes ‘the DSM 5’ as her ‘family album’. Fiona knows first hand the experience of living with mental illness and childhood trauma, and parenting a beloved child through their own experiences of mental illness and suicide crisis.
Ally Salama
Founder, EMPWRNG MNDS
Ally Salama is a Social Artistpreneur, Speaker, Podcaster, Ex-Pro Athlete and The Middle East’s Mental Health Ambassador. He founded empower-mag.com, the first Mental Health Magazine in the Middle East, winning Harvard's Top 7 Most Impactful Social Initiatives in 2019 & earning recognition from the World Health Organization. Currently, Ally’s purpose is to empower youth to become more impactful changemakers in the world. He currently hosts Apple’s #1 Charting Youth Leadership Podcast “Empathy Always Wins” - the world's exclusive youth leadership podcast focusing on empathy and community building.
Matt Zerker
tethr
Matt became an advocate for men’s mental health after the death of a close friend at the age of 30 sent him into a suicidal depression and onto mental health leave from a job in the asset management industry. After trying therapy, medication, and several experimental treatments for severe anxiety and depression, Matt was invited to join a men’s group by a friend and everything began to shift.
It was on a men’s retreat in April 2019 that Matt had a profoundly life changing experience. He came home from the retreat on the Monday and by the Wednesday had quit his job with no fallback plan. He has been building tethr ever since.
Swish Goswami
Trufan.io
Swish (Manu) Goswami, 23, has built a multi-hyphenate career. He is a serial tech entrepreneur (CEO & Founder of Trufan which recently acquired SocialRank), LinkedIn Youth Editor, three-time TEDx speaker (signed with the Speakers Spotlight & The AAT Project), and UN Youth Ambassador. Swish has been recognized for curating the world’s first youth social capital fund and an application to fight malnutrition on college campuses. He has been awarded the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership Award, Startup Canada’s Young Entrepreneur Award, and Plan Canada’s Top 20 under 20.
Abhayjeet Singh Sachal
Co-founder, Break The Divide
Abhayjeet (Abhay) Singh Sachal is an 18-year-old Canadian humanitarian, environmentalist, and activist who believes that engagement in dialogue and conversation can serve to spark change around the world. Abhay was recently named one of Canada’s Top 25 Under 25 Environmentalists and featured as one of 10 International Youth Changemakers in Canada. He is also an avid ice hockey player and pianist. Abhay is a rising second-year student at the University of Toronto, studying Global Health and Peace & Conflict Studies.
Hanan Nanaa
Founder of BAM & VP @ RU’s POGSA
Hanen is a student at Ryerson University, Majoring in Politics and Governance and minoring in Law. Hanen is the founder of BAM - Books, Art, Music Collective, a youth organization that aims to empower young people to get involved in civics and community through Art. Currently, she is the executive vice president of the politics and governance association at Ryerson and the community outreach coordinator for the Syrian Canadian Foundation. Hanen is an ambassador for the IRCNF- OCASI Campaign(Immigrant and Refugee Communities - Neighbours, Friends and Families (IRCNFF) to raise awareness and promote action to end domestic violence. In 2019 she was chosen to be one of Daughters of the vote representing the federal riding of Scarborough Guild-wood in Ottawa.
Sukhmeet Rohan Singh
Co-founder, Break The Divide
Sukhmeet is a medical student, public health advocate, and mental health advocate who believes in the recipe of intercultural dialogue in order to promote peace in the world. Along with his brother, Sukhmeet is the co-founder of Break The Divide Foundation, which connects youth around the world to foster empathy through conversations around mental health and social issues. For his service, Sukhmeet has received several accolades such as Canada's Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25, Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders, and Canada's Emerging Leader Award to name a few
Jessica Singh
Evidence-based researcher, MScUniversity of Oxford.
Jessica Singh is social worker and also holds a specialized degree in evidence-based research from the University of Oxford. I have 10+ years of experience impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation, multi-stakeholder relationships, qualitative research methodologies, strategic partnerships, capacity building and grant-writing both internationally and in Canada.
As a social development professional and research consultant, Jessica offers strategic advice to social enterprises to enable meaningful contribution and provide tools to measure their impact effectively.
Zeinab Khawaja
Canadian Mental Health Association National
Zeinab was born in Pakistan and grew up in the Middle East, in Kuwait. She moved to Canada in 2013 to attend McMaster University, where she volunteered with and eventually ran the McMaster Student Union Peer Support Line. After completing her Bachelor of Health Sciences Degree, Zeinab went on to work at McMaster University to provide support to current students as a recent graduate, and work towards systemic change in how students are supported at McMaster. Zeinab has also worked at the Canadian Mental Health Association, National, supporting Peer Support Canada certification. As a queer woman of colour, she is passionate about social justice, anti-racism, and how they impact mental health and well-being.
PERFORMERS
Ali
TheSoulfulPoet
TheSoulfulPoet is an award winning spoken word artist, songwriter and rapper with a unique style, mixing both elements of hip hop and spoken word to create pieces that are enlightening, inspirational, as well as entertaining. Being a voice for the voiceless, TheSoulfulPoet sheds light on several issues we face today, using word play to artistically express himself. His passion for painting pictures with his words has placed him as Ottawa's Urban Legends Poetry Slam Champion. He’s also competed in the annual OG500 Poetry Slam, winner of MuslimFest’s Talent Hunt 2019, and has also performed live in Toronto, Montreal and the US. TheSoulfulPoet's debut album "Thorns" was recently voted as "Album of the Year" by Faces Magazine, and was selected as one of Canada's "Most Slept On Artists" by Shifter Magazine.
Abdul Muse
KAR33M
Known for his narrative style music, KAR33M is an award-winning R&B Fusion artist that aspires to evoke mindfulness and optimism within listeners of his music. Having performed in front of audiences that range from the small scale at coffee shops and hotel lounges to large scale at the TD Place Stadium, he creates a memorable experience for his audience with his soft groove melodies and sophisticated lyrics. In addition to R&B, KAR33M also introduces various Afrobeats elements into his music— reflecting his upbringing for the first half of his life in West Africa. As an award-winning singer/songwriter and composer, KAR33M is currently working on developing a new music genre called R&B Fusion; a combination of elements from all music genres with R&B as the canvas. He is also currently working on launching his entrepreneurial venture called Woke Studios; an artistic residency for emerging artists to find support for their debut work.