Our Panelists 2023
We are excited to introduce you to our amazing panelists who will be featured at the upcoming Women of Diversity Summit and Awards. Our panelists represent the diversity and inclusion that we strive to promote through this event, and we can’t wait for you to hear their insights and perspectives.
The Leadership Award
Keziah Osei
owner of and Principle Contractor of Keyz to your Home Renovations
After five years of experience in the industry, Keziah decided to go on her own journey through the trades as a Black woman. She realized that she needed to expand her passion into something that would create opportunities for other women and inspire them to obtain skills in the male-dominated trades industry.
Since this realization, her mission has been to change the lives of women by helping create career stability in the trades industry for women of today and future generations to come. As a result, since establishing Keyz To Your Home Renovations in 2016, she has worked on over 300 projects including homes, condominiums, schools, churches/religious centres and small businesses. Throughout her six years in business, she has contracted women and non-binary contractors to work with her. Her goal is to continue to disrupt the construction and manufacturing industry in order to provide jobs and equitable services to underrepresented trade professionals.
Adesola Ogunsakin
Physician and Founder of Retro Bag Canada
Adesola Ogunsakin was born and partly raised in Lagos, Nigeria. At the age of 17 she moved to St. Catharines, ON. Adesola went on to complete her Undergraduate degree in Honours Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Trent University in Peterborough. Upon completion of her Medical Degree, she went into cancer research focusing on Pancreatic Cancer at New York University in Manhattan and then moved back to Toronto in 2019 to continue her work in Pancreatic Cancer and Leukemia research at Princess Margaret Cancer Center (UHN), Downtown Toronto. It was during her time in cancer research that she decided to explore her entrepreneurial side and started her Retro Bag business in 2019.
Reimagining classic styles and introducing them to a younger audience. She started this company as an online store and then gradually began selling at markets around Toronto in-person. In August 2022, Adesola opened her first brick and mortar location at CF Masonville Place in London, Ontario. The Retro Bag is also working on a foundation to support women that are domestic violence survivors.
She is determined to continue to grow the company alongside other young and talented Canadians from across the Country. She is looking to open 3 more stores in the next 5 years and continue to grow the online presence of the brand while still maintaining her career in Medicine.
Jennifer Seberras
owner of Simplify Supply Chain Solutions
Jennifer Seberras is the owner of Simplify Supply Chain Solutions, a courier company providing package delivery for businesses across Ontario.
Jennifer discovered supply chain and logistics 20 years ago. Right away, she fell in love with the possibility of making something so intricate into something simple. As she rose through the ranks of different companies,
she noticed there were not many Black women occupying significant roles in transportation, operations, and supply chain. Jennifer decided to create the change that she wanted to see and that’s how Simplify Supply Chain Solutions was born. Now ten years later, Simplify Supply Chain Solutions provides warehousing and delivery service across Ontario. Simplify fleet includes both dry and refrigerated services for home and business deliveries. In 2022 Simplify delivered approximately 4 million packages with over delivery success rate of 99.87%.
Christianna Scott
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Air Canada
Christianna Scott is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Air Canada. She assumed this role in May 2022. Christianna’s passion for equality and inclusion of underrepresented people has led her to advocate for the celebration of diversity in the workplace at Air Canada. She is committed to ensuring that people from all walks of life are given a voice at the table and are heard. She is a highly accomplished legal professional with a wealth of experience in the fields of labour, employment, and human rights law with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Université de Montréal and her Master of Laws (LLM) from Queen’s University. She is a member of the Québec Bar and has worked for over 20 years in the legal sector, including 17 years at Air Canada as in-house counsel. In 2017, she moved to the federal government pursuant to a Governor in Council appointment and acted as an adjudicator with the Social Security Tribunal of Canada. Thereafter, she returned to the airline sector in 2022 to assume the role of Director, DEI. Her dedication to advancing workplace diversity, equity and inclusion makes her an inspiration to all who know her.
Shay Myers
Licensed Financial Advisor and Educator
Shay Myers is a licensed financial advisor and community connector who teaches people how money works.
She created Finance for the Culture as an educational platform to bridge the gap between financial literacy and community using accessible information, empathy and humour.
Shay helps dismantle the fear of finance through consultations, workshops and collaborations so people can build financial confidence and independence. She’s hosted over 75 workshops partnerships and helped clients pay off over $100,000 in debt so far.
Her mission is to make it cool to talk about money. She can be found on Instagram @financefortheculture.
Mutiat Bello
Wealth Strategist & Realtor
Mutiat Bello is a Real Estate Professional & Wealth Strategist. Her approach to Real Estate is to move beyond assisting with property selection and facilitation a purchase or sale as a Realtor, to also being her clients’ personal Wealth Strategist. She provides insight and solutions that help people determine how to optimally enter and exit the market because she believes each property should set them up for the next 3 transactions.
Because she also interacts with GTHA the market as an Owner and Investor, Mutitat intuitively provides end-to-end real estate services where “clients” elevate to Collaborators, and together, they thrive in a healthy ecosystem powered by the enduring wealth of real estate.
Mona-Lisa Prosper
Director, Futurpreneur’s Black Entrepreneur Startup Program
Mona-Lisa is the Director of Futurpreur’s Black Entrepreneur Startup Program. A lawyer by trade, she also gained experience in entrepreneurship, human resources, and economic development through her diverse career. Very involved in her community, she served as the President of the Women’s Young Chamber of Commerce of Québec from 2020 to 2022 and continues to sit on multiple other boards. A proud ambassador of the importance of inclusive governance, she is also involved with different organizations promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. With a penchant for media and communications, she is a collaborator on the show “Zone Économie” on Radio-Canada, hosts the first ever Futurpreneur podcast, Startup + Prosper, and is a guest blogger for the Journal Les Affaires where she highlights entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds in her French blog called “Diversité Prospère”.
Ladi Ogunjimi
Senior Account Manager, BDC
Currently a Senior Commercial Accounts Manager with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Ladi has over 20 years of financing and lending experience covering business, commercial, corporate and institutional banking. His main objective today is to accompany entrepreneurs in reaching the goals they have set out for themselves, while giving them the tools and resources required to become successful.