Shara Marie-France
Shara Marie-France has spent her life as a systems nomad. Seven countries, fifteen schools, and now law, policy, and government. Deeply curious about how people, culture, and systems shape the way we live, relate, and lead, she ends up asking a version of the same question wherever she lands: What becomes possible when institutions understand community experience as thoroughly as they understand their own operations?
Professionally, that curiosity has taken her to work as a lawyer, senior policy advisor with the Ontario Ministry of Education, and most recently as an independent consultant helping organizations translate community experience into responsive decisions.
Personally, it shows up in her love of psychology, culture, history, nature, wellbeing, and her lifelong practice of unpacking what she thinks she knows. Her current obsession is figuring out whether restless ambition and a regulated nervous system can actually coexist.
Jeanelle Beausoleil
Jeanelle Beausoleil is a Toronto-based creative with a career shaped by music and entertainment, commercial real estate, cultural programming, and community engagement. Currently with the record label OVO Sound, she supports executive leadership across operations and artist initiatives, combining her work with a lifelong passion for music and the creative process.
Her career has also included several years in commercial real estate and property management, most recently supporting the multi-billion-dollar redevelopment of Toronto’s 370-acre former Downsview Airport. Through this work, she developed a strong interest in placemaking and how spaces can foster culture, connection, and community. That interest is rooted in her own longstanding relationship with the arts, having grown up assisting with cultural events and youth mentorship programs within Toronto’s African Canadian community. Today, she continues that work through Bronze Radio, where she contributes to radio programming and supports cultural activations throughout the city, most recently at Nuit Blanche Toronto.
With creative interests spanning songwriting, music production, and executive producing, Jeanelle is passionate about the intersection of culture, community, and leadership, and how each can be used to shape ideas, create meaningful experiences, and leave a lasting impact.
Benjamin Bassey
Benjamin Bassey is the Founder and Executive Director, leading initiatives focused on accessibility, inclusion, entrepreneurship, healthcare innovation, and community empowerment across Canada and Africa.
A disability advocate with lived experience, Benjamin is passionate about driving barrier-free innovation and creating opportunities for underserved communities through social impact programs, partnerships, and inclusive leadership. With a background in client services, sales and marketing, public speaking, media communication, and small business development, he brings a people-centered approach to building sustainable solutions that advance equity, accessibility, and social change.
Keziah Oduro
Keziah Oduro is the Co-Founder & Managing Director of Beyond Care, a youth-led systems convener working to advance change in child welfare by bringing together communities, researchers, and funders. Her experience spans nonprofit development, fundraising, and monitoring and evaluation, with a focus on improving accessibility to social finance for youth, gender, and racialized communities. Keziah has contributed to market research and sector analysis with Future of Good, Common Approach to Impact Measurement, and SVX. She has also held governance roles with the Laidlaw Foundation, LGBT Youthline, and Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada. As a Political Science and Social Impact student at the University of Ottawa, Keziah is passionate about building more equitable systems while supporting the people and communities working to change them.
Andre Cooper
Cooper is a Jamaican-born community engagement professional with a passion for advancing health equity and creating opportunities for Black communities, youth, refugees, newcomers, and LGBTQI+ people. Cooper holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and International Relations from The University of the West Indies and a Postgraduate Certificate in Operations Management from Fanshawe College. His experiences working alongside Black and newcomer communities have deepened his interest in understanding how social and structural factors shape health outcomes. Through the Black Health MPH program, he hopes to strengthen his
knowledge and skills to contribute to more equitable, community-informed health systems and ultimately pursue a career in community medicine.
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