Jessie Brar is a storyteller, creator, educator and dreamer.  With a passionate dedication to mental health advocacy, Jessie has graced stages across the globe, using her voice to spread awareness and support for those navigating the complexities of mental wellness. Beyond her impactful work in mental health activism, Jessie is an equity, inclusion and anti-oppression educator for many organizations across Canada and the UK. Through the lens of decolonization, she tirelessly strives to dismantle systemic barriers and foster environments of true belonging and empowerment.  Driven by her belief in the power of storytelling and education to effect positive change, Jessie continues to inspire and uplift communities, challenging norms and championing social justice wherever she goes.

Cheesan Chew is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience in building businesses, leading innovation, and advising executives from startups to corporations. Currently, she works with high-growth startups and corporate leaders, offering active counsel, leadership coaching, and leveraging her expertise in strategic innovation, business leadership, and organizational management to drive high performance. Previously, Cheesan served as Chief Operating Officer of RBC Ventures (now RBCx), overseeing foundational capabilities development for ventures, including risk management, strategic planning, marketing, and analytics for a portfolio of over 20 incubated companies. She co-founded Idea Couture, a global strategic innovation and design firm, where she led multi-disciplinary teams advising Fortune 500 companies as Chief CX Officer, fostering client partnerships and achieving growth through market opportunity and operational efficiency. Currently, Cheesan sits on the boards of League of Innovators and The Canadian Club of Toronto, while also actively mentoring with the Black Wealth Club.

Hi! I’m Jonathan and I am honoured to be coming back to Nowly for my 3rd year in a row to mentor and work with amazing innovators just like you. I currently work as a Marketing Manager at EHN Canada, but I have a background as a Child and Youth Counselor, Entrepreneur, Web Designer, Musician and Coffee Aging Expert. My expertise is in entrepreneurship, marketing, web design, leadership and mental health. Let’s do something amazing this year. Together🙂.

Matt Gaiser, a Computer Engineering graduate from Queen’s University, is passionate about puzzles of all sizes. He’s a fervent advocate of open innovation and has triumphed in hundreds of challenges, spanning from razor designs to safety sensors for astronaut spaceflight.

His journey into mental health advocacy began with a challenge from a professional services firm on workplace wellness. Matthew’s strategy, emphasizing extreme confidentiality to address career concerns hindering help-seeking, won the challenge.

A winner of the 2023 CoLab Program, Matt, alongside partner Nick Lor, created CogniLink, a platform connecting research participants with researchers to streamline research studies and reduce costs. Currently, they’re focused on expanding the platform across Canada.

By day, Matt works as a software developer, offering technical support to CoLab participants with their projects.

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Chey (any/all) is an animator from “LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising” and “Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight”, founder of sensory-focused clothing startup “Frog Pockets”, and local leader for a variety of neighbourhood projects. They’re proudly queer, autistic, and a young parent. Focusing on creativity and resourcefulness, their experience and connections can open doors for anyone determined enough to take on the challenge.

Jonny Morris is the CEO at the Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division and has more than 20 years of experience in community-based mental health services, policy, and advocacy.  He has research and practice experience in suicide prevention, is a trained counsellor, and has taught child and youth care courses at the University of Victoria and Douglas College.

Jonny is committed to a vision of mental health for all, working at the Canadian Mental Health Association to lead system change efforts in preventing mental health problems, responding to crisis, and improving care when people need to go to hospital. As an advocate for reducing stigma, he regularly speaks with workplaces, colleges and universities, and communities about the opportunity to ensure mental health is a priority.

Previously, Jonny led the policy and legislation branch for BC’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, helping build the newly formed ministry from the ground up. Jonny comes at his work with lived experience personally and as a family member.

Keosha, an award-winning artist, activist, and educator, creates spaces for creative liberation. Her poetry and writing focus on self-actualization, womanism, and societal constructs. Rooted in systemic change, she explores Black joy and radical self-care as acts of rebellion.

In 2016, she founded Our Women’s Voices, a Toronto-based non-profit empowering women and girls through arts, education, and community initiatives, totaling over 70 programs.

With a BA in Psychology and a background in creative arts, Keosha educates and speaks publicly on mental health, wellness, race, and gender advocacy.

Her work spans collaborations with Facebook, Nike, and others, including her nationally shared poem “A Prayer for Black Women.” In 2021, she debuted her mental health series “Black & Vulnerable” and received the Community Hero Award from TFC for her contributions. Keosha Love’s storytelling and voice inspire others to use theirs.

Faduma Mohamed is a Somali-Canadian poet, playwright, arts educator, and autism advocate. Writing from a bio-mythological perspective, she has produced two one-woman plays, OUGHTISM and Golden Mind, which offer reflections on her experience as a sibling of autism while challenging the pursuit to find a “cure.” Her commitment to autism awareness extends beyond the stage; her fundraising initiative called #OughtTheBox has raised $12,000 and benefited autistic individuals in Toronto, Edmonton, Atlanta, and London, England. Apart from her advocacy work, she enjoys combining her passion for the arts and education. She works as an Occasional Teacher and recently directed her Grade 3 summer school students to write and perform a horror-comedy play titled The Mystery at Brader Junior High. Currently, she is working on her first collection of poetry, delving into the realm of love and heartbreak. Above all, she believes in the power of dreams.

Lydia Sequeira is the Director of Service Programs and Innovation Implementation at Kids Help Phone, and passionate about sharing her digital health expertise to advance mental health access and support for young people across Canada. She received her PhD from the University of Toronto, and is an experienced academic holding an AMS Healthcare Compassion and Artificial Intelligence fellowship, and a scientific association at the Digital Mental Health Research Lab at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Lydia is deeply committed to building and fostering community within the digital health field, and co-chairs the International Medical Informatics Association Student and Emerging Professionals Special Interest Group.

Emma is a PhD anthropologist with over 15 years of industry experience applying human-centered methodologies to complex innovation and organizational challenges. Using a range of social science, design and strategic foresight methods, Emma uncovers insights about human beliefs and behavior and then works with organizational leaders to apply these learnings to make meaningful transformative change. In addition to her work for clients, Emma is an Executive-in-Residence at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, where she teaches the MBA Design Research and Data Storytelling course, and is faculty in the Leading Change and ESG Executive Programs.

Cher (she/they) is the Logistics Director at Music for Mental Health, a Canadian non-profit that uses music to raise awareness of mental health issues. They co-founded Purple Lotus, providing culturally sensitive mental wellness support for Asian Canadian youth, as part of the first CoLab cohort. CoLab provided mentorship and funding, kickstarting their project and inspiring them to continue their journey at @UBC. Now, as a mentor, Cher is eager to share her knowledge in psychology and design thinking.

Katie Fenn is BC Recreation and Parks Association’s CEO. She works with its board, staff, provincial partners, and membership to build healthy and resilient communities across the 126 communities, 4500 members and 3000 fitness leaders that make up the provincial organization. She has a background in quality improvement methods, having implemented and taught quality improvement across the health system. Some of her more notable improvements include scaling up the contact tracing response in the province during COVID-19, “Making Space” for Cultural Safety in Clinical Settings and addressing recovery after times of crisis. She holds an MBA from UBC, a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education, and Bachelor of Arts (Film) both from Queen’s. She lives in North Vancouver with her young family and spends as much time as possible outside on the local trails, water, or running from one activity to the next.