Trevor Loke is a development professional with a decade of experience in the field. Trevor joined Tides Canada in May 2017 as the lead development team member for Western Canada. Prior to joining Tides Canada, Trevor worked as an independent development consultant and advisor with clients across North America, helping them grow their organizations through lean practices and strategic partnerships.
A co-founder of the crowdfunding start-up Weeve, Trevor served as Chief Operating Officer at Weeve before selling the company in 2013. Concurrently, he served as a Vancouver Park Board Commissioner from 2011 to 2014. Trevor was named a BC Business Magazine 2014 Top 30 under 30 and a Maclean’s Magazine “future leader” of Canada for his work.
When not working, he spends his time playing ice hockey, hiking, cycling, camping, skiing, reading, playing video and board games, volunteering, travelling, and enjoying life in beautiful Vancouver.
Kirstin is currently a Principal Gift Manager at Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation. Touched by personal experience, Kirstin made the transition from working in youth-focused international development organizations to health care. Growing up in Toronto, within the Sunnybrook catchment area, Kirstin was motivated and driven by the opportunity to serve her community.
Given her role, Kirstin sees the powerful impact philanthropy has on the future of medicine, and each step along the way. She believes making this community of philanthropists more inclusive and diverse – more reflective of the communities they’re impacting – will help us reach extraordinary new heights and milestones.
Beyond her work, Kirstin is driven by the passion to make a difference and help others. She serves as a long-time volunteer at Ronald McDonald House Toronto and a member of the Bishop Strachan School Old Girls Association. This devotion to her community is a trait that weaves through all areas of Kirstin’s work and personal life.
Zoya Islam is passionate about social justice and equity, and an advocate for creating positive and lasting social change. As a strategic communications and fundraising professional, she works to create change through the power of advocacy and storytelling. She is invested in working in solidarity with marginalized individuals who are the experts of their own struggles. Zoya earned a Master’s degree in gender studies from Queen’s University in 2017. Her thesis project is titled, “Reworking Canadian Understanding of Transnational Labour Exploitation”. She has over five years of experience within the non-profit sector, and she possesses a creative and strategic vision, and an intersectional lens capable of comprehending complex social and structural issues. Zoya recently joined the Marketing and Community Engagement team at Women’s College Hospital Foundation as their Digital Communications and ePhilanthropy Officer.
To learn more about Zoya and her work, please connect with her on Linkedin or contact her via email
Teresa Catalano was born and raised in northwest Toronto to immigrant parents. She is passionate about advancing the lives of Canadians and building strong communities. Teresa has built her career in the not-for-profit sector: supporting the arts, social service, education, and health care. She currently supports strategy and fundraising at the University of Toronto as a member of the Corporate and Foundation Relations team. Teresa recently ended a five-year term as a GenNext Cabinet Member of United Way Greater Toronto where she was instrumental at raising the profile of the program, which led to successful program initiatives and audience growth. Teresa was recently awarded the Ontario Volunteer Service Award for her commitment and dedication to community. She is currently a volunteer with the Ontario Trillium Foundation and is a member of Toronto Foundation’s Vision 2020 founding cohort. Teresa is currently completing the Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Graduate Certificate at The University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto.
Recognized as Top 10 Women of Worth in Canada by Loreal Paris and 100 Accomplished Black women in Canada in 2018, Stachen Frederick has over 20 years in the field of community/program development. She is Founder of BrAIDS for AIDS, a not-for-profit to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the African, Caribbean and Black Communities in Canada and internationally through a culturally relevant practice of hair braiding. She is also the Executive Director of Weston Frontlines Centre: a youth charity in Toronto.
Her work has also been recognized by Black History Ottawa, the High Commission of Trinidad and Tobago, YMCA Canada, How She Hustles with CBC Toronto, Black Health Alliance and The Minister of Immigration and Citizenship
Shobi Sivaraj is a dedicated fundraising professional and project manager with over 8 years of experience in annual giving, donor relations, story gathering and event management. She is motivated by the belief that we can all be part of the solution, creating a world where everyone has the chance to thrive. As a graduate of the Humber Fundraising Program, Shobi has held roles in the international development and social services sectors. Currently, she is the Annual Fund Advisor at Cuso International, an organization working to reduce poverty and inequality through the efforts of highly skilled volunteers, collaborative partnerships and compassionate donors. Shobi is committed to contributing to inclusive practices in the industry. In her spare time, she can be found planning her next trip or exploring a new neighbourhood in Toronto.
Sharon Redsky is resident of Winnipeg and First Nation member of Shoal Lake #40. She works as a Development Coordinator for the Dakota Ojibway Child & Family Services Inc. Sharon was awarded the YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction, Community Champion Award in 2017. Her recent education includes a Master Certificate in Project Management and Certificate in Indigenous Evaluation through the University of Winnipeg. She is a board member of Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. She draws on her experience in the areas of management, proposal development, fundraising, networking with key stakeholders and building partnerships across diverse communities. She is an active member of the Winnipeg’s urban Indigenous community.
Shamina is Manager, Development at the Surrey Food Bank, BC’s 2nd largest food bank, serving 14,000 clients a month. She is also a contemporary artist whose work, which has often taken up themes related to awareness of diverse and possibly underrepresented voices, has been shown across Canada, in the US and Europe. Before coming into fundraising as Events and Communications Coordinator at Surrey Food Bank, she enjoyed 15 years managing and developing university academic and continuing studies programs at Simon Fraser University. She brought leadership to what became her main role in these positions –bringing engaged and curious minds to places of wonder, exploration and understanding, and bring researchers and learners together to create communities. And she has thrived on finding ways to tell Canadians’ stories to each other in positions working in Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, for small Canadian publishers, community and municipal museums, and through public art and art in public places.
I am the intersection of many venn diagrams.
By background, I am Indian, by creed Muslim, by education British, by upbringing Middle Eastern, by choice Quebecer, and by career fundraiser.
Despite all the good I can do, I hit ceilings, and I hit walls, because the ignorance and prejudice that affects our society seeps into the charitable sector. Where at times, I often have to justify my presence around an otherwise homogeneous table.
It is my personal mission to carve out a place for people like me in the fundraising sector – the disenfranchised, the forgotten, the silent, to stamp out the hypocrisy within charities that takes a moral high ground while ignoring the systemic issues of diversity and inclusion within. Because no one should be treated like their lives don’t matter.
Jonea Agwa is a Fundraising and Communications Coordinator at Beautiful World Canada, a not-for-profit organization that provides comprehensive scholarships to at-risk secondary and post-secondary students in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prior to joining the Beautiful World team, Jonea worked with several other leading international development organizations including The Stephen Lewis Foundation, Oxfam-Canada and the African Confederation of Savings and Credit Associations in Nairobi, Kenya.
When she isn’t working, Jonea enjoys watching movies in run-down movie theatres, travelling, hiking, and dog-watching.
Jonea holds a Master’s degree in International Development and Globalization from the University of Ottawa and an honours degree in Political Science from the University of Waterloo. She is excited to be a part of AFP’s Fellowship in Inclusion and Philanthropy and is looking forward to learning from leaders in the field of fundraising and philanthropy.
