At The Centre

Sonila, Nith, and Marie are representing WiCSM: Women in Computer Science, Statistics and Mathematics. Sonila and Nith are co-founders and co-presidents of this student collective. Sonila is a third year student, a part time pharmacy assistant, and a former instructor for U of T Engineering Outreach. This year, Sonila is a work study student at the vice principal research office as a database assistant. This leader in women empowerment is interested in web development, makeup and photography. Nith is also a third year student majoring in statistics. When she’s not organizing for women in STEM, she’s studying Statistics, watching Tamil movies and reading! Finally, Marie is a fourth year student in Neuroscience, Psychology and Applied Statistics. She engages in her community through working at an optometry clinic and is also the VP of Corporate Sponsorships at empoWer. Join us as we discuss advice for CMS, overcoming challenges as women in STEM, and the importance of femme friendships.

Since her first year, Sahiba has been greatly involved in a diverse selection of clubs and campus initiatives. During the summer before her first year, Sahiba joined the UTSC Cheerleading Team. She has been a general member, Director of Finance and later President. During her second year, Sahiba worked as a Group Leader for freshman orientation, where she met many new faces and began her journey for joint initiatives for SCSU. Additionally, Sahiba has been the President of Unity at UTSC, the secretary for HOSA UTSC, and the Finance Director for Good2Talk. Currently, she has been recently ratified as Director of Health Studies for SCSU and works with Athletics and Recreation as a Female Fitness Ambassador at the Pan Am Sports Center. Off campus, Sahiba is very involved in community initiatives through community centers and food banks. She has an affinity for meeting new people, anywhere and everywhere! She loves to spend her time off with her dog Ferrari and loves to work out.

Tegwende is a third year student studying Neuroscience and French. She is the president of the Future Black Physicians, an organization aimed to support racialized students aspiring to pursue medicine. She is also the Site Assistant for the Imani Academic Mentorship Program. She aspires to become a physician and assist in decreasing the disparities in health care for minority groups. She intends to work internationally with her home nation, Ghana. In her free time, Tegwende adores spending time with friends and family, keeping up with social movements, poetry and reading. Stedrea is an island girl, born in Jamaica. She is community leader greatly involved in black academic settings. She is self-proclaimed grandma as she is an avid reader and highly values knowledge. In her own words, “I value knowledge, so I read to know, feel and dream.” She is an executive with Future Black Physicians, champions support for black bookstores, and strongly believes in a revolution for greater representation in the medical field. Stedrea is very interested in medicine due to the lack of acknowledgement of minority health due to the lack of representation causing a mistrust between minorities and health providers. On this episode, Tegwende and Stedrea discuss black academia, intersectionality, and self-love. 

Taylor Cassidy Paulite is currently a fourth year candidate for a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Psychology and Applied Statistics co-op. She is a creative heart and an analytical mind set. Cassidy works alongside her analytical mindset, and communication skills in English and French and interest in Management and Computer Science. Her current interest is in innovation, start-up companies, pharmaceutical research for skin care and mental health awareness. She is currently following her passion with entrepreneurship and innovation at Colla + Gin, a skincare consultancy platform, as the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Restless Mind the mental health blog, and, and as a Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Peau, a beauty sharing platform. Join us on this episode as we talk about everything from Rihanna to radical corporate change.  Artist Mentioned: @makdaisychains #BORINGSELFCARE

Ava is currently specializing in Mental Health Studies and in the future, will be going to graduate school for a Masters in Social Work. Mental health is a topic she is deeply invested in and passionate about. Mental health and mental well-being has great importance to one’s overall health is often underestimated and not given as much care and attention than one’s physical health. Ava seeks to encourage people to be more cognizant about how stressors can affect their mental well-being and ways in which they can reach out for support. Some of the ways Ava likes to maintain a positive mental well-being is through painting, hiking, travelling and learning all she can about astronomy.  Vidya is a psychology and human geography student. She is interested in community development via interaction, consultation, and facilitation. Vidya thinks organizations like school clubs and nonprofits are few of many ways for people to interact in fresh environments and form caring communities. In her free time, Vidya enjoys drinking tea, reading books and playing video games. On this episode, Ava and Vidya discuss themes such as youth mental health, peer mentorship and distribution of mental health resources. 

Kali is a fourth year student doing a double major in neuroscience and psychology with a minor in linguistics. She has been involved on campus since first year by volunteering with Let’s Talk Science and the Equity and Diversity Office. Currently, she is the president of the African Student Association and formerly the Director of Finance. Additionally, she sits on the Board of Directors for French and Linguistics at SCSU. Kali is involved with the Black History Month planning committee and leads planning for the U of T Black Graduation in June. Outside of UTSC, Kali is a research assistant at OISE and collects data from elementary school students. Off campus, Kali is a core lab assistant and liaison volunteer at St. Michael’s Hospital. At Sunnybrook Hospital, she has volunteered at the gift store and has planned children’s activities and tutoring initiatives with the Heritage Skills Development Program. Last, but not least, Kali is a volunteer at the Aphasia Institute as a conversation coordinator. All these experiences are rooted in her interest of learning more about communication disorder and link between language use and the medicine field. 

Rayna Sutherland (she/her) is a student at the University of Toronto Scarborough’s (UTSC) International Development Specialist Co-operative program and the Women’s and Gender Studies program. She is the current Internal Coordinator of the UTSC Women’s and Trans Centre where she collaborates with their student collective to provide the UTSC community with resources and events as it pertains to equity, feminism and health. As a passionate activist and scholar in the fields of international development and equity mobilizing, she believes in critical approaches grounded in the humility of intersectional feminist and anti-oppressive frameworks. That is, where none may assume the identity nor lived experience of another yet must be acutely aware of and challenge their own power and privilege and its manifestation.  She is privileged to learn from the knowledge-sharing advocacy work of fellow activists in the areas of anti-racist, decolonial, disability justice, LGBTQ2S+ and gender equity as well as to be able to learn and unlearn on the land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. In the near future, she is excited to move to Cape Town, South Africa this September for a 10-month work and research placement as part of her co-op program. She will be interning at the organization, Natural Justice, an organization of lawyers “for Communities and the Environment [that] specialises in human rights and environmental law in Africa in pursuit of both social and environmental justice.” She hopes to conduct her research in partnership with Natural Justice, through participatory frameworks, to support or further the work they are doing.