2024 Cohort

Abeer Yusuf (Sher/her/elle) currently works at the City of Vancouver as a social planner in the Social Policy department, and comes from a background of journalism, community development, communications and philanthropy spanning more than a decade. Abeer migrated to unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh lands 11 years ago as an international student to pursue her second Masters in journalism. Her body of academic work includes examining identity and belonging, the intersectionality of race and culture, and learning about how we belong (or don’t) in places and spaces.

Abeer has grown up around the world, and has incredibly rotten luck when it comes to many things, but at least that makes her life both weird and wonderful – and helps her approach her life with a sense of schadenfreude adventures, which makes for great party conversation. Her lifelong interests include living and learning about different models of decoloniality, authentically building connections and community, reading and friendship. Abeer lives in the Milky Way galaxy between Vancouver and the Internet, is deathly petrified of writing bios, and some of her personal passions include telling and listening to stories, beating Google Maps’ walking estimates, gushing about moments of serendipity and eating chicken biryani and mangoes (separately). She also passionately hates Excel spreadsheets, and has never gotten a manicure before.

Avreet Jagdev is a student and organizer based in Tkaronto. She is studying Political Science, Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, where she is the Vice-President of Public and University Affairs of her student union, representing 40,000 students on her campus.

Outside of her involvement on campus, Avreet is a national organizer with Amnesty Canada, co-chair of Ontario New Democratic Youth, and Board Member of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. Her passion for social justice advocacy lies in the intersection of her own identities as a woman of colour. She hopes to pursue law school in the future, with a focus on gender and racial justice.

Dael Vasquez is an award-winning leader and scholar devoted to progressive policy reform, civic education, and youth capacity building.

He is also a government relations specialist in the financial industry, committed to sustainable finance and prudential regulation.

Dael’s passion lies with Engage, an NPO he co-founded, dedicated to enhancing youth civic education and participation across Canada. Dael leads Engage’s policy strategy, publishing 5 articles, over 10 policy briefs, and 3 public consultations. Together with his co-founders and team, he is currently helping over 400,000 students find their dream university program, saving them an average of $80,000 on mistakenly choosing the wrong majors. Recognizing Engage’s impact, the organization was recently featured in the Toronto Foundation 2024 Good to Give Guide.

Kristen Young is an Information Management Consultant whose work in Black community archives sparked a need to better understand the ways mental health impacts Black history and Black community spaces. A third-culture kid with a deep interest in applying the principle of sankofa to the every day, Kristen uses her training as an archivist and her interest in governance, collaboration, community care, and community education in the many hats she wears both professionally and personally.

Navneet Chand is an aspirant community navigator and mediator collaborating at the intersections of legal, political, and policy-oriented spheres. He currently works as a Strategic Policy Advisor in public health with the Government of Alberta. Navneet is a recent graduate from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts in the undergraduate thesis program in political science, public policy, and women’s and gender studies. His undergraduate research work focused on community responses to sexual violence perpetration, the relationship between Indigenous legal traditions and the Canadian legal system, as well as ethical approaches to data governance. Navneet’s early professional background includes roles in dispute mediation and restorative practices as an institutional ombudsperson, in innovation, infrastructure, and economic development as a policy research analyst, as well as in youth development through non-profit programming initiatives and municipal politics. In this cohort, Navneet hopes to deepen connections with young policy leaders across Canada. 

Omar Akeileh is a dedicated policy advisor with expertise in stakeholder management, strategic advocacy, and government relations. As an immigrant and someone living with a disability, Omar values the significance of representation in decision-making arenas. Having worked in the public, private and non-profit sectors in multiple provinces, Omar brings diverse perspectives and solutions to complex policy problems by leveraging evidence-based data, political acuity, and business acumen. Holding a Master of Public Policy from McGill University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta, Omar currently serves as the Acting Manager of Research & Advocacy at Daily Bread Food Bank. In this temporary capacity, he provides invaluable strategic advice to the Executive Leadership Team on matters of research, policy, advocacy, and government relations. As he transitions back to his hometown of Edmonton from Toronto, Omar is excited to re-enter the foray of Alberta politics and policy.

Paulina Chan holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto with a double-major in Political Science and East Asian Studies, and a double master’s degree with the London School of Economics and Fudan University, where she studied social policy and governance from international perspectives. During university, her main research interests included foreign policy, political history, socioeconomic inequality, and poverty alleviation. She has a background working with Canadian policy NGOs researching and analyzing issues in healthcare, trade, labour, education, economic wellbeing, and Indigenous affairs. She also recently completed the Parliamentary Internship Programme, which allowed her to gain insights on federal politics and focus on Canadian foreign policy issues. She is delighted to join the Emerging Leaders Program and looks forward to gaining skills that will help her champion socioeconomic justice both locally and globally.

Style Dayne Stenberg is a progressive organizer currently living on Treaty 4 territory in Regina SK. After spending a decade in the Film/TV industry of Vancouver, Style is about to wrap up a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Regina with a Major in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. During his time in Saskatchewan he has become active in community organizing and student politics around 2SLGBTQ+ issues.

Style currently produces a drag event and fundraiser that supports the “You are Loved” Bursary, a fund that sponsors houseless 2SLGBTQ+ youth with their post-secondary goals. Style and his partner raise heritage turkeys and free range chickens which they market each year as a sustainable and local alternative to factory farmed holiday birds.

Style see’s a Canada that values regional equity, diverse voices, and socio-economic fairness, where the dreams of the individual aren’t silenced by the will of the many.