Santee Smith

Santee Smith / Tekaronhiáhkhwa, a multidisciplinary artist from the Kahnyen'kehka Nation, Turtle Clan, Ohswé:ken/Six Nations of the Grand River, is fostering mind-heart connections through performance and design. Trained at Canada's National Ballet School, she holds degrees from McMaster University and York University. She became McMaster's first Indigenous Chancellor in 2019 and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2023, honouring her transformative impact on Indigenous performance and storytelling. She founded Kaha:wi Dance Theatre in 2004, an acclaimed studio rooted in Onkwehonwe:neha and Indigenous creative process. Her recent projects, SKéN:NEN and The Mush Hole, address identity, culture, and truths of residential schools. She curates land-based workshops and teaches at Banff Centre's World Indigenous Dance Residency, advancing Indigenous performance research globally.  

Kim Ritchie

Drawing from her powerful lived experiences with homelessness and substance use, Kim has become a resilient and passionate advocate for systemic change. Her journey fueled a commitment to addressing social inequities, leading her to champion harm reduction and trauma-informed practices. This transformation is marked by significant academic and professional progress. Kim earned a Master of Social Work while becoming a leader in engineering innovative peer-led programs. A high point of her career was co-founding the National Overdose Response Service (NORS), Canada's pioneering virtual drug consumption service, which has received 20,000 calls and saved 380 people from overdose. Today, as a social worker, researcher, and advocate, Kim bridges her lived experience with academic expertise to drive meaningful social change.

Karenna'onwe - Dr. Karen Hill   

Karenna'onwe - Dr. Karen Hill is a Mohawk physician from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. A McMaster graduate, she is dedicated to restoring Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in healthcare. She practices consultative medicine at Six Nations and co-created “Juddah's Place,” a collaborative practice with Traditional Medicine Practitioners. She also works in the Indigenous Health Service at Brantford General Hospital. Dr. Hill completed a four-year apprenticeship in Traditional Indigenous Medicine and continues lifelong learning in both medicine and the Mohawk language. Her work reflects a deep commitment to cultural revitalization, community wellness, Indigenous-led healing practices, and lighting the path of truth and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.  

Dr. Sheryl Green 

For 20 years, Dr. Green has worked as a clinical and health psychologist within the Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, ON and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. Her career has been dedicated to helping women and individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB) with mental health difficulties across the reproductive timeline (perinatal, menopause, pre-menstrual) to: 1) obtain knowledge;  2) facilitate access to care; and 3) create non-pharmacological interventions as alternative or complimentary forms of treatment. She has published multiple self-help books on her evidence-based treatments to reach as many practitioners and women as possible and has significantly contributed to training the next generation of women's health practitioners and researchers.

Dr. Katherine Gardhouse

Dr. Gardhouse is a clinical psychologist, entrepreneur, and community systems builder who is redefining the future of mental health. As the founder and CEO of eFIT mental health gym and Innermap.ai, she has created a new model for healing that unites therapy, movement, nutrition, and supportive empathic technology for personal transformation and lasting mental health. eFIT bridges human health, psychology, and AI to create systems that increase mental health access and sustain healing over time. Through Innermap.ai, she is pioneering empathic AI that helps users visualize and process emotion, translating decades of clinical expertise into digital tools for emotional intelligence. Katherine's mission is to make emotional fitness as fundamental and accessible as physical fitness.   

Gina Azulay

Gina is a retired Hamilton police officer who dedicated 30 years to public service and community volunteerism. A committed advocate for victims and survivors of intimate partner violence, she has shared her own experience to promote awareness and strengthen trauma-informed practices within the Hamilton Police Service. Advancing from Special Constable to Sergeant, she led initiatives including the HPS Peer Member Support Program, and served as Chair of the High-Risk Domestic Violence Committee. She also contributed to Canada's first all-female police choir. In retirement, she continues to serve as a civilian CPTED auditor with the Crime Prevention Unit, supporting Victim Services. Her trauma-informed approach guided her work in Bail Safety, Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, and Criminal Investigations.

Jess Deyong

Jess is the founder and creative director of dollHOUSE design + build, one of Hamilton's only fully women-led construction firms. A working mother of two and stepmother of two, Jess has built a company that merges design excellence with social impact—proving that women and gender-diverse people belong in every corner of the trades. Under her leadership, dollHOUSE has completed more than 115 renovations and hired many women graduates from programs such as Mohawk College, Threshold School of Business, and the Women in Skilled Trades program. In 2026, she will launch dollHOUSE Gives Back, a scholarship supporting women and LGBTQ+ individuals entering the trades. Jess's mission is simple: build homes, build confidence, and build lasting equity in the skilled trades.  

Sarah Kalmanovitch

Sarah is a passionate advocate for educational equity and community engagement. A recent Honours Life Sciences graduate from McMaster University, she founded the Canadian Teaching Assistant Volunteer Program, connecting university students with classrooms for mentorship and academic support. Within a year, the program grew from 13 volunteers to over 200, supporting 5,500 youth and expanding to seven cities, with plans to grow through 2026. Her leadership emphasizes diversity and inclusion, informed by her thesis on authorship diversity, which she presented internationally. Sarah has also volunteered in schools, women's shelters, healthcare, and environmental research, demonstrating her commitment to equity and empowerment. She plans to pursue a Master's degree in Educational Leadership to continue driving systemic change and inspire future leaders.

Marisa Mariella

Marisa has transformed the lives of countless women and girls in our community through capacity building work in social connection, mental health awareness, suicide prevention advocacy, wellness promotion, and volunteerism. She has guided multiple city-wide suicide prevention initiatives building capacity in hope, help and healing. With 30+ years of experience in education, she has created innovative student-led mental health initiatives (iMATTER, Run 4 Their Lives) that have reached thousands of students within and outside our city. Her deep desire to ensure everyone in the community feels supported is demonstrated in her work with the immigrant program Arms Wide Open and her hands-on approach to sharing wellness strategies. Marisa embodies the spirit of a Community Champion and is a transformative leader.