WXN Top 100: RBC Future Leaders Award

As Commercial Projects Manager at Infrastructure Ontario, Lisa Liang is delivering on Ontario’s nearly $4 billion commitment to bridge the digital divide via the Accelerated High-Speed Internet Program. Lisa led the development of Broadband One Window, a first-of-its-kind platform for expediting high-speed internet projects, helping reach up to 266,000 unserved households and businesses. Prior, she was an award-winning ESG consultant to commercial real estate firms and an advisor to the Ministry of Energy. Lisa is a dedicated advocate for women in infrastructure.

Dr. Morgan Lehtinen is an accomplished chemist, entrepreneur, ecosystem builder and scientific communicator focusing her energy on finding creative ways to collaboratively combat the planet’s most pressing problems. She is the Co-Founder and Director of Commercialization at RXN HUB, an organization that provides physical infrastructure and critical resources to support the commercialization of sustainable chemical technologies. Passionate about collaboration and innovation, Morgan is an avid speaker, mentor and builder of initiatives to support under-represented groups in STEM and entrepreneurship.

Sharnelle Morgan is the Co-Founder of the Toronto Black Policy Conference and Co-Founder of the Canadian Black Policy Network. She has held various positions in the Federal Public Service, including her most recent role as a Policy Advisor at the Privy Council Office. Passionate about creating equitable spaces and engaging in public policy, she is recognized as an emerging leader and was selected as a 2021-22 Action Canada Fellow. Sharnelle holds a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Stephanie Zhou is an Addictions Physician and Department Lead of EDI & Social Accountability at Sunnybrook Hospital. Stephanie developed the Financial Literacy Curriculum at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine and serves on the Financial Aid committee. Stephanie grew up in subsidized housing and was the first in her family to pursue post-secondary education. She is a nationally invited speaker on financial empowerment, economic mobility, and diversity mentorship. She runs a popular financial education blog on Instagram and Youtube called Breaking Bad Debt.

Alishba Imran is a machine learning developer who works at the intersection of AI, rehabilitation tech, humanoids and medical devices to create smarter machines. She’s developed a novel generative neural network and 3D printed prosthetic material that reduced patient costs from $10,000 to $700, led neuro-symbolic AI research for Sophia the Robot at Hanson Robotics, and helped build a portable, low-cost, soft robotic glove with Q-learning using the SRT by the Harvard Biodesign lab.

Bhanvi is the founder of Articulate Youth Activism Initiative and a student at the University of Toronto. Her interests are deep-rooted in the intersections of behaviour, psychology, artificial intelligence, and public health. She was born in India, and raised in Calgary, Alberta, where she developed her passion for gender-equality rights, women’s education, and health. In 2020, she founded her own organization premised on giving an artistic platform to youth from marginalized communities, and more recently, distributing feminine hygiene products in the community.

Habon Ali is a Somali-Canadian completing her MSc in Global Health at McMaster University. As an alumna of the Prime Ministers Youth Council, Habon has experience advising Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Government of Canada. She was actively involved in the creation of Canada’s first National Youth Policy and the development of Canada’s Service Corps. She is passionate about removing systemic barriers for youth, especially youth from communities who were made to be marginalized and vulnerable. This exemplified with her work in social innovation at MaRS Discovery District, Opportunity for All Youth and Grand Challenges Canada.

Community leader, advocate, TEDx speaker, Hebah Hussaina is passionate about supporting youth STEAM education. A proud resident of Surrey, BC, Hebah has contributed and led initiatives to encourage youth participation in STEAM activities through partnerships with Science World, Surrey Memorial Hospital, the City of Surrey, and the University of British Columbia. Hebah is a strong believer in investing in the future generation, and advocates for equal opportunities for youth to pursue STEAM careers.

Eternity Martis’ award-winning writing on race and gender has been featured in numerous publications. She authored the bestselling memoir “They Said This Would Be Fun” about her experience as a Black woman on a predominantly white university campus. She helped influence Canadian media style guides to capitalize Black and Indigenous. Eternity developed, and is currently teaching, the “Reporting On Race: Black Communities in the Media” at Ryerson University, the first of its kind in Canada.

Ananya Chadha is a pilot and an 18-year-old first-year engineering student at Stanford University. She has worked in gene-editing and developed a platform to put genomic data on blockchain for anonymous uploading. She developed neurotech devices like brain-controlled prosthetics, remote control cars, MP3 players controlled with EEGs, electrodes and brain signals. Ananya was on the Investment committee at Babel Ventures, worked on Artificial Intelligence at IBM and developed COVID reports for the Department of National Defence. She won the Top 29 Canadians, Developer 30 under 30 award, the Top 23 Women in Tech in Canada and is the 2019 winner of the Impossible Science Student Challenge.

Kehkashan Basu is a globally acclaimed sustainability advocate, author, musician, TEDx speaker and the Founder President of social innovation enterprise, Green Hope Foundation that works in 16 countries to empower young people and women, especially those from vulnerable communities. A United Nations Human Rights Champion, the youngest recipient of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence and the winner of the 2016 International Children’s Peace Prize, Kehkashan has recently been named as one of the Top 100 SDG Leaders in the world.

Activist, Terry Fox National Scholar, 2020 L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth Honouree, Miss British Columbia 2019, Rabiah Dhaliwal is Founder and Director of the Voices for Hope Foundation, a non-profit that challenges mental health stigma through intersectional frameworks. She has spoken nationally at the House of Commons where she testified to introduce a Mental Health Parity Act. As former Vice President of the One Blood for Life Foundation, she led the recruitment of 1,410 stem-cell registrants and 3,350 blood donors.

Zaynah Bhanji is a 17-year-old, passionate about machine learning and virtual and augmented reality. She began her technology journey at 13 and has been supported by companies like Google, CIBC, TD, Deloitte and Microsoft. Zaynah has been speaking at conferences globally in places including Dubai, Poland, Toronto, San Francisco and more. She is a huge advocate for women and girls in technology, and speaks to many to inspire them to pursue interests in science or tech.