A proud Canadian, Alek Golijanin emigrated to Canada at three years old after civil war erupted across Former Yugoslavia, specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina. Alek and his family arrived at the reception house in downtown Ottawa with two suitcases, ready to start their new lives. Alek credits growing up in the multi-culturally rich Ottawa South for his tolerant views, open mindset and for helping him to become a successful community builder.

Alek has carried out AlekGo initiatives in Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and across the Balkans. These projects were collaborations with Embassies and Ambassadors, international police forces, professional sports teams, school boards, and other major organizations, on projects ranging from sports to medicine. In 2017, Alek was recognized for his leadership in volunteer diversity for his domestic and international humanitarian efforts. 

Alek will talk about his story and how "Together we can continue to accomplish great feats and inspire others to get involved, across communities!"

11-year-old 3-D printing face guards , CTV News

Alex Pound received a 3D Printer in 2019, for his 11th birthday. Wanting to help any way he could since the COVID-19 pandemic started, he began printing ear protectors for frontline workers from a design he found online, donated over 6000 of them, and distributed them across the country, while donating the money he received to various charity organizations (around $5000) To keep up with demand, Alex had to expand, and so started a GoFundMe campaign which raised enough funds to purchase a second, a third, and then a fourth printer. This is how his company, Printdemic was born. More recently, he has designed and created new mask boxes, a safe place to store a mask when taken off for short periods of time.

Caroline started at Shepherds of Good Hope in 2007 as a front line worker in the Women’s Shelter. Since then, she has worked in most of Shepherds’ shelter, soup kitchen and supportive housing programs, while obtaining her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Social Work degrees and post-graduate training in management specializing in women’s leadership. In her role as Senior Manager of Communications, Caroline leads a dynamic team to support Shepherds of Good Hope’s integrated communications strategy, which encompasses internal and external communications, fundraising, advocacy, social media and much more! Caroline is a natural communicator, connector and innovator. She is passionate about harm reduction, reducing stigma and building an inclusive community that supports our neighbours who are experiencing homelessness and other forms of marginalization.

Please contact Caroline at media@sghottawa.com

Gillian is the Munk School's Director, Strategic Communications and Public Engagement, leading the school’s communications and events teams. She has more than 15 years of experience in non-profit communications, policy, and advocacy.

Jake works as the Coordinator of Volunteers for the Ottawa Mission. He has spoken to  classes about homelessness in Ottawa and causes of homelessness for the past 4 years! He puts on a wonderful and engaging presentation and leaves the kids feeling inspired about making a change.

Contact Jake at jharding@ottawamission.com 

In his more than 30 years in the marketing, public relations and communications fields, Joe has worked as a creative director, senior marketing strategist, media relations specialist, writer, editor, magazine publisher and project manager. 

As a senior marketing and communications professional, he has extensive experience working with management teams to develop short- and long-range strategies and managing the implementation of tactical programs that position organizations as leaders in their industry space and target markets. He has had proven success delivering programs and tactics that help organizations cut through the clutter, deliver key messages to target audiences, support market strategies and improve their bottom line. 

Joe has developed and managed integrated marketing and public relations programs for a variety of public and private sector organizations, including Bell Canada, Stentor Resource Center, CrossKeys Networks, Nortel Networks, MOSAID, Curtiss-Wright, Novanet Communications, RAMTelecom, IntelliSyn, Viva Networks, Lara Technologies, General Dynamics Canada, and Elections Canada. 

During his career in the marketing and communications field he has also served as Director of Marketing for three high technology companies, managing the successful launch of two into their industry space, and repositioning the third for an eventual takeover.

Joe graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts Journalism degree from Ryerson University in 1982.

Joe can be reached directly at: jaragona@aragonaagency.com

Thirteen was started in 2015 by a group of teens who lived in the Hintonburg neighbourhood. In its second year of business, many of the youth members were new to Canada and wanted to create products that represented themselves and where they came from. The spice mixes they sell now are a reflection of that effort and the people behind the business. Every year two new groups of youth join the business and build upon the efforts of the previous groups. Each team faces new challenges and contributes uniquely to the business's development. Our program manager and the Thirteen team can share the story of how they started, what they have learned from their experiences and their vision for the future.  

Please contact Meagan McVeigh at meagan@parkdalefoodcentre.org 

The one team member who doesn't self-identify as living with a disability, Will Wells started The Artery Community Roasters with two goals in mind: create rewarding and well-paid jobs for people living with disabilities, and roast some highly ethical and delicious direct trade coffee. 

Will is a volunteer and Board Director of ABLE2, the not-for-profit organization that The Artery Community Roasters donates a portion of their profits to. He attributes the many close friendships and connections he has made through ABLE2 as the inspiration it took to start a social enterprise that employs people with disabilities. Many of the Artery's wonderful staff members are supported in part by ABLE2 and their great social workers and volunteer matching program.

Will is a recent winner of the 2021 CBC Trailblazers Award, and by day is a speechwriter for senior government officials. 

He also is a dog lover, who named The Artery Community Roasters after his best furball friend Artie, a rescue dog from Iqaluit. And he is considered a bit of a super-fan when it comes to all things Larry David, and even named a coffee after him. 

Oh, and he really, really, really loves good coffee. He started roasting coffee in a frying pan ten years ago and never looked back. From garage roasting, to a commercial and innovative fluid bed roaster, Will takes his coffee craft almost as seriously as he takes his work advocating for the rights of people living with disabilities.

Contact Will at Will@thearterycommunityroasters.com