PROUDLY PINOY

Dr. Mayrose Salvador is a Filipino-Canadian scientist, innovator, and educator. Since 1998, she has been carrying out research in the world’s top universities and solving problems in developing countries.

Dr. Salvador received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines and her PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto. She has completed postdoctoral degrees at the University of Minnesota and the University of Toronto.

As a scientist, Dr. Salvador has created advanced materials for solar cell applications and pioneered the use of novel laser techniques to create industrial applications for nanomaterials. She has also contributed to the understanding of the impact of protein behaviour on diseases. She holds a patent and has co-authored more than 15 scientific publications that have been cited over 560 times.

As an educator, Dr. Salvador taught Chemistry at the University of the Philippines and the University of Toronto. She has also trained over 3,500 teachers around the world and has inspired over 400,000 children and youth to take interest in science through Pueblo Science. Appearing in ABS-CBN Global TV, and Canadian media networks such as CTV, Rogers TV, CP24, CityTV and OMNI, she continues to popularize science for the general public.

Dr. Salvador is passionate about using technology to solve community problems. She was involved in creating computer accessibility solutions for patients at the Toronto Western Hospital and developed iron fortified snacks for kids in the Philippines with Grand Challenges Canada. Working with the Philippine Department of Science and Technology and the University of the Philippines, she also worked on a field diagnostic tool for safely harvesting crops. Most recently, she helped deploy high quality and low cost solar lighting to the indigenous communities of the Philippines, in collaboration with the Impact Centre at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Salvador is a recipient of the Outstanding Young Filipino Entrepreneurs and Professional Award, the Outstanding Asian Canadian, the Ontario Centres of Excellence Social Entrepreneurship Award, the Canadian Society in Chemistry Research presentation award, the University of Toronto - Institute for Optical Sciences Innovation Fellowship and MITACS Canada Fellowship.

Christian immigrated to Canada from the Philippines with his family in 1975, growing up in Mississauga. He received a B.Sc. from the University of Waterloo, and an M.A. in Economics and Master of Math Finance both from the University of Toronto. He spent his career in management/strategy consulting and investment banking, specifically in the area of commodity trading markets and risk management. His previous roles have included being a Director within the Global Energy Markets practice of Deloitte & Touche, Americas Head of Trading Market Risk for Merrill Lynch's commodity trading division, and the Americas Head of Risk for one of the world's largest private trading oil organizations. He has lived and worked in Toronto, New York, London, and Houston, with frequent travels to Geneva and Singapore. Christian now lives in Hawaii with his wife and two children, where he is currently in law school. Christian is a Level 3 Chartered Financial Analyst candidate.

Mary Chiam is a leading fashion executive within the ecommerce industry. As Senior Vice President of Commercial for Stadium Goods (a Farfetch company), she oversees the overall product and commercial strategy of the business. Mary has over 15 years of fashion and retail experience spending time at organizations such as Wal-Mart, Aritzia and Net-a-porter Group. She has helped businesses navigate the balance and transition of physical retail to ecommerce while helping them scale their business into a global environment.

Dr. Gerson Mobo was born in Manila, Philippines and migrated to Canada at the age of 9. He grew up in Mississauga and went to Father Michael Goetz Secondary School. He did his undergraduate studies in nursing at McMaster University and after graduating, he continued onto studying medicine at the same university. He did his specialty training in family medicine and HIV primary care. Now he practices at Church Wellesley Health Centre in downtown Toronto as a family physician.

Accomplishments:

Established a primary care practice in downtown Toronto serving the LGBTQ+ community, people living with HIV/AIDS and inner city populations.

Faculty member at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at University of Toronto, teaching medical students and residents.

Fr. Matthew McCarthy was born/raised/attended school in Brampton.

He attended York University, graduated with a BSc in Kinesiology and Health Sciences

He was ordained in 2017 and served at two previous assignments: Holy Family parish in Whitby, and St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica, downtown Toronto.

Fr. Matt was appointed Director of Vocations in August of 2021. In his sparetime, he loves playing sports and listening to music.

Gelaine Santiago is a speaker, writer, entrepreneur, and content strategist. She believes storytelling is a form of activism and helps BIPOC founders scale their e-commerce businesses through content marketing.

Gelaine believes in building wealth with purpose. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Cambio & Co., a Filipino jewelry company that provides sustainable livelihood for artisans in the Philippines and empowers Filipinos in the diaspora to #WearYourHeritage. She’s also the CEO of Sinta & Co., a boutique for socially conscious Filipino weddings. Gelaine is also the creative behind Fierce Fans Forever, a weekly newsletter about content marketing and authentic storytelling for e-commerce founders.

Her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, CBC, Rappler, OMNI Television and ABS-CBN. Gelaine was also a recipient of the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award in 2019.

Connect with her at www.gelainesantiago.com and on Instagram @gelainesantiago

Alia Ceniza Rasul is an award-winning artist based in Toronto, Canada. On her mother’s side of the family she is Bisaya, from Dumaguete. On her father’s side she is Tausug, from Jolo, Sulu. She identifies as a Filipina muslim. She was born in the Philippines but grew up in the Middle East, spending most of her childhood in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She officially became a Canadian immigrant after completing her Economics and Psychology degree at McGill University in Montreal.

With a passion for telling stories about the Filipin* diaspora, Alia has created, produced and starred in multiple award winning projects including Tawa and Island Womxn Rise, annual, sold-out Filipin* comedy festivals, Kwento, a performance of improvised Filipin* folktale, the sketch comedy revue Tita Jokes, and her play, Tang Ina. Alia is a co-founder and alumnus of the Tita Collective, an internationally renowned sisterhood of Filipina theatre artists. Her first book, Super Important Filipina Thoughts, is a collection of hilariously irreverent poetry published by Anak Publishing.

For more information about her work, visit www.aliarasul.com

TCDSB Resource Teacher

Catholic Student Leadership Impact Team

Michael Consul leads the Catholic Student Leadership Department at the Toronto Catholic District School Board. A graduate of McGill University and St. Mother Teresa is Scarborough, Michael is a proud TCDSB Alumni. Over the last nine years, Michael has led a leadership program to the Philippines during the Christmas break. While in the Philippines, students and staff to help build houses with those less fortunate, volunteer at an orphanage, and assist in a community clean up. One of the goals of the Catholic Student Leadership Program is to give students the opportunity to put their faith into action. This overseas initiative, along with multiple leadership camps, various conferences, different student leadership events, and service trips to other countries, are all initiatives Michael has created to achieve this goal. Michael is also a proud father to a 12-year-old daughter and hopes that she too can participate in these leadership programs.

Accomplishments:

First Canadian of Filipino descent to be elected in the City of Toronto as a Toronto Catholic School Board Trustee and to be appointed to the Senate of Canada. As a Trustee, one of the late Senator's accomplishments was the initiation of Rosary Month in all TCDSB Schools. During Senator Enverga's time in the Senate, he initiated the first ever Philippine flag raising event at Parliament Hill and introduced Bill S-218 which designates every October as Latin American Heritage month in Canada

Awards:

• 2008 Linkapil Award (or Lingkodsa Kapwa Pilipino Presidential Award) from the President of the Philippines

• Canada's Most Outstanding Canadian Award 2001

• Queen's 60th Jubilee Medal for his contributions to Canada in 2012

• Various awards and recognition from the Filipino Community

Awards and recognitions:

• 2018 CMC Multiculturalism Award: This award is given to distinctly recognize an individual for their outstanding dedication and service in Canadian multiculturalism.

• 2018 Golden Balangay Award

• 2018 Medalya Karangalan Quezon

• 2018 Plaque of appreciation from Ambassador Winston Wen-yi Chen from the Republic of China (Taiwan)