Hamza is the star of the most watched Canadian series this year, “Transplant”, where he plays a Syrian doctor trying to make a new life for his family in Canada. His own family moved from Pakistan to Canada via Saudi Arabia, and as an actor, Hamza’s passion is storytelling that lifts up real voices, including those of refugees and immigrants.

As the Toronto Star’s Work and Wealth reporter, Sara covers the changing workplace, shining a spotlight on precarious work, migrant workers, the gig economy and labour rights. Sara’s journalism has put a human face on unfair workplace practices and has helped bring the interests of workers to the forefront of mainstream media coverage.

A former Wall Street investment lawyer on a mission to build a better world through food, Ran Goel founded Fresh City Farms in 2011. From an urban farm to a widespread delivery business and eight organic grocery stores, Ran is passionate about connecting people directly to the source of their food, and is a driving force for using better food practises to create stronger communities and healthier environments.

A faculty member at the University of Toronto and Vector Institute, Jimmy developed the Adam Optimizer, a foundational algorithm used to train AI models. Today, Jimmy’s research focuses on advancing our understanding of the human mind, intelligence and computation.

As the Global Chief Economist for Manulife, Frances helps forecast global macro-economic and financial trends. Looking beyond models, numbers and markets Frances uses a unique blend of insight and irreverence to help bring a human face to economics and finance.

Kofi is a social entrepreneur on a mission to create a fairer city. As the founder and former Executive Director of the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, Kofi built an organization dedicated to addressing the economic and social barriers affecting black youth. As the co-founder of Monumental, Kofi is now focused on helping institutions and organizations work towards an equitable economic recovery.

In her debut novel, Scarborough, Catherine tells the incredible story of a neighbourhood that refuses to fall apart in the face of poverty and crime. A writer and theatre practitioner, Catherine’s latest novel, Crosshairs, paints a vision of a dystopian society and explores the universal desire to thrive - all against the backdrop of Toronto.

Kamran founded BlueDot to build an early warning system for outbreaks of infectious diseases. BlueDot has gone on to predict the spread of Ebola, Zika, and identified and wrote the world’s first peer-reviewed study of COVID-19. A practicing infectious diseases physician, Kamran’s mission is to strengthen global readiness against dangerous epidemics through the development of sophisticated data technology.

As the founder of Toronto’s first co-working facility with childcare, Amanda is on a mission to create better opportunities for working parents. She is the author of Day Nine: A Postpartum Depression Memoir, and is an advocate for women’s rights and community leader.