Valentina has been working in community development and partnership building for more than a decade, and has deep experience supporting mission-driven organizations through cultural transformation. She leads a range of strategy, facilitation, and planning projects, and provides training and coaching to non-profit professionals across Canada. Whether through strategic facilitation, stakeholder engagement, coaching or management and leadership training, Valentina helps leaders implement change that lasts, and supports them to develop resilient teams and organizations.

Julia is an accredited coach and mentor coach with the International Coach Federation, certified EQ-i 2.0 Emotional Intelligence, and has been facilitating adult learning programs for 15 years. She holds an MA from King's College, University of London in Environment, Politics and Globalisation. Julia is a cis-gender white, queer woman, with a diverse professional background. Having experienced burnout and supporting others in their own professional journeys, Julia's work focuses on holding space for individual and collective healing, transformation and growth. She is a life-long learner and social justice advocate.

At Laridae, Julia designs and facilitates learning programming, supporting organizations in growing their impact and implementing meaningful change. Using a coach-approach in her work, Julia establishes relationships built on trust and curiosity to drive towards results.
 

As CEO, Danielle leads the Laridae team. An entrepreneurial, strategic thinker, Danielle deploys collaborative approaches to problem-solving. She leads some of Laridae’s highest profile strategic planning, governance, communications, and branding projects and recently completed the Chartered Director (C.Dir.) program at McMaster University.

Lisa Levin is the CEO of AdvantAge Ontario, which represents more than 400 non-profit organizations serving seniors. Previously, Lisa was Director of Nursing and Health Policy with the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, chair of the Ontario Caregiver Coalition, senior executive with Circle of Care, and policy advisor with the Ontario government. Lisa has her Bachelor of Arts in Urban Systems/Geography from McGill University and her Master of Science in Urban Planning from the University of Toronto.

Kevin is a project and people leader who has been working in the non-profit and high tech sectors for 25 years. He has a keen interest in supporting organizations so they can grow and scale, and has a knack for building consensus and finding middle ground so teams can focus their energies on their most important tasks. As a Learning Facilitator at Laridae, Kevin brings a wealth of knowledge and experience (and a few jokes) to give the class an engaging learning experience.