Ryersonians recognized for contributions across the country
Awards season is upon us and Ryersonians are being celebrated in Toronto and across the country this year. From the Order of Canada to Toronto’s Most Influential people to Canada’s Most Powerful Women, here are some of the community members who have been recognized:
Rusul Alrubail, Masters in Literatures of Modernity ’09, Parkdale Centre for Innovation
Award: Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
Rusul Alrubail was recognized for her work as the Executive Director of Parkdale Centre for Innovation. The non-profit incubator focuses on making innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship more accessible and inclusive for underrepresented groups like women of colour, newcomers, and people from low-income backgrounds. (Women’s Executive Network)
Margaret Atwood, Ryerson University Honorary Doctorate ’12, Author
Award: Toronto Life: The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2020 – #15
The renowned author’s novel turned TV show The Handmaid’s Tale has become a symbol of resistance for women’s rights protesters. When thousands of marchers descended on the White House to protest pro-life U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, you could spot the red robes and white bonnets out front. Atwood’s 2019 follow-up The Testaments was an NYT bestseller and the co-winner of the Booker Prize. (Toronto Life)
Martha Gertrude Muriel Billes, Ryerson University Honorary Doctorate ’02
Award: Order of Canada
Billes was awarded for her achievements in business and for her philanthropy, notably through the creation of a foundation supporting disadvantaged children.
Yanique Brandford, Physics ’20
Award: Global Citizen’s Canada Hero Award
Ryerson grad Yanique Brandford is the founder of Help A Girl Out (HAGO), a nonprofit that seeks to reduce period poverty, eliminate stigma, and provide menstruators with the period products they need. Having struggled with period poverty firsthand as a teenager, Brandford uses her own experience as a driving force behind her passion to eliminate the need for girls to use undignified means during their menstrual cycle. (Global Citizen)
Mohamad Fakih, Ryerson University Honorary Doctorate ’18, CEO, Paramount Fine Foods
Award: Toronto Life: The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2020 – #27
The CEO of Paramount Fine Foods has donated 2,000 meals to shelters across the GTA and hundreds more to Feed Our Heroes, an initiative to feed front-line workers. In April, he spearheaded an effort that raised more than $840,000 for the city’s food banks. (Toronto Life)
Janice Fukakusa, Chancellor, Ryerson University
Award: Outstanding Volunteer Award, Association of Fundraising Professionals (GTA)
Janice Fukakusa was recognized for her exceptional skills in coordinating and motivating groups of volunteers for fundraising projects for the benefit of non-profit organizations and a commitment to the advancement of philanthropy. Janice is a financial services expert, an innovation champion, a diversity leader and was appointed as Ryerson’s first female Chancellor in 2018.
Gillian Gravely, Nursing ’05, Nurse
Award: Toronto Life: The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2020 - #1
Gravely was recognized alongside 5 other frontline workers. When the outbreaks in long-term care facilities began, Gravely was among the first to volunteer to help out — the pandemic equivalent to running into a burning building. As an advanced practice nurse educator, Gravely had ample experience as a front-line nurse, manager and instructor. (Toronto Life)
Marci Ien, Radio and Television Arts ’91, Liberal MP for Toronto-Centre,
Award: Crystal Awards 2020 – Special Jury Award of Distinction
Ien was recognized for her work as a devoted Toronto community leader and journalist who is a passionate advocate for vulnerable communities in Canada and around the world. She has had an award-winning career in journalism and television that has spanned three decades. Ien currently serves as the Liberal MP for Toronto-Centre. (Women’s Executive Network)
Sheldon Levy, Former President, Ryerson University
Award: Order of Canada
Levy was recognized for his exceptional leadership as an education administrator and for promoting student entrepreneur incubators on university campuses across the country.
Eternity Martis, Masters in Journalism ’16, Journalist and Author
Award: Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
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. Eternity developed, and is currently teaching, the “Reporting On Race: Black Communities in the Media” course at Ryerson, the first of its kind in Canada. (Women’s Executive Network)
Dr. Krishan Mehta, Assistant Vice-President, Engagement, Ryerson University
Award: Outstanding Fundraising Professional, Association of Fundraising Professionals (GTA)
As AVP Engagement, Krishan leads alumni relations, special fundraising campaigns, and other strategies to engage different communities in support of the university. Krishan is also the Director of the Fundraising Management Certificate Program at Ryerson University and a professor in Carleton University’s Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Graduate Program.
Irini Mikhael, Chemical Engineering ’05, COO, Lullaboo Nursery and Childcare Center
Award: Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
Irini Mikhael opened her first childcare centre in 2008. Today, Lullaboo has nine locations across Ontario that care for over 1,300 children and employ 350 educators. When Covid-19 struck, she opened up the locations as 24/7 emergency centres to support front-line workers. (Women’s Executive Network)
Nathan Mitchell, Radio and Television Arts ’12, Actor
Award: Toronto Life — The TV Stars
It takes a certain kind of magnetism to earn fan-favourite status while mute and acting behind a mask, but Mitchell, a Ryerson grad, has done exactly that as Black Noir on Amazon’s madcap superhero series The Boys, which has become a pandemic must-watch. (Toronto Life)
Peggy Nash, Senior advisor to the Dean of Faculty of Arts
Award: Order of Canada
Nash was awarded for her contributions to women’s employment equity, human rights and gender representation in all levels of public office.
Boman Martinez-Reid, Radio and Television Arts, ’20, TikTok star
Award: Toronto Life — Internet Famous
More than 13 million people have viewed his “When One of Your Friends Has a Cough Except It’s Reality TV.” This summer, he was featured in a Netflix Pride video and, oh right, he recently signed with the talent agency that reps Beyoncé. (Toronto Life)
Marie Chevrier Schwartz, CEO Sampler, G.Raymond Chang Outstanding Volunteer Award recipient
Award: Toronto Life — The Innovators
Marie Chevrier Schwartz is transforming the way consumer-packaged goods companies distribute product samples. As a DMZ alumna, Marie is an active volunteer for many DMZ women in tech initiatives, and her efforts are helping the next generation of females in Toronto’s startup ecosystem. (Toronto Life)
Takara Small, Journalism ’10, Tech Columnist, Founder, VentureKids Canada
Award: Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
Takara Small is a Toronto-based award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, developer and sought-after speaker. Her organization VentureKids Canada is a Toronto-based non-profit that provides free coding classes and startup workshops to youth living in low-income and underserved communities. (Women’s Executive Network)
Paul Taylor, Occupational Health & Safety ’18, Executive Director, FoodShare
Award: Toronto Life: The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2020 – #35
As executive director at FoodShare, Taylor leads a national platform for advancing equality. A pre-pandemic study sponsored by FoodShare estimated that one in eight Canadian households is food insecure. And despite CERB and other government programs, that ratio has grown grimmer as each wave of the virus has yielded more layoffs, closures and desperation. (Toronto Life)
James & Louise Temerty, Joint Honorary Doctorates ’15, Philanthropists
Award: The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2020 – #50
In April, amid province-wide anxiety about the shortage of masks, ventilators and other PPE, the Temertys — who made their fortune in computer tech then founded Northland Power Inc., an independent green energy company — donated $10 million dollars to Covid-19 related initiatives. (Toronto Life)
Masai Ujiri, Honorary Doctorate, ’17, President Toronto Raptors
Award: The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2020 – #13
The Raptors were the most vocal NBA team about anti-racism initiatives. The team bus rolled up to Disney World plastered with Black Lives Matter artwork (Ujiri’s idea), and the Raps initiated a playoffs boycott in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Perhaps most resounding of all was the letter Ujiri wrote about his courtside run-in with a police officer last year in the seconds after the team won the NBA championship: “I was reminded that there are some people,” he wrote, “including those who are supposed to protect us, who will always and only see me as something that is unworthy of respectful engagement…because I am Black.” (Toronto Life)
Donna E. Young, Dean, Ryerson University Faculty of Law
Award: Toronto Life – The New Arrivals
She is only the second woman of colour to be the dean of a Canadian law school. Young, who came home to Toronto from Albany, aims to build the brand-new Ryerson University Law around social justice and inclusion and to implement a more holistic admissions process. (Toronto Life)