Camille Dundas spent almost 10 years working as a journalist in national television news. In 2017, she leaped into the tech industry, becoming a consultant with Hootsuite. Camille is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of online magazine ByBlacks.com, ranked as the #1 Black online magazine in Canada. From this vantage point, Camille has become a public speaker on the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion. She is known for dropping disruptive truths – on stage and online – about why inclusion without intersectionality creates a space where good intentions go to die. Her approach to DEI is anchored in intersectionality, with specific emphasis on the idea that effective diversity work must go beyond gender. Diversity and inclusion initiatives that try to group people into such categories as gender, ethnicity, and age provide a narrow view of what shapes our identities. No one is defined by a single category, we are influenced by our socialization, experiences, culture, and background. This is a core concept behind intersectionality. Her approach is also heavily rooted in explaining what allyship looks like and giving tangible steps to transforming how teams understand how this plays out in the workplace.   Through keynotes and workshops, Camille has helped kickstart these difficult conversations at both mid size and large scale companies such as Fiix Software, The Conference Board of Canada, TD Bank, KPMG, Investors Group and Enbridge.

Michèle Newton is guided by her “better together” philosophy – growing relationships, nurturing collaborations and facilitating partnerships, especially those with a shared focus on strengthening our community. As a community changemaker, she created Our Mosaic Lives – a passion project exploring diversity and inclusion, launched Community Conversations – a live D&I interview series, and co-founded Making Change.   Michèle writes and contributes a monthly Diversity and Inclusion column featured across Simcoe.com’s seven publications.  She is a Black Community Council member with Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions.  Michèle is a Director with Konvo Media, a black-owned public relations agency, and is a Mentor with the Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre. She was recognized in 2020 as one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women for her community work focused on Black Canadian Women, diversity and inclusion.

Dr. Melissa Horne holds a PhD in modern U.S. History from Rutgers University. Specializing in the history of social justice movements, Melissa’s research has focused on the historic systems of racism and oppression with Universities and the ways in which students and faculty have organized movements to subvert and challenge these systems.   Melissa parlays her expertise by helping clients develop targeted and strategic social justice education campaigns, influencing the policies that affect people of colour, and the LGBTQ+ community.