TEAM MEMBERS
CANADIAN CENTER FOR WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
Mesi -Meseret is a multi-award-winning thought leader, industry disruptor and innovator who works on economic, financial inclusion, and health equity transformations through evidence, policy influence, and systemic change. She has led numerous initiatives aimed at promoting women’s, and youth’s economic rights. For the last two decades, she has served in various international development roles at national and global levels, leafing efforts to address economic security, public health, and maternal and new born health initiatives across multiple stakeholders.
As the CEO of the Canadian Center for Women Empowerment (CCFWE), Meseret has become a driving force for shaping socio-economic policies to advance economic safety in Canada by collaborating with consumer lawyers, fintech firms, financial institutions, health care, private companies, telecommunication & energy companies, and the federal government. Meseret was the first Canadian to call for national and international responses to economic justice policies to address economic harm in Canadian Parlament.
Additionally, she is the founder of Maternity Today and a founding member of the Canadian Institute for Research on Economic Justice to advance research and the new global network, the member of the Executive Council for Economic and Financial Inclusion. Through these platforms, she employs evidence-based approaches, policy influence, and systemic change to tackle financial inclusion health, and economic insecurities. She is serving as an advisor at the Canadian Center for Non-Profit Digital Resilience, Board of Directors at Centertown Community Health Centre, End FGM Canada Network, a member of the Governance Committee for the City of Ottawa’s Community Safety Wellbeing 10-year Plan, advisor at USA-Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN) and urgent action in support of Permanent Legislative Policy for Black Canadians.
She has been invited to the Canadian parliament on several occasions. She has spoken to the Parliamentary Committee on various policy recommendations to advance women’s economic security, financial inclusion, the federal budget, and legislative change. Meseret has also appeared at the Ontario Legislative Assembly on various occasions advocating for Bill 41. In 2024, Meseret took her economic justice policy to the global stage at the United Nations CSW68 conference to include the Economic Abuse Policies on Financial Inclusion program. Her efforts on awareness of economic harm expanded to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Israel.
Her policy and system change efforts are featured in media such as Forbes, CBC, City News, City News, Yahoo Finance, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, Globe and Mail, Toronto Sun, Global News, Ottawa Citizen, National Post, and more.
Mesi has earned me numerous recognitions, including the L’Oréal Paris Top 10 National Woman’s Worth Award, Forty under 40 awards, National RPA Award’s as Top 3 recipient from Honorable Nina Tangri, Member of Parliament for Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade/Economic Development, Women of Inspiration 2021, 100 Most Accomplished Black Canadian Women, Top 100 Women to Watch in Canada in 2020 and recipient of the 2023 prestigious Canadian Women Entrepreneur award by Google Canada and Canadian Women Entrepreneur and in 2024, named Top 25 Women of Influence Canada.
As an advocate, leader, and devoted mother, Mesi draws inspiration from her family and remains steadfast in her commitment to building a more just, fair, and inclusive society that safeguards and advances the well-being of women and girls. Her work serves as a beacon of hope and progress for all those who strive for positive change.
Niha Shazad has had a wide-ranging journey, collecting professional expertise in order to make a meaningful impact on the community through policy. She works as a Policy Analyst at Natural Resources Canada, analyzing Canada’s energy and environmental issues, while being inclusive of impacts on women, vulnerable peoples and Indigenous communities. She is also part of the Anti-Racism Ambassadors Network, and host of the podcast IDEAA-nomics, focused on equity, diversity and inclusion. She previously worked at the Behavioural Insights Unit in the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Government of Ontario, and continues to bring policy innovation to her work. Niha has a Master’s degree in English from Queen’s University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Munk School at the University of Toronto. Prior to completing her MPP, Niha spent over four years in marketing and communications for companies like Alterna Savings, TENA’s long term care services.
