🫱🏾🫲🏼 The Project Team
Mikahelia Wellington (she/her)
Subject Matter Expert, Project Lead & Contributor
Ontario
RD and MPH
Mikahelia Wellington is a registered dietitian working in the community health setting. She has a professional background in Public Health Nutrition & Dietetics and social justice.
The intersections of her personal and professional experiences and expertise have helped her recognize the critical role that stories, values, community and heritage play in improving the well-being of people and communities by challenging and re-envisioning unjust norms.
This inspired her to create Making Kitchen Legacies Inc., a business aimed at teaching and practicing affirming and nourishing health promotion and health management through community nutrition. She acknowledges that this work requires ongoing learning and action and is dedicated to the cause. Mikahelia currently offers workshops and seminars for the community and community partners as well as nutrition students, educators, and professionals.
Sherana Syed (she/her)
Research Assistant & Project Coordinator
Ontario
Sherana Syed is a Master of Applied Nutrition student at the University of Guelph and a recent Bachelor of Applied Science in Food and Nutrition graduate from Toronto Metropolitan University. Driven by a deep passion for food and nutrition, she made a career transition from Project Management and has previously worked in nonprofit organizations focusing on inclusivity, diversity, and anti-racism projects. In the ABR in Dietetics Project at TMU, she serves as both Research Assistant and Project Coordinator. During her undergraduate studies, she was a Nutrition Ambassador and Vice President of the Toronto Metropolitan Home Economics Association (TMHEA). She also shares her love for inclusive cooking via her food Instagram account, @spoonsoflemon.
Email: sherana.syed@torontomu.ca
Instagram: instagram.com/spoonsoflemon/
Emanuel Tessema (him/his)
Research and Project Assistant
Ontario
Emanuel Tessema is a Master of Health Science in Nutrition Communication student at Toronto Metropolitan University and a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Applied Science in Food and Nutrition program at the same institution. He is interested in pediatric clinical nutrition and nutrient metabolism, with a focus on improving iron status, informing screening guidelines, and supporting chest/breastfeeding rates. Emanuel is passionate about expanding access to opportunities and improving representation for underrepresented groups in the nutrition field. He has also developed a growing interest in health professions education to support stronger collaboration between dietitians and physicians.
Email: emanuel.tessema@torontomu.ca
A Message of Acknowledgement from the Team
We are grateful and honoured to have led the development of this project. Through our review of the Canadian literature, stakeholder evaluations, knowledge and talent sourcing and collaborations, we have come to the hopeful realization that, despite the challenges that Black Canadians face in the food, nutrition and dietetics industry, there are creative, inspired, capable and committed changemakers in all areas.
In our efforts to recognize Black leaders throughout the country, we acknowledge that some provinces were not adequately represented in this Pressbook due to the challenges we faced in finding and connecting with Black Canadians food workers, nutrition professionals, educators, researchers, etc. Some of the challenges are associated with the institutional and systemic forms of Anti-Black Racism that you will learn about in this Pressbook.
We hope that as this Pressbook is disseminated and shared by all learners, Black Canadians who were not represented will connect with the contributing individuals, networks and organizations highlighted throughout the chapters to help build our community and make it more inclusive.