Inaugural Woodsworth College Alumni Panel Event!

On Thursday, March 2, the Woodsworth College Students’ Association (WCSA) hosted the Woodsworth College Alumni Panel in partnership with the Woodsworth College Alumni Association (WCAA). During this event, they welcomed four alumni panelists to share their career journeys with our students. 

The Alumni Panelists who participated were:

· Aaron Raths (BA 2006), a lawyer with over ten years of experience in civil litigation, public policy, and professional conduct investigations. His current role is Investigation Counsel with the Law Society of Ontario. Aaron's pivot to a career involving the law followed a period working in marketing and artist management in the music business.

· Bernice Datsomor (BSc 2019), entrepreneur, healthcare worker and data analyst. She currently works with Public Health Ontario and is the co-founder of Econexus Ventures Limited, a renewable energy startup in Ghana.

· Sofiya Datsyuk (BA 2015), the VP of Operations at REX Opportunity Corp., a company creating and acquiring royalty interests in YouTube channels. She is also the current President of the WCAA and a recipient of an Arbor Award from the University of Toronto.

· Yara (BSc 2016), an Evaluator with Shkaabe Makwa at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Yara is originally from Brazil and is proud of her Indigenous roots. Prior to joining Shkaabe Makwa at CAMH, Yara worked with the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) in the role of Evaluation Coordinator.

The session began with a panel discussion led by moderator, Dr. Huda Henry-Riyad (BSc 1999, MSc 2002 and PhD 2005), the Co-Founder & CEO of The Key Group International Inc., and current Vice-President of WCAA.

The panelists discussed where they are now, since graduating, and how they ended up in their positions today. They also talked about the key factors that helped them with their career progression, as well as the challenges they faced on the way. The panelists were very generous in sharing their experiences and emphasized the importance of building relationships with peers and colleagues, developing hard and soft skills, volunteering and checking in with yourself every step of the way.

During the question-and-answer period, students inquired about tips to consider when thinking about grad school as well as, if our panelists had mentors and if so, how they met them.

The session was a wonderful success, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to Subesica Vasanthakumaran, the Professional Development Director of WCSA, for conceptualizing and organizing the event. And another big thank you to the alumni panelists, WCSA and WCAA! 

--

If you are interested in participating in a similar event in the future, please email Carolyn Peralta, Alumni & Development Officer, carolyn.peralta@utoronto.ca.