TEDxWaverley

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Carmen Puente

  Was born in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, a country located in northern South America. She is a trained business administrator with a master’s degree in Business Management and over eight years of professional experience. She arrived in Canada in September 2013 and, like many immigrants, came in search of opportunities that would allow her to pursue her dreams and goals. Currently, Carmen works at RRC Polytech on a project dedicated to supporting immigrants. Her passion for helping others—especially women—led her to found Training and Empowerment Women Congress MB. She is the president of the international collective 50+1 in Winnipeg and was also a co-founder of the Venezuela Club of Manitoba, where she contributed for over five years. Over time, Carmen has come to understand that her life’s purpose is to give visibility and a voice to immigrant communities. Through her own story, she hopes to inspire others by demonstrating resilience, determination, and perseverance.

• Chris Hoquis

  Chris Hoquis is an entrepreneur, educator, and product builder based in Winnipeg, Canada. With over 20 years of experience across technology, marketing, and product development, he has spent his career building things while helping others learn how to navigate complexity, pressure, and change. He teaches at the university level, where his work with students grounds much of his thinking about ambition, identity, and the emotional realities of modern work. Chris is the founder of Rally the Locals, a platform dedicated to amplifying local stories and small businesses, and the co-founder of Hostly, a social experience app designed to help people connect with more intention.

• Linda Drosdowech

  Linda Drosdowech is an international keynote speaker, executive coach, and leadership educator who helps high-achieving people lead through change with clarity, courage, and self-trust. Her work is shaped by lived experience—navigating major life transitions, rebuilding from uncertainty, and learning how to keep showing up with strength even when the ground shifts underneath you. Known for her warmth, humour, and practical tools, Linda blends real talk with real strategy. She is the creator of the 7 Steps Forward framework, a simple and powerful approach to mindset, communication, relationships, and meaningful action when life feels messy or high-pressure. Linda also hosts Speakers Lounge, an in-person community where leaders and speakers build connection and collaboration. Her message is a reminder that confidence isn’t something you’re born with—it’s something you build, one brave decision at a time

• Louise Neil

  Louise Neil is the founder of The Menopause Doula and Pivoting Point Coaching and Consulting, where she helps individuals and organizations rethink how menopause is understood and supported at work. After years in corporate leadership, Louise found herself questioning her confidence and capacity, only to later discover she was navigating perimenopause with no framework to make sense of it. That experience reshaped her work. Today, she teaches employers, leaders, and teams how menopause quietly influences wellbeing, performance, and equity when it goes unnamed. Known for her calm, practical, and compassionate approach, Louise brings clarity to a life stage long treated as private or irrelevant, helping workplaces create more understanding, balance, and inclusion, while supporting women and individuals to navigate menopause feeling informed, empowered, and in charge of their next chapter.

• Margarita Serova

  Margarita Serova is a marketer, entrepreneur, and community builder with over 20 years of experience across international markets. After immigrating to Canada with two children, she rebuilt her career from the ground up — transforming personal disruption into purpose-driven work. She is the founder of Biz Moms, an ecosystem supporting mothers in entrepreneurship and professional careers, and leads a visibility and positioning consultancy, where she helps professionals and organizations build strong personal brands, strategic relationships, and partnership-driven growth, both online and offline. Margarita’s work explores what motherhood reveals about leadership, decision-making, and sustainable performance in modern work. Drawing from both lived experience and professional insight, she reframes visibility not as doing more, but as creating space — offering a powerful, human framework for navigating ambition, identity, and growth.

• MaryAnn Kokan-Nyhof

  MaryAnn has been a financial planner for 28 years and is a respected author and speaker. She is actively involved with FP Canada at the national level, serving on the QAFP Examination Committee. Locally, she participates in the Estate Planning Council and Advocis. She is a frequent contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press Money Matters column. MaryAnn’s deep commitment to community service earned her the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. She volunteers with Siloam Mission, 188, Indigenous Family Centre, Hope Centre Ministries, her church, and as a Community Volunteer Income Tax preparer. She also serves on the boards of Hope Centre Ministries and the Keep Theatre. A frequent speaker at Good Neighbours Active Living Centre, she is also active in her neighborhood gardening club. MaryAnn is married with four adult children and enjoys walking her dogs, Masha and Bella, in Elmwood Park.

• Obidi Ezezika

  Dr. Obidi Ezezika is a global health scholar who studies how ideas turn into real-world change. He is an Associate Professor at Western University, where he directs the Global Health & Innovation Lab. His work examines how proven innovations move from evidence to sustained impact within complex systems. Working across Africa and Canada, he explores why progress so often falters — not because ideas are weak, but because systems lose balance during change. Through his research, teaching, and public engagement, Obidi focuses on alignment, trust, and integration as the often-overlooked foundations of lasting transformation in health and social systems.

• Shade Kolade

  Dr. Shadé is a microbiology professor, leadership consultant, and academic researcher whose work sits at the intersection of science, leadership, and equity. Trained in STEM and shaped by lived experience, her career spans research, teaching, and leadership development across academic and professional environments. Through her work, Dr. Shadé has witnessed firsthand the persistent gaps facing women in STEM, not only in representation but in how success, competence, and belonging are defined and measured. Drawing on research, advocacy, and leadership practice, she challenges conventional narratives about women in science and technology and offers new ways of thinking about inclusion, innovation, and impact. Her work invites audiences to ask better questions, because better questions lead to better systems.

• Tam Kroeker

  Tam Kroeker is a Winnipeg‑based Enneagram coach, speaker, and educator, and the founder of EnneagramAWARE. Formerly an elementary school teacher, she shifted careers to focus on leadership development and personal growth through self‑awareness. Her work supports individuals and teams in understanding core motivations, strengthening relationships, and creating healthier workplace cultures.

• Toyin Fatubarin

  Toyin Fatubarin is a Senior Consultant, Certified Project Manager, Agile Coach and PMI Future 50 Honoree who immigrated to Canada almost 10 years ago, leaving a thriving career to navigate a new landscape while raising a young family. Through perseverance and practical strategies, she successfully entered the workforce, is thriving, and now shares those tools with others for their professional and personal success. As founder of TAACI Initiative, she empowers immigrant professionals, inspiring them to pursue bold, audacious goals and truly thrive in Canada.