Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers: Empowering Your DEI Strategy 

Rochele Padiachy and her family left Johannesburg, South Africa during the apartheid regime to Canada as refugees. Rochele’s formative years were supported by the wisdom teaching of Ubuntu which anchors a deep connection between self and community. Nurtured by both formal and ancestral teachers, Rochele’s lived experiences have greatly inspired her a lifelong commitment to transformative social justice and human rights education. Rochele has a BA in Multicultural and Indigenous studies with a focus on race, ethnicity, and indigeneity from York University, a master’s degree in Human Security and Peacebuilding from Royal Roads University and an executive certificate in public policy analysis from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Rochele is currently a manager of learning and knowledge solutions at the Canadian Center for Diversity and Inclusion. She is also the director of programming and events with the Council of African Professionals and serves on the City of Markham’s Race Relations Advisory Committee.