Our Team

LiftOff has a team of exceptional and results-driven leaders who love to work with our growing clientele. Our team is eager to learn, open to new ideas and have a passion to connect Black individuals within our community. Read below to learn more about our exceptional team.

Dr. Trevor Charles

Executive Director

Trevor is a microbiologist, trained at UBC, McMaster and University of Washington. His research group at University of Waterloo studies environmental and agricultural microbiology, with an orientation towards Circular Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development. Application of this research is done through his spinoff company.

Mitchelle Oduka

Program Manager

Mitchelle is a business management professional, with 10+ years’ experience in program and project management. In her role as Program Manager, she is responsible for working with LiftOff entrepreneurs, mentors, coaches, and managing the day-to-day delivery of services and programming for the incubator. Her Specialties are: Program Management | Project Management | Strategy Planning | Strategy Execution

Jane Egbon

Office & Finance

Manager

Jane is passionate about education and social movements within marginalized communities. Jane Egbon is the Office Manager of the LiftOff by CCAWR Initiative.

Graham Edwards

Community and Partner Engagement Associate

Graham is a University of Waterloo alumni where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Recreation and Sports Business with a minor in Event Management. He has practical experience in marketing, business development, and managing stakeholder relationships, and in his role, he intends to use these skills to ensure LiftOff works along with the community to empower its Black entrepreneurs, its ecosystem, and residents.

Coaches

Sharon Cain-Zeliger

Executive Assistant

Sharon has a background in Healthcare as a Registered Practical Nurse with industry and small business experience! Personal growth as well as love for her family and her fellow man, are what motivate her to NEVER give up! "Perseverance is the key to success"!

Tamara Cooper

Program Coordinator

Tamara has a passion for giving back to the community and is in the process of starting an organization where she will advocate for the deaf community living in the Waterloo Region.
She graduated from Conestoga College with a diploma in Office Administration (Executive).
Tamara believes that the sky is not the limit and that once you believe in yourself you will be unstoppable. She preaches the value of self-worth and uplifting yourself.

Tori Atkinson

Digital Marketing Associate

Tori holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo where she co-founded a youth organization to create professional development opportunities for Caribbean students. Tori is passionate about creating opportunities for the Black community and is excited to work together to build the Black entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region.

Uche Onuora

Venture Coach

Uche is a husband, father, and irrepressible optimist, who lives at the intersection of arts and technology as a serial entrepreneur and aspiring poet. He is committed to interdisciplinary efforts that synthesize education and technology for maximum societal benefit. As a Special Needs dad, Uche's experiences supporting his young son who is on the Autism Spectrum led him to co-found HITCH – a Waterloo-based startup that is building an Educational platform linking applied learning to real opportunity for African K-12 students and teachers.

Lenore Johnson

Venture Coach

Lenore Johnson is the founder and owner of LenJo Bakes, a bakery and bespoke cake shop in Midtown Kitchener. After completing an economics degree from the University of Waterloo and a baking and pastry arts management diploma from George Brown College, Lenore travelled and worked from France to England to New Zealand. Opening in February 2020, LenJo Bakes has won The Waterloo Region Record’s Readers’ Choice Award for Best Cakes/Cupcakes in 2020 (gold) and 2021 (platinum).

Folake Owodunni

Venture Coach

Folake Owodunni is a Venture Coach with LiftOff and the Co-Founder and CEO of Emergency Response Africa, a health tech company delivering 911-style emergency medical services in Nigeria, West Africa. Folake enjoys working with founders who are solving meaningful and often difficult problems across different industries and gladly draws on her experiences as a leader and founder to support them.

Ajoah Mintah

Venture Coach

Ajoa Mintah is a professional engineer, turned ice cream entrepreneur and the Founder + CEO of Four All Ice Cream. A University of Waterloo graduate, Ajoa earned her Chemical Engineering degree in 2001 and spent the next 16 years in various roles, ranging from product development in the automotive industry to technical consulting in the finance industry, before pursuing her dream of becoming a “maker”. Four All Ice Cream, which aims “to bring the joy of ice cream to all regardless of dietary choices and restrictions”, is the culmination of Ajoa’s education, experiences and above all else, her desire to create. Her strengths include goal setting & problem solving.

Mentors

Trish Mandewo

Mentor

Trish Mandewo is multi-award winning, experienced entrepreneur, mentor, board professional, politician and author. Trish has an impressive early career in microbiology & embryology followed by nearly 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, governance and as a small business advisor / mentor. Trish has a passion for working with startup and growth phase entrepreneurs. She is the author of "Growth Strategies for the hungry entrepreneur.

Francine Scott

Mentor

Francine Scott is a mentor at LiftOff By CCAWR.

Bili Balogun

Mentor

Bili Boboe-Balogun is a budding beauty maven who has built a 7 figure global brand in a noisy industry, leveraging the power of community. Surrounding herself with a network of professionals who do it best, her focus has been on building a business of accessibility and empowerment.

Aileen Agada

Mentor

Aileen Agada is the founder of BeBlended–a tech startup focused on the Black hair care industry–where she manages a team of 3 employees. On the side she is also a part-time Venture Capital Analyst at Emerald Technology Ventures and is currently completing a Master of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology (MBET) as a part-time student at the University of Waterloo.

Kyle McKenzie

Mentor

Kyle McKenzie is a mentor at LiftOff By CCAWR.

Jerome Hylton

Mentor

Jerome Hylton is a mentor at LiftOff By CCAWR.

Jeff Hylton

Mentor

A seasoned Supply Chain professional with over 15 years of experience specializing in demand, supply, production, logistics and distribution. Kyle's experience spans across several different industries in many varying capacities.

Jimmy Petrie

Mentor

Jimmy is a Talent Acquisition and Human Resources professional, with over 10 years of experience helping to build businesses and teams; that deliver effective results, growth, and navigate the ever-changing markets throughout Canada. Jimmy has worked within the Engineering, IT, Technical, Health Care, Marketing, Retail and Manufacturing sectors.

Naomi Adams

Mentor

Naomi Adams is the owner and CEO of Beauty Club Outlet, an online and in-store curly hair product and wig boutique located in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada that provides hair and wig products to communities all throughout North America and the UK. Her goal is to raise the standard of the retail experience that people with curly and afro-textured hair have known, and create a brand that provides its clients with excellent assistance in choosing the right products for them the first time. She is passionate about the advancement of women of colour, female entrepreneurship and improving our society's knowledge and perspective of afro-textured and curly hair.

Colleen James

Mentor

Colleen James, award-winning equity and inclusion consultant, believes in challenging the status quo of racial equity and social justice. With over 15 years of experience, she has worked with many organizations to embrace the differences that exist within their workforce.

Named one of the Top 100 Black Women to Watch in Canada in 2020 and one of the top DEI persons of the year in 2021, Colleen enables leaders to deepen their understanding of power and privilege, empowering them to rethink their outdated business models and create more equitable workplaces.

Chinyere Okafor

Mentor

Chinyere Okafor is a skilled legal practitioner specializing in startup, venture capital, and private equity industries. She founded Acelera Law, a boutique law firm that offers start-up lawyering consultancy and complementary services to small businesses, startups, and investors. Chinyere's extensive experience includes advising public and private sector clients on infrastructure finance, venture finance, real estate finance, project finance, and energy transactions.

Jennifer Seberras

Mentor

Jennifer is the owner of Simplify Supply Chain Solutions, a courier company providing package delivery for businesses across Ontario. Jennifer has 20 years of experience in logistics.

Jennifer discovered supply chain and logistics 20 years ago. Right away, she fell in love with the possibility of making something so intricate into something simple. As she rose through the ranks of different companies, she noticed there were not many black women occupying significant roles in transportation, operations, and supply chain. Jennifer decided to create the change that she wanted to see and Simplify Supply Chain Solutions was born. Now ten years later, Simplify Supply Chain Solutions provides warehousing and delivery service across Ontario. Simplify fleet includes both dry and refrigerated services for home and business deliveries. In 2022 Simplify delivered approximately 4 million packages with over delivery success rate of 99.87%

Celeste Lopreiato

Mentor

Celeste is the founder & CEO of The Conscious Farm Kitchen, a farm-to-table meal delivery service based north of Guelph. The Conscious Farm Kitchen allows their clients to eat in alignment with their values, and is focused on delivering fresh, healthy, and seasonal meals across Southwestern Ontario. Celeste is passionate about helping other women run ethical & financially sustainable businesses and serves as a mentor for various entrepreneurial programs. She lives in rural Grey County with her partner, two dogs, and three piggies.

Vitalis Omambia

Mentor

Vitalis Omambia is the founder and CEO of Selstan Inc, which manages enterprise-grade data security and compliance on the go. He is also a co-founder of Kunye Financial Inc, which provides border-less payment to migrants who want to participate economically and maximize social impact in the lives of loved ones. Vitalis is also a mentor at OBSIDI by BPTN where he offers leadership to professionals looking to build their careers and life in a new country. He has vast experience in product management, technology strategy, go to market strategy, and has held key roles in designing solutions for B2B, B2C, and B2B2C customers.