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.
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Jane Egbon
Director Of Operations
Jane Egbon is a seasoned banking professional with over 15 years of experience in leadership roles. Her expertise spans across revenue management, risk management, supply chain, and change management. Jane started her career at Zenith Bank as an Investment Officer, where she honed her skills. Throughout her career, she has held prominent positions at leading institutions like GTBank.
A skilled communicator, Jane excels at leading cross-functional teams. She is known for her ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and concisely, fostering a positive work environment, and mentoring young professionals. Beyond her professional achievements, Jane is passionate about education and social justice initiatives that empower marginalized communities
Julie Jonah
Program Manager
Julie is a seasoned project management professional with over seven years of experience in program and project management. She is a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) with extensive experience in Agile environments and is also a certified Salesforce professional, bringing a strong data-driven approach to her work.
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Julie is highly skilled in streamlining work processes and increasing organizational efficiency. Throughout her career, she has successfully collaborated with diverse cross-functional stakeholders both within and outside of her organization. Her passion lies in making a lasting impact on society, with a particular focus on empowering vulnerable populations to become their best selves. Julie is dedicated to driving meaningful change and using her expertise to create positive outcomes in the communities she serves.
Graham Edwards
Community and Partner Engagement Associate
Graham is a University of Waterloo alumni where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies. 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.
Tayo Adaran
Associate Director Of Funding
Tayo is dedicated to solving problems. In the world of higher education, this means deep diving into the challenges faced by our students and educators, seeking a root cause, establishing road-maps and monitoring and communicating progress. Tayo's experience is in project and account management, operations, implementations and customer service.
Modou Jatta
Digital Marketing Associate
Modou, is a self-motivated and growth-focused professional deeply passionate about marketing and social media management.
Cedric Daley
Director Of Funding
Cedric's entrepreneurial spirit keeps me active in the real estate market as a landlord, private mortgage lender and investor. I also spend time coaching basketball and speaking to young people who are at the point where they are trying to figure out what’s next and how to navigate the challenges ahead of them.
Coaches
Sharon Cain-Zeliger
Office Manager
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"!
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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 Lead
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.
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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.
Ajoa 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
Aileen Agada
Venture Coach
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.
Jeff Hylton
Mentor
A seasoned Supply Chain professional with over 15 years of experience specializing in demand, supply, production, logistics and distribution. Jeff'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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Kyle McKenzie
Mentor
Kyle McKenzie is a mentor at LiftOff By CCAWR.
Jerome Hylton
Mentor
Jerome Hylton is a mentor at LiftOff By CCAWR.
Francine Scott
Mentor
Francine Scott is a mentor at LiftOff By CCAWR.
Anjola Tunde-Ojo
Mentor
Anjola has spent the past decade advising and working with a variety of companies in the technology, SaaS, manufacturing and service sectors. She spent her initial years gaining experience in the audit and assurance departments at KPMG and Deloitte. She later worked as a Financial Controller for a startup that grew 80x in revenue in a year, raising a series A funding round in the process. She has worn multiple hats including finance and accounting, sales, marketing and operations; gaining a breadth of experience in multiple sectors of a business. She runs a boutique accounting firm that caters to growing businesses and would like to use her experience to help businesses set up financial structure and controls so they are primed for future growth.
Orville Brown
Mentor
Orville Brown the owner of Villa Financial Services, a tax and bookkeeping service provider in the local Kitchener area. Orville Brown has been a Tax Accountant for the last 3 years helping Canadians mitigate their tax liabilities while being compliant and offer professional services. In addition, Orville helps small businesses with bookkeeping services that sometimes get overlooked because it is such a time consuming task for business owners as they focus on growing their business. Orville Brown’s goal is to help the small businesses in my community save money on their taxes while providing guidance and professional advice.
Kemar Lawrence
Mentor
Creative and tenacious Product Specialist offering 16+ years’ success transforming insights into ideas and ideas into products across the financial and creative services industry. Combines experiences in advertising, UI/UX design, product strategy, and business development to bring multiple perspectives that challenge the status quo and set new standards. Kemar has his UX certification with Neilson Norman Group, the leader in the user experience field. Kemar runs Islandlegalwills.com, a service for people in the Caribbean to create their legally valid will online, and he owns Casa Bloom, a Boutique Hotel. Kemar spends his time as a Venture Coach with Conestoga College.
Andre Smith
Mentor
As an entrepreneur and real estate investor, Andre emerges as a visionary leader and committed problem solver. His fervor for pioneering innovation and crafting transformative solutions fuels his role as the Founder and CEO of Flip & Floss. Through this venture, he champions a mission to empower children with essential financial literacy skills, facilitating learning, savings, investment, and the disruption of generational cycles.
Dr. Karen Lowe
Mentor
Dr. Karen Lowe, a small business strategy expert with over 15 years of experience. Dr.Karen holds a Doctor of Business Administration, an MBA, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Studies. Founder of Dreamer 2 Creator Business Magazine and Epigram Consulting Services, she specializes in market research, business development, growth planning, marketing strategy, and operational efficiency, offering insights and solutions across various industries.
Alex Ade Adefemi
Mentor
Alex Ade Adefemi, popularly known as Coach Triple A, is a UK-certified Mind Empowerment Expert, Peak Performance Strategist, and Life Coach. Alex advises high-level CEOs and business leaders globally and is a certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner. As a Brand & Business Development Strategist and Management Consultant, Alex works with companies in North America, Europe, and Africa. An international speaker and media personality, Alex is also an entrepreneur and investor.
Lena Thibeh
Mentor
Lena is the CEO of SOUK Consulting and an accomplished sales leader with over a decade of experience in driving results.
She's an expert in relational selling with her career spanning across the world in multiple industries including: real estate, SaaS & the fitness industry.
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Daren James
Mentor
Daren James is a tech professional who immigrated from St. Lucia and lives in the Waterloo Region. He holds a Master of Technology Management, a bachelor’s degree, and several diplomas and certificates in education and technology. He has worked in different industries, such as manufacturing, automotive, education, and engineering. Daren is passionate about the community, philosophy and fostering environments where everyone can thrive and be their best version. His passion for community has led him to volunteer with several community organizations in the Waterloo Region.
Theophile Ossinga
Mentor
Theophile Ossinga is a seasoned project manager and strategic communications specialist who supports entrepreneurs in developing effective marketing and web strategies. His expertise includes managing complex projects from concept to execution, driving innovative digital solutions, and aligning strategy with impactful execution.
With a background in digital innovation and business development across various industries, Theophile helps entrepreneurs tell their stories and engage their target audiences effectively. His approach combines meticulous planning, creative problem-solving, and a deep understanding of strategic communications.
Passionate about inspiring and educating entrepreneurs, Theophile is dedicated to helping them achieve their business goals through powerful marketing and web strategies
Olabukonla Mise
Mentor
Olabukonla (Ola) Mise (She/Her) is the founder of The Successful Newcomer, a non-profit helping African newcomers settle and thrive in Canada. The organization fosters connection, learning, and resource-sharing to support immigrants in navigating their new environment. Ola, along with her husband Ayodeji, is passionate about building a strong community. She holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology, a Diploma in Marketing Communications, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Community and Social Service Management. Ola is also a non-profit consultant, learning designer, facilitator, and part-time professor.
Nik-Keisha Moodie
Mentor
Nikki Moodie, a Visionary Growth Coach and Consultant with a background in finance and business development. I have an Honours Bachelor's in Hospitality Operations Management from George Brown College and am currently pursuing a postgrad in Financial Planning.
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Nik-Keisha Moodie began her career in hospitality, where she developed key skills in problem-solving, conflict resolution, and leadership. In 2020, she founded Nik-Keisha Moodie Coaching & Development (NMCD) Inc., providing support to entrepreneurs in growing their businesses and managing finances.
Mthabisi Mhlanga
Mentor
Mthabisi, born and raised in Zimbabwe, has been passionate about public speaking since joining Toastmasters in 2018. Serving as VP Education, he has competed at various levels, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Championship of Public Speaking and winning first place among motivational speakers in Toronto.
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He delivers inspiring keynote speeches and leads public speaking workshops for individuals, groups, and corporate clients, helping people become more confident communicators. Mthabisi holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Simon Fraser University and is a CPA, with experience working for KPMG in Vancouver and Toronto.