Cole Gately
I am an experienced adult educator with a proven track record of successfully engaging individuals from various backgrounds. After working for 13 years as Street Outreach Coordinator in Hamilton’s homelessness and housing sector, I pivoted in 2012 to develop and run an education program for frontline workers serving people experiencing homelessness. More recently, I was Diversity and Inclusion Facilitator at the City of Hamilton focused on educating municipal employees on their responsibilities related to trans inclusion. In 2010, I graduated from OISE/UT with an MA in Adult Education and Community Development where I focused my studies on issues of inclusion and representation along the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality.
Associates
Jody Boston is a therapeutic clown practitioner with Red Nose Remedy, working in pediatric and geriatric healthcare. She directs Under the Willows, an outdoor arts, garden, and play program at a pediatric mental health facility. She is an arts educator with Theatre Aquarius, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, and a frequent guest artist at McMaster University. Jody performs in a variety of theatrical and comedic works.
Grace Diffey is an award-winning and accomplished senior communications leader, and brings more than 30 years of corporate and non-profit communications and consulting experience to Intersecting.
Her work has centered on developing and executing integrated communication strategies, guiding cross-functional leadership, and fostering inclusive, equity-driven cultures, using research as the starting point.
Wil Prakash Fujarczuk is an enthusiastic educator guided by intersectional feminism, anti-oppression, and critical pedagogy, with several years' experience working in health promotion; equity, diversity, and inclusion; and sexual violence prevention in higher education. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in educational research, focused on governance, leadership, and policy relating to sexual violence in higher education.
He has held leadership positions in local, provincial, and national associations, including the City of Hamilton's LGBTQ Advisory Committee, and the Ontario University Sexual Violence Network. He is the recipient of multiple leadership awards, including the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Discrimination and Harassment in Higher Education’s 2023 Emerging Leadership Award, and the 2024 Courage to Act Campus Educator Award.
Wil is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (200 hours) with Yoga Alliance, a qualified safeTALK (suicide alertness) trainer with LivingWorks, and a certified hike leader with Hike Ontario.
Michele Markowski (she/her) has 10+ years experience providing service to marginalized communities across a variety of sectors in Hamilton, Ontario. Most notably within her career thus far, Michele has provided mentorship and support to youth, trauma-informed care to women experiencing homelessness, and engaged in mobile support for those with significant mental health needs.
Michele presently provides leadership within a feminist organization that prioritizes gender equity, reducing barriers, and providing harm-reduction services to women and gender-diverse people. She works to strengthen inclusion and equity, mentor staff teams in low-barrier and trauma-informed practices, and build connections to increase safety for Hamilton's most vulnerable members.
Dr. Penny Rabiger was a teacher for over a decade and has been working with education and other public sector organizations, charities, social enterprises, and businesses since 2007, supporting their growth, development and equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Penny has a portfolio of partnerships delivering workshops, courses, and keynotes. She is involved in grassroots organizing around social justice and racial equity issues. She is Lead Coach on the Anti-Racist School Award Programme with Leeds Beckett University in the UK where she also completed her PhD in 2025 with a thesis titled Unlearning Structural Racism in a School Context.
Darina Vasek has been a social worker in clinical practice for 25 years, specializing in trauma and gender-based violence. She has worked with clients of all ages and backgrounds in community agencies, primary health care, and hospital settings. She has been involved in numerous community initiatives to improve the system’s response to gender-based violence, develop trauma-informed services for people with disabilities, and advocate for systemic change. In her consulting work, Darina provides trauma- and violence-informed care workshops to social service agencies. She is also a part-time instructor in Community Engagement and Social Work at McMaster University.
Dr. Clare Warner (she/her) is an anti-racist educator and researcher with 20 years’ experience leading equity-focused work. She has worked across the education sector as a teacher, teacher-trainer, and consultant. She has expertise in providing strategic advice and guidance on building, strengthening, and evaluating inclusive programming, environments, policies, and processes. Grounded in critical pedagogy and intersectional frameworks, her approach to organizational transformation is driven by a commitment to evolving new ways of thinking and doing to secure better outcomes for all. Clare is co-founder of Colourful Conversations, an anti-racism reading group for women in Hamilton. She holds a PhD in Educational studies from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Kuanyun Wang is a community organizer, anti-colonial feminist activist, researcher, and journalist. Her work explores how digital cultural production and technology shape diasporic identities and subjectivities, focusing on Palestinian communities in Canada. She is the mother of two amazing Taiwanese-Palestinian children and finds joy in writing Chinese calligraphy and sipping bubble tea.
Oct 30: Trans Inclusion 101
Join us online to learn about human identity, focusing on sex, gender, attraction, and the difference. Define key terms, and learn why labels are limiting. Learn how to become an ally.
$75 CAD/person
Oct 30, 2025, 10 a.m. ET, via Zoom