Sherry Larjani is an experienced real estate developer and entrepreneur, with a focus on creating beautifully designed spaces that bring her visions to life. Sherry began her career working as a designer at a luxury architecture firm in Toronto and quickly progressed into building new single-home builds and renovation jobs. In 2010, Sherry created Spotlight Developments, specializing in the acquisition of properties for redevelopment into high density residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects. An advocate for collaboration, she champions inclusivity and teamwork as a foundation for a successful approach towards real estate development. In 2019, Sherry partnered with Urban Capital to create Reina, a project with Canada’s first all-female development team to raise awareness of gender inequality in the industry and the many roles women can play. In recent years, Sherry has completed numerous projects and partnered with many major developers including Liberty Development, Urban Capital, and others, continuing her life-long legacy in the real estate industry.
erin June 11th, 2022
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Yiwen is an Urban Designer with extensive experience in Europe, Asia and North America. Trained as an architect, she uses a systematic approach to understand urban complexity, and brings thoughtful consideration to each project with clear design ideas bridging theory, policy and the pragmatics of technical details. She works with multi-disciplinary teams on a broad range of urban projects, including waterfront development, commercial site redevelopment, urban mixed use community master planning and campus planning. Yiwen is a design lead on Urban Strategies’ various local and international projects. She was the project manager on a 97ha award winning public housing community master plan in Singapore, Bidadari Estates. She led a multi-diciplinary team winning an urban design competition for a city centre master plan near Shenzhen, China, setting up a framework for a new city to accommodate 2million projected population in the next 20 years. She also worked on a Historical Downtown Revitalization Plan for Ningbo – a major port city in Yangtze Delta Region. In the United States, she played a key role in the 2018 Campus Master Plan for Princeton University. She is currently working as a project manager and lead designer on University of Virginia Grounds Framework Plan. In Canada she is the lead urban designer providing a vision and development framework for Pinewood Film Studio in Toronto. She is currently working on several community design concepts
for various sites across GTA and in Ottawa. She has also participated a number of large-scale developement application projects, including 2150- 2194 Lake Shore Boulevard (former Christie’s Cookie Factory Site), Canada Square, and the RioCan Colossus Centre Site. Yiwen is currently a member of the Design Review Panel for Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
erin June 7th, 2022
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Sydney Browne is passionate about design and in particular its ability to affect positive social change and foster well-being where we live, work and learn. Through her 30+ years as an architect, Sydney has made significant design contributions to building thriving academic, cultural and healthcare facilities across the GTA. Over two decades with Diamond Schmitt, Sydney has risen to become a principal and one of the firm’s leading experts in community, academic and healthcare facilities, participating in the design and renewal of such complex buildings as Women’s College Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital, and more recently Michael Garron Hospital. The Just for Kids Clinic at St. Joseph’s Health Centre was awarded an international CODA award for integration of art within architecture, creating a delightful environment for some of West Toronto’s youngest patients. Sydney’s contributions to the public realm extend beyond healthcare, helping to foster civic well-being across the region. Sydney joined DSA to work on the Four Seasons Centre and was a key contributor to renewal of the Ontario Science Centre and North York Public Library. Her Oshawa UOIT Library received awards in 2006 from the American Library Association for the best North American academic library, as well the Society of College and University Planning highest award for sustainable innovative campus design. The Centennial College Library/Academic Building received the OAA Design Award for best project of the year. Through thoughtful and informed design, Sydney’s projects build community, creating innovative space for learning, well-being, and engagement within the city.
erin June 7th, 2022
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Sue Jean Chung graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Toronto. She is a founding principal of Studio JCI, an innovative multidisciplinary practice focused on residential and urban-scale mixed-use developments.
She holds a belief that successful city building requires both contextually sensitive architectural design at the macro scale and careful micro-level execution to ensure the quality of the spaces created, while also promoting well-being and functionality. Sue Jean’s rigour and commitment are essential to the success of the many projects she leads at Studio JCI, and she has contributed to over 7000 residential suites in the Greater Toronto and Greater Golden Horseshoe areas.
Showing strong leadership skills, she has successfully navigated her clientele through initial feasibility studies through to project close-out, with a keen awareness of understanding construction methodologies and industry standards to ensure the initial design concepts are carried through to project completion.
In addition, Sue Jean makes an active impact through her commitment to several community organizations. She is a member of the Advisory Board for BEA Toronto (Building Equality In Architecture) and uses her experience and position to encourage equality and diversity within the industry and beyond. In 2022, she was inducted as a member of the WLI Championship team, an award spotlighting influential women who exhibit leadership in real estate development, land use and city-building. In 2026, Studio JCI was named one of Canada’s Top Growing Women-Led Companies by the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business magazine.
erin June 7th, 2022
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Rosemarie Powell is a passionate advocate for social, economic, and environmental justice. Throughout her career, she has advanced equitable approaches to policy development and implementation at various levels of government as it relates to land use planning, infrastructure investment and urban development. She has led for over 20 years from the grassroots up, managing and developing several innovative and impactful community programs and services to support under-represented group’s access to the labour market. Her community engagement and environmental advocacy work earned several awards for leadership and imagination. Over the past four years as the Executive Director of the Toronto Community Benefits Network
(TCBN), a non-profit community-labour coalition representing over 120-member community organizations and groups, unions, and social enterprises. Rosemarie has grown the community benefits movement and strengthened the coalition to create good jobs and opportunities through government investment in infrastructure and urban development for Black, Indigenous, and racialized peoples with a focus on those who are youth, women, and newcomers. Rosemarie built on TCBN’s initial success in negotiating Ontario’s first Community Benefits Framework for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT and led the coalition through subsequent campaigns to secure community benefits for the Finch West LRT, West Park Healthcare Centre and Rexdale
Woodbine Casino expansion. In the process, she has built strong partnerships with community, labour, government, and industry partners to address systemic barriers and increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the construction industry. Learn more and join the TCBN’s efforts to strengthen the City of Toronto’s Community Benefits Framework.
erin June 7th, 2022
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Michelle Senayah was a committed, passionate and thoughtful city-builder. In her impactful career, cut too short by her sudden passing in June 2021, Michelle helped create Open Streets TO and was the founder of The Laneway Project (TLP). Both ideas were the result of following her passion for improving and expanding public spaces in Toronto. Michelle found an area in our urban landscape, our extensive network of public laneways, that was vastly under-recognized and underutilized and set about ensuring that the City, residents and developers took notice of these laneways and included them in their planning. She did this by always including the maximum possible community involvement so that completed Laneway improvement projects fully reflected the desires of local neighbourhood residents and businesses. This involvement created local community buy-in, ownership & pride in what they, with TLP’s guidance, had collectively achieved. Michelle’s work was getting noticed by others outside of the GTA and she was often asked to provide insights and guidance to other communities and
municipalities. No one else took such an interest or developed such a high level of expertise in laneways, as Michelle. In addition to launching and running TLP since 2014, starting in 2013, Michelle also helped create and manage Open Streets TO, the city’s largest freerecreation program uniquely focused on promoting physical activity and exploring our city in fun and healthy ways. The precedent set by this popular program went on to inform the hugely important ActiveTO program that launched during the pandemic to provide car-free large open roadway spaces to help keep people active and healthy when all indoor facilities were closed.
Through dedication and perseverance Michelle demonstrated how a small start-up non-profit group could be the catalyst needed to make changes and improvements in community open spaces. Michelle’s work with TLP became widely recognised by City of Toronto staff and Councillors, and both would refer to the TLP team for advice on the improvement of laneway spaces. She assisted with the drafting of City policy on laneways in the Official Plan, and brought laneways into the realm of eligibility for funding made available through Section 37 development contributions. Michelle was a wonderful and positive mentor to TLP staff and project volunteers who were always shown appreciation for their contributions to TLP projects. Regardless of how challenging a site, situation or area was, Michelle always thoughtfully set out to create a plan that ensured all parties or stakeholders were involved and could provide feedback. Her passion and professionalism was effortlessly exuded in her work.
In addition to all the ways her joyful energy and dedication to community led city-building positively impacted and inspired so many friends and colleagues, Michelle showed true leadership in moving The Laneway Project from the early conceptual stage of ‘improving laneways’, through to the successful establishment of an influential organisation that is widely recognised as the leader in the space. In addition to launching and running TLP since 2014, starting in 2013, Michelle also helped create and manage Open Streets TO, the city’s largest free-recreation program uniquely focused on promoting physical activity and exploring our city in fun and healthy ways. The precedent set by this popular program went on to inform the hugely important ActiveTO program that launched during the pandemic to provide car-free large open roadway spaces to help keep people active and healthy when all indoor facilities were closed. Looking forward, there is a lot of excitement and policy change, at the City level, occurring around public space & laneways (i.e. laneway housing/garden suites, City grant programs acknowledging and approving laneway + back of lot improvements). Michelle played a big role in getting us to this stage, and her family, friends and colleagues will strive to honour her legacy, and carry on with her important work
erin June 7th, 2022
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Krystal Koo is Dream’s Head of Sales and Marketing. She manages all marketing, communications, and community impact initiatives for the company and its public entities. Krystal has significant experience across marketing and product/design development, branding, public relations, strategic planning, organizational design and innovation. She is a dynamic leader, having lead national marketing teams and has strong cultural competence. Specializing in developing master-planned communities for over 14 years, Krystal brings a global perspective to every aspect of her work and believes that Canada deserves to be recognised on an international stage. She has attracted global leaders in architecture, interior design, and marketing to work on local projects that will leave a lasting impression on city skylines across the country. Born and raised in Scarborough, Krystal is always true to her roots, building inclusive communities is of the outmost importance to her. Her continuous community involvement is a testament to that commitment. She regularly seeks to support and empower local and emerging talent who have impactful initiatives. Krystal is very involved in the local arts community and actively finds ways to integrate local artisans throughout Dream’s marketing campaigns and communities. Krystal has long lasting relationships working with private sector, government, and not-for-profit sectors to deliver the best communities for residents. She has the honour of being involved with multiple community organizations. More recently, Krystal was selected Chairwoman for the Dream Community Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the well-being of individuals, families, and neighbourhoods across Canada.
erin June 7th, 2022
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Jennifer Mallard is a Principal at Diamond Schmitt with over 30 years of experience in the design of public buildings, performing arts centres, libraries and educational institutions. She collaboratively manages complex projects and is skilled at driving large, specialized teams towards a focused common goal. Her approach positions clients at the centre of a process that is fuelled with energy, commitment and enthusiasm, carefully considering all architectural and societal programmatic objectives in order to manifest each clients’ vision into built reality. She understands that good results come from strategic decisions, maintaining design goals and balancing budget and schedule, with her professional leadership and expertise spanning the entire architectural process— from design to construction. Jennifer’s leadership role also extends beyond her projects and into the architecture community, dedicating her time to mentor OAA architecture interns, as well as student architects and young design professionals through the BAIDA (Black Architects and Interior Designers Association) and NOMAS (National Organization of Minority Architecture Students). Additionally, she is a member of Diamond Schmitt’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, furthering opportunities for inclusion at the firm. Jennifer’s work has received numerous international accolades, including three Civic Trust Awards: for the Daniels Spectrum Arts and Culture Centre in Toronto, the National Arts Centre and Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa, exemplifying her ability to envision architecture as
a conduit for positive change on the social, cultural and economic vitality of a community.
erin June 7th, 2022
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Jennifer Khan is the Vice President of Inclusive Diversity, People and Culture at EllisDon. Khan is a passionate, driven, inclusive leader that values different perspectives, collaboration and great listening skills. She is known for her ability to identify and implement effective change management strategies that align with organizational values to get results. She began her work in equity and social justice in 2019 as the Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion committee at EllisDon, and has served on the Urban Land Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee since 2020. She also serves as a Board Member for Build A Dream, participates in the Construction Association of Canada (CCA) anti-racism working group, and in discussions to advise government agencies on effective anti-racism and inclusion strategies. Khan is guided by her core values that include family, kindness and creating connections to people and ideas. She has a reputation for operating with a people-first philosophy, acting with purpose, and challenging the status quo. Khan is also a mother of two boys and when she’s not working, you can find her travelling, hiking, or playing the most recent Pokemon Nintendo Switch games with her boys.
erin June 7th, 2022
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An award-winning architect with over 25 years of experience, Jay is recognized for thought leadership and design excellence in institutional architecture of varied scales in Canada and overseas. Currently a Design Lead in Arcadis’ Global Education Practice, Jay leads the design, strategic thinking, and planning for education projects, and engages meaningfully with clients, stakeholders and authorities to define and implement the strategic vision of the project through place-centric design. Her most prominent projects in the City of Toronto include the Student Centre at York University, the Jane Sheppard Public Library and the addition and renovation at Credit Valley Hospital. She has experience in both design and project management for new and existing structures of varied typologies, scales, and complexity. Over the past five years she has conducted a longitudinal design research project on the future of campus through extensive interviews with faculty, students and staff at institutions across the globe. This ongoing research has been published extensively and made her a frequent speaker advancing thought-leadership and campus design. Her recent advocacy has also led her engage actively with Equity, Diversity and Inclusion groups at Arcadis, ULI Toronto and the Textile Museum. She is deeply engaged in the arts and design community at the Textile Museum and Royal Ontario Museum, and as a frequent guest critic and lecturer at design schools.
erin June 7th, 2022
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