Salima Stanley-Bhanji | CEO | she/her

Salima is a lawyer, advocate, filmmaker and mother. After leaving private legal practice in 2008, she spent over a decade in management roles in the not for profit sector, including as the Executive Director of Vibrant Calgary, a not for profit working in poverty reduction and advocacy; and as the General Counsel of the Calgary Homeless Foundation. 

Salima has produced/directed over 20 short films for Humainologie in three languages receiving a dozen awards and over 20 selections at film festivals worldwide. She is particularly passionate about elevating the voices of people who are underrepresented and have intersectional identities.

A Board Director and Secretary of the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee, Salima is also a Tedx YYC speaker and coach, co-founder of Calgary’s Annual Empathy Week, and the 2021 recipient of the Calgary Influential Women in Business Social Enterprise Award. In 2015, Salima hiked 1,200 kilometres from Geneva, Switzerland to Pamplona, Spain to raise awareness of the world’s displaced people. Salima has run several half marathons (including two barefoot) and a full marathon. She grew up in Australia, and has lived in India, New Zealand, Perú and Canada. Salima values empathy, creativity, accountability, self awareness and unknowingness. 

Ciermae Allen | Manager, Community + Events | she/her

Ciermae (pronounced sher-may) is a Bachelor of Management graduate from the University of Lethbridge. She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada with her family when she was a child. She has over a decade of experience in the retail industry and several years in management roles.

While in university, a professor inspired Ciermae to transfer her retail and management skills to the not-for-profit sector to fulfill her desire to help others and to help create change. Ciermae is passionate about centering intersectionality in social justice issues such as racial equity and feminism. Her deep empathy towards nonhuman animals, as well as her concerns about climate change, led her to a vegan lifestyle in 2016 and she hopes to inspire others to do the same. She feels grateful to play a part in spreading a mission that focuses on making the community, and the world as a whole, into a better place for all.

Richard Blais | Post Production Lead | he/him

Richard brings with him a passion for knowledge and understanding, and devotion to storytelling wherever he goes. He has been honing his craft as a professional Videographer in Calgary for years, starting with a diploma from SAIT in Television Production. With an early appetite for journalism, he began his ongoing work with CTV News Calgary nearly a decade ago as an Editor and Video Journalist. In this position, he recently won the revered RTDNA National and Regional Awards, and has been lucky enough to travel across this province and country to cover a variety of important stories.

In more recent years, his creative side and growing interest in social justice have led him to also pursue independent work including documentary filmmaking, wedding videography, commercials, music videos, and event coverage. Whether volunteering or filmmaking in Uganda, Nepal, or across Canada (so far), Richard’s driving fuel is his growing commitment to learning from all people and places, and giving voices to the voiceless to share their stories.