Dr. Glynnis Lieb (she/her) is the Executive Director of Fyrefly, housed in the Faculty of Education. She identifies as a 2SLGBTQIA+ community member. Dr. Lieb holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba, and has received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Award (2022) for her activism for 2SLGBTQIA+ rights. Prior to her role at Fyrefly, Dr. Lieb served in a number of direct social service provision roles, as well as with Alberta Federation of Labour.

The Fyrefly Institute for Gender and Sexual Diversity is a non-profit organization and research institute housed in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. Fyrefly provides programs and services to support the 2SLGBTQ+ community and its allies. Our work also involves partnerships with organizations such the Calgary Centre for Sexuality, Boyle Street Community Services, and the Pride Centre of Edmonton to provide direct services, including crisis intervention, mental health supports, and 2SLGBTQ+ education.

Gin Marshall (they/he) is the Project Manager for the 2SLGBTQI+ Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub at the University of Alberta, which supports 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurs—especially those from intersectional, Francophone, rural, and northern backgrounds—by advancing business practices, resources, and research. Gin co-founded a Small Business Support organization in the 1990s and has held roles such as Conference Organizer and Treasurer of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health and co-chair of York University’s SexGen Committee. A PhD student in Social Work at York, Gin researches allyship and queer/trans cultural production through an intersectional, anti-racist, feminist lens, blending 20+ years in IT with social justice work.

Jared Wesley is Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), a professor of political science, and member of the Black Faculty Collective at the University of Alberta. He leads the Common Ground research team, which is examining the intersection of public opinion, political culture, and public policy in Western Canada. He has co-authored two leading textbooks in Canadian politics and public administration.

Randy is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. At the graduate level, he teaches in the area of adult and higher education in the Faculty of Education, in Health Sciences, and law and ethics for teachers at the undergraduate level. As a researcher, Randy works alongside marginalized communities including Indigenous, international, and gender diverse educators. He is also affiliated with the Fyrefly Institute for Gender and Sexual Diversity and with the Centre for Research in Teacher Education both at the University of Alberta.

Gillian Robinson was a French Immersion Junior High and High School classroom teacher for many years in the metro Edmonton area. During this time, she loved welcoming pre-service teachers into her classroom. Now, as an Assistant Professor at Campus Saint-Jean, she brings the same practical strategies for teacher education into her University courses and research focus. Her research focuses on the ways in which institutions, and especially schools, manage equity initiatives in daily practice. She studies how inclusive policy and student belonging become spaces of negotiation in educational contexts. Her experience as a classroom teacher informs her research methodology, through trying to understand the ways in which well-meaning educators can sometimes entrench settler colonial ideologies in praxis in ways that reproduce exclusion. Centering the work of Indigenous feminist theorists in her analysis and using a critical Foucauldian lens, her scholarship highlights the maintenance of hierarchies and institutional whiteness in schools, and provides pathways for educators to resist said reproduction.

I am a scholar at the University of Alberta focusing on education policy, student service professionals, equity in post-secondary education, and multiple ways of knowing and learning. I have extensive experience with professional writing and editing, and have centered my career around post-secondary student support to facilitate fulsome adult student success.

Yasmine Abdel Razek (she/her) is the Communications and Events Coordinator at the Fyrefly Institute. Her work entails managing the Institute's communication channels and organizing University of Alberta's Pride Week and the Institute's annual Mayor's Pride Brunch. Besides her role at the Institute, she is currently a Master of Arts Student in Gender and Social Justice at the University of Alberta. In 2021, she completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Psychology at the University of Alberta. Yasmine's interests include social justice, activism, media, and art, which are all areas that she engages in through her work and that are informed by her identity as a QTBIPOC individual.

Conroy is a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, researching how stigma functions as both a barrier and a catalyst in entrepreneurship. His work explores how stigma shapes entrepreneurial strategies, fosters resilience, and redefines success, while also examining its role in the journey toward entrepreneurial emancipation and identity construction. Through this lens, he seeks to deepen the understanding of marginalized groups' experiences in business and society. Originally from Jamaica, Conroy migrated to Canada in 2013 as a temporary foreign worker, spending four years working at Tim Hortons. He later pursued higher education at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration, and in 2023, he completed a Master of Business Administration at Thompson Rivers University. Throughout his academic and professional journey, he has gained experience in both banking and retail management. In addition to his research, Conroy is the event director and founder of the Edmonton Drag Festival and the Edmonton Jerk Festival, as well as the owner of Fula-Flava Ltd. "Be the best you, and know that you are good enough. Love yourself."

Kathryn Last (she/her) is an abstract painter, mental health advocate, writer, educator, and PhD candidate at Trent University. Her research explores trauma, embodiment, and artmaking through critical theory, new materialism, and community-based methodologies. Holding an M.A. in Cultural Studies, she examined the challenges of representing grief through art. A long-time educator and active member of the Trent Arts Research Group, she has co-chaired panels in sociology, phenomenology, comparative literature, and social work. She is also a content creator who strives to make creativity and research more accessible, engaging audiences with care and authenticity. Kathryn is excited to be part of the REKH-CSEA team.

Grayson Dart is currently a student at the University of Calgary and an Army Reservist. His academic focus is in finance, but his studies have also broadly included social sciences, particularly political science, alongside his participation in Model UN, where he serves as president of the UCalgary Model UN Club. At REKH, he supports senior team members as needed, with a recent primary focus on archival research.

Dr. Michael Lounsbury (he/him) is A. F. (Chip) Collins Chair and Professor in the Alberta School of Business. He is the Academic Director of the eHub Entrepreneurship Centre, and Chair of the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Management. Dr. Lounsbury is Fellow of the Academy of Management, and has been named by Stanford University and Elsevier to be among the top 2% of all international scientists.

As the University of Alberta’s Entrepreneurship Centre, eHUB provides students with collaborative and interdisciplinary educational opportunities to enhance the entrepreneurial skills, capacities and impact of our youth, thus enabling Alberta’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems to grow and flourish.

Micah Rajunov is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta's School of Business. Micah's research explores how social and technological disruptions are redefining our understandings of work, and how these challenges shape our professional identities. Micah holds a PhD from Boston University, and has experience working in both entrepreneurial startups and trans health advocacy.

Leanne Hedberg is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MacEwan University and a Canada Research Chair for Inclusive Entrepreneurship. Dr. Hedberg's international research focuses on social innovations including cross-sector collaborations and inclusive entrepreneurship and has been published in regional and international journals including Administrative Sciences Quarterly (ASQ), Organizational Science, Research on the Sociology of Organizations, Canada Food Studies, Ivey Case Publishing, WDI, Wisconsin Medical Journal, Human Resources Management Review and the Employee Commitment Handbook. Dr. Hedberg co-leads an international learning community of ethnographic scholars in organizational studies and is currently conducting community- based research on a cross-sector collaboration for a metropolitan entrepreneurship ecosystem with the vision of creating a more inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Anne-José Villeneuve (She/her) is an associate professor of French linguistics at Campus Saint-Jean and associate professor at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Alberta, where she directs theEspaceLiFT (Linguistic Space for a Francophonie in Transformation). Her research in sociolinguistics focuses on linguistic variation and change, bilingualism, language contact and language teaching. Through her research, teaching and service to diverse communities, she seeks to demystify the connections between language, diversity and equity.

Seon Yuzyk is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in political science at the University of Alberta, specializing in Canadian politics, political theory, and racial capitalism. Yuzyk's research explores systemic racism, economic inequality, Black Queer radical traditions and climate colonialism. Yuzyk publishes articles on Substack, addressing race, economy, and environmental justice to drive change and is the Research Lead for the Emancipatory Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub qualitative segment, supporting 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs. He is also Associate Director for the Black Youth for Social Innovation Program, where he trains the next generation of Black social scientists.

Adriana Davis (she/her), MEd, is a queer, cisgender settler located on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton, AB. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Counselling Psychology at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include climate justice, social justice, environmentalism, hope, and 2SLGBTQIA+ mental health and wellbeing.

Maobi is a recent graduate from the University of Alberta, holding degrees in Psychology and Economics along with a certificate in Applied Social Science Research. She is deeply passionate about promoting diversity, amplifying marginalized voices, and fostering social change. As a member of the Rainbow Hub, Maobi contributes as a research assistant on the "Emancipatory Entrepreneurship: 2SLGBTQIA project" where she works to identify current patterns in entrepreneurship and contribute to expanding opportunities for queer business starters.

Sylvie Mazerolle (she/they) is a queer feminist educator, entrepreneur, and award-winning dance artist. For over a decade, she has disrupted colonial and ableist norms in education—as a school principal, and teaching arts, social studies, and language arts in both English and French, while cultivating schools rooted in radical care, equity, and artistic expression on the unceded territories now called Nelson, BC. She currently teaches at Queen’s University and co-leads l’agence Osa Consulting, advancing decolonial leadership and systemic transformation. They are a certified Compassionate Systems Leadership Master Practitioner (MIT, 2022) and SSHRC award recipient (UBC, 2019). Sylvie is delighted to be part of the REKH-CSEA team!

Krystal has recently graduated from Concordia University of Edmonton with a degree in Psychology from the Applied Emphasis program. Her work has primarily focused on children and she is excited to bring voices forward that have historically been silenced. Throughout her work with the Rainbow Hub, Krystal will be operating as a research assistant along with some French language support to help make the work accessible to all around the Country. She is excited to be part of this project and is looking forward to the opportunity to learn as part of this wonderful team.

Yasmine is a third-year Political Science student with a minor in Law and Society at the University of Calgary. Her favourite activity is café hopping while trying out new study spots! Currently, she works as a research assistant at the Rainbow Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (REKH)