The W in TWCA: Getting to know the women behind Toronto Women’s City Alliance
As the newest member of the TWCA, I have had the pleasure of getting to know the women that make up this group for the past eight months. Since joining, I have learned that the TWCA is a group of inspiring individuals with many passions for many kinds of change in our world… Which may be exactly the type of people that you expected among TWCA membership.
But did you know that our team also includes a Reiki Master? A poet? A weight lifter? Did you know that we are connected to the arts? To urban planning? To health? Did you know that we travel the world, looking at transportation? Housing? Childcare? Parks? Gender equity?
Here’s your chance to get to know us! Read a bit about each member of the TWCA! And if you want to get to know us even better, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
KARA SANTOKIE
Director, TWCA | Joined TWCA: September 2013
What do you love about Toronto?
I love the multiculturalism- being able to have such a diverse cross-section of friends and, of course, a choice of any kind of food from all over the world!
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
The lack of an affordable connection between the airport and downtown! My heart bleeds whenever I think of the cost of the UP Express.
Where do you find inspiring women in Toronto?
Inspiring women are everywhere in Toronto, and I have really come to appreciate this even more through my work with TWCA. They don’t appear in magazines, but their strength of character is amazing.
What other cities should Toronto look to as models? Why?
No city is perfect, but we can get lessons about many different things in many different ways. For example, Vienna is great for incorporating women’s needs in urban planning. Boston has an office dedicated to advancing women’s equality and LA just created a Gender Equity Coalition to move the city to something similar. And as for the bee in my bonnet, NY, London, Bangkok and Singapore all have direct and affordable train connections between their airports and downtown!
If you could be an extra in any movie, which would you choose?
Either Clash of the Titans (the old one from the early 1980s with Perseus & Medusa) or anything with Hugh Jackman.
What was your most recent Google search?
Articles related to the recent new City Manager appointment in Toronto.
Who is your most influential role model?
I don’t have any one in particular, but great teachers who can get across complex ideas in simple and beautiful ways always inspire me. Pema Chodron comes to mind for Buddhist philosophy, and my cello teacher inspires me every week!
SONJA GRECKOL
Writer, poet, lecturer, previously Equity and Diversity consultant | Founding member of TWCA
What was your motivation for founding the TWCA?
I was alarmed by the demise of the Status of Women Committee because it left women without an official channel and access to city hall.
What do you love about Toronto?
I love the neighbourhoods and the increasing density in the old city.
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
I find the absence of cycling infrastructure, the absence of affordable housing particularly embarrassing. That we are still stuck in car culture is appalling.
What do you tell people to do, or where do you take people, when they visit Toronto?
I suggest a day pass on the TTC and direct them to neighbourhoods.
If you could be an extra in any movie, which would you choose?
Orlando
What was your most recent Google search?
Looked for dates for this exhibition in Montreal.
JESSICA MUSTACHI
Safety Program Coordinator, METRAC | Joined TWCA: April 2011
What do you love about Toronto?
I love being able to be surrounded by people from different places in the world and different cultural backgrounds. Also there is some amazing restaurants and we are lucky to have so many places to go see live music of many different genres everyday of the week somewhere in the city.
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
I think we need to look at the widening gap between the income of people and the increasing number of people being forced to live in poverty, in substandard housing and not having access to healthy food and safe and affordable transit.
What do you tell people to do, or where do you take people, when they visit Toronto?
The islands, certain restaurants, and go check out some live music.
Where do you find inspiring women in Toronto?
There are so many inspiring women in communities across the city that are holding their communities together by hosting after-school programs, walking children to school and providing support for people in their communities, with little or no support. Also all of the women I have met who have been involved with TWCA and many women in the art and non-profit sector in Toronto are also greatly inspiring.
Provide one awesome and surprising fact about yourself.
I have travelled to 32 countries.
What was your most recent Google search?
soundcloud
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A dance teacher.
REGGIE MODLICH
Retired Urban Planner | Founding member of TWCA
What was your motivation for founding the TWCA?
Ever since having children in the 70’s I realized how out of whack our built environment was with the care giving and domestic roles still inequitably shouldered by women – a challenge that has preoccupied me ever since.
What do you love about Toronto?
The older neighbourhoods, main streets, the women in TWCA, my home and the fact that my family is also living in the City
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
Homelessness, cost of housing, police shooting of racialized or stressed out young men, inadequate social infrastructure to assist marginalized groups, the overwhelming high rises and condos that are not made to contribute to meet affordable housing needs, social and physical infrastructure needs of the city.
Provide one awesome and surprising fact about yourself.
I like drawing and playing the violin
What are five words to describe yourself?
feminist, anti-capitalist, atheist, activist, old
Who is your most influential role model?
Haidee Santa Maria (Cuban Feminist Revolutionary)
SEHR ATHAR
Research Coordinator, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services | Joined TWCA: 2012
What was your motivation for joining the TWCA?
I read Communities in which women count: Women’s Equality Report Card (2010) and it dawned on me that this might be one of the only groups looking to ensure diverse women’s voices are heard at City Hall, and City Services are planned taking gender into consideration. This is one of the few groups looking at the intersection between gender, race, urban planning and municipal politics. It’s really important to have that voice. When I learned about some of the founding members, I was really impressed with that work that they had done throughout the years.
What do you love about Toronto?
I love Toronto! I used to have a blog with a friend, I love it that much…The blog had a small readership, mostly our friends.
I love Toronto because it’s a city of neighbourhoods. I love that it’s fairly progressive; I turn on Metro Morning and hear critical coverage of issues like racial profiling to public and interactive art projects. Everyone says it, but I love Toronto’s diversity. I love that in the last 10 years, its food, arts and culture scene has thrived largely because of this diversity….that festivals like Manifesto have taken off…and that our social fabric positions us well to explore identity politics and critically examine what democratic engagement, access and political representation look like and really should look like.
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
The fact that we have done little with access to our Waterfront. (Think Montreal, Chicago!)
The dearth of commercial/business hubs within neighbourhoods as you move outside of the downtown core.
The lack of diversity at City Hall, especially the alarmingly low number of female City Councillors!
“Toronto would be amazing if…”
we went back to the vision and principles that accompanied the pre-amalgamation era.
Provide one awesome and surprising fact about yourself.
I’m a Reiki Master!
MEGHAN JOY
PhD Candidate in Policy Studies at Ryerson University | Joined TWCA: June 2010
What do you love about Toronto?
I see Toronto’s potential to act as a welcoming and vibrant place that coalesces people with diverse backgrounds and creates a space for them to find themselves through various activities and outlets – socio-political engagement, dance, poetry, art, music, sports, etc. We need to find ways of supporting this for everyone.
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
I am ashamed by the lack of affordable and accessible housing and public transit in Toronto. Without these basic necessities, it is much more difficult for people who are already marginalized to participate in the life of the city. This is morally wrong and will slowly kill Toronto’s vibrancy.
What do you tell people to do, or where do you take people, when they visit Toronto?
It depends on the person, and this speaks to my point about Toronto’s vibrancy. My usual list includes: Kensington Market, St. Lawrence Market, my favorite Ethiopian restaurant on College, Queen West/Parkdale/Roncy, the AGO, any of the awesome parks (particularly High Park, Trinity Bellwoods, Christie Pitts, and Dufferin Grove), the Ravines (especially the hike to the farmer’s market at Evergreen Brick Works).
What other cities should Toronto look to as models? Why?
Cities that have affordable, accessible, well-planned public transit (Hong Kong), housing (Amsterdam), and childcare (Stockholm). Vienna gets major bonus points for adopting gender mainstreaming in their planning.
If you could be an extra in any movie, which would you choose?
Pitch Perfect. I love to sing and dance!
Provide one awesome and surprising fact about yourself.
I love weight lifting. I can deadlift and squat well above my body weight!
KAYLEN FREDRICKSON
E-Learning Coordinator, Springtide Resources; Research and Evaluation Consultant | Joined TWCA: January, 2015
What motivated you to join TWCA?
I met Kara Santokie, TWCA’s Director, in the fall of 2014. Kara handed me a stack of TWCA brochures and told me I should join TWCA. On our way home from the event, Kara and I laughed as we rode the Scarborough RT: It was my first time taking that line and I could not believe how noisy it was! We discovered we lived close together and, later, we met for coffee in our neighbourhood. It was a pretty convincing recruitment strategy.
What do you love about Toronto?
The people! I’ve met so many great people here, and many of my old friends from other parts of the country are here now too.
I also love the fact that I don’t have to own a car. Hooray for walking through interesting neighbourhoods for many hours a day!
What do you find embarrassing about Toronto?
Some of the outdated parts of our transit system embarrass me. Why don’t we have time-based transfers? Why do we have transit enforcement officers dressed like police officers, with bullet proof vests? How are tourists supposed to figure out that they probably DON’T want to get on that expensive train from the airport, that isn’t part of the TTC, but instead get on an ill-organized bus?
I also get embarrassed by oppression in this city. Racism, homelessness, violence, and poverty are hard to stomach.
And, this city is pretty starved for access to nature. Why do we keep planting trees in tiny boxes where we know they won’t grow, leaving stumps in concrete along sections of major city streets? And what the hell happened to Toronto’s waterfront?
Where do you find inspiring women in Toronto?
Through my friends ! My inspiring friends know so many other inspiring friends!
