COCo Staff
Naïma Phillips
Naïma Phillips joined COCo in April 2021 as the Funding and Partnerships Coordinator. Naïma brought to her role over 15 years of experience in the cultural and nonprofit sector -- as a Director of Partnerships, artistic director, writer, collaborator, and board president. Naïma joined COCo during a period of significant challenges, and within only a few months was playing an essential role in collective governance and long-term planning. Naïma is a strategic thinker and a master communicator, able to facilitate meaningful conversations and decision-making around complex issues. As Funding and Partnerships Coordinator, Naïma has maintained and deepened COCo’s existing partnerships, and brought in significant new funding. She has done so with an unwavering commitment to grounding COCo’s fundraising strategy in the principles of anti-oppression, and to centering staff safety and wellbeing.
Janie Janvier
Janie has more than 10 years of experience in the community sector where she has served in diverse roles including project evaluation and management, training development and facilitation, documentation and communication of results, and collective mobilization around collaborative projects.
A UQAM graduate with a Bachelor’s in Communications with a specialization in Television, Janie relates first and foremost to our common humanity. Janie believes that the perspective of every person is essential, as it is their experiences that often illuminate the path towards solutions. Tempered by her experience working for citizen participation organizations and a Montreal neighbourhood roundtable, she is passionate about governance, transforming the practices of organizations going through change, and working together to explore different collaborative postures with confidence.
Stella Scupal-Hassani
Stella works at COCo as the ateliers/C coordinator. Since the beginning of her career, her professional commitment has been to contribute to the inclusion of discriminated groups and to foster equal opportunities.
In this perspective, she has worked as a project manager in vocational programs for youth and then as a project manager in career mentorship for youth and adults. After her arrival in Quebec, she joined an organization that welcomes and integrates immigrants as an employment counsellor, helping to give tools and support newcomers in their professional integration. It is with the strength of these various experiences, and her desire to commit herself to women, that Stella created in 2020, (Chut!) Les femmes parlent: a social enterprise whose mission is to contribute to the empowerment of women by designing workshops and events for non-profit organizations and individuals.
Pascale Brunet
Community organizer, facilitator and artist, in the past 20 years, Pascale Brunet have been involved in the community sector and social movements in Quebec. She works on projects about collective care, anti-oppression and social Justice. The thread in her work : weaving the social fabric that keeps us together while holding space for difficult conversations.
Kadiatou Diop
Kadiatou Diop (she/her) is a bilingual, half-Senegalese, half-Guinean first generation diasporan settler in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). She’s been working in the community sector for the past 20 years with an emphasis on work with youth and families. She has an eclectic academic background in the arts and social sciences which, combined with a decolonial feminist approach informs her practice. You can sometimes find Kadiatou performing at local comedy and storytelling events.
Florencia Vallejo-Ortiz
Florencia Vallejo-Ortiz joined COCo in 2023 as Organizational Development & Training Coordinator. Born and raised in Mexico, she moved to Montreal in 2015 to pursue broader opportunities. With a background in Women & Gender Studies and Immigration Studies, she brings an intersectional and anti-oppressive analysis to her work. In her facilitation, she seeks to hold spaces where diverse experiences are welcomed without judgment but with kindness and care. She is a lifelong learner, daughter, sister, and cat mother, friend, and sun worshiper! You can always find her behind a book or spot her crossing the street to pet a dog.
Melis Cagan
As a social researcher turned web developer, Melis is very passionate about the intersection of technology and anti-oppression. The combination of their experiences working in social justice organizations, developing websites for a variety of community organizations and teaching computer science at the CEGEP level enables them to accompany and train groups around complex technological needs. They are excited to contribute to community organisations to fulfill their technological potential and to help them find solutions that align with their values.
Estelle Davis
Estelle Davis joined Coco in July 2023 as the Executive Coordinator of Operations overseeing Coco’s Finances and Human Resources portfolios. Estelle brings over 8 years of experience working in the community sector primarily in harm reduction organizations.
In her professional and personal work, Estelle has been a staunch advocate for the rights of trans and non-binary people and sex workers, holding previous positions at Action Santé Travesti(e)s et Transexuel(le)s du Québec, Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, and others.
As a socialist, Estelle tries to put equity, collaboration, and trauma informed approaches front and center in her work.
Stéphanie Darbouze Lamarre
Stéphanie Darbouze Lamarre is a communications professional who has solid experience internationally. Holder of a Baccalaureate in Business Management and a Master’s in Communications and Marketing, she was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haïti. Stéphanie has over seven years of professional experience in accompanying businesses and organizations in elaborating and implementing creative communications strategies, coordinating public relations and media strategies, and realizing educational projects and events.
Passionate about sustainable development, Stéphanie gave herself the mission to work with projects that are engaging communities, raising awareness about climate action, and focused on health as well as sexual and reproductive rights. At COCo, she is the Coordinator of Communications.
nènè myriam konaté
nènè myriam konaté (they/them) is a culture worker of Ayiti and Mali’s diasporas who lives in Tiohtià:ke. For over a decade, nènè has co-created spaces for personal excavation and collective experimentation.
nènè collaborates with artists, collectives, community organizations, agencies, galleries, and people who spill beyond categories to translate abstract ideas into words and action. nènè roots their collaborations in honesty to shatter illusions of harmony and hold space for divergence. Within their practice, nènè harnesses inquiry, play, and dialogue as worldbuilding technologies.
At COCo, they are an organizational development and training coordinator.
Kyla Palanca
Kyla Palanca (she/her) is COCo’s Communications and Events Assistant. She holds an MA in Immigration and Settlement Studies with a background in Human Relations, specializing in Organization Development and Change. Her research focuses on the experiences of Filipino youth in Montreal.
She puts the "passion" in “compassion” as she aspires to combine her diverse experiences in leadership, community development, event planning and coordination, communication and research to apply them creatively in her work. She loves music, making matcha, and trying new cafés around the city!
Affiliate Facilitators
At COCo, we work with an amazing team of affiliate facilitators who are ready to support your organizational needs! After we evaluate your organizational needs together, we match our affiliates with your organization based on capacity, expertise, and qualities needed to accompany you in your journey.
Carole Wawira Muriithi
Carole Wawira Muriithi (she/her) is a facilitator and organizational process consultant. She has a Master’s Degree in Human Systems Intervention from Concordia University where she deepened her understanding and love for change practices that get to the root of the complex challenges we face in our world. Carole applies creative methods to help organizations learn, uncover alternative perspectives, make sense of complex issues, address power dynamics, and design sustainable actions and structures. She hopes to create containers for participants to feel safe enough to show up authentically and unlock their creative imaginations. Carole also has experience in the philanthropic sector and in non-profit organizations developing and delivering youth programs.
Rose-Anne St-Paul
Rose-Anne St-Paul (she/her) wants to support you in pursuing a life that is aligned with your values, which is not easy or straightforward under oppressive systems and narratives. In her practice as a facilitator, Rose-Anne uses non-judgmental active listening to meet people where they are and provides coaching, training and consultations related to human resources, strategizing and visioning. Outside of COCo, she currently offers active listening, counseling or psychotherapy to individuals in her communities looking for mental health support. She was born and raised in Tiohtià:ke (‘Montréal’), from a Haitian middle-class background, and is deeply inspired by gardens, Afrodiasporic music and her elders’ stories.
Amanda Vincelli
Amanda is an organizational development facilitator with a multidisciplinary background in the cultural, non-profit, social economy, and community sectors. With a decade of experience co-founding and managing nonprofits, designing peer-learning programs, engaging in social movements, and providing development support to various nonprofits and creative projects, she is passionate about fostering anti-oppressive and caring learning cultures and practices. Drawing from her studies in community economic development, visual and media arts, and strategic design and management, Amanda enjoys using popular education, community-based research, embodied and art-based approaches, and systems thinking to support organizations in capacity-building, governance, program design and evaluation, strategic planning, and fundraising.
Erika Muñoz
Erika is an impact strategist and facilitator who helps organizations clarify their vision and mission, and align their work with their values to create meaningful impact. With over a decade of experience in strategic planning, facilitation, community engagement, evaluation, and leadership development, she brings a thoughtful and dynamic approach to every project. She fosters engaging, inclusive, and action-oriented spaces by blending strategy, structure, and creativity. Grounded in equity, collaboration, and social justice, Erika approaches her work with resilience, curiosity, and care. She works in English, Spanish, and Franglais.
Taharima Habib
Taharima is a multidisciplinary community builder and organizer, specializing in facilitation and training design for nonprofit and charity organizations, as well as small to medium businesses. Her passions lie in JEDI work and feminist leadership.
Taharima started her career in the community and nonprofit sector in grassroots and national BYFY (by youth for youth) organizations, such as Apathy is Boring, where she worked on scaling the communications aspect of their RISE program, expanding from 3 cities to 7 cities across Canada. As a seasoned communications professional and project management specialist, Taharima has planned and executed multiple events of all scales locally and nationally, in person and virtually. Along with project management and organizational development, Taharima has worked with many clients as a professional coach.
Today, Taharima is working with junior and senior staff members in mission-driven organizations across Canada, supporting them with scaling communications campaigns, strategic planning and project management. Welcoming her son in the autumn of 2024, Taharima is enthusiastically seeking to balance being a mom and coming back to work in 2025 with the support of her community and clients.
Emilia Gonzalez
As a researcher and facilitator, Emilia has been building bridges between the community development sector and academia for over ten years. She has collaborated on youth-focused and youth-led research and community work in a variety of settings including public service organizations, local and international NGOs, and interdisciplinary partnerships. As a first-generation immigrant from Colombia, Emilia has a personal interest in working with and advocating for newcomer youth. She is passionate about connecting with young people, listening to their stories and co-creating projects that have the potential to transform our society.
Parker Mah
Parker is a bilingual trainer with more than 15 years of experience working in the community sector. Formerly the Community Technology Coordinator at COCo, his speciality is assessing and implementing technological needs and tools, but he has also accompanied hundreds of groups in a variety of general organizational development processes. His approach, which centers on practical decisions and long-term sustainability, with a good understanding of the realities of community groups and the changing tech landscape, have made him an in-demand facilitator with both emerging and established groups. Parker has led learning sessions on website design, citizen journalism, digital storytelling, and various cloud computing tools and platforms. He is also the co-founder of the JIA Foundation, a non-profit working in Montreal’s Chinatown.
Mich (Michèle) Spieler
Mich Spieler (they/them) supports community organizations in governance and financial management questions, based on their experience as a form Executive Director and as COCo’s former governance and finance coordinator. They currently also work as a Scrum Master and a Accessibility Product Manager for a small open source tech company.
Madeleine Cohen
Madeleine Aldana Cohen (she/they) support teams working towards social change to thrive through capacity building, coaching, and facilitation. They love to work with all levels of a staff team to help align organizational practices with organizational values and to help teams and programs function smoothly. She draws from 15 years of experience in both frontline and leadership roles in community organizations. Madeleine is a white settler with Guatemalan and Jewish lineages, and their approach is grounded in anti-racism, feminism, and queerness.
Emil Briones
Emil Briones (they/them, iel/ael) is an independent consultant, community-based researcher/facilitator, social justice educator, and musician based in Tiohtià:ke, unceded Kanien’keha:ka territories (Montréal) as a settler and member of the Filipinx diaspora. Since 2009, their practice has been informed, nourished, and challenged by their experiences in community care, the performing arts, ancestral inquiry, higher education, the critical social sciences, and social justice education. Currently, Emil provides anti-oppressive organizational development and social justice education consulting, training, and accompaniment support for a diversity of groups.
Emily Yee Clare
Emily Yee Clare is a consultant and illustrator dedicated to creating compassionate & dynamic learning spaces that support groups using popular education practices. Emily has close to 10 years of experience in anti-oppressive change management, human resources, conflict mediation & curriculum design. Emily is mixed race (Hong Konger/Irish) and uses she & they pronouns.
Kira Page
Kira Page is a consultant with a passion for helping groups move through learning and change, particularly around strategic planning, organizational structure, conflict resolution, and anti-oppression. She has worked as a consultant for the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo), MAAMUU Consulting Group, and is the co-founder of Saltwater Learning and Consulting Group. She is white and uses she & her pronouns.
Sophie Le-Phat Ho
Sophie Le-Phat Ho is a bilingual consultant, organizer, facilitator, editor and mediator whose approach is based on her extensive experience working with/in a diverse range of organizations, in different roles of strategic leadership, facilitating interpersonal and organizational change that is rooted in social justice. Her approach is holistic, versatile and interdisciplinary, prioritizes the marginalized and supports the emergence of collective creativity and liberation.
Johanna Tzountzouris
Johanna has over 25 years of experience in teaching and facilitation. She has been working with community groups for the past 15 years, specializing in strategic planning, communications strategy, and digital strategy. She is constantly upgrading her skills as a facilitator, integrating anti-oppression and anti-racist practices into her work. She is an experienced mediator who has rooted her practice in social justice, inclusion, and intersectionality. Johanna believes that knowledge and experience are meant to be shared, and she is always thrilled to be able to contribute to the organizational health of non-profit and community groups.
Nadia Chaney
Nadia Chaney is a first generation Indian settler living on Algonquin territory (Ottawa). She is an arts-based facilitator, trainer, mediator and interaction/experience design consultant. She completed a Master’s degree at Simon Fraser University with a concentration in Imaginative Education (2010) and an advanced diploma in art therapy for groups at the European Graduate School (2019), as well as a diploma in Dialogue and Negotiation from Simon Fraser (2007). She served for ten years as Senior International Trainer and Director of Training at Partners for Youth Empowerment, an organization dedicated to providing capacity-building creative facilitation training for frontline youth workers. Since 2002 she has facilitated well over two thousand events. Her most recent creative works include an arts based research lab studying the nature of Time and Temporality. She is the founder of Toolsi, an on-demand facilitation training platform for community-based facilitators and organizations.
If you’d like to learn more about our accompaniments and are ready to jump in, please fill out our intake form and our team will contact you!
Are you interested in joining our affiliate network? Send us a quick message with your bio to services@coco-net.org and we’ll keep you in mind for our next recruitment round!