Shelly D’Mello
Chief Executive Officer
Shelly D’Mello is a skilled relationship builder, a collaborative coach who takes a strength-based approach to team and community development, a creative thinker, and a visionary leader. With over 25 years of experience in private, government, and non-profit organizations, Shelly is an inclusive and transformational leader whose strengths include strategic planning, financial acumen, organizational development, and organizational change management.
A self-proclaimed entrepreneur, Shelly is backed by a degree in Economics from York University, an international MBA from England, is a member of HRPAO (Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario) and holds a Certificate in Adult Training and Development from the University of Toronto.
She has held executive and management positions in organization in sectors including settlement and integration, management consulting, information technology, education, and health care.
Born in Guyana, South America, Shelly is passionate about women in leadership, and has created curriculum and facilitated workshops that empower immigrant women and entrepreneurs to create a meaningful life in Canada. Over the last 13 years, Shelly has immersed herself in the settlement and integration sector in Toronto, Ontario designing, developing, and delivering programs and services to newcomers, immigrants and refugees. These programs give voice, opportunity, and recognition to the important contributions of immigrants to Canada while addressing barriers to integration such as language, credential recognition, access to employment, mental health and wellbeing, and housing.
Shelly is a founding board member of Aurora House, a transitional home for survivors of modern slavery, and is the Treasurer of the Workforce Housing Non-Profit Corporation, a non-profit initiative working towards addressing how home ownership and control of the “roof over one’s head” is the best way to break the cycle of poverty, build equity, and create self-respect.