Global Solidarity in the Digital Era: Communicating for Change

Sydney Piggott (she/her) is a social impact leader, researcher and advocate for gender equity and social justice on a global scale. She is currently the Senior Social Impact Manager at Shopify where she champions education programs for underrepresented youth in tech and entrepreneurship with partners around the world. Before joining Shopify, she held leadership positions at Elevate and YWCA Canada. She is also a member of the Equal Futures Network Advisory Committee and the Reach Alliance Advisory Council. Sydney has been a subject matter expert in several international forums including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Women Deliver, Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference for Young Parliamentarians and RightsCon. She brings an intersectional feminist lens to all her work informed by her proud Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Amanda (she/her) is a deaf and disabled advocate who became motivated by the challenges of living with disabilities, moving her to work toward social change. This led her to obtain an undergraduate degree in Public Policy Studies and a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Mount Saint Vincent University, setting her on the direction of working in nonprofit communications and programming. Amanda has previously done communications and programming for ReImagine17 and was a 2023 Youth Delegate representing the Inter-Council Network and the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation for the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. She quickly learned the need for more awareness of limited access through communications especially as she has both a cochlear implant and hearing aid that impacts access to digital technologies if not considered in the process. Currently, she is the Coordinator for the Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities (NSLEO) focusing on three pillars of NSLEO, Quality of Life Index for Persons with Disability Initiative, International Day for Persons with Disabilities, and Access Awareness Week Nova Scotia.

Lauren Roberts (she/her) is currently the Digital Media Specialist at the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC). Lauren studied digital media design and videography at Red River Polytechnic in Winnipeg, graduating with honours.

Lauren is passionate about sustainability, healing ecosystems and gender equality. At MCIC, she works to support the team in both the digital and print space to connect with Manitobans of all ages.

In her spare time, Lauren likes to garden and learn about native prairie plants, play ultimate frisbee, read (the last book she read was The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark) and bike. She is always listening to excessively loud music while working and is surrounded by inspirational quotes including “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”- Maya Angelou.

Brianna Parent Long grew up on the lands of the Mi’kmaq people, specifically Pabineau First Nations, Eel River Bar First Nations and Listuguj First Nations, whose lands she has had the privilege to nurtured her growth on. She is the Feminist Programme Coordinator at VIDEA and is passionate about gender equality, decolonization, PSEA, and sex work advocacy. Brianna serves on Digna’s advisory committee and is a board member at the Canadian Association of International Development Professional. Also, Brianna is currently at Carleton University for her PhD in Political Science with an interest in feminist international relations.