Chanel Grenaway has over 20 years of experience in building the organizational capacity of non-profit organizations across Canada. Chanel holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto with a specialist in Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies. She is passionate about racial and gender equity and gender-based analysis, and is on a mission to amplify the voices of under-represented individuals and contribute to equality in every regard and across every sector.
From advising organizations on people-centred decision-making and program planning to helping leaders apply an intersectional gender-based analysis into all stages of their work, her approach is deeply rooted in designing equitable practices and creating opportunities that enable marginalized groups to realize their full potential.
As the former Director of Economic Development Programs at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, she successfully led poverty reduction work, which consisted of national multi-year granting strategies that supported women’s financial equality and independence through entrepreneurship, social enterprise, employment training and access to trades and technology pre-apprenticeships. Chanel was also pivotal in the establishment of a new national leadership institute for emerging women leaders in the charitable sector. The institute was focused on optimizing the leadership capacity of female leaders across Canada. As an integral part of the team, Chanel provided oversight on participant selection, project grants, program monitoring, and the development of an alumni strategy.
In Chanel’s current consulting practice she supports leaders to design and integrate sustainable inclusion and equity practices. Her key message is practice makes progress, and through equity assessments, facilitation, and coaching she is helping staff teams and boards to build meaningful equity practices that result in stronger teams, and more inclusive services, program and product design.