about


us

meet the team

At Through the Trees, we believe that the experts on environmental change are the communities living through it. Our team brings together a range of perspectives: from academic researchers to local knowledge keepers, we bridge the gap between data and lived experience. Through research, storytelling, and knowledge exchange, we collaborate to create adaptation strategies that are just, relational, and rooted in place.

Tyjana Connolly

  • Tyjana Connolly (she/her) is an environmental and climate justice advocate & researcher, experienced in community engagement, program design, and exploring community adaptation grounded in equity, systems thinking, and empowerment. 

    Tyjana holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and is currently pursuing an MA in Geography with a focus on community-led climate adaptation in Jamaican river communities.  Tyjana will be pursuing a PhD in Geography at the University of Toronto to explore comprehensive land and water rights for Afro-descendant communities across the globe. She currently sits on the City of Toronto Climate Advisory Group and has a background in union organizing and workers rights advocacy for Black and Caribbean workers in the GTA through her work with Public Service Alliance of Canada. 

    Tyjana is recognized as a Corporate Knights 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leader and a recipient of the Paavo Aino Lukkari Human Rights Fellowship and SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship. She Co-Founded Black Eco Bloom a Black woman-led climate justice non-profit, aimed at supporting Black women to enter the environmental sector. Tyjana is also a co-author of "Green Is Not White: Giving Voice to BIPOC Workers in the Environmental Justice Movement," featured in the Research Handbook on Inequalities and Work. This publication, included in the social science citation index, delves into the topic of environmental racism and environmental inequity for BIPOC workers in Canada.

    Tyjana enjoys travelling, spending time in nature with her partner and dog Blue, writing, listening to music and doing pottery! Her professional passion is inspired by her Jamaican heritage and teachings of her grandmother, who is her anchor for community work and connections to land and water.

Shaniqua Mayers

  • Shaniqua Mayers (she/her) is a Toronto-based activist and writer with a deep passion for literature. She holds an honours bachelor’s degree in Language and Intercultural Relations and a certificate in Indigenous Knowledge and Experiences from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University).
    She’s currently pursuing a Master’s in Education for Change at Lakehead University and a certificate in Teaching and Learning for Higher Education.

    In her professional role, Shaniqua is a continuous learning instructor at the Ontario Federation for Indigenous Friendship Centres, the knowledge mobilization manager at Terra Elysium and the former senior manager of learning and development at The Starfish Canada. She is driven by a strong commitment to bridging the gaps between social justice and climate action. As a resident of the Jane and Finch community for over a decade Shaniqua spends her spare time  supporting Neighbourhood Improvement Areas across the GTA focusing on remedying issues of housing, food insecurity and promoting literacy development. Shaniqua’s advocacy work focuses on amplifying black and marginalized voices through her writing, workshop facilitating experience and work on anti-black racism strategies at the post- secondary level. She has been the co-chair of the Black Eco Bloom Advisory Committee and was an anti-black racism consultant for the Toronto Metropolitan Univeristy. Shaniqua’s social hobbies include writing articles and poetry, reading Afro-Caribbean novels, swimming and doing pottery!

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