Ladder2 Rise Logo

LIFTED, INSPIRED, FUELLED, & EMPOWERED ... WE rISE!

Our Mission

Ladder 2 Rise is a connector – with primary goal of connecting Youth to the social thread of Corporate and Community Partners, Guardians, and Mentors. At Ladder 2 Rise, we believe that we all play a critical role in our youths’ support wheel, and we will support as an anchor to Lift, Inspire, Fuel and Empower our youth so that together, we can truly RISE as a community!

With an emphasis on Diversity and Inclusion, the program centers on ensuring inclusion of all youth irrespective of their intersectional identifies, culture, race, gender or other. The Ladder 2 Rise Program is designed with three key programming elements to include Lift and Inspire through annual Take a Youth to work Day program, centered on youth exposure to the available careers and streams. Our aim is to ignite our youths’ curiosity and guide them towards the many possibilities that exist. Our second pillar is Fuel and Nourish, centered on providing ongoing mentorship to our youth, fuelling and nourishing them with information, resources, guidance and support, focused to youth in grades 10-12. Our last programming pillar is Empower and Soar – focused to providing the bridge for youth transitioning out of secondary school (high school). This pillar aims to provide entry points and access to summer, winter, co-op and or other placement alternatives for both paid and education based programming.

powered by a dedicated team!

Our Team

Ruth Nyaamine

President & CEO

Ruth is a lifelong advocate for the underdog. Predicated by her own personal narrative as a young immigrant girl from Ghana West Africa, Ruth longed for community, mentorship and an opportunity to truly ignite her curiosity. Her work and efforts are centered on her return to a little girl, who had a world of potential, yet struggled to find her footing in an unfamiliar and complex world. With combined education by way of a specialized honours degree in Sociology and Psychology, her role as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for a key Telecommunications and Digital health international organization, alongside an extensive career spanning over 20+ years as a National  Operations, Customer Experience and enablement leader across varied industries to include Technology, Health, and Government – Ruth has the foundational understanding of corporate and systemic structures and how these structures have incredible capacity to transform lives with intentional efforts and proactive investment in youth. Balanced with her deep understanding of intersectionality and how that influences our life trajectory – Ruth center’s the African proverb “it takes a village” as the foundational tenets of the Ladder 2 Rise program. In Ruth’s view, when we work together to Lift, Inspire, Fuel and Empower our youth, we collectively RISE, leading to incredible community, business and life impacting human outcomes.

 

On a personal note, Ruth is known in the community as “ Aunty Ruth”. A term she glows about, as she is committed to playing her part for all youth she is blessed to cross paths with. Ruth is a wife and a mother to three amazing boys Brandon aged 19, Jaiden aged 16 and Kailen aged 8. Through community engagement and volunteerism with the Child welfare sector over the past 15 years, Ruth takes immense pride in the role youth have played to re-enforce her mission and efforts with the Ladder 2 Rise program.

Pam Lopes

Director - Operations

Pam Lopes is a Senior Program Manager supporting the Drug Benefit Business Operations team within TELUS Health’s Health Benefits Management division.  Combining her knowledge of the group benefits industry, attention to detailed processes and client relationship skills, she has been involved in numerous initiatives since joining TELUS Health in 2008.  

Participating as a volunteer in the Take a Youth to Work Day event at TELUS, led by Ruth Nyaamine, inspired Pam to continue working with her on providing youth with a view of what is possible, through the annual event and beyond.  Pam’s personal experience, first as a youth with a limited support system and then as a mom of two young adults, has taught her the importance of giving our youth with opportunities and the tools required to succeed.

Omer Shaaeldin

Director - Digital

After discovering Product Management and his passion for it well into his career, Omer was drawn to Ladder 2 Rise’s Take a Youth program to evangelize the career and pathways into it. With a keen interest in Ambient Computing and Virtual Assistants, Omer

Currently pursuing his MBA at Northwestern Kellogg, Omer continues to drive platform and digital improvements to support the Ladder 2 Rise program and mission.

In his spare time, he can be found at a soccer field or making up for lost time in his newfound hobby of traveling!

It Takes a community!

Partner with Us

corporate partners

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youth & Guardians

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community partners

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Mentors

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