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.