Anna Murphy is a woman fiercely passionate to call the communities of Calgary her home, she is a community-minded and engaged advocate for 2SLGBTQIA+ and Women’s Issues, while striving to be a champion for equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility within her community.

In addition to her role as Visitor Engagement and Volunteer Coordinator with Contemporary Calgary, Anna has the profound honour and remarkable privilege of serving a city of trailblazers in a voluntary capacity as a University of Calgary Senator, Chair of the Senate EDI Working Group, Member of the O’Brien Institute of Public Health, Vice-Chair of the Gender Equity Diversity Inclusion Subcommittee of the City of Calgary Social Wellbeing Advisory Committee, Member of the Council Behaviour Working Group, Member of the Community Connections Subcommittee of the Calgary Stampede Agriculture and Western Events Committee, Member of the Calgary Foundation SAM Centre Community Advisory, and Member of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs National 2SLGBTQIA+ Advisory Council.

Anna was named the 2022 Calgary Stampede Western Trailblazer for her community activism related towards 2SLGBTQIA+ issues, as well as being a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in recognition of her ongoing volunteerism and significant contributions to the province of Alberta.

Committed to giving her time to inspire even the smallest of change, Anna gives back in an effort to foster safe and affirming communities where all can see themselves and know their future as being an achievable reality - further, Anna recognizes that community building requires active and ongoing involvement, leading from her lived experience as a transgender woman who continues to navigate the realities which come from adversity and barriers created as a result of ongoing cultural and systemic inequity, along with lack of representation.

Dr. Mahoney is a translational scientist at Cumming School of Medicine in the University of Calgary with 20+ years of experience studying human health and disease.

Over the past 15 years, his research has made important contributions to the development of numerous cancer immunotherapies that have been commercialized and/or tested in human clinical trials. Currently his lab is focused on engineering “designer cells and viruses” to treat various forms of cancer in children, adolescents, and adults.

Dr. Mahoney is the founder and Scientific Director of a research initiative called ACTION (Alberta Cellular Therapy and Immune Oncology), which seeks to develop innovative next generation engineered immune cell therapies and deliver them to cancer patients in Alberta and beyond.

Outside the lab, Doug spends his time with his wife and three children, mostly enjoying the Alberta/BC wilderness.

Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Infectious Disease
Associate Director of the Charbonneau Cancer Institute
Scientific Director of the Alberta Cellular Therapy and Immune Oncology Initiative

Using the Arts as a thread to sew people and thoughts together, Jessica Théroux is a painter, writer, sculptor, and textiles artist. She makes a living as a teacher and runs an artist collective in her home town of Calgary, Alberta with her husband, Rich Theroux.

Over the past 10 years she has co-hosted over 500 weekly live art events that bring hundreds of artists and art consumers together. She has co-written several books, co-created a feature length film (puppets), and is a singer, entertainer, and explorer. She is also a published poet. Her first solo publication will be later this year.

Too often, our most vocal and destructive critic is our inner self-bullying voice.

Kalyani Pardeshi is a multiple award-winning author who teaches anti-bullying techniques based on the science of how our brains work, focusing on the intangible cause of bullying instead of the tangible effects.

Despite having a successful career in finance and holding two professional designations, Kalyani felt something was amiss. She tried her hand at entrepreneurship and ran a successful online fitness business for two years, yet felt a continuing void that seemingly couldn’t be filled. The answer came when she volunteered at an anti-bullying workshop at her daughter’s school. She had an entire lifetime of experiences, learning and tools she had developed and made the choice to share her experience with others through her book Unbullied - 14 Techniques to Silence the Critics, Externally and Internally.

Her book has been recognized internationally through three awards: The Skipping Stones Honour Award, The Book Excellence Finalist Award and The Maincrest Media Winners Award. She has been interviewed by many media outlets including CTV Morning Live for Pink Shirt Day, Hollywood Times, Women’s Radio and Daughters of Change.