The Transformation Storytelling Fellowship brings together passionate, courageous, and ambitious young leaders who aspire to challenge the status quo through storytelling. Four storytellers are joining Community Foundations of Canada (CFC)’s third round of the fellowship. Through their storytelling, they’ll bring an equitable and intergenerational lens into storytelling, with the goal of enabling systems transformation, asking what transformation is happening throughout our network, and what comes next as we work towards a future where everyone belongs.
The Transformation Storytelling Fellowship program is supported by Canada Life for two fellows focused on transformation and philanthropy, Alliance 2030 for the climate-focused fellow and by the Partnership Investments Program through Ontario Trillium Foundation for the transforming capital fellow.
Meet the Fellows and learn why they see storytelling as crucial to transformation.
Emel Tabaku
Emel Tabaku is an Albanian-Canadian, a first-generation immigrant settler, multidisciplinary artist, and community builder, residing in Tkaronto. Currently pursuing her Master of Public Policy at the University of Toronto – Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Emel also serves as a Junior Policy Analyst at the Public Health Agency of Canada and as Founder of RCAD Initiative, a non-profit organization working with underrepresented youth communities to collaboratively address pressing social issues through creative art + design.
Storytelling is crucial to transformation as it harnesses radical imagination and narrative power to foster inclusive communities. Storytellers serve as agents of change, leveraging their roles as knowledge carriers and world builders to challenge the status quo and advance equity and belonging. My own visual storytelling approach, integrating participatory arts interventions and culturally significant narratives illuminates alternative futures, intertwining solidarity networks and archives to shape systems transformation.
Emel
Storytelling themes Emel is exploring: Belonging, futurism, and reconciliation.
Josie Fomé
Josie Fomé is a journalist, filmmaker, and podcast producer with a keen interest in issues related to the African continent and the African diaspora. Josie has international experience in community facilitation, radio show production and documentary filmmaking. She hosts Filling the Void w/ Josie – a podcast for lifelong learners where guests share anecdotes of university life as well as tips and tricks for navigating life post-university. Josie also produced and directed a documentary, The Rise of Local Philanthropy (2022), which explores how local nonprofits in Kampala, Uganda responded at the height of the pandemic when international aid organizations flew out their foreign staff and closed their office doors.
Storytelling is crucial to transformation in that it captures the past (how things used to be done; what was and wasn’t attempted), documents the present (what is currently being implemented, by whom, and why), and leaves room to predict and prepare for the future of transformation. It does so as a result of the information from the captured past and the documented present. When every voice has the space to speak freely–as loudly or quietly as they would like–about their wants, needs, and desires; therein lies (the potential for) transformation.
Josie
Storytelling themes Josie is exploring: Social capital within democracy, in association with youth, and in rural communities.
Malobi Elueme
Malobi Elueme is an economist, researcher, actress and musician based out of St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Her work explores themes of communal wealth building and collective reimagination of our economy. Having recently completed a Masters in Economics at Memorial University, Malobi currently serves as Leadership & Governance Officer at Rethinking Economics International. She authored Exploring Opportunities for Social Finance in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Storytelling is crucial to transformation because stories expand what we see as possible. Transformation requires thinking beyond what is, and imagining and implementing what should be. To do this successfully, we collaborate and learn by sharing stories, and expanding our perception of what has happened, what is currently happening, and what is possible in our world. By sharing experiences and imaginations, stories provide inspiration from the past and the present, serving as a guide for transforming our present into the better future we want.
Malobi
Storytelling theme Malobi is exploring: Transforming capital for our collective wellbeing.
Sarah Syed
Sarah Syed is a United Nations Habitat Youth Advisor, board member of the Fyera Foundation, climate activist, public speaker and climate education facilitator based out of Tkaronto | Toronto. Currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in environmental studies at York University, Sarah actively engages in policy writing for global forums like the UN Summit of the Future and advocates for a climate-just future through education, innovation and intergenerational dialogue.
Storytelling is crucial to transformation as it serves as the compass guiding the voyage towards transformation. Storytelling weaves threads of connectivity, stitching together disparate voices and experiences into a tapestry of collective understanding and action. Like the roots of a tree intertwining with the soil, stories are the roots that anchor us in shared realities, fostering empathy and inspiring collaboration. Storytellers wield the power to reshape the world by rewriting narratives. They transform crises into opportunities, catalyzing transformative change through new perspectives on issues like the climate crisis. My storytelling illuminates the urgency of climate justice, weaving through diverse mediums like innovation, grassroots activism and intergenerational capacity building to empower voices across all ages to collaborate towards achieving the 2030 agenda for a sustainable future.
Sarah
Storytelling themes Sarah is exploring: Climate justice, intergenerational capacity building, and gender equity.
Building on the network and offerings of previous and current Transformation Storytelling Fellows, alumna Njoki Mburu and Inda Intiar are co-leading a monthly meeting space for co-imagination, design and creation. The Generative Imagination Circle, will be a space to share resources and opportunities, and build strategic networks around imagination practice in philanthropy. The vision of the circle is to use storytelling to imagine and generate collective transformative futures for the philanthropy sector.
Read more from previous fellows and stay tuned for stories.