We are a growing collective of dreamers and designers, guided by a unified vision for decolonized, liberated futures. When you work with us, you tap in to a breadth of practiced and lived experience – the value that we bring to the table together, is the business case for inclusion.
These people actively contribute time, energy and spirit towards Pause and Effect's vision, processes, and work.
(Sah-bree-nah Meh-hair-rah-lee)
she/her
Sabrina is a creative disruptor who is drawn to the space of design through wonder and imagination. Inspired by the works of Octavia Butler and adrienne maree brown, Sabrina founded Pause and Effect - a design community rooted in radical and liberatory imagination. She views change as an inevitable process, that can be shaped through ritual/daily practice, thoughtful decision making, and care. The name, Pause and Effect, stems from a knowing that to go far, we must slow down.
Through conscious leadership, Sabrina experiments with revitalizing practices of care in business - so that the wellness of community, the planet, and future generations are integral and embedded in to the success of the organization.
Sabrina is an engaging and informed speaker, educator and design consultant who has enjoyed facilitating perspective shifting experiences with corporate, academic, and grassroots audiences over the past 15 years. She was a contributing writer for HBR, and a guest lecturer at Georgetown University and MIT.
As the daughter of refugee and immigrant parents, residing on unsurrendered xʷməθkʷəy̓ y̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ x̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓l̓ í lwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) land, she commits to the lifelong work of unlearning and remembering. Outside of work, Sabrina is a wanna-be dog mom, who satiates her curiosity and pursuit of adventure through speculative fiction and sci-fi, travel, and a good cup of coffee.
(Kle-men-ti-na Con-sense)
they/she
Clementina is an artist, researcher, and environmental scientist that is driven to imagine and implement radical visions.
They were born and raised in Tkaranto (Toronto) on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, andWendat peoples to Uruguayan parents. Their holistic views on research and the natural world translate into a unique understanding of design.
They have a degree in Environmental Geoscience and a minor in Geographic Information Systems, which brings a geospatial perspective to their understanding of data. Receiving a "Rooted and Rising" Youth Climate Leadership certification in 2020, Clementina is passionate about cultivating an environmentally conscious and community-mindeddesign ethos. They are a proper cowboy bruja (witch) and are as passionate about good food and new moon ceremonies as they are about thriving global ecosystems.
Throughout their career, Clementina has worked with and for Indigenous-led organizations in Ontario and they are committed to decolonization through collective healing.
(Ti-shy-lah Bay-lee)
she/her
Teshyla is a community builder and social researcher dedicated to amplifying the voices of historically marginalized groups, predominantly across the youth sector.
She resides on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples.
Her background spans across social innovation and grassroots organizing, with a focus on intersectional and trauma-informed practices. Her efforts are heavily inspired by her engagement in community development and her experiences navigating the world as a Black woman.
(Chair-ee Lam)
she/her
Cherrie is a product designer, strategist, researcher, and maker, who loves nerding out inclusive and community-centered digital tools and experiences.
She is a first-generation Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong (home of the Punti, Hakka, Hoklo and Tanka indigenouspeoples) and settler on the unceded homelands of the Sḵwx̱ x̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓l̓ í lwətaʔ/Selilwitulh(Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓ y̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations.
Cherrie has helped design digital tools to support new immigrants, co-founded a community storytelling project ons ustainability from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) perspectives, and is co-facilitator of the Vancouver node of the Design Justice Network. She is fuelled by the intersections of tech, justice, intergenerational storytelling, and imagination.
(Man-dee Phoo-lahr)
she/her/hers
Mandy resides on the traditional and unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
She is a disabled, South Asian daughter of immigrants with a background in Psychology and Human Resources.
Mandy's lived experiences and passion for mental well-being and design justice, and advocacy for racialized communities, is practiced through consulting and writing.
She is a dog mom, an outdoor enthusiast and a professional troublemaker.
(E-man Sail-em)
they/she
Eman is an Afro-Queer Egyptian settler on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories. They are an empowerment coach, public speaker, meditation teacher and DEI facilitator. Eman uses the art of compassion and vulnerability to foster radical system change, creating a more just, beautiful, joyful, and magical human experience for all. They are highly skilled at creating spaces that encourage authentic and raw dialogue, supporting folks with finding the right language to articulate their experiences and reframing for the individual and the collective. After 10 years in the corporate world, they shifted their focus to building a strong and compassionate community through their business, IronSelf. Fun fact: Eman loves waking the body up by jumping in the cold ocean in the winter.
saa-hib-zaa-daa maa-yed
any
mayed is a design researcher and creative strategist. They bring a critically-informed approach to community-centered design that seeks to advance culturally thriving, regenerative, and sustainably empowering outcomes. Inside and out, mayed is an abolitionist at heart. She seeks to articulate the ways in which carceral logics and discourses are reproduced in our lives, and dreams of the ways in which we can liberate ourselves and reclaim the freedom to define our own realities. mayed’s work embodies the radical critique needed to disrupt oppressive systems and the speculative dreaming that is necessary to imagine new worlds.
mayed is a brown, queer, Disabled, neurodivergent, Muslim, first-generation settler immigrant to the "United States", currently residing on the unceded lands of the Council of Three Fires (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Odawa) and the Miami, Menominee, and Ho-Chunk Nations. mayed was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan and has ancestral lineages spread across Iran, Afghanistan, and India. They are trying to reclaim their Indigenous Parsi heritage, which has largely been eliminated by Eurocentric colonial legacies.
mayed is actively involved in political organizing and grassroots activism, primarily concerning police and prison abolition, militarism, decoloniality and land sovereignty, surveillance technologies, carceral mental health care, and Disability justice. She is persistently engaged in developing a pluriversal politic that strives for freedom and collective liberation. He believes we are all interconnected and that transformation starts from within us- from one heart to another.
