CEO, Neolé

Ginny Santos works primarily with organizations that truly care about their people and want a healthy workplace culture that enables and sustains high performance. That’s why she founded Neolé, a training, facilitation and event production company that specializes in designing and facilitating team development and retreats that make a lasting impact— resulting in increased engagement, productivity and retention, and most importantly, a healthy workplace culture.

Everything she does is influenced by her drive to have a positive impact, and the practical skills and knowledge she developed while completing a Master’s of Science in Creativity and Change Leadership and several graduate certificates in Solution-Focused Coaching, Nutrition Sciences and Productive Thinking. Ginny is also a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University where she teaches creativity and innovation to executive MBA students.

Originally from Spain, she is an entrepreneurial mother, a digital geek and an enthusiastic dancer in the privacy of her kitchen.

Executive Assistant

Rizza is passionate about building relationships and providing quality service. With 15 years of Client Management Support for international banks and entrepreneurs under her belt, she has perfected how to communicate and understand what the client needs and provide resolution. She specializes in creating harmonious workflows and streamlining processes to increase efficiency. Her goal is for busy entrepreneurs to get back their time and money freedom. She is driven in helping create superheroes! – A Pepper Potts to Tony Stark! She believes in quality over quantity and that all big things come from small beginnings. She is a new addition to the team, all the way from the Philippines!

Multimedia Specialist and Project Manager

Bri is a creative designer and detail-oriented project manager. With a background in Interactive Media and Animation and 5+ years of experience in illustration, digital marketing, and project management, she has been integral to Neolé’s consistent brand presence and organized marketing strategies. Bri expanded her role into project management, where her eye for detail and strong organizational skills ensure our client-based projects are managed efficiently and running smoothly. 

Originally from Ontario and now calling Alberta home, Bri carries her passion for sparking joy and inspiration through visual storytelling. Her creative process is fueled by both her travels and the comfort of a good book, as she seeks to create stories that offer others a space to explore and get lost in.

Bookkeeper and Chief Financial Officer

As a contract CFO to start-ups, NPO’s and consulting firms, Cara manages all things financial at Neolé. Never one to put all her eggs in one basket, she finds that her intuitive nature, the diversity of her client base and the exposure to a range of perspectives and business interests/concerns gives her an advantage in meeting the needs of her clients.

With a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Victoria and with teaching certificates in Canada and the UK, she continues to be an advocate for Mathematics education reforms as a steering committee member of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education Forum and co-host of their annual Mathematics Education Research Day in January. More recently, she has become the Treasurer of Leading Word.

Backpacking through Central America, working her way across Australia and teaching overseas equipped her with a comprehensive education and a sense of global citizenship which translates to indispensable problem-solving skills and a passion for utilizing Mathematics as the tool for greater understanding of any company’s financial position and prospects.

Project Manager and Zoom Producer

Erm Lombardi, Certified Zoom Producer, collaborates with Neolé by helping to develop and co-facilitate virtual workshops. She assists in the creation of engaging digital training to mirror an in-person experience. Erm manages the technical details including the behind-the-scenes set-up and in the moment troubleshooting for a seamless client experience. Her collaborative and fun approach ensures that virtual participants have a positive and meaningful experience with on-line training.

Erm is Certified as is an Audio Book Narrator as well. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario, and is a lifelong student of personal growth and development. She lives in Vaughan, Ontario with her family and loves outdoor life, working out, sports and reading non fiction books.

Trainer and Facilitator

As a trainer and facilitator, Dan has spent his career helping people expand their thinking and discover new possibilities. With his quick wit, probing questioning skills and productive thinking techniques Dan helps clients engage their whole brain and find solutions to their challenges.

Whether facilitating a training workshop, a new product ideation, a strategic planning session, or just a plain old meeting, Dan brings his positive energy and focus to the task. He is known for delivering high content sessions in a relaxed and entertaining style. Underlying Dan’s passion for deliberate thinking is a deep commitment to helping people learn and achieve useful outcomes.

Dan is a past trustee of the Creative Education Foundation and on the faculty of the Creative Problem-Solving Institute. He is also a certified practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Facet5 Personality Profile, the FourSight Thinking Profile, and NeuroColor, a unique, neuroscience approach to personality assessment.

Dan makes his home in Ottawa where he lives with his daughter and his crazy chocolate lab. When not working, you can find Dan hiking with his dog and listening to some mind-expanding podcasts.

Expert Coach and Facilitator

Karla Smith is a Personal Transformational Coach, Speaker, Writer, and Self-Love Expert dedicated to showing people how to courageously choose self-love so they can live a life of their own creation.

She has a degree in psychology from York University and has her certification as a life-skills coach from George Brown College. For more than a decade, Karla has impacted hundreds of lives in her private practice, as a facilitator for various in-person and online groups, coaching from the stage, and leading and guest speaking at numerous workshops and retreats.
She believes that we are all capable and equipped to love ourselves deeply and when we make that choice we become better team players, able to build strong connections, communicate effectively and openly, while valuing ourselves and our team members.

Karla is a brilliant problem solver and deep thinker who offers a unique opportunity for groups to elevate personally, as well as, professionally. Her optimistic, uplifting perspective to life propels participants to take the inspired actions they need to deepen team relationships and grow as people.

Passion Coach and Facilitator

Shilbee Dhalla-Kim coaches changemakers, entrepreneurs, and community builders in moving from confusion to clarity, from being stuck to action and from status quo to change. She has coached changemakers at organizations including Innoweave, Social Innovation Canada, and the United Nations Association in Canada, and has facilitated workshops for organizations such as Cossette, Accelerate Her Future, and the Kingston Economic Development Corporation. She is also an instructor at McMaster University.

She uses anti-oppressive, intersectional approaches to help people and organizations understand their power, agency and privileges within the context of structural, interpersonal, and internalized barriers. With over a decade of professional experience in the social innovation ecosystem, Shilbee coaches clients in clarifying values, leadership approaches, and innovative business models that align with their values.

She has previously served as the social enterprise manager at the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, manager at the Centre for Social Innovation in Regent Park, and workstream manager of Entrepreneurship Policy at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship.

Senior Virtual Event Producer and Facilitator

Laura’s mission is to create conversations that transcend differences and spark change. As a facilitator and meeting designer, Laura combines principles of participatory management with the power of technology to create virtual spaces that connect people and promote dialogue. She is an early adopter of Zoom video conferencing, which is her preferred platform for facilitating webinars, meetings, round tables, consultations and training. Laura also facilitates using a number of asynchronous online tools, and she is constantly on the lookout for new technology that will meet our clients’ needs.

Laura’s specialty is integrative thinking: she works with clients, both one-on-one and in groups, to problem-solve, generate big ideas, and act on them. Prior to joining Neolé, she was a location-independent communications consultant, doing the “digital nomad” thing long before it was fashionable! She has a Bachelor of Business Management and is a 2015 Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs. Most recently, Laura has been honing her facilitation skills through courses on Group Facilitation Methods and Transformational Strategies with ICA Associates.

Storytelling and Persuasive Communications Coach and Trainer

Marsha Shandur (of Yes Yes Marsha) is a Storytelling and Persuasive Communications Coach and Trainer. She has taught thousands of individuals and groups of executives, entrepreneurs and professionals across Canada, the US and the UK, including speaking at World Domination Summit in Portland, at Women’s Executive Network events in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto and working with clients like Meta (Facebook), RBC, Loblaw Companies Inc, HelloFresh and Shopify. She is the host, organizer and storytelling coach for True Stories Told Live, Toronto’’s largest storytelling show.

Before launching her career as a Storytelling and Persuasive Communications Coach, Marsha spent 15 years working as a Radio DJ, where she gained a powerful understanding of how to tell stories in a way that fosters connection, trust, engagement and loyalty. Her work has been featured in Forbes, BBC, CBC, the Toronto Star and Mashable.

Neolé is the key local partner for Stormz in all of Canada.

With our Stormz expertise we are able to use the best digital technology to facilitate efficient collaborative workshops. Stormz maximizes the potential for engagement across regions and time zones as well as in live meetings with hundreds of participants. Participants can work on the same challenge in real time or over time, to contribute and capture their thinking.

Stormz operates on the cloud or on a local server (if security of data is a concern). With Stormz we are able to eliminate the need for Post-it Notes™ and flip chart paper. We facilitate collaboration, diverse input and decision making in real time and provide immediate reports at the press of a button.
Companies that use Stormz include BNP Paribas, Alcatel-Lucent, AF2R La Mondiale, College La Cite, and many more.

When we talk about role plays, we refer to tools that have been used in working environments for a long time. And also when using apparently children’s toys to achieve results in professional settints as well.

However, perhaps until now the new category that Pro.Play can bring has not been created, using children’s toys to perform role-playing games in 3rd person, living and exploring the interactions and changing the models in real time to learn and improve.

The Pro.Play® method created and designed by Juan Prego, allows modeling situations and going beyond stories to carry out interactive interventions. The official PLAYMOBIL pro Kit is accompanied by templates to apply the techniques and tools and extract the maximum value in each dynamic both individually and in small teams and entire organizations.

Neolé co-founded FliP University: Flipping online learning on its head with carefully curated online courses that are best taken with your team.

We’ve taken the best of what in-person workshops offer and put it online. FliP U content is thoroughly modern, pracademic (practical and grounded in academic research), sassy and transformative. We deliver life-changing courses, game-changing knowledge, and career-changing skills.

Managing Director of Courage Co-Lab Inc. & Founding Law Partner at Wakulat Dhirani LLP

Robert is the Managing Director of Courage Co-Lab Inc., where he connects corporate partners to creative processes. He is a Founding Law Partner at Wakulat Dhirani LLP, a professional services firm embedded at the Centre for Social Innovation, where he focuses on supporting social entrepreneurs working to alleviate social or environmental challenges.

Robert is highly sought after to lead workshops on corporate law and enterprise structure across the GTA with community-based organizations, the Toronto Public Library and post-secondary institutions such as Ryerson University’s Social Innovation Zone. This includes recurring guest instructor roles with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and Toronto Artscape’s Launchpad program for creative entrepreneurs.