LEAF is excited to welcome three new members to the team: Chance Kawar, as the Office and Branch Relations Coordinator, Sahar Golshan, as the Development Officer, and Nicole Jowett, as the Public Interest Articling Fellow. Learn more about them below.
Chance Kawar (he/him) is the Office and Branch Relations Coordinator at LEAF, where he supports organizational operations including volunteer branches across the country. He brings six years of experience working in the nonprofit sector with a focus on financial administration, human resources, board governance, office management, and more. He has most recently held positions at organizations in the United States including Greenbelt Alliance and the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. A graduate of Pitzer College, Chance holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Studies along with a minor in Spanish. In his free time, he enjoys travelling, hiking, and cooking. He was born and raised in San Diego, CA, and currently resides in Toronto, ON along with his boyfriend and their scruffy rescue dog, Smokey.
Sahar Golshan is the Development Officer at LEAF. She works to build and sustain relationships with donors and funding partners who make it possible for LEAF to advance feminist law and gender equality in Canada. She has had the immense privilege of working as a fundraiser for education and social justice-driven organizations, including Indigenous Youth Roots (formerly known as CRE), SKETCH Working Arts, and The Walrus. Sahar has worked as a facilitator and instructor in community and academic spaces, including with Canada World Youth, the Toronto Public Library, the University of Toronto, and the University of Guelph. She is the author of the picture book So Loud! (Annick Press, 2024) and the director of the short documentary KAR (2019).
Nicole Jowett (she/her) is from Winnipeg, Treaty 1, and has a background in migrant justice work. This includes direct supports for migrant youth and families as well as research and service coordination, previously working as the Provincial Coordinator for the Manitoba Association of Newcomer Serving Organizations. To further her knowledge and skills, Nicole went into law at McGill University, where she completed a BCL/JD in 2024. During this time, she volunteered at legal clinics for housing and migrant rights and worked as a legal researcher focused on human rights and equality law. Seeing the legal barriers faced by marginalized community members, Nicole is committed to furthering intersectional equality through public interest law, and is looking forward to pursuing this work at LEAF.
The Public Interest Articling Fellowship was made possible through the support of The Law Foundation of Ontario.
