Sultanah Dada, the winner of the inaugural Maria Celaje Bursary, photographed here with Neelam Sahota, CEO of DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society.

Sultanah Dada, the winner of the inaugural Maria Celaje Bursary, photographed here with Neelam Sahota, CEO of DIVERSEcity  Community Resources Society.
Sultanah Dada, the winner of the inaugural Maria Celaje Bursary, photographed here with Neelam Sahota, CEO of DIVERSEcity
Community Resources Society.
Sultanah and her family came to Canada in April 2013 from the Republic of Mauritius – an island nation, in the Indian Ocean off the Southeast coast of the African continent. The very next day, they went to DIVERSEcity to get some help with all the paperwork they needed for successful settlement in Canada.
Sultana herself was referred to Maria Celaje, Program Facilitator for the Future Leaders Program. Funded by Service Canada, the Future Leaders is a 16-week training program designed to address the multiple barriers to employment, faced by visible minority youth ages 15-30. The participants gain skills, awareness and knowledge to enhance their school and/or career transition within the Retail, Food or Service Industries.
Sultanah gained her first Canadian employment via work experience placement with Tim Horton’s. She continues to work part time there while pursuing her education as a third year
student at Simon Fraser
University, Beedie School of Business.
“I am no longer the shy,
soft-spoken person I was when I first came to Canada. Today, I am more confident of myself, I am able to manage my time more
efficiently and build more networks easily,” said Sultanah.
On April 17th of 2014,
DIVERSEcity experienced the sudden and tragic passing of Future Leaders Program
Coordinator, Maria Celaje. To honour Maria’s memory and acknowledge her commitment and contributions to the immigrant youth she guided in the program over the years, DIVERSEcity set up the Maria Celaje Bursary.
For the inaugural year, the
bursary was awarded to an
exceptional immigrant young adult between the ages of 19 and 30, who attended the Future Leaders Program between April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014. “It is not uncommon that business courses are really expensive, especially the higher level ones. So far I was able to cover just the amount needed but this award would really help ease my budget and really help me to allot more time in getting active on campus and for more volunteering hours. This bursary will contribute to my education and help to develop other skills which recruiters look for in the ideal candidate.”
“My ultimate career goal is to become a manager in one of the Big four Accounting firms,” said Sultana.

About the Future Leader Program:
The Future Leaders program is a 16-week program designed to address the multiple barriers to
employment, faced by visible minority youth ages 15-30. The objective is to inspire and empower participants by providing a specialized curriculum that will enhance their skills, attitudes and behaviors as they relate to work experience activities. The program provides a combination of Life Skills and Employment Skills training for 6 weeks and a Work Placement for 10 weeks in the Retail, Food and Service sectors. The youth participants receive various certifications, wages while attending class, and job placement.