Sussy Pamela Motta
Co-FounderVice-PresidentDirector of Program Youth Humanitarian Travels
She is also an Alumni of Care and inspired by those experiences, Sussy Pursued a DEC in special Care Counselling at Vanier College and graduated in 2010. In 2011 Sussy began her career as an Educator for Batshaw youth and Family Centers, where she continues to passionately work towards empowering youth in care.
The combination of her own experiences in care and 7 years’ experience as an Educator in Youth Protection, Sussy recognized the limited resources available to youth in care relative to their peers, leaving them at a perpetual disadvantage. Sussy sought to find a solution to this problem by creating a program that could provide unique experiences and life changing opportunities to Youth in Care. Sussy initiated the Future World Leaders pilot project in 2016. The pilot project revolved around a humanitarian trip to India in collaboration with Macdonald High School. Based on the experience documented from the humanitarian trip they would then develop a leadership-humanitarian program similar to that of a local high school but one tailored to youth in care that would continue to offer youth in care with an empowering leadership-humanitarian opportunity. Thanks to all the parties involved, especially the incredibly talented and passionate organizers, the pilot project was a success. Shortly thereafter, Future World Leaders NPO was founded.
Sussy continues to pursue her vision of creating lasting change for Youth in Care, determined to build an everlasting contribution to the community in the form of Future World Leaders.
Fun facts about Sussy
•She is an avid yogi. She completed two yoga teacher certifications between 2011 and 2014, and offers yoga classes on a seasonal basis.
•She loves being physically active and is training, running, hiking, indoor rock climbing on a daily basis.
•Suz loves nature!
•Also loves to Travel and discover new parts of the world. She loves learning through adventure.
•Is still pursuing her education for personal and professional development. She believes that learning keeps her young!
•Is a strong believer in listening to your heart and following your dreams. It keeps life exciting!
•Is happily married and a happily new mom
Carly Coxford
Co-Founder PresidentDirector of Program
As a teenager I became interested in the idea of working in the field of child welfare because of some friends who were dealing with difficult family life experiences. A few of them spent time in group homes or got in trouble with the law and ended up in juvenile detention. I remember a friend of mine telling me a story about a worker he had, and how he felt that she helped him turn his life around. From that moment on I began to think about how amazing it would be if I could help make a difference in someone’s life, like that worker helped my friend. It took a while until I fully decided on my specific path, but in 2003 I went back to college to get my degree in Correctional Intervention. During my final year, I did an internship in Batshaw’s male youth detention center. I really enjoyed my experience there so decided to apply upon graduation.
I began working for Batshaw Youth and Family Centres as a recall educator in 2006. Throughout the first ten years, I gained valuable experience working in various positions; from an educator in the different group homes and residential units, a unit support worker offering aid to both staffs and youths during times of difficulty, and then as an after-hours assistant manager. During this time I also went back to school, where I obtained a BA in Human Relations from Concordia University and a Masters in Social Work from McGill University. Since my graduation in the fall of 2016, I have been fortunate to add the title of social worker to my list of experiences at Batshaw.
I became involved in the Future World Leaders pilot project for a couple reasons: 1) After years of working in the field of youth protection, I witnessed all too many times the challenges and limitations facing both current and former youth in care, and wanted to do something to improve their chances for success; and 2) Helping others through humanitarian projects abroad had been a life goal of mine for years. Thus, I believed that through the project I would not only get to fulfill my own dreams but also get to share these life changing experiences with our youth in care.
Though last year’s humanitarian trip was an extremely impactful experience, after the trip I recognized that in order to truly effect long term change more needed to be done. So many youth age out of care without strong role models and with limited life skills. As such, we created a full leadership and humanitarian program that will help teach essential life and leadership skills, while also inspiring and empowering them to not only want to improve their own lives but to also want to make a difference in the world.
