Roxanne Joyal is an experienced international development practitioner and leadership specialist with legal expertise. She is a founding staff member of Free The Children, the world’s largest network of children helping children through education, and of Me to We, a worldwide community of socially conscious enterprises, including media, lifestyle products and leadership experiences.

A former parliamentary page in the Canadian House of Commons, Roxanne first became involved in development work from a young age, spending six months in the Klong Toey slum of Bangkok, Thailand, caring for mothers and children afflicted with AIDS. She has gone on to help women in Kenya to establish a fair trade cooperative, and work with the World Bank on poverty-alleviation projects in Zimbabwe.

Now 30 years old, Roxanne graduated with distinction from Stanford after completing a degree in international relations. Upon winning a coveted Rhodes scholarship, she went on to complete a law degree at Oxford University with an emphasis on family and labour law. Roxanne completed her legal training by clerking for Madam Justice Deschamps at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005. She is qualified to practice in Canada.

As Free The Children has grown into the world's largest network of children helping children, Roxanne has spearheaded Free The Children's social and economic empowerment initiatives in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. She is a full time volunteer with Free The Children, and is currently leading Free The Children's micro-lending initiative in Kenya which seeks to sustainably empower women through micro-enterprise.

In her work with Me to We, Roxanne established the Kenya School of the Savannah, a first-of-its-kind facility in Kenya’s Masai Mara designed to educate and engage youth and adults through international volunteer adventures. She is currently leading the organization’s expansion into adult and family volunteer-based travel in Kenya, Ecuador and India.

Roxanne has been featured as “Faces of the Future: 100 Young Canadians to Watch” in Maclean’s Magazine, She is an Action Canada fellow. In 2005, Roxanne was selected by the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100: Canada’s Most Powerful Women. Her work has been extensively covered by the CBC, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen and the Winnipeg Free Press.

Roxanne resides in both Toronto and Nairobi, Kenya.

Russ McLeod joined the Free The Children and Me to We teams in early 2004, and now serves as executive director for both Me to We Books and Me to We Music. Russ is also a seasoned facilitator with Me to We Leadership, having trained youth through the Volunteer Now! program and at our global leadership academies.

A business graduate from the University of Ottawa, Russ is one of the creators of the university's School of Management's Career Center. This Prince George, B.C., native has now become a driving force behind the Me to We philosophy and business model. As executive director of Me to We Books, he is responsible for the marketing of Me to We's many socially conscious titles, including Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World, which quickly rose to the New York Times Best Seller List. His vision and leadership also guided the creation of We Day, the annual event hosted by our partner charity, Free The Children. Russ is the co-creator of the Canadian Living Me to We Awards, hosted in partnership with Canada's largest women's magazine. He is also responsible for the operation of Me to We Music, as well as relationship management of high profile partnerships including CTV, MTV, Canadian Living and Telus. As a seasoned speaker, Russ has travelled throughout North America and even overseas to Germany and China. He has also facilitated trips and trainings in Kenya, India, Kuwait and Mexico.

Russ's passion for development work and world issues stems from his teaching and his overseas travel experience. His personal travels have taken him to Malaysia, Thailand, Honduras, El Salvador and Colombia; a long way from northern British Columbia!

Janice Sousa joined the Me to We team in March 2007 as international trips coordinator. In her position, Janice's goal is to help young people have life-changing travel experiences that will give them a greater understanding of their role in the global community.

Janice first volunteered in high school coaching youth soccer and has been having a ball volunteering ever since, from organizing youth trips to helping young offenders stay away from crime. While attending Wilfred Laurier University, Janice became Winston Churchill, René Lévesque and a Sinn Fein nationalist . . . at model United Nations simulations! Passionate about the United Nations (UN), Janice identifies the UN ideals of peace, openness and a shared sense of humanity. She was president of the Laurier World Affairs Society, where she sent university delegates to UN simulations across North America and the United Kingdom. Janice continues to work with local UN associations and write editorials about the UN for her local paper.

A second generation Portuguese immigrant, Janice plans to attend law school to study immigration law. In her spare time, you can find Janice watching soccer, playing soccer, devouring a book or enjoying a comedy show. She is always interested in visiting a museum or travelling with anyone with an open mind. Janice feels fortunate every day to work with such an inspiring group of people at Me to We.

As part of the international trips department, Julia Lydall helps to coordinate Me to We's adult, family and corporate trips as our resident international travel consultant. A former operations and client care coordinator for a luxury travel company, Julia has helped plan all sorts of trips to far-off destinations. She joined the team at Me to We Trips in 2009, excited to be working with families and adult travellers looking for a unique experience of volunteerism and international travel.

Travelling has always been an important part of Julia's life. While working on her degree in family studies at the University of British Columbia, she participated in an exchange to Copenhagen and managed to spend as many hours exploring Europe as she did writing papers. Upon returning to B.C., Julia discovered a new passion: snowboarding. And, upon graduation, she spent two winters knee-deep in powder, working as a snowboard instructor in the mountains of Colorado. Julia also spent some time living in South Korea as an English teacher, and had the incredible opportunity to travel through Japan and China as well. Through all her travelling experiences, however, the one that had the greatest personal impact on her was the three months she spent living and volunteering in Tanzania. While living with a local family and working alongside Tanzanian and Canadian volunteers, Julia assisted with the implementation of local youth programs with a focus on health issues and HIV/AIDS prevention.

As director of the School and Youth Coordination team, Julia helps to oversee the coordination of Me to We’s international trips, Take Action Academies and customized leadership training. Through these domestic and international leadership programs, it is incredible to see how young people are transformed over the course of the experience. Julia’s favorite part of the job is sending participants off at the airport on an overseas adventure, seeing how nervous they are, completely unsure of what to expect. Then to see the same kids return home with renewed confidence, new best friends and a changed perspective of the world; it’s truly incredible to witness.

Travelling has always been an important part of Julia's life. While working on her degree in family studies at the University of British Columbia, she participated in an exchange to Copenhagen and managed to spend as many hours exploring Europe as she did writing papers. Upon returning to B.C., Julia discovered a new passion: snowboarding. And, upon graduation, she spent two winters knee-deep in powder, working as a snowboard instructor in the mountains of Colorado. Julia also spent some time living in South Korea as an English teacher, and had the incredible opportunity to travel through Japan and China as well. Through all her travelling experiences, however, the one that had the greatest personal impact on her was the three months she spent living and volunteering in Tanzania. While living with a local family and working alongside Tanzanian and Canadian volunteers, Julia assisted with the implementation of local youth programs with a focus on health issues and HIV/AIDS prevention.

With a zest for life, Julia loves singing karaoke in Toronto's "Little Korea," going for walks with her high-energy English Staffordshire terrier, sleeping late on Sunday mornings, eating chocolate and exploring new parts of the world.

Sandra Sorial joined the Free The Children and Me to We family in 2008 overseeing Free The Children’s regional operations in Quebec, Western Canada, California and London, UK. She also managed corporate partnerships and played a lead role in the roll out of We Day, Free The Children’s annual and national youth event.

After graduating from high school in Sacre-Coeur, Cairo, Sandra started her B.A. in international studies and political science. In her graduating year, she was selected to be a member of the Independent Study Project on the Great Lakes of Africa Study, which involved organizing an international conference and a research trip to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Congo. A year later, she was back in East Africa to volunteer on a humanitarian trip to Kenya and Tanzania with the Changing Lives Group, followed by another trip to help at-risk youth in Aroland, a First Nations reserve in Northern Ontario. Sandra led delegations and organized leadership simulations for Model United Nations in New York and Model European Parliament (SPECQUE) in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, working with youth on political and development issues. She went on to complete her master’s degree in international development and development management at the University of Manchester, England. She has worked on various development projects in Cairo, Kenya and Ghana, but has built most of her professional experience in development and communications in the non-profit sector in Canada.

Sandra has been able to combine two of her greatest passions in her current role: her passion for travel and her long-term engagement to international development. Sandra oversees a team of dedicated individuals who develop and facilitate adult volunteer adventures to Kenya and India while engaging corporate partners, families and groups in meaningful programs with both Me to We and Free The Children.

When Sandra is not at work, she is often catching up with family and friends, enjoying the outdoors and planning her next adventure travel trip. She believes happiness is a journey, not a destination. On her journey, Sandra loves to connect with people, learn about cultures and spread smiles around her.

Maran brings a passion to leadership and volunteerism to her role as director of Me to We Leadership. A trained lawyer, Maran practiced intellectual property law on Bay Street and entertainment law at Universal Music Canada before joining the team at Me to We.

Throughout her professional career, Maran always found time to live out her passion for volunteerism, from spending months in Tanzania working on educational and build projects to volunteering in her local community with various organizations for important causes ranging from heath and AIDS prevention to child soldiers.

Maran is privileged to now spend her time with Me to We Leadership, empowering youth across the world to find their own passions and understand the value of being true global citizens.

Understanding that the mentorship her coaches, youth leaders, educators and counselors gave her shaped her identity helps to explain why Hannah Feldberg is so deeply invested in young people. She has always been a big follower of Free The Children and Me to We's work, but it wasn't until she met Marc Kielburger at a social entrepreneurship conference in 2008 that an opportunity to be directly involved in the organizations presented itself. She joined the Me to We team in 2009 as our director of Me to We Leadership.

Happy to put her study of academic theory into practice at Me to We, Hannah is finishing up her Master's of art in recreation and leisure studies at the University of Waterloo. Her graduate school thesis research focused on exploring camp programs as a place to provide positive youth development experiences. More specifically, her research looked at experiential learning, optimal learning environments, transfer of training, program and outcome evaluation, leadership and character education. Prior to her graduate work, Hannah graduated from Acadia University in recreation management from the Faculty of Professional Studies. Though grateful for her formal educational experiences, Hannah has always believed that the best lessons in life come from pulling up one's sleeves and getting involved with one's community directly. Hannah has a long history of being involved with student politics and community development work as a facilitator, organizer and leader.

As someone who sees a stranger as a friend she hasn't met, Hannah chooses an attitude of positivity, optimism and hope. Thus far, some of Hannah's favourite life adventures include volunteering at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece; leading a youth camping trip in the backcountry of Colorado; and living in New York City. Hannah loves rain, laughing really hard, her hilarious family and her phenomenal friends. She is motivated by Margaret Mead's famous words: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does."

As the director of Me to We Speakers, Marianne Woods has the privilege to work with a dynamic team, offering conference and meeting planners a roster of speakers who are leading the Me to We philosophy. For those looking to book our impassioned and experienced inspirational speakers, Marianne is the one to talk to. Though busy, her role as a mother has made her an expert at multitasking, so no e-mail or phone call goes unanswered.

Marianne was born and raised in Cabbagetown, not far from the present Free The Children and Me to We offices. With over 19 years of experience in the commercial and not-for-profit entertainment and event management industry, and over five years in the speaking industry, Marianne has built strong relationships with representatives from the entertainment industry, as well as professional speakers, trainers and facilitators. She also has well-developed client relationships within the world of finance, insurance, manufacturing, associations and school boards

Marianne is extremely proud of her family-husband, Daryl; two amazing children, Galen and Chloe, who are passionate about the Me to We movement; and her lovable dog, Rumble!

Growing up surrounded by mountains and oceans, music and books, Erin exhibited early signs of the universal compassion and wonderment that would define her life. She discovered the work of Free The Children in 2001 in high school and worked as a youth member and regional network coordinator.

Erin pursued an honours degree in international relations and anthropology at Mount Allison University. She graduated as class valedictorian before joining the Me to We team as a motivational speaker, delivering her unique message of social change with humour and music to over 50,000 youth in North America, and facilitating over 200 youth leadership workshops. With experience facilitating overseas trips for over 600 volunteers, and speaking at various international conferences and events, Erin became the director of leadership programming for Me to We before becoming increasingly drawn to the remote scopes and Saguaro-covered ranges of Southern Arizona's border region. Leading Me to We trips to the Windsong Peace and Leadership Centre for four years, and developing intimate and compassionate relationships with people in Mexico and the United States, Erin soon realized that her soul was wrapped up in the land, the people and the issues unique to that area. In January of 2009, she moved to the ranch full time as Arizona-Mexico program director. Currently pursuing a master's degree in applied community change and conservation as well, Erin constantly seeks to continue the betterment of her work and her life.

Erin finds joy and energy in travel, running, reading, nature treks, playing guitar and laughing. She is buoyed up by the love of her talented and amazing friends and family. When she dreams, Erin sees a just and sustainable community in her desert oasis; a place where people of all ages, races, abilities and genders – from any side of every border – find solutions to the political, social and environmental concerns plaguing their community...all the while feasting on kickin' Mexican food!

Ryan Bolton is a self-described bibliophile. He loves books, writing and the world of literature. More than this, he is quite the social activist. Good thing, then, that he works as an editor and writer with Me to We's bestselling, critically-acclaimed books. As a raging idealist, Ryan stands by his beliefs that writing is the impetus for social change. Having published myriad articles in national, provincial, online and print publications, Ryan holds an honours English degree with a minor in history from Wilfrid Laurier University alongside a print journalism diploma from Sheridan College.

After graduating university and working as an editor with Laurier´s campus magazine, Blueprint, Ryan joined Journalists for Human Rights in Ghana, Africa. Working as a foreign correspondent and journalist trainer at a Liberian refugee camp, Ryan's deep-seeded passion for human rights was married with storytelling. Ever since, Ryan has written on an expansive collection of investigative articles unearthing buried stories on homelessness, human rights violations and even chatting about metaphors with the Jonas Brothers. As an award-winning writer, Ryan has worked with Dose.ca, the Burlington Post, Spacing magazine, Adbusters and as editor-in-chief of Sheridan College's magazine, TRAVIS.

When he's not drumming away on his typewriter - yes, typewriter - Ryan enjoys skateboarding, reading, biking on three-speed bikes and travelling to places where he can make a difference. Oh, he also likes long walks, well, anywhere. And that, in a written nutshell, is Ryan.