Daniela Cohen is passionate about helping to bridge divides to create equitable, inclusive environments where everyone can thrive. Her passion stems from the experience of growing up in apartheid South Africa. Even though she was privileged as a white person in this system of institutionalized racism, witnessing this injustice at a young age as well as experiencing barriers to connecting with peers of different races left a mark.

Fourteen years after emigrating to Canada, Daniela returned to South Africa to volunteer with Amazwi, a non-profit organization empowering rural African women to share their experiences through community journalism. She has since worked for over ten years supporting refugees and immigrants in adapting to their new home in both South Africa and Canada.

As a settler on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Daniela is committed to continuing to learn about the historical and ongoing oppression of Indigenous peoples in Canada and doing her part in working towards reconciliation with and justice for Indigenous peoples.

Daniela has a background in education, an MA in Conflict Analysis and Management, and extensive experience designing and implementing initiatives to foster equity, diversity and inclusion, intercultural understanding, and peacebuilding.

She has trained youth and adults in conflict resolution skills and facilitated various conflict resolution processes in Canada, South Africa and the U.S. She assists organizations to design sustainable systems to constructively engage with conflict. She also helps individuals navigate challenging relationship dynamics through conflict coaching and provides women-centred coaching to help women break through their inner barriers and soar towards their dreams.

As a writer and journalist, Daniela focuses on highlighting underrepresented perspectives to be able to create greater empathy and understanding around critical social issues. Her work has been featured in New Canadian Media, the Canadian Immigrant, The/La Source Newspaper, Living Hyphen and ZEKE Magazine. In 2020, she co-founded Identity Pages, a writing mentorship program exploring aspects of our identity through creative writing in a supportive community.