Ask me about: Black diplomacy; Equity and Inclusion; Employment and Entrepreneurship; Leadership and Politics.
Candies Kotchapaw is a multiple award-winning entrepreneur, social systems navigator, community builder and all-round Black girl magic. She is a tenacious advocate for intentional changemaking, where people are the catalysts for sustainable equity and inclusion.
Identified as a Top 25 Women of Influence by Women of Influence global, Top 75 Canadian Immigrant and Top 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Woman, Candies continues to expand on her brand of evidence based changemaking through her primary work in mitigating the impacts of precarious work on Black communities. She has spoken in front of academic, government and civil society audiences in the United States, the United Kingdom, Latvia and South Korea.
Over the last five years, Candies’ career has focused on designing solution-focused programs to overcome systemic barriers within public and corporate employment spaces. She expertly applies her structural social work theory of practice to analyze public policies, including those relating to the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent and the United Nations General Assembly’s recently adopted Permanent Forum for People of African Descent. Candies’ public diplomacy profile has been built by designing and delivering tested and proven experiential learning programs prioritizing Black young professionals’ talent, while consulting with senior federal government representatives on opportunities for strengthened diversity, equity and inclusion strategizing.
Candies is credited with advancing Black diplomacy in foreign and domestic policy positioning. For this work, she is a 2021 alumna of the prestigious United States State Department’s by nomination only International Visitor’s Leadership Program. She is also a G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance (YEA) Canadian delegate to the G20 summit 2021. Through her collaborative community building efforts, Candies sits as the Executive Director of Developing Young Leaders of Tomorrow, Today (DYLOTT), the CEO of Candies Kotchapaw Consulting, Vice-Chair of the Coalition for Inclusive Municipalities umbrellaed by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCUNESCO) and is also a legacy board member of Captains and Poets.
Media appearances for Candies include Women of Influence event “Unmasked: Community Calls to Action,” CTV News National 2021 Federal Budget Day commentary, Collision Conference feature article 2021, Meridian International Blog feature 2021, Globe and Mail feature article 2020; Future of Good panel 2020 and more.