Vanessa Keall-Vejar
Founder, Associate Director & Program Manager
"yay, another project! I'll have it done by this afternoon"
Vanessa has called Central and South Etobicoke home since 2005. In that time, she has built a community, family and career that refuses to stay in one lane, spanning design, community development, UX, population health research and social enterprise.
With residential stints in London, Vancouver, Victoria, Sault Ste. Marie and North Texas, the underlying need for equity access presented itself in each city and is even more vital today. She is currently Managing Director of CBASE, a research-based advocacy think tank advancing community-led solutions, social enterprise and equity-centred urban policy. In addition, she works for the City of Toronto as the 2026 NCAC Lead for Ward 3. This fall, she begins her MBA, adding to a foundation that already includes a Bachelor of Arts, an Honours Bachelor of Community Development, and postgraduate credentials in Content Strategy, Vertical Farming, Professional Book Publishing and Project Management.
A former partner at a design firm, a current member of PMI Toronto, and a writer that has recently completed her first nonfiction anthology, b-sides: the stories we saved for later, through the Humber School for Writers Graduate Program, She brings an unusually wide lens and a deeply curious approach to everything she does.
Outside of her professional and academic work, Vanessa is an avid sports enthusiast and devoted animal lover whose home and life are shared with her much-loved collection of pets. Her two children though are her North star and proudest achievements and the reason she fights so hard for an equitable future for all. Her research interests centre on land equity and access, and on what becomes possible when urban agriculture, city-building, social enterprise and complementary
disciplines are allowed to meaningfully inform one another.
