![Staceyan Sterling, seen from the chest up, wearing a white blouse, long black, curled, hair and smiling](https://www.womensacademics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/317_Staceyan.2fa2369f.png)
I am a black female, mother, spouse, life-long learner, servant leader, immigrant, and Canadian. I have lived in Toronto Canada most of my life and enjoy telling new Canadians about their roots that made this country. Grade 6 was my life-defining year. It’s the year I noticed a child’s physical response to learning, the year I found and read little Anne Frank’s diary and wept alone in the back corners of the library, overwhelmed at the extent of evil and injustice in this world. I decide there and then that one has the choice to be a destroyer or a healer. I chose the latter, and have lived a life of service, love, joy, peace, and advocacy.
![Graphic of puzzle pieces and the title EMPaCT](https://www.womensacademics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/empact-1-1-1024x472.jpg)