Karen Villanueva-Paez is a Colombian community worker currently based in Tkaronto, Kanata (Toronto, Canada). She graduated from York University with an HBA in International Development Studies and is a Master in Social Work student at the University of Toronto. Karen currently holds the portfolio of Supervisor of Programming at the Toronto Centre for Learning & Development. For the past 6 years, through her community development practice, Karen integrates her passion for popular education, activism and visual arts to support immigrant and newcomer populations living in underserved communities. Karen collaborates with grassroots stakeholders to create programs that serve their own communities and foster their capacity to enact social change.