Chris Mosier

Chris Mosier (he/him) is a trailblazing athlete, activist, and founder of TransAthlete.com. In 2020 he made history by becoming the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympic Trials in the gender with which they identify. Before that, in 2015 he became the first openly trans man to make a Men’s US National Team. He was instrumental in getting the International Olympic Committee policy on transgender athletes changed, and was the first trans athlete to compete in a world championship race under the new rules.

He has been called “the man who changed the Olympics” by the BBC and New York Magazine. Chris is an eight-time member of Team USA, a four-time Men’s National Champion, and a Men’s All-American. Chris is also an inductee into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame. He is sponsored by Nike and has been featured in multiple global Nike campaigns. Chris’s website transathlete.com is the go-to source for information about transgender athletes in sport. Chris has written and advocated for change in policies from the high school level to national governing bodies and professional leagues. He has become one of the leading grassroots organizers against the current wave of anti-trans legislation across the United States. When not fighting the good fight, he mentors transgender and non-binary athletes around the world in hopes that he can live by his motto of “be who you needed when you were younger.”

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Danne Diamond

Danne Diamond (they/them) is an advocacy, strategic communications, and sports policy specialist who has dedicated their career to building a world where everyone can experience safety, freedom, and agency. Most recently, Danne served as the Director of Policy and Programs at Athlete Ally, where they led global advocacy campaigns and built coalitions focused on advancing gender equity and LGBTQI+ human rights, particularly for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex communities and ending discriminatory policies and practices in sports.

Before Athlete Ally, Danne led grantmaking and advocacy initiatives in South and Southeast Asia for AJWS and spent two transformative years in Thailand on a Fulbright Fellowship where their research focused on gender and sexuality in Muay Thai. Prior to this, Danne earned a prestigious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Fellowship and worked for the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP). Danne graduated from Columbia University with an M.A. in Human Rights and holds a B.A. in African and African American Studies and Women’s Studies from Fordham University. Danne’s work and values are anchored by the words of Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” Beyond their advocacy work, Danne is a three-time national champion Muay Thai fighter and coach, a recent competitive runner, and a volunteer firefighter-in-training. Danne is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, with their spouse and dog, Harvey Chocolate Milk.

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Mohamed Hassan

Mohamed Hassan, is a sport business and marketing professional, with ten years of experience in the industry, he is dedicated to using sports as a means to grow brands and bring people together. He is currently the Manager of Player Marketing at the CFL, where he works to enhance the CFL brand through athlete marketing initiatives and projects. Before joining the CFL, Mohamed spent helped develop and grow Tennis Canada’s profile, as their Marketing Manager, where he led marketing campaigns for the Tennis Canada brand and the National Bank Open, achieving record-breaking revenues and fan engagement.

Mohamed has also collaborated on marketing campaigns with major sports organizations such as Canada Basketball, FIBA, U SPORTS and more. His efforts focused on fan engagement and innovative marketing strategies that increased brand visibility and revenue. In addition to his professional roles, Mohamed is the Executive Director of Somali Together, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of Somali youth through experiential learning programs.

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Daria Jorquera Palmer

Daria Jorquera Palmer has engaged in sport in multiple ways over the past 20 years, from an athlete on the Canadian National Fencing Team for 12 years, competing in over 25 countries, to transitioning to becoming the head coach of her fencing club and the assistant provincial fencing coach in Manitoba. Her educational background is in recreation management and community development from the University of Manitoba as well was project management from York University.

Daria has over 10 years experience working in non profit organizational management and is currently consulting with the Anti-Racism in Sport Campaign. In her spare time, she volunteers on several boards such as the President of the Provincial Council of Women of Manitoba, Secretary of Trails Manitoba, and on the Canadian Fencing Federation Gender Equity Committee.

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Laura McPhie

Laura McPhie is a proud two-spirit auntie whose ancestors are Anishinaabe from the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation, German, and Scottish. They approach all their work from the intersections of walking the world as a queer, Indigenous, neurodivergent woman which they ground in an educational background in Indigenous and Queer studies.

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Moji Akande

Born in Nigeria, Moji holds a Masters in Finance degree from the Queen Mary University of London. She has spent the last 6+ years working in the field of policy development and advocacy, working with First Nations, Metis, Inuit, Black, Racialized, and Religious Minority communities across Canada. Her personal and professional experience as a newcomer, athlete, volunteer, researcher, and policy advisor have informed the lens she applies to her role at Anti-Racism in Sport.

Applying a strategic lens, she works to raise awareness of the issues of sport participation by racialized communities, in order to lower barriers through research and recommendations to policy makers, as well as stakeholder training and public awareness. She also brings her experience working with distributed teams and federal associations across Canada and Internationally. In her spare time, she volunteers on several committees in the capacity of Equity and Diversity Officer and advisory board member.

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Lysa Lowe

Lysa Lowe is the Programs and Operations Manager with ICSN and the lead for the Play Fair. Anti-Racism in Sport Toolkit. She has worked with various non-profit organizations dedicated to the importance of EDI and women in the Canadian sport industry including Canletes and The Black Canadian Coaches Association (what ICSN was formally known as). As a Sport Management graduate and student-athlete from Niagara College, Lysa is dedicated to creating more diverse spaces in the sport industry and strives to bring the community together through sport.

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Dr. Clare Warner

Dr. Clare Warner (she/her) is an anti-racist educator and researcher with 20 years of experience leading equity-focused strategic interventions across the private and public sectors.

She has worked across the education sector as a teacher, teacher trainer and consultant. As a senior advisor in equity, inclusion and anti-racism at McMaster University, she provides strategic guidance on building, strengthening, and evaluating inclusive programming, environments, policies, and processes. She proudly serves as a co-chair of Blk Owned Hamilton’s Board of Directors and also chairs the Steeltown Athletic Club (STAC) Board of Directors, both located in Hamilton, Ontario where she was born and raised. Clare holds a PhD in educational studies from Goldsmiths, University of London.

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Canada’s First-Ever Black Leaders in Sports Day Marks a Historic Milestone

Ottawa, ON – The Inclusion in Canadian Sports Network (ICSN) proudly hosted the inaugural Black Leaders in Sports Day on April 2nd in Ottawa, bringing together established and emerging Black sport professionals from across the Canadian amateur sports system.

For the first time in Canadian history, emerging leaders, sport administrators, coaches, officials, sports medicine experts, researchers, and marketing professionals gathered in one space to expand knowledge, collaborate, and provide unwavering support to one another in building a more inclusive and representative sports community.

Despite progress, Black individuals continue to face barriers in sports, from limited leadership opportunities to unequal access to resources. Recent Statistics Canada data reinforces the urgency of this conversation, underscoring the need for systemic change:

According to a Statistics Canada study released in 2025, over one-quarter (26%) of sports participants in athletic roles perceive racism and discrimination as prevalent issues in community sports. Within the broader sports community, racialized participants (12%) were three times more likely to report experiencing unfair treatment, racism, or discrimination compared to non-racialized participants (4%). These statistics highlight the systemic barriers that continue to affect Black professionals in the sports industry.

As a national organization committed to increasing BIPOC representation in sport leadership, ICSN works to dismantle barriers and create pathways for Black, Indigenous, and racialized professionals across the Canadian sports system. The success of Black Leaders in Sports Day is a reflection of ICSN’s broader mission to build equity through education, collaboration, and community empowerment.

Throughout the day, participants heard from influential voices including Associate Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage, Andrew Brown, and representatives of Coaching Association of Canada, Canada Games Council, and Sport for Life.

The event, made possible through the support of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and Canadian Women & Sport, highlighted the importance of allyship in driving diversity forward in the Canadian sports system.

With the overwhelming success of this year’s event, ICSN looks forward to expanding Black Leaders in Sports Day in 2026 and beyond, ensuring that Black leaders in sport continue to have a space to collaborate, advocate, and lead meaningful change.

For more information, please contact Kim Pallarca at programs@inclusionincanadiansports.ca.

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