About Strive
Strive is dedicated to transforming financial resiliency for Canadians. It has a mission of enabling Canadians to build financial resiliency at scale. Recognizing that knowledge does not automatically lead to behaviour change, Strive has developed a unique, goal oriented, peer to peer program to provide high impact and low cost financial resiliency capacity building.
Strive has been built with the following theory of change in mind:
1. Our current level of inequality is the result of the ecosystem that has emerged from the institutions, organizations, policies and programs we have collectively created
2. Meaningful progress on inequality will require a fundamental shift to the entire ecosystem including those institutions, organizations, policies and programs
3. A fundamental shift to our ecosystem can be accelerated by people advancing their individual interests, collectively pushing against the existing ecosystem and creating accountability for meaningful and effective change
Strive has been designed with the belief that there is a better way, that we can learn from each other and that we can work together to create an economic and socially thriving society. It emerged out of the Economic Inequality program at The Banff Centre.
Team
Founder
Monica Da Ponte is the founder of Strive. She currently leads all programming and partnership development. Monica also leads boutique consultancy Shift & Build. Here she provides consulting services to organizations working to advance social and environmental outcomes. In addition, Monica is a sustainability instructor at York University’s Schulich School of Business. Monica is based in Toronto.
Linda holds a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and an MBA in Corporate Communication. She currently provides communication and social media support to Strive. Her love for sustainability has driven her to write reports and explore the concept of Circular Economy. She believes the world can be improved in the area of sustainability and inequality. She is eager to share ideas to make progress faster.
Somya Lohia is a seasoned journalist and content strategist with significant contributions to esteemed media houses such as Hindustan Times, Times Now, The Financial Express, and Moneycontrol. She recently made the transition from India to Canada. She provides content development and social media support to Strive. Somya specializes in researching and crafting compelling narratives that resonate with audiences. Outside of her work, Somya enjoys exploring the world through the lens of photography.