Julie Thomas is a proud  Mi'kmaq woman from Paq’tnkek First Nation in Nova Scotia. Julie was born and raised in Dartmouth, NS. She graduated from the Nova Scotia Community College in 2007, Business Administration with a concentration in Management. Julie has been working for Healing Our Nations (HON) since 2005 as a summer student/Communications Assistant, cost sharing through her band (Native Community).



In 2007 Julie became the Hepatitis C Coordinator, 2008 Community Health Educator, 2013 Program Manager, and in 2015 she was given the title of Executive Director. Julie truly believes that culturally relevant interactive education, prevention and awareness interventions are the key to reducing transmission rates of HIV, Hep C and other sexually transmitted blood borne infections among the First Nations population in Canada.

Jessica describes herself as a "fat, anti-racist, anti-diet, fat positive and sex positive black feminist." Jessica uses her digital platforms to raise awareness of issues related to fatphobia, racism and feminism. Inclusion and self-esteem are at the heart of her approach. She also offers her community to live with her all kinds of exciting experiences, both culinary and cultural, and shares her love of fashion and food. She shares her best food spots in Montréal, and even around the world.

Shay Vanderschaeghe has extensive nonprofit history and her work has centered around leading regional and provincial HIV and harm reduction organizations since 1993. During her 14 years as their Executive Director, Shay successfully transitioned Turning Point Society through an expansion of scope and name change, as well as diversified the organization's funding base to include NightReach, The Women’s Program and fee for service. Shay worked for Heritage Family Services in increasing their LGBTQ+ cultural capacity and creating Haven, the first group home for gender and/or sexually diverse youth in care in Canada. 



During her work in Alberta’s non-profit sector Shay worked collaboratively to plan and implement 13 Alberta harm reduction conferences, and then successfully coordinated the first-ever Stimulus 2018: Drugs, Policy and Practice conference in Canada. During her career, Shay has won the HIV Community Link Roger Leclerc Award and the Women of Excellence Award in Health. Shay’s community work has included creating or supporting the creation of community-based non-profits, including the Central Alberta Pride Society, Safe Harbour Society, Central Alberta Rainbow Youth and the Trans and Non-Binary Aid Society. Shay currently sits on the Pro Bono Law Alberta and the Community Legal Clinic Board of Directors. When not working in her home office she is gardening, camping or travelling internationally.

Rene is an activist, media maker, artist, researcher and certified sexual health educator with more than 20 years of experience in the field of sexual health and community engagement. As Executive Director and educator with the Sexual Health Centre for Cumberland County, Rene shares her fire for inclusion and human rights. Rene delivers an award-winning school-based program to hundreds of elementary, junior high and high school youth each year across the county and has answered thousands of questions about sex and sexuality. Rene’s current project centre on using entertainment and social media channels for inclusive sexual health education and sexual violence prevention. 



With the help of the media clubs she started with local youth, Rene’s videos under the @sexualhealthmatters accounts received more than 1.5 million views across the centres social media channels and have been featured in various local and national media outlets. Rene holds a degree in Political Science and Human Rights from Acadia University and certification in Sexual Health from the University of Alberta.

Francis est technicien en travail social de formation. Il est présentement aux études au certificat en santé sexuelle à l'université Laval afin de parfaire ses connaissances à ce sujet. Il a œuvré dans divers domaines de l'intervention sociale plus principalement en intervention de proximité dans la grande famille du réseau communautaire de Québec. Il est aujourd’hui intervenant à la prévention du VIH et des ITSS auprès des hommes ayant des relations sexuelles (HARSAH) et responsable du programme PRISME au MIELS-Québec depuis maintenant presque 2 ans. MIELS-Québec est un organisme venant en aide aux personnes vivant avec le VIH et en prévention de celui-ci dans la ville de Québec. L’organisme distribue des condoms ONE dans divers organismes et lieux de la communauté LGBTQ+ de la ville de Québec et de ses environs.



“C’est un honneur pour moi d’être juge pour ce concours, c’est une nouvelle aventure ainsi qu’un nouveau défi qui débute pour moi que je relèverai avec brio. Représenter la prévention du VIH et des ITSS auprès de la communauté LGBTQ+ Québécoise est une mission me tenant à cœur et je suis fier d’avoir été choisi par ONE condoms afin d’être juge pour ce concours.