Naika Thomas (she/her) is the owner and co-founder of QueensConnected.

She is a Health Equity Specialist who leads organizational anti-racism/anti-oppression initiatives, which include developing policies and procedures, sitting on and applying a DEI lens to interview panels, facilitating check-ins for Indigenous, Black, and racialized employees, leading anti-racism education sessions, and consulting with employees and leaders on issues relating to racism/discrimination.

She has worked in public health for over 15 years doing home visiting, school health, youth engagement, sexual health clinics, and more. She completed a Bachelors of Science degree at McMaster University and obtained a Masters of Public Health degree from Simon Fraser University.

Naika was raised in Hamilton in a predominantly white francophone community and is keenly aware of the impacts that decades of negative messaging, historical erasure, and microaggressions have wreaked on her physical and mental health. She continues to unpack the toll anti-Black racism has caused on her life by reclaiming her Black history and identity.

She is a mother of two daughters and a wife. She is a serial entrepreneur who loves walking in nature to process everyday life, and adores dancing to old school hip hop, r&b, reggae, and dancehall.