Meet Celestina. She is the Manager of the Settlement and Integration Department at CIWA.

Celestina joined CIWA in 2008 after hearing about the organization from a friend on her arrival in Canada. Originally joining in a part-time capacity, Celestina has now been working with CIWA for over 8.5 years.

Celestina likes to help develop programs and projects that highlight the intersecting issues experienced by immigrant women, while emphasizing their strengths and resiliencies. She especially enjoys overseeing programs and projects that meet the basic financial, social well-being, and mental health needs of immigrant women and their families.

“The ability to see the positive impact the work we do at CIWA has on our clients is the most gratifying thing. Depending on the service/support, the impact is seen immediately while others are more long term.”

She believes that CIWA is doing everything within our capacity to help women overcome barriers to integration, one step at a time. Through CIWA’s programs, services and supports, we are able to assist immigrant women and their families navigate their way through circumstances by maintaining in-person and virtual services as situations allow. CIWA’s training programs to address employment-related issues cater to clients with varied literacy levels. Our family-focused programs provide customized supports to address issues related to family violence, conflict and more. CIWA also continues to provide financial supports to clients in order to meet their basic needs such as food and housing.

“There are so many barriers to integration. One can’t list them all but financial hardships, lack of basic needs supports, employment training and counselling services to help women gain meaningful employment opportunities, enhanced emotional, social and mental health and wellbeing is still lacking.”

Outside of work, Celestina enjoys reading, traveling, cooking, and binge-watching documentaries and docudramas. She considers herself a true Nigerian in diaspora.

To learn more about the services we provide to support immigrant parents and families, click here.