Power to Girls Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to support and empower Black and marginalized girls across the GTA and Ghana to realize their full potential by providing programs and resources for personal development, mentorship, mental health and wellness. For our 2022 Roots of a Girl event, held every year in February to celebrate Black History and the wonderful young Black girls in our program and the community, we reached out to Cristal to see if she would be interested in doing a spoken word. There was no hesitation on her end; her willingness and dedication came through immediately. I had the privilege of hearing Cristal speak at one of her past e-camp mentorship engagements, so I knew we were in for a treat; this time was no different. She came on time, was prepared, and when she spoke, everyone was engaged. There is no doubt that you can tell that she is passionate about what she does in the way she carries herself and interacts with others. This summer of 2022, our goal was to update our app to have an educational section where girls can view the resources and learn from various topics. Having a sense of Cristal's educational and work background, we knew she would be a great fit to create video content for our app. Once again, when I reached out, Cristal showed enthusiasm and was eager to learn more about the initiative. Whenever we work with Cristal, she is easy to work with and displays the utmost professionalism throughout the process. She completed the videos in such a timely manner, and they were extremely well done! Cristal is someone we know we can rely on for future projects. She demonstrates her knowledge in such a relatable and genuine way that you cannot help but listen attentively and be inspired when she speaks. It is always an absolute pleasure working with Cristal, and we appreciate the time she takes to partner with us! If anyone is considering partnering with Cristal, this is your sign to do it; you surely won't be disappointed!

Cristal is a superb communicator with a unique ability to generate reflection and dialogue around complex subjects such as equity and oppression. Our staff really enjoyed the session she facilitated, and I have no doubt that we will point to those discussions as we look to improve on our work and workplace culture.

Cristal did a workshop with our organization on June 3rd, 2021 on supporting Black youth and analyzing barriers for Black youth mental health within the education sector, criminal justice system, and employment sector. I honestly have to say it was one of the best and most well-put-together workshops that I have attended since being with this organization. Cristal has a comprehensive knowledge of holistic practices to support Black youth and the history of anti-Black racism and systemic oppression in Canada. Her engagement with our audience was phenomenal and her spoken word was absolutely incredible. I would definitely welcome Cristal back to facilitate workshops on supporting Black youth and their families in the future, and I would recommend her to anyone looking for a workshop facilitator on supporting Black youth.

The Retail Students’ Association had the privilege to have Cristal Hines conduct a workshop around Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for our event - “OMNI 2021: Ted Rogers Retail Conference.” From our initial meeting, Cristal showed great adaptability and genuine interest and excitement towards our event. Despite the time constraints and limited resources, Cristal was not only able to design a condensed workshop that perfectly aligned with our conference’s theme, goals and objectives, but she also took it a step further by incorporating the history of capitalism and topics surrounding anti-oppression. During the workshop, she was actively engaged with the students and made the workshop as interactive as possible even in a virtual setting. From her exceptional delivery to her knowledge and clear passion, the RSA was so delighted that Cristal was able to motivate and inspire the delegates to push for change within our society and the workplace. Cristal is an exceptional leader and speaker. Any organization would be lucky to have her at their event, regardless of the platform.

We were a group of young adults inexperienced in the field of marketing and professionalism who came together to work on destigmatizing mental illness in marginalized communities. In 2018, we had a single consultation with Cristal Hines and in less than 15 minutes, Cristal took our mission statement, our objectives and cleaned them up so that they sounded extremely professional! She taught us the importance of word choice and presentation in regard to how we market. Following that discussion, Ms. Hines also helped our team prepare some motives and gave us directions on how to go about improving our services in relation to our new and improvement mission statements and how to present that information. Since that meeting, we have partnered with organizations, schools and businesses all over Canada in presenting forums and webinars in order to meet our goals of destigmatizing mental illness.

Cristal Hines has the undeniable ability to capture a crowds attention and tells them exactly what needs they need to hear. During the 12th Annual Community Movements Conference, Cristal presented on our student panel, focused on Student Activism: Organizing in Struggle. Cristal's contribution to our panel on student activism was genuinely incredible. She can effortlessly call a room to action. She discussed the struggles all student activists face, and how this must be a collective struggle, rather than a solo battle. Cristal engaged with the panel the other panelists so well, the conversation among them came naturally and so beautifully. Many of our community members were blown away with our student panel; even a few walked away with tears in their eyes from how truly impact the conversation was. Thank you again, Cristal, for sharing your time with us, it was truly unforgettable.

Cristal presented a powerful time management workshop to students at Ryerson University for Ryerson Women in Leadership's Be Your Own CEO Conference. As students, we were riveted, reflective and inspired to become better at managing our time & taking action. Cristal presented a variety of ideas such as being "booked not busy" and setting 3 priorities for the week to set yourself up for success. We are so lucky to have had Cristal lead a workshop for us & hope to work with her again in the near future!

Amara Community Youth Association (ACYA) is a black-led youth-focused Not for Profit Organization that provides skills gap training and mentorship to marginalized youths. The organization was still in its traction stage with not enough supportive board members and no volunteer support. As an ED, I was really lost and trying to navigate the different aspects of business operations. I enjoyed my session with Cristal very much. She was very knowledgeable about the right operational strategy to get things moving in the right direction. I enjoyed her presentation style, materials, and the common-sense nature of what she talked about. I look forward to working with her again.

Cristal presented a powerful time management workshop to students at Ryerson University for Ryerson Women in Leadership's Be Your Own CEO Conference. As students, we were riveted, reflective and inspired to become better at managing our time & taking action. Cristal presented a variety of ideas such as being "booked not busy" and setting 3 priorities for the week to set yourself up for success. We are so lucky have had Cristal lead a workshop for us & hope to work with her again in the near future!

The Ryerson Women in Leadership (RWIL) team invited Cristal Hines as a panelist for the “Intersections in Women” event. Cristal was very kind as she provided consultation to help us create informed panel questions. She suggested that the event should focus on the pay equity gap amongst black women, reimagining the landscape for Indigenous women and lack of opportunities for black women in the workplace. We incorporated these suggestions, which improved the quality of the panel questions. It was a pleasure working with Cristal!

I have had the pleasure of witnessing Cristal Hines mature into the phenomenal woman she is today. From observing her leadership roles and valedictorian performance in high school to admiring the passion and dedication she later carries out in her work today. Knowing the exceptional leader that she is, I felt eager and trusting to reach out to Ms Cristal Hines to be the guest speaker for a Mother's Day Event I organized. The mission of the event was in hopes of uplifting and encouraging young mothers in our community. From the moment Cristal opened the stage she was simply magic. Her delivery was exemplary. She performed a highly focused presentation that had everyone in awe . True learning took place and the audience left feeling excited and motivated from her useful takeaways . My experience working with Cristal even leading up to the event was just amazing and her passion truly shows in her work. She came prepared, exceeded expectations and left an impact. I definitely look forward to working with her for future events and witnessing more of her great energy.

Cristal Hines is an extremely talented young lady and the Caribbean Students Association at Ryerson has been privileged to have had her participate in some of our events. Over the past two years, Cristal has been enthusiastic about volunteering herself to participate in our annual panel discussion/talent showcase events. Our themes have covered mental health in the black community and cultural appropriation and she was able to use these themes to create and recite beautiful and touching poetry. Her poetry is incredible and really helped drive home the message we were trying to convey. Cristal’s talent is inspirational and has touched the audience and the executives on the Caribbean Students Association team. She is a gifted young female with impeccable articulation and evokes strong leadership skills. Her confidence, reliability and willingness to be involved and share her gifts makes her stand out above the rest and we look forward to having her in our future events.