— By Gus and Clara Corujo

The 13th annual Elsie MacGill Award Gala was held at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel on Saturday, October 22, 2022. The Elsie MacGill Awards program was established in 2009 by the Northern Lights Aero Foundation.

Named after aviation pioneer and human rights advocate Elsie Gregory MacGill, the awards program recognizes eight women across seven categories, including: Business, education, engineering, flight operations, government, trailblazer and two rising stars.

The Northern Lights Aero Foundation goal is to bring more recognition to women doing incredible work in aviation and aerospace in Canada. Below are this year’s Elsie Recipients:

Business Award – Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Air Canada Executive Vice President

Education Award – Stéphanie Angrand, instructor, Canadian Forces leadership school

Engineering Award – Damineh Akhavan, CEO of Global Women in STEM

Flight Operations Award – Kim Winsor, Air Canada training Captain

Government Award – Gisele Garceau, professional engineer and commercial pilot

Trailblazer Award – Marlene Shillingford, Chief Warrant Officer, 2 Canadian Air Division

Rising Star Award – Donya Naz Divsalar, CEO Caidin Biotechnologies

Rising Star Award – Zainab Azim,future astronaut Virgin Atlantic

For more images from this event, visit Gusair.com.