Ovie Onagbeboma

Ovie is nationally recognized as a nurse and business leader. She is a registered nurse, pursuing her Master in Business Administration and is a clinical nurse manager. She is Lean Six certified. Additionally, Ovie is a sought-after consultant to many national organizations. She is an advisor to the Canadian Nursing Association, and the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, and is a stakeholder with Canadian Health Workforce Network.

Ovie is a transformative leader who identified a serious problem in healthcare and acted quickly to form a national organization and initiative to address this problem. She recognized that existing nursing associations work primarily to advance the collective interests of the nursing profession as a whole – an important mission. They do not, however, effectively help individual nurses maximize their personal and career potential – and none of the legacy nursing associations fully understand or adequately meet the unique needs of Canada’s Black Nurses. So, she conceived an organization that would fulfill those unmet needs – the Canadian Black Nurses Alliance (CBNA). Under Ovie’s leadership and in a short period of time, CBNA has become a phenomenal national organization that is life-changing for many Black Nurses. She consulted with her peers and built consensus around what a new organization would look like – an organization dedicated to creating a national community of Black Nurses who assist one another to achieve each individual’s potential. The CBNA was born when Ovie’s drive and determination sparked the imagination of her peers and unleashed their energies toward a solution.

Already, the CBNA has grown to include students and practicing members in multiple provinces across the country and has become the most influential voice for Black Nurses across Canada. Increasingly, journalists and ally organizations in the private and public sectors recognize CBNA as the leading voice for Black Nurses in Canada. CBNA’s plans for need-based scholarships and mentoring programs are becoming a launch pad for more Black Nurses to rise to senior leadership ranks within the nursing profession, at academic institutions, and throughout the community.

As a result of Ovie’s remarkable leadership with CBNA, and her commitment to social justice and equity she was asked to become an expert consultant in the development of Open Educational Resources with the Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). Her expertise in concepts surrounding diversity, equity, and anti-Black racism as well as her passion for inclusion and change will make these resources relevant and current. She is a dynamic and highly effective community leader who has integrity, and commitment and knows how to gather people around her and motivate them to get things done.

Recognizing a need for Black Nurses in Canada to support one another in the face of the many challenges and obstacles they face – some common to all nurses, others unique to Black nurses – Ovie decided to do. A woman of African descent, Ovie sees the future of nursing through an African proverb Ubuntu and embodies the understanding that “I am because we are” as a motivation to strive for a society where all can grow and flourish. Ovie has broken the glass ceiling to inspire the next generation.