Meet Our Team

The magical team behind this initiative .

Jowana Burgan
​Founder

Jowana is a mechanical engineering student studying in Toronto. Her education in stimulating environments brought vitality, professionalism, warmth, and a mindset of service and advocacy to her work.  In life she enjoys hands on work, modelling, and going on adventures!
Jowana is very enthusiastic to build awareness and empower women through education and training because she strongly believes that women with confidence have no limits to what they can be or achieve in life. She believes in 'Paying it Forward' and in giving back to the community.
​Also, she is very proactive in networking, partnership building and locating new business opportunities. 

Iulia Niculescu
​Sponsorship and Relations

Iulia is a research student at the University of Toronto with interests in clinical psychology with a passion for learning, discovering and teaching. She is a strong advocate for women taking on and succeeding in unconventional roles. For that reason, Iulia is very passionate about the Girls Mechanic Team and the message it conveys empowering women to not only learn more about car maintenance; but to also teach girls important confidence and leadership skills that can be transferred to the real world and lead to success. Iulia has been involved with GMT since its' inception early on and looks forward to continuing her journey with the team!

Michelle Narine
​Teaching Workshops

Michelle is a pharmacy tech student at Humber College North Campus. Her hobbies as a car enthusiast includes travelling to car shows and constantly challenging herself to become educated on the interior and exterior of motor vehicles. Michelle applies what she has learnt through the years by informing other females. GMT teaches females to be more independent by teaching the basics and fundamentals to target the problem and/or the cause of their vehicle's fault so they don’t get taken advantage of. I think learning how to fix your vehicle is an important skill to acquire, and knowing that some females are willing to educate themselves and attend GMT workshop means that there is one less female being taken advantage of in the car industry.
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Alicia Mora 
​Sponsorship and Relation 

Alicia is in her fourth year of Psychology and Sociology at Queen’s University, and is the President of her student-run club that works on federal offender rehabilitation and reintegration for Correctional Services Canada.   The passion Alicia has for helping others in a male-dominated profession has transpired in the desire to help those around her and encourage women to be confident no matter what career they decide to pursue. Joining the Girls Mechanic Team was a new opportunity for Alicia to show girls and women to not be afraid to step outside their comfort zones and try something new. She not only hopes to learn car mechanic skills herself but also inspire girls around her to do the same through the GMT.

Caroline Meralli
Planning and Management ​

Caroline is a Physics Engineering Student at Mcmaster University. She is currently doing an internship as a Project Manager. Caroline is known for her enthusiasm, hard work, and her deep interest in leadership with Women in Tech. She believes that "The most powerful combo is CONFIDENCE and KNOWLEDGE", which is what she believe GMT offers. Her goal is to help build a community that comes together to enjoy Car Shows, sharing knowledge, and working together on fixing cars!

Alona Dehtyar
Digital Marketing (​Social Media&Design)

Alona is a Marketing Graduate. Her creativity and hard work has pushed her to start her own company of providing Marketing Services. She believes that social media when used correctly could be a powerful tool. GMT is thankful for Alona's dedication into helping with social media marketing and design aspect. Alona says that, "This is an incredible opportunity to help create awareness in our the community. With every person I reach through social media, I am contributing into shaping greater knowledge and confidence within women all around the world. Nothing feels better than that."