Press
Bio, photos, facts and coverage — everything organizers and editors need.
Fast
facts.
| Name | Joél Zola |
|---|---|
| Based in | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Roles | Social entrepreneur · Public speaker · Programmer · Consultant |
| Organization | Founder & Executive Director, Street Voices |
| Speaking topics | Resilience · Youth voice & media · Community-centred tech · Social entrepreneurship |
| Honours | Community Arts Award (to Street Voices), Toronto Arts Foundation — 2025 Youth Entrepreneurship Award, LEGUP Secure Our Wealth — 2025 OBHS / UN International Decade for People of African Descent Award, Ontario Black History Society — 2023 |
| Online | @thejoelzola · linkedin.com/in/joelzola |
Bio.
Approved wording for programs, posters, introductions and articles.
Bio — 170 words
Joél Zola is a social entrepreneur, public speaker, programmer and consultant based in Toronto. He was on his own at fifteen and spent seven years moving between cities and shelters — Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver — before settling in Toronto. While living at Eva’s Phoenix, a youth shelter with a print shop, he published a pamphlet of his poetry: the beginning of Street Voices.
The Street Voices magazine launched in June 2014 with a first run of 500 copies, and Joél published five issues while he was still homeless. Today Street Voices is a Black-led nonprofit and media platform empowering street-involved and at-risk youth through storytelling, free media training and an online directory of free programs and services across the Greater Toronto Area.
In 2025, Street Voices received the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Community Arts Award and Joél received the LEGUP Youth Entrepreneurship Award. He speaks and consults on resilience, youth voice and media, community-centred technology and social entrepreneurship.
Photos.
On the
record.
Honours
Coverage
Writing about
the work?
Interview requests, podcast invitations and fact-checks are welcome. Include your outlet and deadline.