Desmond Cole is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist and activist. His early years were spent as a youth worker before becoming the project coordinator for I Vote Toronto, a campaign to extend municipal voting rights to non-citizens.

Later, he won a campaign to spur local democracy through an initiative known as City Idol.

Cole’s tireless work around reforming discriminatory police practices in Toronto came at a time of greater awareness of rights violations plaguing black communities across the continent.

Cole’s work has appeared in The Toronto Star, The Walrus, Toronto Life, VICE, and other publications, and his voice is regularly heard on talk radio, the CBC’s q culture panel on topics ranging from social justice, to racism, to immigration and equity.

His upcoming book exploring race, The Skin I’m In is slated for publication in 2017.