Mridula Joyner, a proud mother of two, is passionate about mental health and is the newest addition to the Eli’s Place team. It was a delight to meet with her and learn about her life’s journey.
Mridula begins our interview by talking about her two greatest joys in life: her kids and her lifelong passion for the health of our communities. I am immediately struck by both her energy and enthusiasm toward the challenge that lies ahead with Eli’s Place. Her ability to tell a story and connect with her audience, while also displaying selflessness that will endear her to donors, comforts the listener and clarifies how she has been so successful in previous work.
Professionally, Mridula is a certified fundraising executive with a 20+ year career in the not-for-profit sector. She started as a frontline crisis counsellor after graduating from the University of Toronto with an Honours BSc in Psychology and Sociology. From there, she developed a close relationship with the community which dovetailed naturally into a role in fundraising. Since those early days, she has raised millions of dollars in philanthropic and corporate investments for large, complex charitable organizations across various social causes such as healthcare, child welfare, social justice and youth development. Previous experience includes the Women’s College Hospital Foundation, Children’s Aid Foundation and most recently, as a campaign consultant with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Foundation.
She has always built and forged strong relationships with donors to help drive her fundraising campaigns. As her passion and skills for fundraising developed, Mridula pursued Certified Fundraising Executive certification and earned her CFRE. Mridula notes that: “To be a great fundraiser you need to have a direct passion for the cause.” Mridula uses that passion daily to fuel her conversations with donors in order to forge connections and achieve success in fundraising campaigns.
Away from work, Mridula enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She is rediscovering her love of tennis and loves alternative 80s music. Travelling is something she enjoys as well and is looking forward to new adventures as pandemic restrictions loosen.
Through both family and friends Mridula has seen firsthand the mental health struggles that face young adults She shares the vision of the team at Eli’s Place that while mental health awareness has improved in Canada over the years, a treatment and recovery offering remains an unmet need. She believes that recovery is a process without definitive starts and stops, but one that ebbs and flows. She knows that growth is a continual evolution, where support is needed to ensure rehabilitation. Mridula fully supports the rural, residential, long-term model that defines Eli’s Place.
Mridula’s newest challenge will be developing our capital campaign. Her process will include identifying potential donors and investors and securing the funding needed to obtain a property for Eli’s Place to call home. We are very excited to have Mridula join Eli’s Place as we move into the next phase of our development and secure a property for Eli’s Place. We look forward to Mridula sharing her insights and expertise with the entire team!
Eli’s Place will be a rural, residential treatment program for young adults with serious mental illness. To learn more about our mission and our proven-effective model click here.
Matt Cappellucci | Eli’s Place Board Member
With over 15 years in both the transportation and financial sectors, Matt has experience working and building relationships with clients across many different industries including CPG, technology and automotive. Currently, Matt is a transportation manager at Walmart Canada.
