Meet Her Team
Areena Antoine (She/Her)
Founder & Creative DirectorAreena Antoine is a Canadian-Mauritian storyteller, creative director, and founder of The Self Love Lounge. With no prior experience, she bought a microphone and taught herself to create a podcast as a way to learn to be her authentic self. What started as a deeply personal practice has grown into a global community reaching listeners in over 100 countries, becoming a Top 100-ranked podcast recognized by Spotify in 2022 and named the #1 self-love podcast in Canada by Feedspot in 2024.
Her work has always been rooted in authenticity.
Areena holds a Bachelor of Arts, where sociology shaped her understanding of identity, systems, and belonging. During this time, she created To Build Her Home as a creative writing assignment, initially exploring what it means to come home to oneself as a multiracial woman.
Her award-winning research, Your Story Matters: It’s What Got Researchers Here, examines how lived experiences shape the policies and systems we live within, showing that our stories are part of how we understand how we got here. The project received the C. Lloyd Stanford Graduate Award in recognition of its contribution to public policy scholarship and its emphasis on centring personal narrative within academic research.
Across all her work, Areena creates what does not yet exist by staying rooted in her authentic self.
Janelle Acquaah-Harrison (She/Her)
Brand Partnerships LeadJanelle Acquaah-Harrison, ethnically Ghanaian, London native and Vancouver-raised, embraces storytelling as a powerful anchor in pain and joy. From a young age, she has used literature, journaling and poetry to navigate complex emotions and help understand the world around her. She pursued studies in Psychology and Biology, researching sincerity analysis, attraction perception, antisocial behaviour, and the impact of environmental aesthetics on well-being, fascinated by the grand narrative of belonging. Now, her professional focus is on development and behavioural sciences, working toward building more resilient individuals and communities. Inspired by her Christian faith, Janelle often returns to a Biblical passage in Joshua 4, The Stones of Remembrance, where the Biblical figure builds a stone sculpture as an act of gratitude and reflection after a challenging feat. Solidifying the truth that our stories, journeys and recollections, though sometimes marked with pain, present opportunities to write rich narratives that honour those before us, empower those in the present and inspire the future.
Tathiana Antoine (She/Her)
Executive AssistantTathiana Antoine is a Canadian-Mauritian creative, yoga instructor and pharmacist. She spent much of her life focused on academics, having been told from a young age that there were only two paths in life: academia or creativity. Pursuing science, she earned a biology degree and a Doctor of Pharmacy. But, over time, she realized that something was missing: a space for creativity and self-expression. She has since returned to the things she once loved, embracing a life where creativity and academia coexist.
As an Executive Assistant, she supports the day-to-day operations and coordination that keep everything moving smoothly behind the scenes. She helps manage schedules, communications, and key details, ensuring that To Build Her Home stays rooted in our purpose. To Build Her Home has become a space where she can explore her creativity fully and inspire others to do the same.
Marie Patricia Maïta Nullacoottee (she/her)
Communication Maita Nullacoottee love for art began with music and gradually expanded into visual forms through painting, photography, and eventually film, all of which have shaped how she sees and understands the world. She studied film and graduated with honours and distinction, where her passion for editing deepened. Editing became a space where music and imagery meet, coming together in a quiet yet powerful way that allows stories to feel alive.
Her work often explores themes of love, grief, belonging, and resilience, rooted in personal experiences and the people who have shaped her. Although she is still at the beginning of her artistic journey, she carries a strong intention to continue growing and evolving within the art world.
She is drawn to To Build Her Home because she believes stories deserve to be told, no matter how small or big they are; they are how we remember, connect, and hopefully inspire others.
Chenai Wamambo (She/Her)
Editor LeadChenai Wamambo is a researcher, writer, and human services professional committed to advancing equity, accountability, and systemic change. As a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) scholar and graduate researcher, her work examines how institutions confront, and too often reproduce, anti-Black racism.
Her award-winning research, “Are We There Yet? A Qualitative Study on Anti-Black Racism and Systemic Change in the Lethbridge School District,” challenges public institutions to move beyond performative commitments toward meaningful transformation. The study received a National Student Award and earned Silver in the National Student Thought Leadership competition hosted by the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration (CAPPA-ACPAP) and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC).
As Lead Editor, Chenai brings a critical, community-grounded perspective to storytelling and knowledge production. She is committed to elevating underrepresented voices, challenging power structures, and creating spaces where grassroots perspectives lead the conversation.