Saman Tabasinejad

Saman Tabasinejad is the Executive Director at Progress Toronto. She joined Progress Toronto in 2019 and now leads the organization’s strategy and operations with a focus on campaigning and development. Saman has helped lead Progress Toronto through a number of important campaign victories and developed organizing and training programs for the organization. Saman has degrees in political science and anthropology. Prior to working at Progress Toronto, she worked at the DUKE Heights BIA, and ran for office in North York. She has served on the boards of Platform—a civic leadership platform for Black, Indigenous, and racialized young women and gender-diverse youth—as well as the Iranian Canadian Congress. Saman is dedicated to building a progressive city and to help women—especially young racialized women—take space, influence policy-making, and run for office. She is particularly interested in how large policy decisions affect peoples’ everyday lives, and she believes that meaningful change cannot be achieved unless people take action to address and remove systemic barriers.