Built From Lived Experience. Led With Love.
Care Masters was born from the belief that Black women, youth, and families deserve healing spaces that understand them — because we are them.
Our Story
Care Masters started the way most important things do — from a real need and a personal why. In 2017, sisters Michelle and her sibling launched Care Masters in Mississauga, Ontario, with one goal: to give young Black girls the self-esteem, confidence, and mentorship they never received growing up. As Black women who experienced racism, isolation, and feelings of not belonging throughout their childhood in Mississauga, they wanted to create what they wished had existed for them.
By 2019, the mothers of the girls they were working with wanted in too. That’s when Care Masters pivoted to include women’s programming, and our signature Sister Circle was born — a space for Black women to come together, breathe, reflect, and heal through community. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we adapted. We moved programming online, supported other organizations through burnout workshops, and kept showing up for our community. Through it all, the work was grassroots — volunteer-led, passion-driven, and deeply personal.
In 2024, Care Masters became a registered Canadian charity and entered a new chapter. What started with two sisters and a dream has grown into a multi-staffed, multi-program organization that served 561 people in 2025 alone — with 16 programs, 40 volunteers, and over $313,000 in funding secured.
Today, Care Masters Women and Family Services is a trusted community organization rooted in African and Caribbean traditions of village care. We are no longer just surviving and proving — we are stabilizing and scaling with intention.
And we’re just getting started.
Our Mission
To offer transformative, culturally responsive mental health and wellness support for Black women, youth, and families — empowering them to heal, grow, and thrive.
Our Vision
We envision a community where Black families flourish in safe, inclusive spaces, free from systemic barriers and rooted in empowerment, resilience, and connection.
Our Core Values
Everything we do at Care Masters is guided by these values. They shape how we design programs, how we treat the people we serve, and how we show up as an organization.
Supporting individuals and communities to gain confidence, independence, and skills that enable them to improve their quality of life.
Committing to the well-being of the broader community and promoting ethical practices.
We build trust through genuine connections, honouring lived experiences and creating safe spaces for individuals to express and grow as their true selves.
Embracing new ideas, approaches, and technologies to enhance services, overcome challenges, and adapt to changing needs.
We foster a welcoming, equitable environment where diverse identities and experiences are valued, ensuring our programs meet the unique needs of all individuals.
Connected to the community and understanding the resources available for holistic service provision.
Working together with community partners, staff, volunteers, and other organizations to achieve shared goals and enhance impact.
Committed to high standards of confidentiality and a privacy-first approach.
Honouring the Land and Our Ancestors
Land Acknowledgement:
We honour the land upon which we gather, recognizing it as the Treaty Lands and Territory of The Mississaugas of the Credit. For millennia, Indigenous peoples nurtured and called this land home, a tradition that endures today. We pay tribute to the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Ojibway/Chippewa nations, as well as the Métis, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, direct descendants of the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Ancestral Acknowledgement:
We acknowledge our African Ancestors, who have graced these Canadian lands for over four centuries. We also remember those who arrived here under duress, victims of slavery, indentured servitude, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. In this collective acknowledgment, we affirm that we are all Treaty People. We are thankful for the privilege to contribute to this land and, in doing so, extend our respect to its original stewards.
Meet the Founder
Michelle Edwards
Executive Director & Founder
The eldest of six children, Michelle began her career in mental health as a Child and Youth Worker, supporting children and families in school and group care settings. She became a foster parent at 25 — before she was a biological parent — and later took on a role as a case manager in the foster care system, where she spent eight years training and supervising foster parents. For several of those years, she was fostering, case managing, and raising her own two children all at the same time.
In 2015, Michelle’s life changed when she was hit by a transport truck in a hit-and-run accident. The injuries left her with chronic pain, cognitive disabilities, and an eight-year undiagnosed concussion. But that season of recovery also became the season that planted the seed for Care Masters.
In 2017, as a mother of three young children, Michelle co-founded Care Masters with the goal of giving young Black girls the confidence and mentorship she never received growing up in Mississauga. By 2019, that vision had expanded to include women and families. And by 2024, Care Masters became a registered Canadian charity serving hundreds of people every year. Michelle is a single mother who leads through her own lived experience — navigating disability, healing from an abusive relationship, and rebuilding her life with resilience and purpose. She is a Certified Life Coach, Certified Reiki Practitioner, and holds a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from York University. Her passion for economic empowerment, personal development, and community-centred healing drives everything Care Masters does.
“My lived experience fuels this vision. I know what it feels like to need community and not have it. That’s why Care Masters exists — so no woman or family has to heal alone.”