Merissa Peña

Program Manager

Merissa Peña is the Program Manager of Reach Capabilities Inc., a Toronto-based consulting company that helps individuals and organizations build their capabilities, enhance growth, and maximize results.

Merissa is highly motivated by making sure all moving parts of a program or system are running seamlessly, efficiently, and holistically. She loves creating systems that work, and finds joy in building meaningful & impressionable relationships.

She’s an experienced in program coordination and management with a background in event planning and customer relations in the non-profit and the educational sectors since 2017.

Merissa has built a diverse toolkit combining strategy and hands-on experience through her Psychology Degree from U of T, Social Services Diploma & Interactive Media Design Diploma, both achieved at Seneca Polytechnic.

"The team was very excited about the session—their learning, sharing of their personal stories with peers, and their plans to engage in conversations with their teams in future huddles. Huge shout out/compliment to your facilitation and edutainment skills. They said the two hours went by in a flash and they felt it was a very valuable investment of their time."

~ Blair Kissack, Vice President, CIBC

“Stand Out! did an excellent job of unpacking the personal brand puzzle to make it easy to digest and helped me dig deep to find the confidence I need to develop, believe, and amplify my own personal brand.”

~ Aynsley Wright, Senior Marketing Manager, RBC Royal Bank

"Stand Out! is like the paint-by-numbers approach to building your brand—it will guide you through the process, but it’s you that makes it happen."

~ Sue Belbeck, Director, RBC Royal Bank

"It is rare, and challenging, to sit and try to change/improve the way you view yourself and your skills. Synthesizing the various forms of information and projections about oneself is incredibly difficult and starting that process in a guided setting is really important to get the ball rolling. Anyone with big career aspirations needs to be able to think and speak about themselves in this way."

~ Leanne Agnew, Management Associate, TD Bank Group

"Profound! I found this workshop to be an excellent use of time and a great pace to have a healthy discussion. Even though the insights may seem obvious, when I reflect on them, I realized how much work I need to do! I also wrote down many helpful tips and things I am committed to doing post-workshop."

~ Sarah Ashfield, Senior Manager, TD Bank Group

"Stand Out truly allowed me to reflect on bringing a collection of my skills, experiences, emotions and actions into an impactful statement of my personal brand."

~ Kayla Wei, Management Associate, TD Bank Group

If you are looking to take the next step in your personal or career development, whether or not you’re seeking guidance, the Reach Capabilities workshop is the catalyst through which you will recognize and realize your potential!"

~ Ajay Nandalall, Manager, TD Bank Group

"Instilled confidence in my ability to talk about myself with a purpose."

~ Gurgen Danielian, Senior Manager, TD Bank Group

"The first course I’ve taken that I can immediately implement PLUS I will have immediate and obvious results."

~ Chris Dancy, Manager, TD Bank Group

"Wayne and Ross are arguably some of the best facilitators of leadership development around. Their consistency in developing a personalized and thoughtful workshop is a guarantee that you will never be disappointed in working with them."

~ Prakash Amarasooriya, Management Associate, TD Bank Group

"This workshop is an invaluable investment in your greatest asset: your people!"

~ Megan Spitali, Senior Manager, TD Bank Group

"Ross and Wayne deliver the material in this session with great enthusiasm, insights and plenty of engagement. The material covered in this session can change the path of your career. I’m leaving feeling truly inspired."

~ Jennifer Mendonca, Manager, TD Bank Group

"Every course I have taken with Reach Capabilities has helped me accelerate my career goals. They have helped me identify my strengths, how to work best with others and most importantly how to articulate my value and being comfortable with promoting me!"

~ Isabel Giraldo, Manager, TD Bank, Group

"The Stand Out! Workshop has given me the confidence to better articulate my value proposition!"

~ Sandra Sherman, Director, CIBC

"Ross and Wayne provide a fun and engaging learning environment. I really enjoyed the practical exercises and activities that helped paint an insightful and focused glimpse into my personal brand and how I can conscientiously plan and mindfully move forward."

~ Adam Farr, Senior Manager, TD Bank Group

"Changed the way I look at personal branding and now I have the tools to put it into practice!"

~ Jared Trotman, Manager, TD Bank Group

"Great course that provides tangible steps to understanding the unique value you bring to the table and how to articulate it."

~ Ashleigh Thacker, Manager, TD Bank Group

"We all struggle to articulate our personal brands. This workshop challenges you to think differently about your brand, inspiring you to take ownership and responsibility for your own story."

~ Jason Langley, Senior Manager, BMO Financial Group

"It really pushes you to look at yourself through a different lens to get yourself comfortable talking about yourself."

~ Amy Edwards, Marketing Manager, RBC

"Reach Capabilities has been a crucial part of Rainbow Railroad's growth. As we grew from one staff to 13, Reach helped us understand what conative skill sets were the best fit for the new roles we were created – in a way that was enlightening, illuminating, and fun! They also provided useful human resource management advice which informed our hiring decisions and much needed support to our Board of Directors. We have been able to build a solid team of staff who understand their roles and each other. The result is a productive, efficient, team with complementary skill sets. Rainbow Railroad is the internationally recognized charity we are today in part because of Reach Capabilities' continued guidance."

~ Kimahli Powell, Executive Director, Rainbow Railroad

“Reach Capabilities was insightful and provided great content in an “edutaining” way. Not once did I look at the clock or think I wish this day would end. Well worth the time and investment.”

~ Slavica Kacarevic, Associate Vice President, Canadian Tire Financial Services

“We had Kolbe profiles done for our whole team. Now, whenever we need to hire someone new, we use the Kolbe RightFit assessment to identify the people who best match both the job opening and the team. Knowing how someone will act in a role is fantastically powerful during the hiring process. The Kolbe tools have allowed us to handpick an A team of performers who know how to work well with each other.”

~ Rob Sibthorpe, President, lovepac

“The Kolbe session was one of the best growth experiences we’ve had as a group.”

~ George Carras, Founder and CEO at R-Labs Canada Inc.

“Relationships are the most important thing – period. The best way to develop a great relationship is to get to know someone’s abilities and strengths. Kolbe profiles quickly tell me so much about a person and how to connect with them, whether they are a client, team member, or family. Reach Capabilities is our go-to partner for using Kolbe (and other profiles) to build strong, deep relationships to enhance our lives and grow our business.”

~ Robert Lewis, former Partner, CCV Insurance & Financial Services Inc.

“We’ve used the Kolbe framework for over 3 years now to provide insights on how we, as individuals and as a team, approach challenges and how we can best leverage our collective strengths to deliver greater value to our business partners. In understanding natural inclinations to action, my team’s work style has evolved to one of greater collaboration, higher quality of work, and faster turn-around time of deliverables. Recognizing and celebrating our diversity in approaches to work has led to a more enjoyable and productive work environment.”

~ Neil Balbirnie, former Vice President, Royal Bank of Canada

“A crucial aspect to success in any business is developing a great team to support your strategic initiatives. By knowing my strengths, I know where to focus my time. By knowing the strengths of my team, I know how to position them to do their best work. Reach Capabilities helped me to know myself and my team better. From fresh CPA’s to long service team members, their support and team work makes a difference.”

~ Feaz Rahim, CFO, Black & McDonald Limited

“There are three key benefits from Reach Capabilities workshops: individual and team development, improved performance, and an amazing team experience. The Kolbe workshop gave my team a snapshot of how to effectively communicate with each other and our internal clients. It helped everyone know themselves better and through the program, we developed new ways to leverage our individual strengths to become even more efficient and successful. It has provided us with a framework that is applicable and sustainable.‎ Getting to do that while seeing the team laughing and personally engaged is a true win for them and the organization.”

~ Chris Stamper, former Chief Marketing Officer & SVP, TD Bank Group