Our Team - GreenHouse

Tania Del Matto

Director of GreenHouse

Tania Del Matto is an experienced sustainability professional, having worked with a variety of private-sector industries, public sector institutions, non-profits and social-purpose businesses. She is also an experienced social entrepreneur, having started and operated My Sustainable Canada, an enterprising social venture with a national mandate to help organizations use their purchasing decisions to drive social change.

As Director of United College's GreenHouse, she now pursues her passion of mentoring and connecting social innovators and entrepreneurs to create, launch and amplify projects and startups that tackle pressing social and environmental problems. Tania ensures that the activities and partnerships that GreenHouse engages in directly align with the University of Waterloo's vision to be recognized as a uniquely entrepreneurial university that applies innovative approaches to technology, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship in ways that create recognizable impacts, both in economic growth and improving the human condition.

Erin Hogan

GreenHouse Programs Manager

Erin was first introduced to GreenHouse as a student participating in the Workplace Innovation Program, where her team worked with the Multiple Sclerosis Society to improve disability support services. She led and coordinated multiple projects through various stages in order to simplify financial assistance applications. Erin graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Knowledge Integration (BKI) and specializations in Collaborative Design and Science, Technology, and Society. She also holds a Certificate in Adventure Tourism from the Westcoast Adventure College. 

Erin is excited about returning to GreenHouse as the Programs Manager and looks forward to supporting students engaging in innovative problem solving through social entrepreneurship. Erin brings a background in program design and delivery, with a special focus on experiential education for youth. She looks forward to applying her skills in interdisciplinary collaboration and creative problem solving to continue to improve GreenHouse's programs and processes. 

Malak Sameh

GreenHouse Student Engagement Coordinator

Malak is a recent graduate of Global Studies with a specialization in International Development and an option in Social Entrepreneurship from Wilfrid Laurier University.  In April 2022, Malak founded Sporas Scattered to help uplift Palestinian identity within the Palestinian Diaspora youth community. As founder, she has hosted various cultural programs that have provided the Palestinian community in the Kitchener-Waterloo Region to connect with their roots. In 2021, Malak was awarded a fellowship from the Social Innovation Academy, deepening her understanding of social innovation and entrepreneurship while working alongside various social and environmental start-up projects. 

Malak looks forward to helping students discover their passion for social or environmental change and guiding them on through engaging with their target audiences.

Lily Viggiano

Program Design Lead and Trainer, GreenHouse

Lily Viggiano first engaged with GreenHouse back in 2014 with her kitchen-table idea, Empowering Proactive Youth in Communities (EPYC). GreenHouse students engaged with EPYC by supporting high school students to bring their community action ideas to life, as well as offering volunteers, speakers, and space. Lily spent the last four years in the Halton Region, working with Our Kids Network on the Halton Youth Initiative project. Lily is thrilled to be back in the Waterloo Region connecting high school students, post-secondary students, and community agencies together through a new pilot program, Changemaker Labs. 

Mira Cortes

Coop Student - Social Media Coordinator

Meet our Social Media Coordinator! Mira is an ambitious social changemaker who is extremely passionate about leading an environmentally friendly lifestyle and wants to have an impact on social and environmental issues around the world. Mira is currently enrolled in her second year of Environment and Business program here at Waterloo and is working in her first co-op term, perfectly combining her interests in green finance, social marketing, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship and climate action.

She looks forward to meeting more creative minds and see what differences can be made!