Dr. Agatha Ojimelukwe, Andrew Karesa, Jacquie Muzichuk and Sean Arceta honoured
Among the things Dr. Agatha Ojimelukwe is most grateful for are the people who have told her yes.
She didn’t come to Canada from Nigeria in 2019 thinking she’d be a dean at NAIT, where she has led the School of Energy and Natural Resources since June 2024. “How it happened is by a lot of people taking a chance on me,” says Ojimelukwe, recently recognized among the 2026 Top 40 Under 40, a cohort of community-builders named annually by Edify magazine.
“I cannot count the number of times I heard 'no' – there were so many. But every yes was the right yes. And it's led me to this point.”
Ojimelukwe saw each opportunity as a step forward and up. She got her bearings in her adopted country through a job with a local IT company. “But I really wanted to be in post-secondary,” she says, which would be a return to her roots as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Port Harcourt.
In time, Ojimelukwe started to pick up contract work with NAIT. The connection led her to management and director roles in energy-related portfolios at the polytechnic. Ultimately, it brought her to head up a diverse school of 10 diploma, two certificate and two apprenticeship programs.
Now, Ojimelukwe is grateful to be the person who gets to say yes, along with “coaching and empowering other people,” she adds. And she appreciates the visibility that comes with the role of dean, acknowledging that the recent recognition helps, too.
“Women who want to be leaders, who are young, sometimes feel like, ‘Oh, I'm not good enough for that role,’ or, ‘I'm too young to do that kind of thing,’” says Ojimelukwe. “Sometimes we put those barriers on ourselves. And sometimes it takes seeing someone who's doing that thing to be inspired.
“It's important that people see the possibility that they can do things, and go for it.”
Read more about why Ojimelukwe is a 2026 Top 40 Under 40, along with the three NAIT graduates below.
Andrew Karesa
Bachelor of Technology in Technology Management ’16, Instrumentation Engineering Technology ’12
Andrew Karesa is the president of blueBell Village, an organization working to transform dementia care through a unique combination of humanity and technology.
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Jacquie Muzichuk
Management ’18, Marketing ’17
Jacquie Muzichuk is the marketing and communications manager for Careers, a not-for-profit for youth career success, the co-host of its podcast, Take on the Future, and a singer-songwriter known as Jacquie Daniels.
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Sean Arceta
Digital Media Design ’09
Sean Arceta was a talented breakdancer as well as a social worker with iHuman Youth Society. Arceta passed away on Sept. 23. He leaves a lasting legacy through the community he helped shape and those he inspired.
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