Entrepreneurial Spirit

Create change for the innovators, change makers, and business leaders of tomorrow by donating to the MAPS Foundation Shari Hughson Scholarship today. We’re on a mission to recognize new faces on the horizon and support them on their journey.

Donations accepted until December 17, 2021.

The MAPS Foundation Shari Hughson Scholarship recognizes an extraordinary woman, Shari Hughson. Her dedication, commitment, and allyship over the past two decades has enabled and created opportunities for countless populations. It is time to acknowledge her commitment in a way that aligns deeply with the values both she and the MAPS Foundation share – to increase the accessibility for education and support for diversity in the next wave of innovators and business leaders.

In March 2021, after 5+ years as the Director and force behind the growth of the Master of Management of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (MMIE) at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, Shari announced that she was beginning her next entrepreneurial journey and returning to one of her passions – healthcare innovation.

Through her work at Smith, Shari has enabled hundreds of students and alumni to pursue their dreams of professional direction by running, co-founding, and partnering on new ventures, all while supporting corporate innovators to flourish in their work environments. Over the course of her leadership within MMIE, she incubated and accelerated the program growth beyond 700%! We cannot even calculate the human value and market worth of everything she has touched and has been involved in, but some of these testimonials can give you further insight into her impact on students.

Shari is true to her word and believes deeply that innovation is the heart of one’s survival instinct. Prior to her involvement with MMIE, she lived off the grid in an Earthship home her and her husband built while living and nursing in the Xeni Gwet’in community. Prior to this she founded four companies, failing two and taking two from zero to millions.

MAPS Foundation

The MAPS Foundation* is collecting donations to create a legacy scholarship in Shari’s name and your support is needed.

*(MAPS Foundation is a family foundation that is run by Sunny and Priya Mokha.  Their mission includes changing the face of philanthropy all while supporting the next generation of leaders with their post-secondary education in Canada, specifically in the field of STEM, Business and EDII.)

Your financial contribution can help:

  • Provide an annual scholarship for MMIE students.
  • Increase access for under-represented master’s students to pursue post-secondary education.
  • Demonstrate allyship among the student body, university, and alumni populations.
  • Be part of improving diversity at the Smith School of Business.
  • And shift the face of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation.

Support Options
Individual donations
Corporate donations

In Return:

  • You will receive a tax receipt for every individual or corporate donation made.
  • You will be part of the MAPS Foundation’s efforts to shift the perception and expectation of diversity in the market, increasing access to the new faces of the next generation of leaders.
  • You will be helping to fuel innovation and change in a time when it is most needed.

Make a Donation

A financial contribution to support the MAPS Foundation Shari Hughson Scholarship is an intentional way to create the change in business leadership for under-represented community members.

Donate Online: Donations can be made online via the Toronto Foundation web page (below)

Gifts of cash (cheques, money orders, etc) can be made to the Toronto Foundation and sent to:

Toronto Foundation
Attention: Fundholder Engagement
33 Bloor Street East, Suite 1603
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 3H1

Please include MAPS Foundation Scholarship for MMIE in honor of Shari Hughson on the memo line.


To enable the Donor Advisor to properly recognize donors for their contributions, Toronto Foundation will share your contact information and donation amount with the Donor Advisor unless you have checked the anonymous box on the donation form.
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