About Us

Program Director / Coach

Qualifications: NCCP Swim Coach Level 1

KD is a genderqueer coach and swimmer with a decade of experience working in Aquatics, doing just about everything they can get a chance to. They have been a coach for Masters and age group swim teams, as well a waterfront and pool lifeguard, lifesaving instructor, and Aquafit instructor. KD especially enjoys open water swimming with friends and running on the boardwalk.

Growing up, competitive swimming was KD's whole life but also it also negatively impacted their mental health. KD's approach to coaching is always swimmer first, meaning enjoyment and self-care free of criticism or judgement.

You will usually find KD coaching Rainbow Fins sessions and option 1 workouts, where they love to meet new swimmers and help folks with beginner technique. They are always down to chat about socialism and Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

Coach

Qualifications: NCCP Community Coach (pursuing)

Eric’s journey into swimming began roughly a decade ago when they joined the English Bay Swim Club, an LGBTQI+ and allies team in Vancouver. With the help of a few dedicated coaches, Eric gradually developed their technique and found a life-long passion for swimming. After moving to Toronto in 2014, they joined the Downtown Swim Club, Toronto’s LGBTQI+ and allies team. Eric served on the club’s board and led committee work to ensure the club was more inclusive - including lowering barriers to trans and non-binary folks.

Eric’s coaching style emphasizes community, play, competition, the joy of movement, fitness, having fun, and tecnique— tailored to each swimmer, and sometimes all at once! They personally have found all of these in their swimming journey at various points along the way over the years. They love to see swimmers progress and become more comfortable in the water, and perhaps even in who they are.

Eric is so proud to be a coach at the Toronto Purple Fins and looks forward to seeing you on deck.

Coach

Nico is a queer and gender fluid swimmer with over 20 years of experience, having started his aquatic journey at the age of eight in Colombia. While their fitness and sports journey is extensive, 2024 marks a special milestone for Nico as they step into the role of a coach. Drawing from their social worker background, Nico brings patience and radical empathy to the pool, creating an environment where individuals feel seen and supported.

Nico's advocacy extends beyond sports; he actively promotes and cultivates safe spaces for queer marginalized individuals. Diving into this new coaching chapter, Nico’s dedication to empowering and uplifting the 2SLGBTQ+ community shines through, making a splash in both sports and social advocacy.

Coach - Rainbow Fins

Qualifications: NCCP Swim Coach Level 1 (pursuing)

Abiola’s love for swimming began when she was just a kid taking swimming lessons in her youth and she’s been swimming ever since. Through her work at Purple Fins, Abiola is passionate about getting others more comfortable in the water and just as excited about swimming as she is! When she’s not swimming, you can still find Abiola on the pool deck, often as an Aquafit Instructor for the City.

Abiola joined Toronto Purple Fins in February 2024 and continues to swim with the team each week. The new development program, Rainbow Fins, provided Abiola with an opportunity to become a coach and she’s jumped right in supporting Rainbow Fins’ QTBIPOC program. She’s also begun to pursue her formal NCCP coaching certification.

Through her work, Abiola is committed to building community and improving diverse representation in the aquatics world. She aims to share her love for water and experience of swimming with her community. Abiola is always working to reduce barriers and increase opportunities for folks to access safer swimming spaces.

Coach

Nat is a transmasc individual who is super excited to be a part of Purple Fins. He has roughly ten years of competitive swimming under his belt and is excited to utilize his experience in coaching folks of varying skill levels.

Nat has a passion for celebrating queer and gender diversity in sport, along with the ideology that the queer community deserves a space in any athletics.

President & Founder

Qualifications: MSc, CSCS, High Performance Certified, NCCP Swim Coach Level 1

Amber is a passionate swimmer, coach, and advocate of swimming as a lifelong activity. She’s worked in high performance sport for 13 years as both a program manager, coach and swimming biomechanist. Through her understanding of the sport system, she recognizes that swimming is rooted in the gender binary. She was driven to fill this gap and Purple Fins was created.

Since Purple Fins began in 2021, Amber has always consulted staff, team members, and community organizations to drive the growth and direction of Purple Fins. She values the input and contributions of all folks to make this swimming space possible.

In her current role, Amber is committed to a value-based organization and leadership approach. She works to make swimming and our programs work for everyone and their access needs, and aims to do this by maximizing the strengths of all the members of the leadership team.

Extending beyond the Purple Fins community, Amber works collaboratively with relevent organizations to expand the learnings of Purple Fins to advocate for inclusive sport spaces beyond our pool deck.

Secretary

Ry is the Founder of TheyCycle.

I am mental health advocate first and see incorporating healthy activity into daily life as an incredible way to increase mental health outcomes. I believe in dismantling unjust systems and institutions that prevent people from leading happy lives.

My history of working in the not-for-profit / charitable space has shown me that these well-meaning institutions are not exempt from the same deficiencies of justice and equity that for-profit institutions are rife with.

Director-at-large

Advisor, Marketing & Communications - External

Advisor, BIPOC Programming

Coordinator, Gender Free Market