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Optimyz magazine, a Canadian women’s wellness magazine, has named University of Toronto Mississauga and Ontario Institute for Studies in Education alumna Rumeet Billan to .

An author, entrepreneur and humanitarian, Billan joins a list that includes Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, Senator Wanda Bernard, and tennis player Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion.

Billan completed her bachelor of arts at U of T Mississauga in 2006 with a major in industrial relations and a minor in sociology before earning two degrees with OISE – a master of education and PhD in higher education and leadership. She has served on U of T’s President’s Advisory Committee and on U of T Mississauga committees for academic planning, teaching excellence awards and research excellence awards.

When Billan learned of the recognition, she said she thought of her four-year-old son.

“In the magazine it refers to me as an ‘educator and humanitarian.’ That’s what I want him to know, in terms of who I am, because position titles come and go but that piece about giving back, that piece about making an impact – that’s who we are.”