Tamar Huggins

Huggins pursued entrepreneurship in 2009 after losing her advertising job during the recession.^[8] In 2012, she created the first tech accelerator for BIPOC leaders in Canada, called DRIVEN.^[2] The accelerator raised $1.1 million for Black, Brown and women-led tech startups in Canada. In 2015, Huggins launched a technology school in Canada focused on BIPOC students, called Tech Spark.^[1][9] The school educated 1500 students in the first two years.^[10] In 2017, Huggins released her first book, Bossed Up: 100 Truths to Becoming Your Own Boss, God's Way!^[3] In November 2019, Huggins founded EDUlytics, later rebranded as Spark Plug,^[11] a digital tool that uses data, hip hop culture and artificial intelligence to personalize education and inform education policy.^[12]

In 2021, Huggins' technology company was awarded $1 million from TD Canada Trust, to scale Spark Plug to 40,000 North American students.^[13]

• Harry Jerome Awards, Young Entrepreneur, 2015^[14]
• Canadian Living Magazine, Canadian Superhero, 2015^[15]
• CIBWE, 100 Black Women to Watch, 2015^[16]
• Canada's Top 150 Black Women Creating Impact Across the Country, CBC and Herstory in Black, 2017^[1]
• Move The Dial, Dial Mover, 2019^[17]
• The City of Brampton, Innovation Award, 2020
• TD Canada Trust, TD Ready Challenge Winner, 2021^[18]
• Centennial College, Alumnus of Distinction, 2021
• Womxn in Data Science Toronto, Trailblazer Award, 2022

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