About Us

Our Story

Limina Community Network is a community-focused nonprofit rooted in dignity, empowerment, inclusion, and practical support. We connect people with community resources, opportunities, knowledge, and one another — with a particular focus on women and girls, newcomers, refugees, and individuals facing barriers to safety, housing, financial stability, and opportunity.

Lasting change takes more than short-term assistance. Limina was shaped by years of grassroots community involvement, refugee sponsorship and settlement work, and listening to the lived experiences of people who often have nowhere safe to turn — built around creating real pathways toward independence, dignity, and belonging.

Our Team

Freshta Zamani

Founder & President

Freshta Zamani is an Afghan-Canadian community leader, entrepreneur and advocate from Kabul, Afghanistan. She immigrated to Canada in 2007 as a teenage mother, beginning a new chapter while carrying the responsibilities of motherhood and building a future in a new country without an established support system. That experience became part of a broader journey defined by resilience, ambition and a longstanding commitment to creating opportunities for others.

For more than a decade, Freshta has been engaged in community service, refugee sponsorship and settlement support, women’s initiatives, advocacy and community organizing. Alongside this work, she built an extensive entrepreneurial background through business ownership in the beauty and furniture industries and the development of community initiatives and large-scale events. Her experience bridges grassroots community engagement and entrepreneurship, giving her a practical understanding of the social and economic realities that can shape a person’s ability to move forward.

Freshta holds a diploma in Social Services from George Brown College and is currently pursuing a double major in Psychology and Sociology at an Ontario university. Her education, entrepreneurial experience and years of community involvement ultimately shaped the vision for Limina Community Network. Her journey from arriving in Canada as a young mother to becoming an entrepreneur, advocate, university student and nonprofit founder reflects the principle at the heart of Limina: difficult circumstances may shape where a person begins, but they should never determine how far that person can go.

Razieh Dinarvand

Vice President

Razieh Dinarvand is an Iranian-Canadian immigration professional whose multidisciplinary background brings together immigration, legal services and science. Her professional journey reflects intellectual versatility and a sustained commitment to assisting individuals and families as they navigate complex immigration, refugee and settlement processes in Canada.

A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC), Razieh has extensive experience in Canadian immigration and refugee matters, including a professional foundation in refugee cases and immigration appeals. Her career has also included significant pro bono work for individuals facing financial barriers to professional assistance. Before establishing her career in Canada, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology in Iran and worked as a Medical Laboratory Technologist in Tehran, later continuing her education in Canada through studies in Food Industrial Technology.

Razieh’s path across science, immigration and legal services represents a rare combination of analytical training, professional expertise and cross-cultural perspective. Her Iranian-Canadian identity and experience establishing a professional life across countries and disciplines add meaningful depth to Limina’s leadership and reflect the international character of the communities connected through the organization.

Rumat Asim

Board Member

Rumat Asim is a Pakistani-Canadian business professional with a background spanning banking, financial services, insurance, marketing, client experience and business operations. Her career has been shaped within professional environments where sound judgment, communication, accountability and attention to detail are fundamental.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Trent University and has developed experience across client-focused and regulated sectors in Canada, including the banking industry. Her combination of business education and professional experience has provided her with a strong foundation in organizational processes, client relations, marketing and the practical demands of working within structured professional environments.

Rumat’s Pakistani-Canadian identity, business education and experience within Canada’s financial sector bring a distinct perspective to Limina’s leadership. Her background adds to a leadership team shaped by different cultures, disciplines and professional journeys, reflecting the breadth of communities Limina was created to reach and serve.

Name & Meaning

LIMINA is drawn from the Latin word limen, meaning a threshold, doorway, or point of transition. The plural form, limina, evokes thresholds and doorways — places where one chapter ends and another begins. For Limina Community Network, the name represents the belief that meaningful change often begins at a threshold: when a person finds safety, support, opportunity, belonging, or the confidence to take the next step.

Where We Began

Built from the ground up

Limina Community Network grew from years of grassroots community involvement and direct engagement with women, newcomers, refugees, and families navigating difficult transitions.

Through this work, we saw how often challenges overlap. Violence can lead to housing instability. Financial dependence can make it harder to leave an unsafe situation. Newcomers may face language, cultural, social, and systemic barriers while trying to rebuild their lives.

Limina was created to help bridge those gaps. Our work brings together practical guidance, survivor support, community connections, education, economic empowerment, and referrals to professional services so people can navigate challenges with greater clarity and build more stable, independent futures.

What began through grassroots community work has grown into a federally incorporated Canadian nonprofit committed to helping people move from crisis and instability toward safety, stability, and opportunity.

Why This Work Matters

Many social challenges are interconnected — housing insecurity intensifies financial stress, financial dependence makes leaving an unsafe relationship harder, and newcomers often face language, cultural, and institutional barriers all at once. Limina responds to these realities at the community level, connecting people to practical support before challenges become harder to overcome.

Our belief is simple: people deserve more than survival. They deserve the opportunity to rebuild, participate, earn, belong, and live with dignity.

Mission

Limina Community Network exists to empower individuals and strengthen communities by creating pathways to safety, dignity, economic opportunity, housing stability, connection, and belonging.

Our primary focus is women and girls, newcomers, refugees, survivors of domestic and intimate-partner violence, and individuals experiencing financial, housing, or social barriers. We provide practical support, community connections, information, referrals, education, and opportunities — because when people have access to safety, stability, and the knowledge to navigate available resources, they’re better positioned to rebuild and contribute to stronger communities.

Vision

We envision communities where every person can live with safety, dignity, freedom, and a genuine sense of belonging — regardless of gender, background, immigration history, economic circumstances, or the barriers they have faced.

That means women and girls with the freedom to build independent lives, newcomers and refugees welcomed with dignity, survivors supported rather than silenced, and community support that becomes a bridge to long-term stability — not just a response to crisis.

Our Community Philosophy

Community is not simply a place. It is a relationship.

We believe communities become stronger when people are seen, heard, respected, and given meaningful opportunities to contribute. Every person carries knowledge, experience, skills, and potential. Limina seeks to create spaces where those strengths can be recognized and connected.

We do not define people by the challenges they have experienced. We believe in seeing the person beyond the crisis — and helping create the conditions in which that person can move forward.

Limina was born from years of listening to people who needed more than a temporary solution. It grew from conversations with women who needed a safe place to speak, newcomers trying to rebuild their lives, families facing financial pressure, and people who had skills and dreams but lacked the opportunity or support to turn them into something sustainable.
I have learned that sometimes the most important thing we can offer another person is not simply an answer. It is a door — a connection, an opportunity, a safe space, a person who listens, or the confidence to take the next step. That is the meaning behind Limina. A threshold is the point between where we have been and where we may go next. I want Limina to help people reach that threshold — and to make sure they do not have to cross it alone.

Freshta Zamani — Founder & President