Yolanda became a CUPE member when she began working as a school board library technician in Toronto. She quickly became an active member, activist, and leader within what is now Toronto Education Workers, CUPE Local 4400.
For more than a decade, she has served on the CUPE Ontario Executive Board, including as 2nd Vice-President. She has also served on the CUPE National Executive Board—first for a decade as the Diversity Vice-President for Racialized Members, and now as a Regional Vice-President for Ontario.
Yolanda is well known throughout the broader labour movement. She serves as one of two Executive Vice-Presidents representing CUPE at the Ontario Federation of Labour and as President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists for Canada.
In December 2021, she made history when she became the Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario. She continued that legacy in 2026 when she was elected CUPE Ontario President.
She is the first education worker and the first Black woman to hold both of the two top leadership positions at CUPE Ontario.
