About Us
Zera Café is a not-for-profit meal service with a mission to employ neurodiverse young adults. In January 2022, after 3 years of operating, Zera Café moved into a modern larger kitchen in Cummings Square, became MK Certified, and hired a professional support and leadership team. This team and additional space created a structure to support our neurodiverse staff and our growth.
Our ready-to-eat menu focuses on modern Israeli cuisine that is delicious, innovative, and vegetable-focused. We also now cater for events and meetings in schools, synagogues, and other agencies.
Zera means seed in Hebrew, which reflects the essence of this vision – inclusion, and diversity in hiring people who grow and flourish as valued employees and community members.
Board of Directors
Meet Zera Café’s dynamic & passionate team of directors.
Andrea Yampolsky
Director
Andrea Yampolsky is an experienced recruiter who started her own recruitment agency AY Talent Inc. She recently joined the board of Zera café with the mission to help as Zera Café continues growing and succeeding in its mission to serve the needs of the neurodivergent community.
Mara Greenstone-Agulnik
Lawyer
Mara is a lawyer, member of the Quebec Bar with degrees in civil law and common law. She is actively involved in the community and is a Past President of the Lord Reading Law Society, Past President of the Just For Kids Foundation and currently a Vice-President of the Board of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. She is passionate about helping neurodiverse adults and proud to be part of the Zera Café team.
Carrie Mazoff
President
Carrie Goldstein Mazoff has extensive experience in management positions in not-for-profit organizations, including the Miriam Foundation center for innovation, with the mission of implementing bold strategies to help people with autism and intellectual disabilities.
Sylvie Amar
Vice President
Sylvie Amar is the mother of a young adult with a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD). She is an actuarial scientist who has served on the board of directors of various community organizations tasked with encouraging legacy gifting.
Randy Schwartz
Treasurer
Randy Schwartz is an experienced Chartered Professional Accountant who has served on the board of Agence Ometz and JEM Workshop and was the Financial Director at the Cummings Center.
Kathryne Rose Cohen
Secretary
Kathryne Rose Cohen owned and operated Desserts Mousse, a dessert catering business for 15 years. Kathryne sits on the board of the free Hebrew Free Loan Association of Montreal and brings her business and culinary acumen.
Dan Vigderhaus
Industry Expert
Dan Vigderhaus, president of Eventure and Q-Zn, a virtual kitchen enterprise has extensive experience in event planning, catering, and professional kitchen construction. Dan has spearheaded many fundraising efforts including charity poker tournaments that raised funds for the Myriam Foundation and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Dan has also helped raise funds for cancer research as one of the early creators of the Strangers in the Night event as well as the virtual All That Jazz event that benefitted the Jewish General Hospital.
Eve Rochman
Founding Director
Eve Rochman, a graduate of McGill University’s Health and Social Services Management program, founded and directs Zera Café. As any entrepreneur who starts a new venture from scratch, she has worn every hat and juggles many parts of the operations.