Kosta – Ontario – Junior IT Analyst – 2019 Graduate
Living with spastic cerebral palsy, Kosta faced barriers that had nothing to do with his skills or his drive. Before the pandemic, finding meaningful employment felt almost impossible. Transportation was a constant obstacle. Employers weren’t hiring him. His love for technology and the inner workings of computers was real and ran deep, but the opportunities to apply it simply weren’t there.
That love for technology is what led him to NPower Canada. He enrolled in the Junior IT Analyst program and graduated in 2019. For Kosta, the program was more than a technical credential. It was the first environment that met him where he was and gave him a real shot. The training built his technical foundation, but what stayed with him long after graduation was something harder to teach: grit, patience, and the confidence to handle whatever came next. NPower Canada didn’t just prepare him for a job. It prepared him for a career.
His first role after graduating was Radio and Blog Coordinator at X10 Entertainment, a direct result of the digital skills and professional confidence he built through the program. From there, he grew into a Senior Social Media Strategist in the music and entertainment industry, supporting emerging and established artists through content creation, digital engagement, and online concert coordination. He founded and managed a podcast team, led a group of social media marketers, and built a freelance practice rooted in collaboration and mentorship, skills that NPower Canada helped sharpen from day one.
The mentorship culture he encountered at NPower Canada also left a mark. Since graduating, Kosta has accumulated mentorship opportunities of his own, eventually becoming a mentor and advocate himself. That thread runs directly through the most meaningful chapter of his career: his work as a youth partner at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, where he serves as iKT Panel Lead on the CONNECT program, supporting youth with cerebral palsy and acquired brain injury through care transitions. He collaborated with Toronto Rehab and the University Health Network to develop program modules in Mindfulness and Mentorship, and through YouthCulture, co-created eight video tutorials for youth in robotics. He brings to that work the same combination of technical knowledge and lived experience that NPower Canada helped him formalize.
The pandemic, for all it disrupted, proved something Kosta had always believed: that individuals with disabilities can work, and can be exceptionally productive doing so. Remote work didn’t level the playing field. It revealed that the playing field had never needed to be the way it was.
Kosta’s advice to anyone considering the program is clear: NPower Canada will prepare you for the future by building your grit, your stamina, and your ability to navigate whatever comes your way. For him, that foundation made everything else possible.