Annasha Martin
President
Annasha Martin is a Wife, Mother and an executive with over a decade of experience in the CS industry. Scaling innovation, developing effective processes and systems to enhance user experiences has built Annasha’s capacity to established customer centred frameworks to better serve clients.
Despite a notable career in her sector Annasha’s greatest achievement has been giving birth to her beautiful daughter Shayla. When Shayla was born, life changed forever. The first few months of Shayla’s life was similar to the experiences that most proud parents encounter, but everything changed when the Martin family received a diagnosis of severe autism when Shayla was two years old.
Mrs. Martin entered into a world that no parenting book, no mother or grandmother could guide her through. This journey into the unknown was full of tears, fears and sleepless nights. As the Martin family navigated what seemed to be the cruel, and lonely ecosystem of autism, Annasha was forced into a world of research and data collection, with the goal of educating herself on everything related to autism and special needs.
Shayla is now eight years old and is evolving into a beautiful, curious, sometimes defiant and very sassy girl. There is so much more available now than there was when Shayla was first diagnosed.
When the Martin family decided not to have any more children, they proudly explored the fostering world and how they could serve more children with special needs. The Martin family have now been foster parents for the last four years serving children of various backgrounds, and of course with very special needs.
After navigating the various services within the special needs and autism community, Annasha and her husband Sean decide to develop a social purpose organization to provide leadership and support for parents of newly diagnosed children. Shayla’s Voice was established to help parents find the most supportive services, right from the start. The aim is simple to serve the community by joining our voices together, and identify the most effective and empathetic services one review at a time. The Martin family remain caregiver’s and advocates for some of the most vulnerable children in Canada. The premise of their advocacy work is practical, “Time is paramount with autism or any special needs diagnosis and early intervention is key to our kids future.” The Martin family currently resides in the Durham region of Canada.