Ramona Leitao (she/her) is a freelance multimedia journalist based in Toronto, the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.
Through her photo essays and written features, Ramona documents food and agriculture, politics, community advocacy and the ongoing climate crisis. Her work has been published in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Chatelaine, The Narwhal and elsewhere. She is also experienced at commercial photography and has worked for clients like the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ramona was previously a reporter on anti-racism and inclusion at Future of Good. She was also an investigative journalist at Humber StoryLab, where she researched and critiqued how Canadian institutions impact Indigenous communities. Prior to this, she was a food writer at NOW Magazine, where she highlighted food businesses owned/operated by underrepresented communities.
She is currently open to freelance, contract and full-time work.
You can contact Ramona here.
Recent Portraits
Select Published Work
Written Work
This Toronto food entrepreneur’s ready-made picnics pay homage to her Anishinaabe roots (The Toronto Star)
Toronto’s Tamil diaspora is celebrated in new video game on Xbox, PlayStation and more. Here’s how its creator cooked it up (The Toronto Star)
2SLGBTQIA+ organizations rally for more funding, support amidst growing anti-gender movement (Future of Good)
Fried chicken and Rubik’s cubes? How this Toronto restaurant caters to neurodivergent diners (The Toronto Star)
Chinatown community rallies to keep Crimson Teas in business after owner is assaulted (The Toronto Star)
How a community of chefs is reinventing West African food in Toronto (NOW)
Amid racism and the pandemic, many Chinese-Canadian restaurants are struggling to survive (Chatelaine)
Canada Does Not Have ‘The God-Given Right To Exhaust Nature’: Naomi Klein (HuffPost Canada)
Photo Essays
Small plot, big veg: city gardeners are growing food at home (The Narwhal)
A Toronto farmers’ market, first of its kind, grows more space for Black and Indigenous culinary cultures (The Globe and Mail)
Anishinaabe chef is advocating for Indigenous food sovereignty with urban farm (The Globe and Mail)
Three Black farmers and the fight for diminishing land in southern Ontario (The Narwhal and The Local)
Photography Only
Toronto police’s secretive ‘no-knock raids’ leave scars for a lifetime (The Breach)
A former GM plant in St. Catharines is leaking toxic chemicals (The Narhwal)
Fact-checking Projects
Mayor’s Race Candidate Tracker 2023 (The Local)
Exhibitions
Ways of Seeing: Room Up Front Exhibition (Contact Photo Festival)