Everything I’ve Ever Done
As someone who needs to constantly remind myself of how far I’ve come and everything I’m capable of, I’ve written a life resume of sorts. If you’re interested in working with me, give me a shout. I'm interested in and available to take on all kinds of projects, specifically focused on community development, food security, sustainable agriculture, poverty reduction, or independent journalism. If you’re working on something that you think I’d be well suited for, I’d love to hear more about it!
I arrived Earthside in the Spring of the early 90s in a Vancouver hospital, 15 minutes after my twin brother. I grew up in the suburbs of a city once home to the Tsawwassen First Nation of the Coast Salish peoples, alongside my twin and older brother.
From a very young age, I wanted to do it all. I wanted to earn every badge in Girl Guides; be a part of every extracurricular club in high school; help organize every event run by the student council; read every book that lined every bookshelf; take pictures of every single thing and person that intrigued me; cook every recipe that looked delicious; read every book in the Bible multiple times over; I wanted to fill my head with every scrap of knowledge I could find. Stemming from a fear of death and an incessant urge to squeeze every drop of joy out of this one precious life, I tried to do everything.
I was an entrepreneur from a young age. It started when my neighbours asked me to walk their dog after school when I was just seven years old. Loving dogs, but not allowed to own one, I relished the opportunity. They left a loonie and a toonie on the backyard table twice a week, and I walked their black lab, Mulligan, in the forest down the street from my house. As the years progressed, I started walking more and more dogs from around the neighbourhood, referred to me by word of mouth or from the flier I posted on my local pet food store’s community bulletin board.
Soft skills acquired: communicating with clients, dependability, responsibility
Hard skills acquired: marketing pre social media
2008, I worked at a camera store in the strip mall down the street from my house to earn a few high school credits. Although I never got paid for my labour, I got a staff discount to purchase my first DSLR, a Canon Rebel, when I was 15. I got my friends to model for me as I started learning how to adjust aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to recreate the photos I saw professional photographers publish on their blogs. I took every opportunity that came my way - I shot family portraits, professional headshots, engagements, graduations, maternity, newborns, dancers, bands, artists, and pets, I said yes to everything.
Soft skills acquired: creativity, confidence, verbal communication
Hard skills acquired: photography, creative directing, social media marketing in the early days of Facebook
July 2010, I spent my summers volunteering with Willing Workers On Organic Farms, or WWOOF, an international organization that pairs farmers and homesteaders with travelers wanting to learn how to grow their food, become connected to the land, and live more sustainable lives. I volunteered in week-long spurts on various farms throughout the Gulf Islands. I weeded, harvested, mulched, and watered in exchange for being able to put my hands in the dirt and breathe the ocean air.
Soft skills acquired: flexibility, positive attitude, initiative
Hard skills acquired: how to design, plant, maintain, and harvest an organic garden
January 2011, My first real paycheck came when I was 17. I got a job as a hostess at IHOP. I seated guests at tables, got them drinks, wiped menus, swept the floor, and rang up checks after school and on weekends for $8 an hour.
Soft skills acquired: positive attitude, teamwork, work ethic
Hard skills acquired: how to operate a cash register, how to balance five plates of food in two hands, how to bus a table in 30 seconds
September 2011: High school graduation came and went, and while all my friends were applying to and getting accepted into university, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life yet, and I didn’t want to go into student debt trying to find out. So, I continued working at IHOP and got a seasonal job in The Body Shop at a busy mall in downtown Vancouver over Christmas as a stock girl. I unpacked all the boxes of body butters, shower gels, and face creams, tucking them onto the store shelves and organizing the inventory in the warehouse. I got hired on after the Christmas season as a salesperson but quickly began to dislike the way I had to pressure customers to keep buying more, more, more lotions and potions in plastic bottles, so I was gone come Spring. By the Fall, I got another retail job at a local pet food and supply store, where I had no problem selling dog owners the most expensive bags of dog food they could afford.
Soft skills acquired: persuasion, problem-solving, customer relations
Hard skills acquired: managing inventory, arranging store displays, selling product
Formal education acquired:
Highschool Diploma
Class 5 Drivers License
January 2013, when I was 19 years old, I took a one-way flight to St.Lucia to complete my Discipleship Training School (DTS) at Youth With A Mission (YWAM), an international Christian organization mainly focused on evangelism. I was indoctrinated with three months of lessons about topics like how to hear the voice of God and how to properly read and interpret the Bible. As it was my first time away from home, my mind was like an elastic band, willing to bend around this new reality I had immersed myself in.
The lecture phase is followed by a two-month outreach phase, focused heavily on proselytism, converting unbelievers to Christianity. Our first month was spent working with ministries throughout the various communities in St.Lucia, and the second month we went to Suriname, a small country and former Dutch colony on the top of South America. We lived in an orphanage and preached the gospel in prisons, schools, churches and marketplaces.
Soft skills acquired: Intercultural communications, public speaking, community living, adaptability, conflict resolution
Hard skills acquired: fundraising, producing videos, writing newsletters
Being so easily influenced, I was prophesied and guilted into returning to the island the following year to become a staff member for this pioneering YWAM base. Being a staff member meant paying to work, as it was a volunteer position, and you still had to pay for the cost of living while on the base. Agreeing to come back to staff was the first of many times I would let the needs of an organization whose vision I firmly believed in outweigh my vision for my own life. But I thought I was following the voice of God, and I would receive my reward in heaven, so I went for it.
August 2013, I flew back to Canada and started saving money to fund my volunteer journey. I got my job back at IHOP as a hostess and a second job as a barista at an independent coffee shop. I organized a fundraiser dinner at my church and spoke to the congregation that had watched me grow up about the needs of YWAM St.Lucia and my desire to return as a full-time missionary. Within six months, I raised enough money and supporters to keep me comfortable in the field for two years.
January 2014, I took another one-way flight back to St.Lucia to become a full-time volunteer. I was the communications coordinator of this brand-new base, taking on administrative and communications tasks, such as responding to email inquiries, writing and editing newsletters and press releases, and developing our social media accounts.
As this base was understaffed and underfunded, I was also the lunch cook, the nanny for the base leader’s three-year-old son, the errand runner, and the travel coordinator for short-term international teams. I also involved myself with as many different ministries on the island as I had time for; I tutored kids at an orphanage in Ciceron, served at the homeless shelter in Castries, and helped run a kid’s club in Bois Patat.
Soft skills acquired: stress management, time management, emotional intelligence, negotiation, team building, written communication, working with children
Hard skills acquired: Cooking for up to 12 people at a time, creating content for and managing social media accounts, documenting events and ministries using photography and videography
August 2014, I moved to Belem, Brazil to be a student of the School of Community Development at another pioneering YWAM base, Amazon Reach. After a year of ministry focused mainly on people’s spiritual needs, I wanted to learn how communities could sustainably meet their material needs as well. Over the next six months, thanks to full-blown immersion and the help of some new friends, I learned to speak Portuguese.
During the three-month lecture phase, we learned from different instructors about topics like sustainable community development, water and sanitation, health care, children at risk, education, agriculture, and economics. Following the lecture phase, three other students and I completed a two-month internship in the community of Itauerá-Açu, a community populated by Ribeirinhos (people who live along the river) and Quilombolas (descendants of runaway slaves). The four of us lived in a small green house on stilts, slept in hammocks, bathed in the river, ate an endless supply of açaí, and got around by canoe. We spent our days visiting neighbours, drinking coffee with them, going to Bible study alongside them, eating lunch with them, and taking whatever opportunity we could to insert ourselves into the community. It was here that I fell in love with holistic community development through building meaningful relationships.
Soft skills acquired: confidence, curiosity, observational skills, empathy, resilience
Hard skills acquired: how to speak Portuguese, principles and practises of sustainable community development
January 2015, after the internship ended, my solo backpacking journey began. I travelled to the south of Brazil to visit the cities of the new friends I had made, cities like São Paulo, Balneário Camboriú, and Curitiba. I left the country the day after my tourist visa for Brazil ended, and I backpacked through Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. I volunteered with other YWAM bases and ministries, couch surfed, and stayed with friends, and friends-of-friends, and in the occasional hostel.
At the end of my journey through South America, I worked with YWAM Iquitos for over two months, which had a similar ministry as Amazon Reach: rural community development along the small communities dotted along the tributaries of the Amazon River. I supported international teams who visited the base, assisting with translation, cooking, and cleaning, as well as documenting the work using photography and videography.
August 2015, I re-entered Brazil, travelling on three different boats along the entire length of the Amazon River, all the way from Iquitos, Peru to Belem, Brazil, a journey of 15 days. I returned to the Amazon Reach base and my friend invited me to come on to staff the next School of Community Development with him.
Soft skills acquired: self-awareness, problem-solving, decision-making, planning, networking, resourcefulness (backpacking on a shoestring budget)
Hard skills acquired: how to speak Spanish, creating multi-media promotional materials to communicate the various projects undertaken by organizations, documenting projects using photography and videography
November 2015, I returned to Canada for the first time in almost two years to switch my visa so I could volunteer in Brazil for up to a year. For three months, I picked up shifts again at IHOP and got another seasonal retail job at La Senza, where I sold pyjamas and lingerie. I hosted another fundraising dinner at my church and shared my vision to continue learning about and teaching others about rural community development in Brazil.
February 2016, I returned to the Amazon Reach base to be a full-time volunteer to help lead the School of Community Development. I helped organize the logistics of the visiting speakers for the lecture phase and continued to make videos to promote the various ministries and schools happening at the base. We spent the two-month internship in the community of Arapapuzinho, where we spent our days building relationships, hosting bible studies, community mapping, and teaching workshops on asset-based community development. After the school was finished, I helped lead short-term international teams back to Arapapuzinho and Itauerá-Açu, serving as a guide and translator.
Soft skills acquired: cultural intelligence, leadership skills, mentorship
Hard skills acquired: translation, organizing logistics of incoming teams and speakers
September 2016, I left the Amazon Reach base to visit the cities of more friends I had made in Northeast Brazil, in João Pessoa, Recife, Maceio, and Salvador.
October 2016, I made it to Medina, Minas Gerais to work as a short-term volunteer with the ministry, Meninadança. For two months I lived in the rural towns of Medina and Cândido Sales, in Brazil’s interior. Meninadança had ministry houses in these towns along BR-116, a highway notorious for sex trafficking. These houses supported girls at risk of being trafficked by reaching them through after-school activities, like dancing, crafts, and drama.
December 2016, I visited more friends around the south of Brazil, in cities like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Florianópolis, Caxias do Sul, and Foz de Iguazu.
February 2017, I left Brazil the day my visa expired and entered Paraguay, where I volunteered at another YWAM base in the small, rural town of Coronel Oviedo, supporting the missionaries and ministries there through photography and videography.
March 2017, I flew home from Lima, Peru on the cheapest flight I could find. That Spring, I road-tripped across Western Canada, from Vancouver to Winnipeg and back again to visit extended family members I hadn’t seen for nearly a decade.
May 2017, I boarded a tug-boat-turned-fishing-lodge to spend the next 104 days working as a hostess. The lodge was docked on the West coast of Haida Gwaii, near Hippa Island. I was responsible for cleaning all the rooms and common areas, cleaning up after a buffet lunch, photographing all the guest’s catch-of-the-day and serving a four-course dinner. With no internet access or telephone service, I spent my off-time learning how to fish for salmon, halibut, lingcod and rockfish, kayaking to explore nearby beaches, and reading through stacks of books.
Soft skills acquired: attention to detail, self-motivation, enthusiasm
Hard skills acquired: housekeeping, fine dining serving and etiquette
September 2017, I returned to St.Lucia and Brazil to reunite with my old friends, attend a couple of weddings, and generally just relax on the beach after working 104 days straight.
January 2018, I came back to Canada on the first day of the year and began my Bachelor of Arts in Global Development Studies. Seven years after graduating high school, I jumped back in head-first and started with five courses in my first semester. To save money, I moved back in with my mom in the house I grew up in for the first year of university.
June 2018, I worked as a dockhand at North King Lodge, near Aristazabal Island on the Northwest coast of BC. Along with a team of two other dockhands, I was responsible for the cleanliness of the boats and dock, and providing all 25 guests with an unforgettable fishing experience. Some of our tasks included: scrubbing an unbelievable amount of dried fish blood off boats; pumping the boats full of gas; docking and reparking boats; unloading, weighing and recording all the fish caught by guests; fetching all refreshments and tackle required by the guests and orienting guests to the boats, equipment, and Fisheries regulations. Working outside all summer in all weather conditions, and doing physically demanding work was a nice change from the typical serving jobs I usually take in hospitality.
Soft skills acquired: the ability to work outside in all weather conditions, coordination with the other dockhands
Hard skills acquired: operating small motor vessels, seasonal rules and regulations of BC Fisheries
Formal education acquired:
Recreational Boating License
September 2018, I started working at a high-end dog service in downtown Vancouver on weekends. I would pick up dogs from clients’ homes to walk them and supervise up to 25 dogs at a time in the daycare rooms. I mopped up a lot of pee but loved hanging out with a bunch of dogs all day, it was an awesome job.
Soft skills acquired: how to work amongst a lot of noise and distractions, playfulness
Hard skills acquired: learned dog’s behavioral patterns and how to break up fights when necessary, how to keep a room of 25+ dogs entertained
November 2018, I was selected to go on a 10-day work-study trip to Ethiopia with Run For Water, a local organization that works with rural communities to build infrastructure that provides them with clean drinking water.
January 2019, I converted my mini-van into a mini-home and lived out of my van while attending university. I got a job as a Facilities Attendant in UFV’s athletics building; I sold gym memberships, cleaned the gyms and weight rooms, locked and unlocked a lot of doors, and washed uniforms. I also started working as a Staff Writer at The Cascade, UFV’s student-run newspaper, writing two articles a week.
Soft skills acquired: resourcefulness, punctuality, ability to meet tight deadlines
Hard skills acquired: basic paperwork and administration skills, basic journalism skills, like writing reviews, news stories, culture, and opinion articles, how to interview subjects, and journalism ethics
July 2019, During UFV’s summer break, when I had no classes, articles to write or facilities to attend, I got a job on a fishing lodge with a shorter, six-week season as a Server. This lodge was a short float plane ride from Port Hardy, in Hakai Pass. I was mainly responsible for all activities in the dining room: setting tables, serving drinks, lunch, appetizers, and a three-course dinner, and cleaning up after meals. When I wasn’t working in the dining room, I helped the chef with food preparation, and when guests arrived I ensured they signed waivers and received their fishing licenses.
Soft skills acquired: willingness to learn, aesthetics, initiative
Hard skills acquired: basic line cooking and food preparation skills, bartending skills
Formal education acquired:
Foodsafe Certificate
Serving it Right Certificate
SuperHost Certificate
Bartending Certificate, Metropolitan Bartending School Vancouver
September 2019, This next semester of university, I continued living in my van and working as a Facilities Attendant, but I moved up from being a Staff Writer to being the Culture and Events Editor at The Cascade. This meant I was in charge of curating an entire section of the paper, focused on different projects and events happening in the University and Fraser Valley. Along with writing an article a week for my section, I pitched article ideas to staff writers, edited all the other articles in my section, and prepared the crossword, horoscope and events calendar for every weekly issue.
I also started volunteering with M2W2, where I visited an inmate in the Fraser Valley Institute on a bi-weekly basis as part of a mentorship program.
Soft skills acquired: networking, rallying enthusiasm, and creating an innovative vision
Hard skills acquired: editing skills like proofreading, fact-checking, and ensuring all the writing followed house formatting rules and CP style
January 2020, I was awarded the Queen Elisabeth Scholarship and completed an internship in Chandigarh, India with Developing Indigenous Resources, a non-profit focused on infant and maternal healthcare in an impoverished neighbourhood in the outskirts of Chandigarh. Since I didn’t know the first thing about infant and maternal healthcare, and I couldn’t speak Punjabi or Hindi, I worked with the skills I did have: communication. I helped write grant proposals to get additional funding for projects, mapped out the project area using Adobe Illustrator, wrote a monthly newsletter and the annual report, created content for social media, wrote copy for the website, and photographed all the work being done and headshots of all the staff. Unfortunately, I had to evacuate India in mid-March thanks to the onslaught of the global pandemic.
Soft skills acquired: sensitivity, learning agility, innovation, strategic thinking
Hard skills acquired: ethical photojournalism, quantitative data collection in public healthcare, interpreting quantitative data into easy-to-read newsletters and reports, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, and writing grant proposals
May 2020, as the hospitality industry shuttered to a halt, I found a job in the housing sector, which required very similar tasks, but with a very different clientele. I got a job at a youth shelter that housed six youths at a time, working 12-hour shifts on a 4-on-4-off schedule, and on my days off, I picked up shifts at a Salvation Army shelter that housed up to 60 adults at a time.
The two shelters had very different policies and were run with very different management styles. The youth shelter had a very progressive harm reduction policy, and even an overdose prevention site so that staff could supervise and respond in the event of an overdose. There were rarely overdoses, since the clients were using in a safe environment. The Salvation Army, on the other hand, had a strict no-tolerance policy for drug use, yet we were constantly responding to overdoses on-site, injecting Naloxone and following emergency procedures to revive clients and keep them alive.
The main duty of being a shelter worker was ensuring all clients were safe, fed and rested, and maintaining a healthy shelter environment. I performed many housekeeping tasks, such as: cleaning and sanitizing surfaces according to COVID-19 protocols, laundering bedding, ensuring storage and donation areas were organized, doing property checks and cleaning up used harm-reduction supplies. There were also a lot of administrative tasks, including writing critical incident reports, recording notable events and behaviours in client files, helping clients fill out waivers and paperwork, and performing client intakes and orientation. I also learned the critical skill of non-violent conflict resolution and how to de-escalate arguments between clients.
Soft skills acquired: conflict resolution, patience, active listening, stress management, interpersonal communication, open-mindedness, inclusivity and the ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds, building trust with clients, and being assertive with maintaining boundaries
Hard skills acquired: how to conduct motivational interviews and refer clients to other services, principles and practises of harm reduction, trauma-informed care, biopsychosocial addictions model, Naloxone injection and emergency first aid
Formal education acquired:
Addiction Care and Treatment Certificate, UBC Continuing Professional Development
Provincial Opioid Treatment Support Program, UBC Continuing Professional Development
Naloxone Administration, Mission Community Services Society
Harm Reduction Training, Homeless Services Association of BC
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention, Crisis Prevention Institute
Mental Health First Aid, St.John Ambulance
Standard First Aid, CPR and AED, Canadian Red Cross
November 2020, After living in my van for nearly two years, I decided to rent a room in a nice lady’s house, whose daughter I worked with at The Cascade. The pandemic had closed a lot of the resources and spaces that I used over winter, and I was earning enough money to be able to afford rent. So, I moved into a house where I became friends with the seven cats, two dogs, and two bunnies that also lived there.
May 2021, In the middle of my week-long birthday camping trip, I did a hiking excursion alone on a lengthy trail in the Chilliwack River valley, got lost, caught in the dark, and fell down a cliff into a lake. I got a concussion, skull fracture, broken wrist, nerve damage, lacerations all over my arms and legs, a slipped disk and hypothermia. I spent the night on the shores of Greendrop Lake, and when dawn broke, I somehow hoisted my injured body back up the cliff and hobbled back on the trail. I ran into another hiker after walking around two km alone and he helped me back to the helicopter pad by the shores of Lindeman Lake where I was airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital and rushed into the emergency room. It was a terrible accident and I almost died, but for the first time in years, I got a break from work so my body could recover.
September 2021, I became the Editor-in-Chief at The Cascade and managed a team of 20 students to publish the first in-print newspaper, after an almost two-year hiatus where we published articles solely online. I recruited, trained, and led a team of student writers and editors to publish a 24-page bi-weekly newspaper covering topics and events relevant to the student body and the greater Fraser Valley community. Along with writing an editorial each week, I did final checks on all other articles. We also published a fine arts and creative writing Zine every semester. I planned and coordinated Board meetings and Annual General Meetings to keep our status as a Society, and I signed a new Memorandum of Agreement with UFV’s Vice President, Students. I was the face of The Cascade and liaised with a variety of stakeholders within the university and community, including campus administration, the student union, and various clubs and associations. I was the main point of contact with our publishers, and I doubled our off-campus distribution locations. I also cleaned and re-organized The Cascade office which had essentially been vacant for the previous two years, and made a detailed inventory of all our archived papers. Before I graduated and left my role as EIC, I wrote a 170-page training manual to help onboard incoming staff, as the staff turnover was quite high.
Soft skills acquired: team leadership and coaching, critical thinking, how to identify biases and consider multiple perspectives, multitasking, time management, attention to detail through meticulous and thorough editing, proofreading and fact-checking, promoting a positive team culture
Hard skills acquired: recruiting, training, and managing student volunteers and contractors, how to layout a newspaper using InDesign, non-profit management and coordinating a Board of Directors, teaching workshops on writing and editing, technical writing, editing various writing styles and genres, rallying engagement amongst the student body
Issues published as EIC: Vol.29, Iss.20; Vol.29, Iss.21; Vol.29, Iss.22; Vol.29, Iss.23; Vol.29, Iss.24; Vol.29, Iss.25; The Zine Issue 5; Vol.30, Iss.2; Vol.30, Issu.3, Vol.30, Iss.4; Vol.30, Iss.5; Vol.30, Iss.6; The Zine Issue 6; Vol.30, Iss.7; Vol.30, Iss.8; Vol.30, Iss.9; Vol.30, Iss.10
September 2022, I started back at the Salvation Army as a casual shelter worker, as I wanted to transition from the 4-on-4-off shift to a more flexible schedule to accommodate my new job as Editor-in-Chief.
As well, I started an internship with the Indigenous Neighbours Program with the Mennonite Central Committee. I completed this three-month internship to get credits for my Mennonite Studies Certificate. In this role I helped facilitate the Kairos Blanket Exercise with various churches, I developed a 6-part Indigenous 101 workshop that would be presented at a local youth group, and I collected data for the Mennonite Brethren Church to inform them which of their churches were located on First Nation land and helped them develop connections to the leaders of these First Nation groups.
Soft skills acquired: cultural sensitivity, dramatic reenactment, public speaking
Hard skills acquired: data collection, knowledge of the Stó:lō First Nation culture and history
January 2022, I became the interim Features Editor of The Cascade. This involved me researching, writing, and editing a 2000-word feature relevant to the student body for every paper. As well as pitching feature ideas, recruiting volunteers to write features, and editing their work. I tended to cover social justice issues like food security in the Fraser Valley, missing and murdered Indigenous women, the housing crisis for students, the history of “Slave Days” in Chilliwack public schools, and sexualized violence on campus.
Soft skills acquired: innovation and creativity, high productivity, strong charisma
Hard skills acquired: organizing and conducting interviews with prominent members of the community, writing and editing in-depth feature-length articles of 2000-4000 words, designing the layout and illustrations that would accompany the article in-print, investigative reporting
April 2022, I became the interim Business Manager of The Cascade on top of my two other roles. This was an entirely new role for me, but thanks to my love of spreadsheets, I quickly picked up on the tasks required, such as: processing invoices and expense reports from contractors, creating and maintaining an annual budget, selling advertisements to local businesses, overseeing the distribution, sponsoring local community events, engaging in Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, and meeting with our accountant annually to review our tax return.
Soft skills acquired: financial management, analyzing data, organizing systems
Hard skills acquired: business administration skills, creating and maintaining an annual budget, selling advertisements, building brand recognition within UFV and the Fraser Valley community
July 2022, I graduated from university.
Formal education acquired:
Bachelor of Arts in Global Development Studies with a minor in Anthropology, University of the Fraser Valley
Professional Communications Certificate, University of the Fraser Valley
Mennonite Studies Certificate, University of the Fraser Valley
September 2022, I started a job as a Community Organizer and Program Coordinator with the Fraser Valley Conservancy. I piloted a community engagement program promoting nature-based solutions to climate change in the Fraser Valley, called Step to It. This job was six-fold: program development, communications and social media, community engagement, facilitating community stewardship teams, habitat enhancement, and reporting.
Program development was the largest aspect of this role, as the project had not yet begun, so I organized focus groups with the program’s target audience to create a mission and vision statement, as well as learn what language resonates best with this audience for us to start creating promotional materials. I drafted copy for and worked with a graphic designer to create promotional materials such as stickers, rack cards, tri-fold poster boards, postcards, flyers, t-shirts, and hats.
For communications and social media, I wrote copy for the website, wrote a monthly newsletter, managed and created content for the social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, wrote articles and press releases for a variety of community publications, made appearances on podcasts, radio shows, and cable TV shows to promote the program and don’t forget replying to the endless stream of emails that ended up in my inbox.
Community engagement involved getting face-to-face with our target audience at local community events, so we set up booths at events like UFV’s Early Earth Days, Chilliwack Rotary Climate Fair, Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve’s Earth Day, Mission Environmental Stewardship Society’s Earth Day, Jam in Jubilee, Mission Folk Music Festival, Mission Fest, Agassiz Farmers Market, Agassiz Fall Fair, Fraser Valley Pride, Chilliwack River Salmon Run, and the Mennonite Central Committee’s Festival for World Relief. To draw people into our booth, we covered every surface with native plants and gave everyone who visited the booth a free seed starter kit or a free native plant seedling. I also created a contact list for people to learn about all of the other environmental groups they can join in the Fraser Valley.
I also piloted two community stewardship teams in two separate municipalities in the Fraser Valley, Agassiz and Mission. The purpose of these teams was to give community members the chance to adopt and maintain a green space in their community. I organized one workshop a month for each group, on topics such as fundamentals of stewardship, invasive species of the Fraser Valley, native plant walks, basket weaving with invasive species, macroinvertebrate surveys, and work parties to remove invasive species and litter from the adopted green spaces. I also worked with municipal staff and council members to promote the program and determine which areas the team could steward. I also created a sponsorship program to get the support of local businesses.
Finally, I was responsible for tracking all key performance indicators of the program, which I did at the end of every month so that it would make the reporting season go smoother. I collected data from participants of our community stewardship teams to conduct a societal impact assessment of the program. I also tracked the analytics and engagement for all our social media posts and adjusted the communication plan as necessary.
I also created all the social media content for Fraser Valley Conservancy’s Speak for the Peak campaign, where we rallied Abbotsford community members to show up at a City Council meeting to share their thoughts on the proposed McKee Neighbourhood Plan.
Soft skills acquired: project management, time management, networking, public speaking
Hard skills acquired: event planning, conducting focus groups, email marketing and newsletters, content creation, coordinating volunteers, database management, social media management, how to use Canva, Microsoft Office, Donor Perfect, Constant Contact, and WordPress,
September 2022, I also started working as a contractor for Cedar Outreach Society, an Abbotsford organization that sends outreach workers directly into homeless encampments to connect the residents there with resources, harm reduction supplies, food, and clothing. The Society was rebranded after a long hiatus, so I created a brand new website for them, writing all the copy, designing the layout using SquareSpace, and taking all the photos. I followed each outreach team member to take photos of them and interview them to get a feel for their work and write accurate content. I managed and created content for the social media platforms of Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I also helped create promotional materials for them such as rack cards, t-shirts, and banners.
Soft skills acquired: working remotely, visual communication, accountability
Hard skills acquired: designing and maintaining websites, managing social media, ethical interviewing and photography
September 2022, I also became a verified housesitter on the Rover app, which connects pet owners with local pet sitters for reliable service while they’re on vacation. I started housesitting, spending the night at client’s houses, walking, feeding, and looking after their dogs.
October 2023, after a year-long decline, my mental health completely broke down and I lost all will to live. I went to the doctor to start on antidepressants and took some time off work to give my mind a break. A month later, I resigned from my position at the Fraser Valley Conservancy. Even though I loved the work and wholeheartedly believed in the program I was organizing, I was exhausted from being overworked and underpaid.
Unemployed, I started applying and interviewing for better-paying jobs. A funny thing happened though. When I gave my mind and body a moment of rest, a spark lit inside me to try to turn my dreams into reality. I started developing the skills, platform, and confidence to work for myself as a freelancer. So, here we are. I made this website, recorded a podcast, wrote a newsletter, and generally just started to put myself out there into the world. Thus, this blog post, outlining my entire job history.
If you’re working on a cool project focused on community development, food security, sustainable agriculture, poverty reduction, or independent journalism and would like my assistance with photography, videography, writing, or strategic planning, I’d love to work with you! Give me a shout and let’s create something beautiful together!