Please consider me in your search for a Communications Team Lead. I heard about this position through Indeed.

After completing my Education degree at the U of A (with a major in art) and serving as a writer/production editor for the Students’ Union, Gateway, I joined The University of Calgary as a Communications Officer II. In this position, I worked with university administrators to develop and implement strategic communications plans for students, staff, faculty and the public. As co-editor of the bi-weekly, Gazette, I researched and wrote news and feature articles on virtually all Faculties and often delivered technical information to a more general audience. I also profiled new staff members and supplied photography, illustration and design skills.

After almost five years with the U of C, I accepted a position as a Journalism Instructor at Grant MacEwan. Moving to Vancouver, I joined Southam Business Communications as Western Editor for Canadian Forest Industries Magazine, providing copy on all aspects of the business including harvesting, safety and milling. I then settled with my family in Nanaimo writing for The Nanaimo Business Examiner and Nanaimo Daily Free Press.

As Marketing Manager for forest equipment manufacturer T-MAR Industries, my duties included conducting customer surveys; producing advertising copy, brochures and videos; and launching the company’s newsletter, The T-MAR Times. My duties also included designing and overseeing the installation of the company’s booth at the Truck Loggers Convention in Vancouver.

A downturn in the industry led to 10 years overseas teaching in Libya, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, the UAE and Japan. In that time, I developed lesson materials using language carefully chosen for ESL students that ranged in age from grade-three to adult.

A highlight of this period is the production of a student illustrated video of my children’s book, The Apple of Albert’s Eye. It is an excellent example of my creative writing ability. Albert, a newly born apple, wakens one day, (much as we do) to an awareness of his self as a separate being with an obvious, yet deniable, connection to those around him and his “family tree.” Albert seeks the “sweetness” in life and, despite being smaller than others and being teased for it, eventually finds his fulfillment in helping a young disabled girl to grow and thrive.

You seek someone comfortable being a media spokesperson. I believe my video application for the position of Traveling Ambassador with Air Transat, filmed in Dubai, demonstrates my comfort in front of a camera.

Returning to Canada in 2012, I relocated to Prince George, BC and launched my WordPress website to highlight my creative abilities in writing, photography, art, music and video production. I use my website, blog and twitter to promote my belief in an inclusive world based solely on Love, which I believe has no opposite. My Happy Face Series, visualizes that belief.

While in Prince George, I worked as a Community Support Worker for Thompson Community Services and as Residential Care Worker for the Prince George Association for Community Living (AiMHi). My clients dealt with a variety of physical and cognitive challenges, including autism and depression. I believe this experience gives me an understanding of some of the issues faced by those you serve.

 

Anyone applying for a position seeks to portray themselves in as positive a light as possible and while many might consider my recent life far from positive, I believe it demonstrates my belief in the values Boyle Street Community Services holds dear and my ability to relate to those you serve because I’ve lived it.

 

As I write this, I am off to my second day of work helping to landscape the yard of a man originally from the Punjab. I found the position through the Bissell Centre and, though the work is very physical, I am grateful to have it and grateful the Bissell Centre was able to connect me with it. The day prior to my starting work, I walked an hour each way carrying my laundry to the centre and back, as I didn’t have the $6 required to use the laundry at my apartment. I came to be in this state because of unkept promises of undying love and companionship, requiring only a few more of my dollars, and all would be well.

 

Stepping back even further, when I returned to Canada, in 2012, I met a woman in Prince George who was separated from her family, dealing with schizophrenia and using heroin (down) and crystal meth (side). I took her in and after almost two years of trying, managed to reunite her with her family and convince medical professionals to work with her and help her. The video that follows, set to my song, Brand New Song, features images of my art, speaks to my belief we can “get together and see the world in a different way.” It also references my belief that we need to look for innovative approaches to the epidemic of drug overdose deaths in Canada.

 

 

Through the process described above, my family disowned me. It’s now about eight years since I’ve talked to my son or seen my grandchildren. Such are the judgments that almost all of us make as, moment to moment, we live our lives. I especially like your statement that Boyle Street “clients are experts in their own life” because, to me, it recognizes that we are all owners of our experience. We can help others to change, if they so choose, but can also provide the same support and love, if they do not.

 

I would welcome the opportunity to meet to discuss the contribution I could make to your organization in filling this role and invite you contact me in that regard.