Shifting perspectives and reimagining our streets

As a passionate advocate for connected and sustainable cities, both my personal and professional experiences have focused on building healthier and happier individuals and communities. I'm intrigued by the correlation between the movement of people and the utilization of streets, and how it impacts the well-being of both our cities and their inhabitants. Helping shift perspectives as well as finding creative ways to engage people in conversation through programming is the angle I’m exploring these topics from. 

I am currently the School Active Travel Planner for the City of Vancouver, where I develop and manage programs to encourage active travel to and from elementary and high schools. My work experience has also included managing HUB Cycling's engagement programs and supporting Happy Cities as a Junior Planner. 

I was born and raised in Vancouver but lived in Montreal for five years as I completed my undergraduate degree in Sociology and Business at Concordia University. I also spent six months in Lund, Sweden as an exchange student. 

School of Community and Regional Planning

What have you learned that is most valuable?

I feel as though my degree in planning was really about learning how to be a better person. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend the past two years learning as it provided the space for self-reflection of my values, my biases and my privilege as well as the opportunity to learn from my cohort’s diverse experiences. 

Where do you find your inspiration for using your degree to make an impact on our world? 

I feel so lucky to have had the cohort that I did. They inspired me throughout my program and I can’t wait to see what they all do. 

I also feel very fortunate to have worked with Happy Cities throughout my degree. Happy Cities is known for thinking outside the box when it comes to community engagement and the design of our cities and for deeply centering equity in their work. They don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk and it was inspiring to work alongside a group of such talented people that are working to improve wellbeing in our cities. 

And finally, I found inspiration in my professors. Once I got to know many of the staff at SCARP, I was confident I’d chosen the right path. Not only because they are kind, passionate, brilliant, well rounded people but I felt that they genuinely had my best interest at heart and that was inspiring to me. Special thanks to James Connolly, Mike Hooper, Larry Beasley, Scot Hein and Maggie Low, to name a few.