Prior to my acceptance into Ivey, I studied Geography at Western. I am passionate about protecting the environment, especially the forests and oceans as they play a huge role in climate change mitigation! I have planted nearly 50,000 trees and serve as a board member of the Thames Region Ecological Association. I love to spend time outside with friends and my favourite activities are skiing, swimming, hiking and biking. I am also passionate about poverty alleviation and serve as Vice President of Communications for Smart Solutions Western, a club focused on poverty education and alleviation.

What is your personal definition of sustainability?

To me sustainability means long-lasting and dynamic. In the context of environmental sustainability, it means protecting the current environment while making choices that will lead to a positive future. In the current climate crisis, sustainability would mean reducing emissions so that less climate change related incidents occur and so that greenhouse gas emissions are lowered to safe levels. Sustainability means sometimes choosing the more expensive or time consuming action if it means that it will have less of impact on the environment. Businesses play a huge role in sustainability by acting as enablers – of good AND bad behaviours.

What role do you see sustainability playing in your professional career?

I want my career to be centered around sustainability. My dream job is to be head of Sustainability at a large company that needs a lot of improvement. I hope to make great changes in large organizations so that smaller companies (and countries) will follow suit and make the move to become more sustainable.

I would love to work for the World Economic Forum eventually and am planning on getting my Masters degree abroad in sustainability and global development (or sustainable development etc.). I would also enjoy working for an organization such as the Circular Economy Club, which enables businesses to become more sustainable as I would love to facilitate this change.

In addition, my favourite aspect of business is marketing/strategy. I want to leverage the skills that I gain from Ivey and use my knowledge in these two subject areas to reach a broader range of people and be more impactful with marketing for environmentally related initiatives. There is a lot of things that people can and should be doing to help protect the environment that many are not doing – I believe this can be changed through effective marketing. People cannot make a difference if they do not know how.

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in?

In 2018, I was a finalist for Western’s Ideas for Sustainability and the Environment. This three-month competition entailed researching and providing a detailed report on an innovative, feasible idea to make Western University more sustainable. In the finals, I presented my idea in front of a panel of judges and received second place in the competition. During the summer of the same year, I went tree planting in Northern Ontario where I spent two months living in a tent and planting trees. Over the entire time, I planted nearly 50,000 trees.

I have also been involved in many cleanups (usually coastlines or rivers) in both London and Toronto. I am now a board member and volunteer for the Thames Region Ecological Association (TREA). Two weeks ago, I was helping out at the Homes Show in London teaching people the proper way to compost and educating people on the great work that TREA does. As a board member, I attend monthly meetings and help plan events/fundraisers. In addition, I try to incorporate sustainability into pretty much everything I do!