I am currently in my first year of the HBA program at Ivey Business School. Before Ivey, I studied Biomedical Science at the University of Guelph and was heavily involved in global development and sustainability focused work. My previous experiences in this field ranged from researching climate change with an award-winning research lab to implementing a novel public health intervention and leading the assessment of an international sustainability project. At Ivey I hope to focus my learning on sustainability within businesses and I believe that it is extremely important for large corporations to do their part in creating are more sustainable society.

What is your personal definition of sustainability?

I see sustainability as a means of conserving finite natural resources so that future generations are able to thrive and meet their needs. As the global population grows, nature recourses are being consumed as a higher rate than they are produced which has disturbed the ecological balance. Thus, sustainability is focused on actions meant to regain and maintain that ecological balance.

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

My main motivation for coming to Ivey was to explore and learn about how sustainability can be integrated into complex business and industries. My goal is to use this knowledge and help businesses integrate sustainability into their strategy and operations. I see myself working to create environmental, social, and governance (ESG)platforms and strategies for corporations in industries that don’t typically have a sustainability focus. Additionally, I hope to work with social purpose businesses to help drive a more purposeful, sustainable economy for all. Overall, I see sustainability playing a very active role within my professional career and I hope it pushes me to constantly improve and be open to new ideas.

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in?

During my time in University, I’ve been heavily involved in sustainability focused research. Since the summer of 2020, I’ve been a member of the Climate Change and Global Health Lab based at the University of Alberta. While working at this lab, I authored a research paper in collaboration with international researchers investigating the impacts of climate change on the health of rural and remote populations in North America. One of the main finding of this research was that limited climate infrastructure is exasperating the impacts of climate change or rural and remote populations and this finding sparked my interest in sustainable infrastructure .In the summer of 2019, I worked as a Field Research Intern for a sustainable development organization in Nepal. At this organization I developed an assessment tool to determine the long-term impacts of a sustainable agriculture technology project on the livelihoods and incomes of terrace farmers in Nepal. I then led a three-person international research team to administer the assessment tool in 4 remote Nepali mountain villages to72 households .This assessment resulted in data that was used to support further project expansion and funding endeavors.