I started in broadcast television, feature films, short fiction, documentaries, theatre, and the performing arts, as well as boutique agencies and professional video sales, support, and training. Since then, I’ve worked in agencies and small shops, but my focus has been and will always be on working in the service of social, political, and economic change.
So, I committed myself to storytelling that would amplify the countless voices of underrepresented peoples in the relentless pursuit of helping create a fairer and more just intercultural society. I love helping tell constituent stories that inspire action and have both the desired outcomes and some surprising impacts. I want to continue pursuing that feeling, working to serve those voices and inspire real, lasting, and meaningful change.
My skills are best applied in the service of others, so I have poured myself into pursuing social, political and economic change. After working in film, television, advertising and technical sales and support, I shifted my professional focus to working exclusively towards a fairer and more just society and improving the quality of life for underrepresented peoples.
I worked collaboratively with the Marketing & Communications team across departments with internal stakeholders and in partnership with regional chapters, external partners, and constituencies, all working to serve the Special Olympics Canada programs, services, and competitions from coast to coast to coast.
The role is utilitarian, and despite being a digital marketing manager by title, the responsibilities extend beyond the bouquet implied.
My work broadly leveraged my interdisciplinary skillset, from conceptualization to production and distribution across several mediums, including marketing & communication strategies, digital ad budgeting and placement. I was responsible for email marketing, the website’s ongoing development needs and maintenance, information service support, managing digital channels and platforms, project management and coordination, and video and photo pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution.
In my contract, freelance and self-directed work, I have had the great opportunity to partner and collaborate with many clients, including Humane Canada, The Broadbent Institute, PressProgress, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, PIPSC, Canadian Labour Congress, CARE Canada, Air Transat, Starbucks, Canadian Tire, Tim Horton’s, Scotiabank, Canada Dry, Mandarin, the Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Federal NDP, and many more. I’ve worked in five election campaigns, six conventions, four national galas, one National Winter Games and one Summer World Games. I’ve worked as a videographer, editor, motion graphics artist, production assistant, writer, story editor, consultant, Art and Creative Director, and I have managed two marketing teams.
This position originated in the NDP’s Ottawa HQ. My role was to develop a professional and responsive video and multimedia solution within Jack Layton’s communications team. After the 2011 election, my position was moved into the Government of Canada Official Opposition and Caucus Support offices, where the work was primarily the same, but providing broader support for the NDP Official Opposition Caucus.
Copywriting, content development, marketing, digital engagement & outreach strategy. And, of course, a big focus on fundraising, marketing and communications.
Conceive, plan, draft, write and create content and products to support the program and students, the school’s administrative and fundraising needs, and to promote the school’s work and events.
Fundraising, marketing and stewardship communications. I created written content and designed print and digital pieces. I also did photography, video production, post-production, website design and page and feature coding.
Managing the film, video and digital production facilities, equipment and student staff complement. Training and educating faculty and students in basic production techniques and workflows.
Content creation for corporate clients, public services, policy think tanks, individual politicians, political parties and NPOs. But again, with a small team in a boutique agency environment in downtown Ottawa.
MJM is a boutique agency that provides professional audio and video services — now owned and operated by OKD. Work was primarily editing, animation, video and audio post-production.
Pro-video and audio sales, training and technical support for professional corporate, prosumer and beginner video and audio professionals.
I had many different roles, editing, animation, video and audio post-production. I also designed and coded visual assets for online promotion and engagement.
The areas of study in the Integrated Media program included Video/Film/Audio production and postproduction and were my main focus. I minored in Photography, both digital and traditional film. With an additional concentration in print and digital graphic design, as well as Performance and Electronics.
So, in OCADU, I majored in Fine Art: Integrated Media. However, like most things related to a university experience, learning can be looser and less confined to the school’s synopsis. During my time there, I focused much of my learning on film, video, audio production, and post-production. This was a unique time to study video, film, and audio media because it was the early era of DV (Digital Video). Digital or non-linear editing was only becoming more accessible and affordable. Apple Final Cut could run on Mac PCs, and Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects could run on Macs and PCs. It was the start of a new era, and creators gained unprecedented access and affordability for video production and post-production.
I am still trying to resolve how to write this because I’m blessed to have spent much time learning and growing across various mediums, media, platforms, channels, formats, utilities, and resources. I’ve really tried to become as useful as I can be, becoming kind of a one-stop shop, or single desk agency. In terms of foundational knowledge, storytelling is the first. I can conceptualize holistically, seeing the connections between historical, present-day, and future narratives, understanding and working within standards, guidelines, and identity, and then applying them all to strategizing and costing a complete scope of work. I have conceptual, visualization, and pre-production experience and have realized campaigns, programs and suites of deliverables, mindful of dependencies, variables, and the lifespan of the work itself. I can then produce and distribute this autonomously or in collaborations and partnerships.
I’m a MacOS user in terms of tools, media, and software. I choose MacOS to do all I can to be comfortable working across multiple mediums and media.
I shoot photos and videos on DSLRs, I own both Canon and Panasonic camera systems and edit them in Adobe Creative Suite (Premier, After Effects, Audition, Media Encoder, Lightroom, and Photoshop). I’m also a certified Final Cut Pro user and do my colour grading in BlackMagic Davinci Resolve. I livestream with OBS and Streamyard on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Because I used to build, sell and train users in post-production systems and technology, I deeply understand production and post-production workflows and system and data requirements.
I’m also a musician, and I’m pretty fluent in Apple’s Logic Pro and Adobe Audition in both production and post-production usage. I’ve had some experience in Pro Tools as well.
I design for print and digital media using Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. I also create and edit static and interactive PDFs in Adobe Acrobat and presentations in PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple Keynote.
I code in HTML, CSS, PHP and have managed sites in WordPress, Drupal, Nationbuilder and even Silverlight.
I run ads in Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn and X. I pull data from Meltwater, Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite, TikTok for Business, X and Pinterest. I create single-channel and multipage data dashboards in Google Looker Studio.
I managed email marketing in Click Dimensions and MailChimp and am Certified in Blackbaud Luminate.
I write and edit with Grammarly, then use Word for more editing. I manage my work in Monday.com, and I’ve also used Asana, Slack, and others.
