Bio

The About section of most websites is my favourite page as I am always interested in reading about individuals’ journeys and life paths. When it came to writing about my own in this section, however, I took a few days to collect my thoughts as my path has taken me to both the corporate and academic arenas…so please bear with me as I recall it all in its chronological order.

Media & Broadcast 

I am an alumna of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, having started my broadcast career at the Canadian Television Inc. (CTV) in 2003 in Vancouver where I was the lead project manager to launch CTV’s very first ‘TV Store’ concept in Canada that was modelled after the NBC and Warner Bros stores in Manhattan. Leading the project from its inception and working with a multi-disciplinary committee headed by the Vice President of CTV British Columbia, Jim Rusnak, I led the project from its initial architectural design to successful negotiations with HBO, Alliance Atlantis, Paramount Pictures, CBS, Disney, ABC, Fremantle Media and NBC to draft North-American licenses for the sale of prime time show merchandise in Canada. In December of 2004, the CTV Store was launched in the broadcaster’s studios in downtown Vancouver becoming the first of its kind in Canada in the city of Vancouver.

Multivan Broadcast Ltd. – Rogers Broadcasting Ltd.

After managing the finances of the CTV Store for two and a half years following its launch, I was referred to Multivan Broadcast Ltd. (also known as Channel M Television) in 2007 to lead Channel M’s niche strategy of multicultural research in Vancouver within the Sales and Advertising department. There, working with Bruce Hamlin, Vice President of Sales and Art Reitmayer, Channel M Television’s CEO, I grew a keen interest in television insights and research and went on to join Bruce Hamlin at Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. in 2008 to head the television insights team for Citytv and Omni stations for the Western Canadian markets of Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. There, responsible for reporting on the performance of Citytv’s English programming and OMNI Television’s multicultural program delivery, I worked closely with senior management and advertising sales research teams in all three markets. 

Media & Broadcast – Creative

Experience in the European Media

My interest in the creative side of the media first led me to print and radio. I served as writer and later editor of The / La Source Newspaper between 2004 – 2007, my commentary piece appeared in the British Guardian Weekly in August of 2007 and the same year I started to host, write and produce “International News from the Perspective of International Newspapers” on Vancouver’s only independent radio station, CFRO Co-operative Radio.

From 2009 to 2014, I worked to make an ambitious goal a reality where I proposed to write, host and produce North America’s first English radio documentary on the life of Italian poet Fabrizio De Andre and Genoa’s ‘school of socially-conscious poets and songwriters’. The radio-documentary went on-air for five years, earning me the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ scholarship to the University of Florence and an Honourable Mention at the Canadian National Campus and Community Radio Awards.

Through a creative and grass-roots social media campaign, the documentary went on Italian national airwaves in 2011 followed by a Live on-air interview on Milan’s Radio Popolare (RP). In June of the same year, on the invitation of Radio Popolare Roma, I appeared on-air at RP studios in the eternal city to talk about the success of the De Andre radio documentary in Canada. The same year, I met Claudio Ricordi of the legendary Italian family of Dischi Ricordi Records with whom I had the pleasure of collaborating on a radio series in celebration of the life of the legendary Nanni Ricordi. A year later, on the invitation of Milan’s Radio Popolare, I started reporting on Canadian current affairs as the station’s Italian-speaking correspondent in Canada. Italian is my fourth acquired language, having studied it with great joy in Italy. 

Excerpts of my radio-documentary on Fabrizio De Andre in addition to radio collaborations with Claudio Ricordi can be accessed here

In 2014, I also had the pleasure of interviewing Milan’s Councillor for Culture and famed architect, Stefano Boeri, on the topic of Milan’s changing identity.

During this time, I also had the great opportunity to collaborate with Norwegian director, Thomas A. Østbye to take part in the Norwegian-Indonesian co-production of 17.000 Islands, one of the first crowd-sourced digital interactive documentary projects of its kind. Produced by Norway’s award-wining Østbye, 17.000 Islands was nominated for Digital Documentary Storytelling award at the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

Creative & Inquiry-based Coaching

With a passion for coaching and personal development, I discovered the work of Eckhart Tolle whose teachings had a profound impact on me and whose work led me to the work of Dr. Martha Beck, Byron Katie and Dr. Joe Dispenza and in turn led to my completion of Dr. Beck’s coach training program. 

In November 2014, I was invited by Sauder School of Business’ Hari B. Varshney Business Career Centre, to collaborate as a career coach and consultant, working on one-on-one basis with undergraduate BCom students through a variety of coaching workshops and seminars while bringing an employer perspective to coaching and connecting students with industry leaders…a true joy to give back to the very school where my journey started.

This journey then led to further collaborations as a career coach and advisor with Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, where I had the great opportunity of working with Bachelor of Business Administration students on their career development journey through the design of creative experiential e-learning programs and new media initiatives, where career development is incorporated within the curriculum and as of September 2017, I have joined the Co-operative Education Program within the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia where I work with Bachelor of Science students on all aspects of career development as it relates to work integrated opportunities within their fields in Canada and internationally.

Given my many years of experiences and interests, I have had remarkable opportunities to work in different fields and with phenomenal people. My path has led me to incredible colleagues and mentors whose insights and teachings have informed my career path and who continue to serve as my inspiration. It is my hope to carry these teachings and experiences forward while bringing a quality of presence and connection to my work and all my interactions.