Canada
40+ years of experience as a writer, communicator and performer has taken me on a variety of adventures in radio, TV, live events and writing. I've acted in a children's TV series, boomed my voice to 55,000 soccer fans at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, and ministered at street churches in Vancouver and Victoria. For 25 years, I was a radio/TV newscaster and "on-air talent", then made the transition to media relations with TransLink. While I was one of its "public faces", reporters knew I was available whenever called on, and to give them the straight goods. Ken Hardie graciously gives me some of the credit for the improvement in the public's opinion of TransLink during the 7 years I was there. Since leaving TransLink, I have conducted training sessions in crisis communications and media relations. As a writer, I have written countless newspaper and magazine features, including a piece on the way dogs play for the Globe and Mail and a travel feature on backpacking in Australia's Red Centre (Uluru a/k/a Ayers Rock) for Senior Living Magazine. I'm also a regular contributor to the Victoria Times-Colonist's "Faith Forum". I also produce voiceovers, have three audiobooks to my credit (so far), and can be heard at countless sports events, including University of Victoria basketball, Rugby Canada (including the annual Women's Sevens tournament in Langford, BC 2015-2021), Canada Soccer, and the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championships. Being bilingual (French as well as English, and a quick study in other language pronunciations) helps open more doors than I could have imagined! In April 2024, the University of Victoria Athletics honoured me with the Times Colonist Award for Community Contribution, as part of their annual Celebration of Champions.
For 7 years, I was one of the public faces of TransLink -- the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority -- using mainstream and social media to explain operational and policy matters to the public (see below). Since leaving TransLink, I've worked with clients on media relations and communications strategies, including: - Amelia Shaw Consulting (see below) - BC Transit (see below) - Gospel Mission Society, Vancouver - City of Vernon, BC (training in Crisis Communications and Media Relations) My 25+ years in the media has given me an insight into how issues will "play" with the public and I can help identify potential pitfalls and ways of mitigating any damage. My writing includes numerous features for newspapers and magazines, including a series on the first half-century of TV in British Columbia (Victoria Times-Colonist), a feature on the arrest of the "Tobacco Road" cast in 1953 (Vancouver Sun), and travel features including an article on backpacking around Uluru (a/k/a Ayers Rock) in Australia https://www.seniorlivingmag.com/articles/into-australias-red-centre/.
For over 30 years, I've been privileged to have been "that voice" in stadia and arenas for some significant sports events. Being bilingual, I'm called on to work at major international events in British Columbia. I'm currently PA announcer for Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier (Soccer) League and University of Victoria basketball, after spending 2004-2016 with UBC basketball and other sports. I also handle PA for Canada Soccer events, including men's and women's "friendlies" held in Vancouver and fill in for the Vancouver Whitecaps. Some of the major events include (* indicates events where I have worked in French and English.) -- USports Basketball Nationals 2025 & 2017* -- IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships (Victoria games) 2019* -- FIFA Women's World Cup including championship match and awards ceremony, 2015 (*) -- Rugby Canada Women's Sevens Tournament, Langford, BC 2015/16/17 (*) -- CIS Women's Rugby Championships, Victoria, 2016 (*) -- CIS Men's Basketball championships, Vancouver, 2016 (*) -- CIS Women's soccer championships, Vancouver, 2015 (*) -- Canada Cup of Women's Hockey, Vancouver, 2009 -- IIHF World Junior Hockey Tournament, Vancouver, 2006 (*) -- Commonwealth Games Boxing Matches, Victoria, 1994 (*)
I've just published an e-book, "A Very Convenient Truth, or, Jesus Told Us There'd Be Days Like These, so Stop Worrying About the Planet and Get With His Program!". It's available through most e-bookstores, including Chapters, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. I also write a daily blog, "Two Minutes for Cross-Checking" -- http://twominutesforcrosschecking.wordpress.com. The next book in the works is "Just Say Yes (Lord)", which describes the building of a project to serve people on Vancouver's Downtown East Side, which had no funding when it was launched, but has been supported miraculously through the building and operations. I've written for TV Variety shows -- Rene Simard, Jimmy Ferguson, et al -- and for Reach For The Top, the high school quiz show.
The Mustard Seed Street Church and Food Bank acts out the observation in the epistle of James -- Jesus' half-brother -- when he writes, "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" (James 2:15-16). "The Seed" provides both food -- through its food bank and meals -- and uplift -- through its church and pastoral services -- to some of the more vulnerable people in Victoria.
ASC provides administrative support for the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Canada and IAP2 USA. Along with writing web content and running the technical side of online meetings, I have also produced the annual Core Values Awards Galas for IAP2's North American Conferences in 2014 (Winnipeg), 2015 (Portland, OR) and 2016 (Montreal) and co-MCd the 2014 and 2016 galas (see Anne Harding's recommendation below).
This has been a fascinating gig -- very much like my role at TransLink (see below), but with an exciting difference. While TransLink covers Metro Vancouver, BC Transit covers all the rest of the province, from big systems like Victoria, Kelowna and Kamloops, to one-route systems like Smithers. So I helped design communications strategies, wrote news releases and backgrounders and dealt with print and broadcast reporters, and also learned a heck of a lot about this vast province we live in.