Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Planned sabbatical year to travel the world by bike with my husband. We cycled 12,000km through New Zealand, Tasmania, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam), Japan, South Korea and Spain before returning home at the end of 2024.
The COIL Zero Waste Economic Transformation Lab will expand COIL’s work beyond food. It will apply place-based circular economy strategies to develop and test new opportunities to reduce or redirect waste from sectors across the economy, starting with construction, renovation and demolition materials. As Program Advisor, I oversaw research initiatives, funding opportunities and pilot projects focusing on enhancing circularity in construction in Guelph/Wellington and across Canada. I was advised as a submit matter expert in circularity and waste management in construction and working with national and international organizations to assist with their projects such as CSA Group, Ivey Business School, Circular Innovation Council, Circular Economy Leadership Canada and British Columbia Institute of Technology.
As a Project Engineer in the Land Development department, I worked on various development files for Site Plan, Subdivisions, Condominium, Zoning and OPA applications. I supported the development projects through the civil engineering lens to ensure that site servicing, stormwater management and grading were adequate to meet provincial, municipal and engineering standards. I also worked on many rural development applications with alternative servicing requirements such as on site wastewater systems, fire storage systems, stormwater management and rural grading considerations. In addition to my technical expertise, I also lead hiring of co-op students and mentored and oversaw the engineers-in-training and co-op students working on my projects. I was also involved with proposal writing, budgeting, invoicing and all other aspects of project management.