Sustainability Career Night – Equity in Sustianability

Embark Sustainability will be hosting a sustainability-themed career night in collaboration with CityStudio Vancouver, Kwantlen Student Association and UBC Climate Hub this November, and we would love for you to join us. The event will showcase the stories of outstanding professionals working in sustainability, looking at how we can integrate equity into different sustainability career paths. The goal is to give students a taste of the types of sustainability career opportunities that exist.

The Sustainability Career Night event will consist of fast-paced presentations by a handful of sustainability leaders who work in a range of organizations in Metro Vancouver. Each speaker will discuss their journey to reach their current role, along with barriers they overcame along the way. There will then be an opportunity for students to talk to the presenters to have their questions addressed more thoroughly and in-depth.

RSVP required!

Career Night is an opportunity for students from SFU, UBC, KPU & CityStudio Alumni (SFU, UBC, Langara, Emily Carr, BCIT) to learn from professionals championing sustainability in various fields.

AGENDA

Short presentations and storytelling by speakers, followed by smaller breakout rooms.

More Details TBA

SPEAKERS

Anuradha Rao is a conservation biologist, writer and facilitator born and raised in the traditional territories of the Anishinabewaki, Attiwonderonk and Haudenosaunee Nations (Dundas, Ontario) and currently based in the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ First Nations. She is the author of the non-fiction book One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet (Orca, 2020). Anu has worked on research, conservation, restoration, planning and stewardship projects with communities and organizations on the coasts of Canada and in 12 other countries. A child of Indian immigrants, her worldview and approach to science are heavily influenced by teachings from her own culture and from Indigenous knowledge holders. These teachings and the principles of ecology have shown her that everything and everyone is connected, and that we must remember this in our actions and interactions. Anu finds her happy place when she walks off a beach and snorkels among the creatures of the sea.

Njoki Mbũrũ is a recent graduate of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She specialized in BSc International Community Development, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, and is currently working part-time as a Workshop Facilitator at UBC. Having spent her childhood with her grandparents at a subsistence farm in Nakuru, Kenya, she finds herself drawn towards working in policy to resist land grabs and advocate for tenure for small-holder farmers in rural areas across the continent. Alongside this personal mission, Njoki also finds great joy in storytelling through poetry, blog posts, public speaking, and theatre. She continues to be inspired and guided by her grandparents, Prof. Wangari Maathai, and Dr. Maya Angelou. At the moment, Njoki is also finding immense inspiration from the connections that she has established with other racialized immigrant & Indigenous youth having been part of the Vancouver Foundation’s LEVEL Youth Policy Program. Njoki gives thanks to the ancestors, elders, and young teachers that inform her sense of belonging and humanity, and instil connection to Earth and all beings.

Alia Sunderji is a social entrepreneur and lecturer at Simon Fraser University where she teaches within the Civic Innovation Change Lab, Health Change Lab program. Passionate about the fields of food security and socio-economic development, Alia is the Founder of Luv The Grub an emerging social enterprise that operates at a number of levels in the food system by capturing produce seconds that would otherwise go to waste, hires newcomer refugees and immigrants through a paid employment training program and produces delicious chutneys and spreads for the local market.  Prior to her career in social entrepreneurship and teaching; Alia was the Associate Brand Manager for Tim Hortons Breakfast category as well worked in the fashion, music and publishing industry.  In her spare time Alia loves biking, hiking and dancing salsa.

Kshamta Hunter has over a decade of experience in sustainability learning and teaching, curriculum design and program management. As a Manager of Sustainability Student Engagement with the UBC Sustainability Initiative, Kshamta manages several engagement programs and provides advising to support UBC’s sustainability leadership and development goals. She holds a master’s in Curriculum and Pedagogy with a focus on sustainability leadership and engagement and is currently pursuing her PhD investigating social innovation for sustainability. She is passionate about sustainability and believes in the power of education to achieve social change. She is a dedicated mother of three young children and loves to bake in her free time.

Marga Pacis (she/her), Planning Analyst, Sustainability Group (City of Vancouver). Marga’s passions exist at the intersection of sustainability and community; she aims to make sustainability accessible to all through intentional engagement, dialogue, and policy. Given that climate change does not affect all people equally, Marga is excited about climate action that centres equity as both a process and an outcome. She is supporting the Climate Emergency Action Plan, and previously worked in Community Planning at the City of Vancouver. Through her work, Marga hopes to contribute to co-creating a city that is fair and just for all of its human and non-human residents.

ACCESSIBILITY & VENUE DETAILS

This event is taking place over Zoom.

If you have any specific accessibility needs, don’t hesitate to email Melisa Tang Choy at programs@embarksustainability.org

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This event is being put together and coordinated by organizations that work on the occupied, traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, Kwikwetlem, Kwantlen, Matsqui, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Qayqayt, and Tsawwassen, nations.