Hailing from southern Ontario, Sam moved to Ottawa in 2005 to pursue her undergrad at the University of Ottawa. Her major introduction to social movements began on campus, where her disdain for militarism led her to join the Student Coalition Against War. As an anti-war and anti-apartheid organizer, Sam has worked extensively with a variety of community partners to build up public pressure against harmful Canadian foreign policy. She spent several years working in the student movement, most recently as the Membership Coordinator of the Graduate Students' Association at Carleton University, where she organized campaigns.
While pursuing a master’s degree in political economy at Carleton University, Sam worked as Co-Chief Steward of CUPE local 4600, and promoted workers’ rights and labour solidarity among Carleton’s campus community.
Passionate about Indie media, Sam sits on the editorial board of RankandFile.ca, a site committed to providing Canadian labour news and analysis from a critical perspective.
Sam likes hiking, camping, and biking, and is stoked to finally set up shop on the West Coast, where Vancouver makes for some nice mountain gazing and gallivanting. In her down time, she seeks out different musical outlets, including drums, guitar, and ukelele.
Sam first got involved with Next Up as the founding coordinator for Next Up Ottawa. Now she’s looking forward to getting to meet and collaborate with the many networks of progressives and Next Up alumni throughout BC.