Next Up

Aside from her love for reading and cats, Allison Jones spends most of her time working on issues such as climate justice, radical education, and queer organizing. Grown up in Victoria, she moved to Italy and then Montreal for school, but returned to Vancouver as she missed her family and cycling year-round. Currently, she works in the Communication Department of Ecojustice, Canada's only national environmental law charity.  She enjoys reading and talking about the history of social justice movements, examining what worked in the past, and learning from it. She is passionate about radical education, and is a collective member at Spartacus Books, a nonprofit, volunteer-run bookstore and resource centre. She also sits on the board of Check Your Head, a youth educational non-profit organization. She's learning how to code and enjoys the logic puzzles of making websites work. In the future, Allison hopes to continue creating anti-authoritarian educational spaces, where people of all ages can lead their own learning based on their talents and interests. 

Originally from Singapore, via Victoria, BC and Idyllwild, CA, Nusha originally moved to Vancouver to study. After completing a Bachelors in Asian Studies and a Masters in Asia-Pacific Policy Studies at UBC, she now both lives and works on campus. Nusha is interested in the social determinants of health, the impacts of colonialism, and fair democracy, among many other things. She has experience in frontline immigrant and refugee services, mental health and social justice research, and she is also a freelance photographer. In her spare time she is a singer in the Vancouver Peace Choir and a volunteer for Leadnow. Most importantly, Nusha is a young mother to a lovely five-year old, whose passions include traveling, film photography and learning about keeping our oceans safe.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Mae’s interest in social justice started at a young age with her parent’s taking her to protests and picket lines on the regular. After finishing up a degree in political science from Concordia University in Montreal and spending two years working in politics and the non-profit sector in Vancouver, she decided to try her hand at law school. Interested in using the law to pursue social and environmental justice, Mae was very involved with the Environmental Law Centre and the Feminist Law Student’s Association, and completed a legal internship with Pivot Legal Society. Having finished her law degree in the spring of 2015, Mae now works as an articling student at an Aboriginal law firm. Mae is passionate about strategically using the law to pursue social and environmental justice and wants to collaborate with as many people as possible to make this happen.

Selina is passionate about all things people, art and social justice. She's particularly interested in how storytelling and creative expression can challenge systems of oppression and foster healthy communities. Selina spends her days working for DOXA Documentary Film Festival, and has volunteered with a number of organizations including: Shout Back! Festival, Girls Rock Camp Vancouver, and COPE Coalition of Progressive Electors. Selina's love of the arts extends to her downtime where she plays in two local bands, and attends local music shows, film screenings and public lectures. Though Selina's spent years in Vancouver -including completing her BA in Communication and Fine and Performing Arts at SFU - she still calls Manitoba home.

Born and raised in Calgary and inspired by her progressive, eco-focused parents from a young age – Kate Letizia became an unyielding combatant for equality, human rights and environmental health before she even knew how to 'fight'. Educational and professional adventures throughout Latin America, Sweden, the Philippines, and now her hometown, created opportunities to build and refine an arsenal to generate positive, lasting change.

While her education (MSc in International Development and Natural Resource Management) and recent career and community focus has been on reframing waste and legitimizing non-conventional forms of employment and living (check out Calgary Can), a recent fellowship opportunity with SiG International vaulted Kate into the world of complex problems, social innovation and transformational change across Alberta. Armed with an even more diverse toolkit of human-centered, generative changemaking devices, and a few years of climate and social justice activism under her belt, Kate is now ready to focus her energy on what may be the biggest battle she’ll ever face: transforming the way her local and provincial peers, counterparts and communities respond to climate change and our collective future. Kate wants to live in a city, and province, where climate change is taken seriously and responded to fairly, intelligently and creatively. Kate was a participant in Next Up Calgary (2013 - 2014) and in the 2015 Climate Leadership Program.