profile
Photo: Lia Crowe (@liacrowe)
I am a Freelance Consultant and the Creative Director of my pursuits, which comprise three portfolios: Client Services, Publications, and Collections. While all three engage my passion for assembling words and pictures and true stories, each portfolio maintains a distinct focus.
My career has spanned corporate, creative, academic, and community sectors. This broad experience forms the foundation for my ongoing work as a non-fiction writer, copy editor, book designer, and social researcher.
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PORTFOLIOS
client services
... involves 'creating content' with my creative and professional clients as we collaborate in bringing their goals and projects to fruition.
publications
... embraces 'cultivating story' in my non-fiction writing projects, which combine social research with academic, creative, and literary genres.
collections
... encompasses 'collecting data' and recovering artifacts and anecdotes to catalogue my family's history and showcase their accomplishments.
BACKGROUND
In the 1990s I attended university as a mature student and earned a PhD in Social and Educational Studies from UBC (1999). My studies focused on inter-disciplinary sociology, feminist politics and pedagogies, qualitative research methods, and personal narratives, all passionate areas of interest that continue to inform the content and context of my work.
During my post-graduate and post-doctoral years I taught social justice and critical thinking, presented my doctoral research at international conferences, and was an assistant and associate researcher on large-scale studies. I also consulted, designed, and conducted social research in the child and youth advocacy community.
In the 2000s I undertook an independent study of women accomplished in the visual arts—returning to my creative roots and launching my freelance work—while also serving as marketing director for an established group of architects.
Prior to attending university, I owned and operated a fabric art and fashion design studio in the 1980s, with sales across Canada. During that time, I also undertook major textile design commissions for a prototype film and theatre venue at Expo '86 and a dining and entertainment complex in Toronto.
Throughout the 1970s I worked in land development; primarily, leasing and marketing shopping centres in BC. In the 1960s I was an administrative and research assistant for a national brokerage house and before that, fresh out of high school, an executive secretary at a network television station.
Perhaps not resume-worthy, but worthy of mention, during my teenage school years I worked as a babysitter, a summer mothers' helper, and even a matinée movie usherette. And, maybe my best and worst job, I was hired one summer to sit for hours in a hot booth, eating endless bags of free popcorn and selling tickets to a travelling carnival.
education
2015
Creative Non-fiction | Literary Memoir
Betsy Warland, Mentor, Consultant
Vancouver Manuscript Intensive
2014
Certificate, Creative Non-fiction
Charlie Demers, Mentor
The Writers' Studio, Continuing Studies
Simon Fraser University
1999
PhD, Social & Educational Studies
Comprehensive Exams passed With Distinction
Focuses: Qualitative Research & Personal Narrative
University of British Columbia (UBC)
1993
BA, Conferred With High Distinction
Double-specialist in Multi-disciplinary & Cross-cultural Studies
University of Toronto (UofT)
1963
High School Graduation
West Vancouver Senior Secondary School
experience
2010s and onward ...
Creative Director: Client Services, Publications, Collections
Freelance Consultant: Writer, Graphic Designer, Social Researcher
2000s
Freelance Creative Director, Artistudio | Artistory Portfolios
Marketing Director, Iredale Group Architecture
1990s
Research Consultant, Child & Youth Advocacy Community
Sessional Instructor, Faculty of Education, UBC
Research Assistant, Apprentice, & Associate, UofT & UBC
1980s
Fabric Artist & Fashion Designer, Sheila Martineau Designs Ltd.
Textile Designer, Major Entertainment Venue Commissions
1970s
Leasing & Marketing Shopping Centres, Ira Young & Associates
Leasing & Marketing Shopping Centres, Marathon Realty Limited
1960s
Research Assistant, Doherty, Roadhouse, & McQuaig (Brokerage)
Executive Secretary, ABC Network Television, Los Angeles CA
ACADEMIC AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS
university of toronto
Undergraduate Studies / Academic Scholarships1993 Governor General’s Academic Medals Program
1993 Jacob & Jennie Rosenberg Award, Sociology
1993 Gabe & Pearl Blackman Award, Sociology
1992 McNab Scholarship, Department of Sociology
1992 Women’s Studies Scholarship, City of Toronto
1992 Academic Award, Woodsworth College
1991 J.W. Billes Academic Scholarship, Woodsworth
1991 Outstanding Academic Achievement, APUS
89–93 Faculty Scholar, Deans List, Arts & Science
university of british columbia
Graduate & Post-graduate Studies / Research Fellowships98–99 UBC Graduate Fellowship, Educational Studies
97–98 Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council
96–97 Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council
96–98 UBC Graduate Fellowship, Educational Studies
95–96 UBC Graduate Fellowship, Educational Studies
94–95 UBC Graduate Fellowship, Educational Studies
94–95 R. Howard Webster Foundation, Green College
1994 Gender Equity Award, BC Ministry of Education
93–94 UBC Graduate Fellowship, Educational Studies