I'm a creative director across art, design, technology, and knowledge translation, turning complex information into something of beauty that can transform thinking and stay accessible across demographics. That means information design and data visualization, brand systems, illustration, bespoke websites, and strategic communications. I work with Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations across sectors, and with women- and female-identifying-led small businesses. ROAR Creative & Consulting has been mine since 2009.
A mix of disenfranchised Cree (Mirasty, Merasty, and Mirasty-Bird), and French Canadian-Settler (Charlebois), I'm a direct descendant (my bio father, my grandmother, etc.), of the Woodland Cree peoples of Lac La Ronge, Treaty 6. I am not culturally tethered to my biological mother's euro side.
I came to this work as multidisciplinary, and that hasn't changed. Above all, I'm an auntie, sister, friend, and fiercely community-centred mama-bear. The pandemic brought on A LOT of change, health challenges, and intense work roles, as have the years since. I love to teach (and learn) and make connections that are relatable through art and storytelling. Self-taught and academically trained, I've spent my career in digital media supporting the rematriation movement and Indigenous leaders, and being a Kind & Necessary Disruptor in colonial healthcare institutions and the media. Indigenous representation, cultural reclamation, and rematriation are hardcoded into everything I collaborate on.
Recently: design, illustration, and the interactive build for Building a Bundle for Resurgence, brand identity, copywriting, and portfolio website for Angie-Pepper O'Bomsawin; Dr. Mona Loutfy (as well as photography), Eddy Robinson; and manual design, photography, graphic design, content and digital strategy for Stretch.
Past clients include Indigenous Financial Solutions (leading the outreach communications, knowledge translation and design for the Indian Boarding Home Class Action), Ganawishkadawe, The Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health, (Women's College Hospital, leading the creation and launch of the digital hub amongst several other lead positions), Future History TV, The Shine Network Institute (Designer and Consultant), The National Consortium of Indigenous Medical Education (Designer), International Indigenous Music Summit (Sponsor, Designer and Consultant), The Barrie Native Friendship Centre (Youth Mentor and Strategic Communications), and campaigns such as Not Our Medicine, Little Bird (TV series), and Coming Home (documentary).
Going (way) back to when my kids were wee babes, I "stayed home" and explored artful practices and "mom-blogging," starting up a whole production line of artisan and apothecary goods for moms and babies. Yup, I was a mom-blogging-artisan, selling goods online via Etsy and OOAK (one-of-a-kind) shows. All that overhead and constant hustle with a newborn and a toddler was a recipe for burnout. I kept developing my writing chops and caught the attention of a big-deal mom-blogger at the time. That's how I got into writing, and later editing, for publications such as CBC, Babble Media, Disney, United Way's Local Love, Today's Parent, The Mighty, and Quill & Quire, even garnering a couple of collaborative noms: (1) National Magazine Awards for Best Editorial Package (2019, The Way Forward, Today's Parent/Rogers), and (2) Digital Mag for Best Personal Essay (2019, What are land acknowledgements and why do they matter?). I had a few incredible unicorn editors and mentors who saw something in me and stuck with me through all the learning curves, glitches, highs, and lows.
All of this? That's only the past 17 years or so. There are many lifetimes I've survived and morphed out of. When all this obvious chaos permits, I'm a member of Anishnawbe Health's Circle of Landscape Cultivators Committee, with recently wrapped affiliations within the University Health Network's Indigenous Health Action Committee, and the Tkaronto Indigenous Ceremonial Practices Alliance.
Booking late winter 2027.