Thrive & Connect Community Consulting

06/02/2026

What a journey. 🎨✨

This highlight reel captures just a glimpse of what this year’s Art Startup Challenge Final Pitch was like — and I couldn’t be more proud of every single one of the nine artists who participated. I can’t wait to see where they go next. 🌱

Thank you to the incredible partners who made this possible: the Chilliwack Museum and Archives and Cowork Chilliwack for hosting, and Community Futures South Fraser & Self Employment Program — without whom we wouldn’t have the robust, supportive curriculum to help shape these artists into business owners.

A very special thank you to the Chilliwack Arts Council for bringing me into this opportunity. It has been a true honour.

Major congratulations to our First Place Pitch & People’s Choice winner and Second Place Pitch finalists — I’m so excited for you both!

And to Alexandrah Pahl— thank you for letting me use your song. It felt like the perfect encapsulation of this year’s cohort. 🎵

Be sure to follow everyone from this year’s cohort to see where they go next!

Here’s to Chilliwack’s creative community. You are at the heart of this town, and are instrumental to what makes Chilliwack such a beautiful place to live. 💚💜

05/17/2026

On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, we recognize the progress made - and the work that continues - to build a province where everyone is safe, respected and free to be who they are.

05/14/2026

Yesterday was the last workshop for the Art Startup Challenge — and next week is pitch day! 🎉

After seven weeks of training, these aspiring art entrepreneurs are getting ready to stand in front of a panel of judges and share their business idea. I am SO proud of what this group has built.

So grateful to the Chilliwack Arts Council for bringing me in to help facilitate and guide these artists along their business journey — and to the Chilliwack Museum and Archives and Community Futures South Fraser & Self Employment Program for making this program possible.

This is what happens when a community invests in its creative people. 🌱

Good luck to every participant heading into that room next week. You've done the work. Now go show them what you're growing.

04/29/2026

About The Anti-Racist Youth Lab builds capacity and collaboration amongst youth leaders who are addressing racism and its effects in communities across Canada. The program equips youth with essential skills to sustain and grow their anti-racism advocacy while building peer networks for social suppor...

04/27/2026

Community projects attract the most passionate people. But passion without structure? That's a recipe for burnout.

A community project manager does a lot more than keep things on schedule. They hold the vision, support the team, and take the structural weight off everyone's shoulders so the real work can happen.

I wrote about what that actually looks like 👇

A community project manager does more than keep things on schedule. Here's what the role actually looks like — and why it matters for your initiative.

04/20/2026

Today marked the last project meeting for the Hope Walk 'n' Roll — one of my very first community development projects for Thrive & Connect.

There's something bittersweet about closing a chapter like this. I've spent months sitting around a metaphorical table (on video calls) with people who genuinely care about road safety, active school travel, and making safety education something kids actually want to engage with. Those conversations were some of my favourite parts of this work.

But here's what I'm holding onto: this project didn't really wrap up — it took root.

Coquihalla Elementary is continuing their Bike Bus program independently. Their Bike Bus intervention saw up to a 52% reduction in morning drop-off traffic. That's not a project outcome. That's a community that built something and decided to keep building.

That's exactly what good community development looks like.
I'm so grateful to everyone who showed up for this work — the collaborators, the champions, the people who believed that small shifts in how we move through our communities can have a big impact.

And honestly? I'm excited. This project reminded me of why I do this work, and I'm looking forward to what comes next — more projects, more meaningful impact, more communities that surprise you with what they're capable of.

Here's to the Hope Walk 'n' Roll. 🚲

04/16/2026

What does belonging have to do with hospital wait times? Or voter turnout? Or whether your local economy is thriving?

More than most of us realize.

When people don't feel like they belong in the spaces around them — at work, in services, in civic life — the costs show up in real and measurable ways. I dug into the research, and the numbers are striking.

📖 Read the full post:

Belonging gaps have real costs — in health care, civic participation, and local economies. Here's what the research says, and why it matters for your community.

04/13/2026

This is what community development looks like behind the scenes. ☕

A few weeks ago, I co-facilitated a 2-hour workshop with an incredible community partner. About halfway through, we introduced the concept of artist business archetypes — and you could just *feel* the room shift. People were leaning in. The questions got richer. Something had clicked.

So we did what mission-driven partners do when they're paying attention: we followed it.

The very next day, we sat down together and recorded a 15-minute deep-dive video on the concept — unplanned, quickly scripted, and straight from the heart. We shared it as an exclusive bonus resource for the cohort.

No one asked us to. No one planned for it. It just felt like the right thing to do.

That's the gift of working alongside people who share your passion. When you're both genuinely listening — to the room, to each other, to the moment — you start to notice opportunities that weren't on the agenda. And those unplanned moments? Sometimes they're the ones that land the deepest.

This is why I love this work. 🌱

03/19/2026

02/23/2026

The Art Startup Challenge is BACK, and we'll be welcoming a new cohort of artists and creatives this Spring!

In partnership with Community Futures South Fraser, this 8-week in-person program is built for emerging artists ready to tackle the business side of their craft, including market research, marketing, budgeting, and pitching, all in a space that gets what it means to be an artist.

DATES: April 1 – May 27, 2026

Top it off with a live pitch event for a chance to win $3,000, $1,500, or a residency at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.

Applications close March 21, 2026 👉 Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/250515356412046

Thanks to our community partners, Chilliwack Museum and Archives, Chilliwack Cultural Centre, and Cowork Chilliwack. We can't wait to see what this year's cohort creates!