When I was in high school, I was a member of our Environmental Club. My first protest was a sit-in at a McDonald’s at Yonge & St. Clair. We protested the fact that the use of chlorofluorocarbons was damaging the ozone layer and we wanted McDonald’s to switch from styrofoam to paper packaging. Lo and behold, beyond our wildest expectations, McDonald’s complied and switched to paper packaging that same year. Fast forward to university where I was a writer for the student newspaper covering protests of the first Iraq War and Canada’s potential involvement. We wanted Canada to stay out of the war. Again, against all odds, Prime Minister Chretien decided Canada would not join the war effort. After my first year of university, I worked in the Planning & Development Department of the City of Toronto. When I returned to university, I worked as an intern in an MP’s office. These collective experiences taught me that activism works and that the real work is done at the grassroots level, in the community. It was for this reason when I returned to Toronto after university that I decided to volunteer for the Community Bicycle Network and then Cycle Toronto, advocating for improved cycling infrastructure to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This led me to work for the Green Party of Canada and then Environmental Defence. I learned that real leadership is working for what you believe in regardless of what’s popular at the time. Over the years, I’ve honed my skills in Project Management, Sustainability, Public Speaking, Policy Analysis and Team Leadership. My goal is to eventually teach and become a subject matter expert on electoral reform. I believe that until we change the way we choose our political representatives and reform our political system, we will not solve the problems we face because the status quo is too entrenched.