The Tourism Innovation Lab is an industry-driven initiative created to find, foster and support new tourism ideas, experiences and partnerships, and to build a community of tourism innovators, idea makers and entrepreneurs across the province. Launched as a pilot in Windsor Essex in 2018, the initiative has expanded to regions across Ontario and is now being launched in British Columbia. The Lab is a program of Hackforge and is based at the University of Windsor-EPICentre. As Outreach & BC Program Coordinator, I lead the research and development of new markets and regions where the "Spark" program can expand to, and coordinate program launch and delivery. This involves consultations with local stakeholders and tourism partners and general program support in collaboration with industry, corporate and community partners. www.tourisminnovation.ca

Parkbus is the world's first dedicated city-to-park bus network spanning over 60 parks across Canada with seasonal hubs in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, Edmonton and Montreal. Thousands of urban Canadians rely on Parkbus to visit the great outdoors for a short day getaway, or a week-long backcountry adventure. Parkbus is a non-profit initiative run in collaboration with Parks Canada, MEC, Ontario Parks, BC Parks and dozens of other public and private organizations. Over 5000 people took Parkbus for free in 2018 as part of our TD Parks Express service from Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver. Our work has been recognized by over 200 media publications including National Geographic, CBC, National Post as well as the Canadian tourism industry - winning the Canadian Tourism Award from the Tourism Industry Association of Canada . In 2018 Parkbus was also named the Innovator of the Year Finalist at the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards in Buenos Aires (organized by the World Travel and Tourism Council).