Beginning as a Development Officer at this world-renown HIV healthcare facility, I led the creation of a national knowledge translation team with 14 staff who now serve over 400 organizations that provide care and support for equity-seeking populations. Key accomplishments:• Obtaining & leading 12 federal grants and contribution agreements totaling over $10 million in the areas of: capacity-building for harm reduction services across Canada; workshops for mental health resilience for frontline workers; Covid-19 microgrants for community-based organizations; and partnership projects with Indigenous organizations; and longitudinal mixed-methods evaluation of the Dr. Peter Centre's services on clients. • Developing and hosting intersectoral working groups that changed legislation and created an evidence base in the areas of: Canada’s Controlled Drugs & Substances Act; service barriers for women & gender expansive populations; and inhalation services. • Leading a national bilingual supervised consumption & overdose prevention site community of practice that helped support the rapid increase of these services in Canada from 5 sites in 2016 to over 150 sites in 2022. • Acting as after-hours and weekend Leader-on-call for the Centre’s 24-hour licensed nursing care facility and the day health program, which involved supervising clinical and facilities staff, being the point person for police and fire, and liaising with the Clinical-on-call.

• Working with Drs. Susan Kirkland and Lois Jackson to support research grant submissions for HIV & aging as well as harm reduction practices in Atlantic Canada.

• Providing frontline support at an abstinence-based recovery house for 13 men, including meal preparation, medication witnessing, conversation, and security.

• Working as a paid intern with the Nova Scotia Government, I conducted interviews with multiple frontline agencies to inform a decision-making tool to keep HIV/AIDS on the Province’s agenda.

• Beginning as an assistant, I worked to a management position in this French-language company, providing data-informed strategic advertising advice to companies such as Coca-Cola and Claritin, and managing annual media spending of over $20 million.

• Starting as a support staff for viewing parties for the 1998 World Cup, I continued to work at this famous coffee shop which doubled as a community hub in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood.

• At the age of 14 I obtained a stock room job at Halifax’s Entitlement Booksellers which had an eclectic staff of artists, musicians, philosophy and public policy students.• I quickly rose to a customer service position and learned from the diverse staff and the visionary owner who challenged Nova Scotia’s Sunday shopping legislation in court and won. • I continued my employment for almost 10 years after the store was acquired by Coles (later Chapters), making the leap to a large, downtown Montreal branch while I went to McGill University.