1. How did you get into healthcare philanthropy?
I’ve spent the better part of my career working in the not-for-profit space, most recently in academia. A couple of years back, I had decided I was ready for a challenge in a new field, and an email happened to show up in my inbox from a friend and former colleague—the timing couldn’t have been better. The opportunity was to disrupt philanthropy in healthcare…challenge, accepted.
2. Why did you choose to make healthcare philanthropy your career?
Reliable healthcare is part of the foundation of a well-functioning society. I’m incredibly grateful I was offered the opportunity to do my part in helping create a better healthcare system for my community and beyond. Philanthropy is ripe for disruption, and I’m quite grateful to be able to do my innovation work within the field of healthcare.
3. Tell us about a pivot point or crucial step in your career journey.
While I can’t necessarily cite an exact moment, there was certainly a shift at some point in my professional life where I became confident enough to only seek out opportunities that would allow me to operate as an entrepreneur, helping organizations innovate from within. Until then, most of my work had revolved around external outputs, but recently, I’ve become just as interested in helping teams do things differently, internally. I can’t understate the value of individuals discovering their own optimal working environment.
4. What was your first job, and what is something it taught you?
My very first job was serving as a Program Coordinator for a campus student group in Montreal. I was fresh out of university, without very much experience (in anything, really). Looking back, I found that working for a small operation was extremely beneficial, because you’re responsible for pretty much everything. Which meant learning a wide set of skills, from project management, to balancing the budget, coordinating volunteers, fundraising, and so much more. I might not have known it at the time, but that first experience allowed me to broaden my t-shape skills early on.
5. What are your future aspirations?
I always aspire to build new things, but also to make existing things better. You could say that disrupting the status quo is sort of an ongoing aspiration of mine. My primary goal though, is to establish a culture of innovation within healthcare philanthropy, an environment that fosters perpetual, positive change. I firmly believe that if we do this right, and are constantly innovating from within, ultimately organizations will be able to raise more funds, scale their efforts, and generate more support for the cause.