Chair

Lisette Chevalier

Lisette Chevalier grew up in Burnaby, on the unceded territory of the hən̓qəmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, and settled in Victoria on the unceded land of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples in 2010.

Her work is driven by a desire for community collaboration and the indisputable need for organizations, such as the CEC, to spearhead the creation of safe, engaging and inclusive spaces that focus on natural resource conservation, food security, and gardening education.

Lisette has been a consistent and committed member of the CEC Board since she first joined in 2018. She quickly took on the role of Board Secretary, then, in 2020 became Chair of the Board. During her time with the CEC Lisette has bottom-lined crucial HR policy development and strategic planning initiatives. She frequently participates in workshops related to non-profit leadership to help her in her never-ending quest to improve her ability to serve.

Lisette brings several years of administrative and business management experience, as well as institutional memory, to the team. Her interest in growing plants developed through months of volunteer work on farms in her early 20s, across different countries in Europe and several states in the USA.

Her passions include the study and practice of yoga, painting, and playing with all the wonderful children in her life. As a mother of a beautiful 7 year old and newborn twin babies, Lisette feels a strong commitment to work towards healing the soil, conserving resources, preserving knowledge and growing plants for the benefit of future generations. She believes wholeheartedly in the good work being done by the Compost Education Centre and looks forward with optimism and enthusiasm to contributing to new possibilities for the Centre.

Vice Chair

Olivia Bradbury

Olivia is a settler living on Lekwungen, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Geography at the University of Manchester (UK), with a year of her studies based at the University of Victoria. Throughout her studies and participation in community-based projects, she has mainly focused on theories and praxis of equitably nourishing the land and ourselves with careful and enlivened foodscapes.

The intersection of education, wellbeing, and justice are priorities in Olivia’s ongoing research into alternative food networks as a Board member. Olivia was a former Project Manager of Incredible Edible Manchester, a student based community gardening project.

Since joining the Board in 2020, Olivia has served on the Hiring Committee and Anti-Oppression Committee. She remains keen to be involved with the CEC for its crucial role in connecting and empowering our local community through sound environmental knowledge and praxis. With her relevant experiences underway, she is looking forward to continuing her active role as Vice Chair of the CEC Board and the ways in which it will further teach her.

Treasurer

Janeen Sam

Janeen is a settler in Lekwungen, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories. Originally from Africa she has always enjoyed the outdoors. When coming to Canada she started gardening. At first it was just because she was asked to be a “helper” at the community garden. However, over time it has become something that she loves to do. A way to get fresh air, create and grow delicious vegetables to enjoy and to share with others. This led to connecting with the CEC and joining the board.

On the “work” front she qualified as an accountant and then through her personal development journey ventured into the world of entrepreneurship. She is now a partner of an accounting firm. The firm’s focus is on cloud bookkeeping, training and strategic management accounting. In addition to that she is a mindset coach, which is what she is most passionate about. She loves coaching others using a step-by-step process that she has used to transform her life and give her the confidence to unapologetically go for what she wants. Her mission is now to help others to take back their power so they too can unapologetically go for what they want with confidence.

Secretary

Megan Chan

Megan Chan is a settler in Lekwungen, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories and grew up in Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory. She got involved in food system advocacy at the beginning of her undergraduate degree when volunteering with the Community Cabbage club rescuing food from the waste stream, cooking it up and serving it to students. The vibrant community created around sharing food and the ways that food impacts all people made her interested in further learning and work in advocating for more equitable and sustainable food systems. She now works as an event coordinator at a like-minded non-profit that does capacity-building work in food system advocacy called CRFAIR. She joined the board of the CEC with a desire to stay diversely engaged in food system work and with admiration for the mission of the Compost Education Centre. Since joining the board, she has taken on professional development workshops, listens to governance-related podcasts and continuously seeks out learning opportunities to widen the knowledge that she brings to each meeting.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Geography from UVic, where she was employed at the UVic Sustainability Office throughout her degree. Having worked for local non-profits since 2018 and taking a special interest in them throughout her education, Megan is delighted to be on the board at the Compost Education Centre. In all of her work, Megan is passionate and continuously learning about equity and decolonization, committed to applying these lenses to her work at the CEC.

In her free time, she enjoys skating along the beach, being a novice ultimate player and learning to cook Chinese dishes that she grew up eating.

Member at Large

Abby Maxwell

Abby is a queer white settler with Scottish Quaker, English, Norwegian, and German heritage. She was born on Treaty 7 land, so-called Southern Alberta, raised between there and Scotland, and moved east to Tiohtià:ke, so-called Montreal, to study Gender Studies and Environmental Studies at McGill University.

During her studies, Abby’s adolescent skepticism and alienation were nurtured into frameworks of community care and justice. She organized with a food and climate justice group on campus throughout her four years there, and got to go learn about anti-imperial struggle and Maya farming and seed sovereignty organizing in Guatemala toward the end of her degree. Upon graduating, she moved to Lkwungen and WSANEC territories where she has been working as a teaching assistant in Queer and Trans studies at the Gender Department of UVic, and being a student of food justice, healing, and resistance work in the myriad projects unfolding in and around these territories.

Abby orients to spaces of change-making and education, especially when centred around plants, so she is excited to work as a member of the CEC Board. After hours, Abby can be found at her gay book club, floating in the ocean, or making hot sauce.

Member at Large

Danyelle Catini

Danyelle is an uninvited visitor in Lekwungen, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories for a few years. Born in Brasília, she received her bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Brasília. In 2018 she moved to Victoria to pursue a Post-Degree Diploma in BA – Marketing at Camosun College. A proud mama bear of three little humans, Danyelle embraces a variety of creative pursuits like gardening, beading, sewing, drawing and crafting. And cooking, of course. Her expertise is to facilitate mutually enriching collaborations. She use decolonizing methodologies while reviving ancestral ways of being to improve wellness for the community of Turtle Island. Danyelle believes building a strong relationship to nature can make a real difference in a person’s life. Currently, she works as the Interim Head of Marketing and Communications for the Bateman Foundation and is engaged in food sovereignty initiatives in the CRD.

Capital Regional District Representative

Kate Masters

Kate Masters is a settler that was born and raised Lekwungen, Songhees, and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories. She graduated from Camosun College with a diploma in Applied Communications and has spent her career working in graphic design, marketing, communications, and events. As the Communications Liaison within the CRD’s Environmental Resource Management division, Kate will be helping to implement the different initiatives of the region’s Solid Waste Management Plan. Outside of work, Kate enjoys playing soccer, golf and slo-pitch and riding her bike to different parks and beaches in the region.

Interested in joining our Board of Directors?

The current board of directors were elected at our last Annual General Meeting. Terms run for two year. Elections are scheduled for our next AGM in September. To discuss opportunities with the Board of Directors, please email the board chair: board (at) compost.bc.ca.