In celebration of International Women’s Rights Day, Greenpeace Canada is proud to highlight the womxn powering this house! Each day, they will share their perspectives on their roles and experiences as womxn in the environmental movement!
Did you know that Greenpeace Canada’s team is mainly led by womxn? Yes, we are!
Throughout this week, in the lead up to this year’s edition of International Women’s Day, we’ve shared with you spotlights of the different experiences and enriching achievements that some of our womxn colleagues were keen to share. And today, we are proud to present to you all of the ladies in this powerhouse across all our departments. (We’re using the spelling “womxn” to acknowledge the history of exclusion within the feminist movement).
Find out what brought us all to Greenpeace and to the environmental movement, and learn what is the one thing each one of us would like to see change, improve and evolve for women in the next decade (in or outside Canada).
I (am very proud to) present to you the Greenpeace Womxn Warriors !
Programs Team
Christy came to the organization over 15 years ago from the peace movement to join a team of creative, smart people living their values and making positive change. She would like to see an end to the harmful and unjustified stigmas against single moms — especially Black and Indigenous moms — and systemic change that lifts them up and helps them thrive as the powerful force they are.
Christy Ferguson, Executive Director
Farrah has found her professional stride working on issues at the intersection of environmental and social justice. She’s sick and tired of systemic white supremacy and misogyny in nonprofits and is here to claim space and demand change.
Farrah Khan, Deputy Director
Greenpeace’s independence and ability to confront power is what brought Laura to the organization. She would like everyone who identifies as a woman to be seen and appreciated for their knowledge, experience, and contributions.
Laura Kenyon, Deputy Program Director
Alison joined Greenpeace five years ago, drawn in by the focus on systems change for social change. Alison is passionate about dismantling all forms of oppression and works to apply a justice lens to everything she does.
Alison Mills, Assistant to the Program Director
She thinks that law can be a powerful tool in the fight for climate justice if communities are at the centre of it. She agrees with the sentiment that the point is not for women to simply take power from men since that wouldn’t change anything about the world, but to destroy the notion of power altogether.
Priyanka Vittal, Legal Counsel
Finance and Human Resources Team
Marilyn, very consciously, rejected the dominant corporate world when she redirected her professional career path by choosing to work for only creative nonprofits — including Greenpeace — bringing professionalism and accountability to the mission. She would like to see a world of equality and peace.
Marilyn Wigglesworth, Director of Finance and Operations
Nothing can stop Pamela. Her natural strength and resilience make her always available to help others. She’s always on the lookout for the wellness and wellbeing of people around her. She has the capacity to bring you to a space where you can be yourself and feel better. What she wants is to keep improving Greenpeace for women, in a collaborative way.
Pamela Murray, Human Resources Specialist
Digital Team
Julie is profoundly inspired by all the amazing women she has met in social movements around the world. She believes in the power of building movements for equality and equity from the ground up. She also believes women involved in all walks of life contribute to creating a more just world every day, from moms to clerks to lawyers to artists to academics to activists… Together, the journey towards equality continues.
Julie Byrnes, Head of Digital
As a hard-working feminist, she likes to learn about gender issues and point them out to those close to her. Lydie particularly enjoys pointing out feminism in an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist perspective, all with a touch of dry humour. Becoming a mother has added a new layer of climate action to her mix of activism, which is shaped out of love and rage.
Lydie Padilla, Digital Campaigner
Passionate about the environment and the oceans, Coralie chose to leave a career in marketing a few years ago to do what was important to her: to be of service to Mother Nature.
Coralie Barbier, Digital Campaigner
Food & Nature Team
Reykia made the switch to working for the environment because she could no longer justify doing anything else with her life. She chose Greenpeace because she believed (and still does!) that it is one of the few working towards truly systemic change. Reykia wants our society to stop enforcing such toxic gender norms on people from babyhood onwards – so girls, boys, and everyone can grow into the whole, empowered and unique beings they are meant to be.
Reykia Fick, Nature and Food Campaigner
Fundraising Team
At the age of eleven, Miriam learned about global warming in a book she found called The Young Person’s Guide to Saving the Planet. As a student living in Scotland, she led a campaign with the Climate Action Society which resulted in the University of Glasgow becoming the first university in Europe to commit to divesting from fossil fuels. She also supported student divestment campaigns across the UK with People & Planet and by the time she settled in Canada, her childhood dream came true: she got offered a role in Greenpeace’s digital team! She’d like to see justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls — and an end to gender-based violence.
Miriam Wilson, Digital Fundraising & Engagement Manager
While studying archaeology at University, Stephanie began reflecting on the environmental impact of our society, and actually transitioned her degree to an environmental focus which culminated in a Master’s of Environmental Studies. During this time, she interned at the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Greenpeace Canada, and the Sierra Club Ontario chapter. She came to GPCA a second time as the Oceans & Plastics campaign assistant and later transitioned to my current role on the Fundraising team. What does she want? To see the patriarchy fall, intersectional-feminism to prosper, and gender-based violence to end.
Stephanie Hulse, Annual Giving Manager
Annick’s mother introduced her to environmental issues and ideas of thoughtful consumption as a kid as it is something she is passionate about. As a teenager, she became very concerned with climate change and has studied, volunteered, or worked on environmental issues ever since. She would like to see increased intersectionality in feminism and to see all womxn supported to take space.
Annick Colbert, Data Analyst
While living in Vancouver, Mona was active in the peace and disarmament movement. She actually first joined Greenpeace as a donor through a friend who had a summer job canvassing door to door! After moving to Toronto, she was thrilled to be hired by Greenpeace. For the future, she would like to see an end to gender-based violence.
Mona Coulavin, Head of Data and Analytics
Claire was drawn to Greenpeace and to the environmental movement out of an interest in intergenerational justice: what people living today owe past, present, and future generations. She’s fond of the ‘seven generations’ concept of sustainability — often attributed to the Iroquois — whereby communities act as stewards of collective resources, thinking ‘seven generations’ ahead. Claire believes in a future free of sexual exploitation, and one in which there are fewer barriers to education. She admires all those who do right by themselves and right by others — even when it’s lonely, even when it’s hard.
Claire W., Digital Fundraiser (not pictured)
Mobilisation & Actions Team
Claude came from so many different paths, from building planes to studying in international cooperation and working in West Africa, but her heart was always attracted by nature and the urgency of protecting it. She would like to see women from around the world be part of the creation of a better world, with equal rights and equal chances.
Claude Beauséjour, Action Coordinator
It’s the people, the passion, and the creative forms of resistance that brought Aspa to the movement and to Greenpeace. She hopes to see more moms and daughters, grandmothers, sisters, and aunties collectively uniting their power for a better world.
Aspa Tzaras, Local Group Coordinator
Bold actions and ambitious campaigns for climate justice inspired Isabelle to join Greenpeace. She would like to see women freed from sexism, sex exploitation, violence and oppression. Free to follow their dreams, think and act outside the box and be confident in their power to change the world for the better.
Isabelle L’Héritier, Mobilization Campaigner
Supporter Care Program Team
Marie was amazed by the campaigns of Greenpeace Canada, more specifically the plastic campaign she watched in 2017 before joining the organization. After having the chance to join the organization, she had a better understanding of the battle the organization was engaged in, that is to say, the organisation also looks at social justice in order to ensure fairness through communities. Marie can’t wait to see an end to racial injustices against Black women.
Marie Sullie Dolin, Supporter Care Associate
Inspired as a teenager by the courageous stories Greenpeace canvassers shared in her family’s living room, Jackie jumped at the chance years later when she was asked to apply for a fundraising coordinator role! Jackie is an advocate of social justice and women’s rights and has served on the board for the December 6th Fund, an organization that enables women and their children to flee domestic abuse by providing micro-loans. Jackie wants to see the cycle of violence against women broken in her lifetime.
Jackie Gallagher, Head of Donor Engagement
Her passion for the environment and creative activism brought her to Greenpeace! This really began with her experience in camp counselling and program coordination where she would always be finding new ways to get kids excited about the exploration and conservation of the environment. Her full circle moment with this organization began as a mere street canvassing trainee where the first campaign she fundraised for was Greenpeace! One thing she would love to see for women in the next decade is the continuation of youth-led environmental activism and empowerment of young girls in education.
Sydney Smith, Supporter Care Associate
Tristan came into the movement through her passion for human rights and frustration at the way the most vulnerable people (and predominantly women) are the hardest hit by climate change and corporate greed. She was lucky to join the Greenpeace New Zealand fundraising team for a year and after returning to Alberta was thrilled when a similar position opened at Greenpeace Canada! Tristan would like to see the end of the disproportionately high rates of violence toward Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ people in Canada.
Tristan Woodford, Donor Engagement Manager
Communications & Media Relations Team
Activism was what brought Laura to the organization. She would like to see women be more independent: less subject to economic burdens, and truly empowered by their relationships.
Laura Bergamo, Communications Officer
Coming from a human rights background, Jesse wanted to work on global justice issues, starting with how Canada is contributing to the climate crisis. She would like to see women have to spend less time on so-called imposter syndrome and more time building power at the margins.
Jesse Firempong, Communications Officer
Marie-Christine felt the need to actually do something, participate actively to create the changes she wanted to see. She would like to see women break those glass ceilings and to never doubt that they are valuable, powerful, and deserving of every opportunity to achieve their dreams.
Marie-Christine Fiset, Head of Media
The need to be more connected to her own values and putting money in the right pockets is what pushed Loujain to take one of the toughest decisions in her life. Thanks to inspiring matriarchs and a family deeply rooted in connection to earth, she turned her back on the corporate sector. She wants to see women take more space confidently, their space.
Loujain Kurdi, Communications Officer
