What is your current position?
Toronto Urban Fellow- Policy Professional – City of Toronto, Cultural Partnerships Unit – Economic Development and Culture
What attracted you to your program of study at the BSIA?
The MIPP is an intensive, year long hand on program with a great fellowship, excellent networking and and world class faculty with diverse local and global experiences as public policy professionals.
What was the most impactful experience you had while completing your graduate degree?
Two professors were incredible in shaping my experience as a policy professional: Emel Seven Bozcam and Winnie Chan. Two incredible women of color with international experience, who are recent immigrants like myself. They brought their experiences to the classrooms, set extremely high standards, and constantly challenged students to develop the skills needed to research and create a wide spectrum of policy documents.
Tell us about your job, what do you do?
I am conducting an equity scan of the City of Toronto’s Public Arts and Monuments collection of over 300 artworks. This work will inform the collections development policy which I will also be developing. Right now I am working on a jurisdictional scan of similar municipalities, a survey of artists who the City has commissioned in the past. I have also conducted numerous stakeholder consultations with public arts professionals in different municipalities and am building a dataset of the City’s collection from an equity perspective. My work includes visiting the Art Gallery of Ontario archives (which I absolutely love) to dig up different indicators e.g. number of women, 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous etc. I also consult with the Public Arts Officers and my manager at EDC on an ongoing basis – their input is critical to my success.
How does your work help make a difference?
The great thing about working on the municipal level is that the policies that you create have a direct impact on the community. So my work will help shape Toronto’s public arts landscape to more include diverse equity-seeking and Indigenous communities who are currently not well represented in the collection.
What are the next steps in your career progression… where do you see yourself going?
I would like to remain at Economic Development and Culture and further my career here. Prior to doing my MIPP, I completed an intensive Certificate in Public History at York University. I am living my policy dream right now in the Cultural Partnerships Unit, helping to shape the public’s experiences of arts in the City.
What advice do you have for a potential student looking to complete their degree at the BSIA? Or for someone looking to work in Global Governance and International Policy?
Just do it! I was hesitant at first as BSIA is a 3 hour commute for me each way from Toronto! I loved heading to the campus each day! I want to thank Maureen Ferraro for encouraging me to join the program when I was having doubts. she said “Just try it and see.” I did and I could not have imagined a better outcome! At Balsillie School, you will be surrounded by students and faculty who have a wide range of international policy experiences. You will be exposed to scholars, government officials, and international experts currently working in the field and as a Fellow you get to do an incredible policy project with Global Affairs Canada that will be the end of it prepare you for real world policy work in any area! You will not regret it.