Our collaborative approach means that we work with a variety of professionals depending on the project and the client's needs including:

Jenny Boon, Senior Communications Consultant

Jenny Boon is an experienced senior communications professional, specializing in thought leadership, media relations and strategic counsel.

For over two decades Jenny has worked closely with her clients to develop and promote engaging stories featuring strong key messages that make an impact. Her empathetic storytelling ensures her client’s various audiences and partners understand the significance of their work in our everyday lives and communities. Jenny has a strong network of media and government contacts across the province, and successfully garnered media coverage for her clients in both mainstream and trade publications. Her writing has boosted website traffic and ROI, garnered funding and awards for clients and driven business success.

Jenny is a member of the Canadian Public Relations Society and the Canadian Science Writers Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia, and an honours Diploma in Marketing and Communications from BCIT. Jenny’s clients include the Provincial Health Services Agency (PHSA), Digital Supercluster (DIGITAL), BC Housing, SRK Canada Inc., Genome BC and Genome Canada, the BC Cancer Foundation, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Allianz Insurance, the Universal Group and others.

Cara Lenoir, Indigenous Engagement Strategist

Cara Lenoir is a descendant of the Dene Nation in Northwest Territories with connection to the K’atl’odeeche First Nation on her father’s side and a proud member of the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Kue First Nation on her mother’s side. She now resides on the unceded, ancestral, and Traditional territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Nation), more specially on the Capilano Reserve otherwise known as North Vancouver.

An independent Indigenous Engagement Strategist, Cara works with clients across Canada to foster relationships between Indigenous Peoples, governments, and industry. Her passion is bringing people together to build reconciliation pathways, and contributing to the enhanced cultural competency, knowledge and capacity of all those in partnership. She has over 15 years experience in facilitation, workshop and engagement design and delivery on topics including entrepreneurship, procurement and strategic planning. Cara’s uses a variety of tools and techniques to gather input from participants based on the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) approach for engagement design.

She designs and delivers training on "Exploring Equitable Engagement with Indigenous Peoples" and has experience facilitating meetings between Government agencies and First Nations that has resulted in workplans and renewed foundation for their relationship to collaborate on future priorities. 

Cara earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management from Royal Roads University, as well as a Management Studies diploma from Grant MacEwan University.

In her volunteer hours, she serves as the Board Member for the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Canada, Chair of the Indigenous Engagement Community of Practice and Learning Partner with the Indigenous Awareness Leaning Program also with IAP2 Canada. On her time off, she loves taking road trips and exploring new hiking trails.

Emma Shea, APR, Senior Consultant, Stakeholder Communications

Emma Shea is a senior stakeholder engagement and public relations professional, with over a decade of experience and a proven track record in strategic planning, implementation and overall management of communication and engagement programs, including with Indigenous communities. Her experience has formed in various sectors including regulatory, non-profit, corporate and agency. Prior to starting her own firm, EJS Public Relations, Emma was employed for 9 years at Communica Public Affairs, western Canada’s leading stakeholder and First Nations engagement specialty consulting firm.

Over the last decade, Emma has been responsible for introducing large-scale energy and infrastructure projects into communities and developing successful relationships with potentially impacted stakeholders and First Nations on behalf of her clients. Today, Emma focuses her service offerings on supporting organizations in developing positive working relationships with the public and impacted stakeholders. She has the unique ability to identify risks and gaps in an organizations’ public relations and stakeholder engagement processes, and provides needed capacity to address those risks in a timely manner. A highly effective and organized project manager, Emma guides teams to create successful communication strategies that are tailored for each project.

Jacqueline Gijssen, Senior Consultant, Cultural Planning

As the Project Director and a founding member of the Social Purpose Real Estate Collaborative, she worked to mitigate the impacts of the real estate market on non-profits / social enterprises, assisting the sector with their real estate needs. Jacquie engaged with non-profits, social entrepreneurs, architects, developers, planners, real estate professionals and funders to preserve and create space for community.

Jacquie formally came to this work as the City of Vancouver’s Senior Planner for Cultural Spaces / Infrastructure. In that role she was responsible for land use policies, creation of a master plan for cultural spaces, the cultural infrastructure grant program, cultural facility development, and oversight of 75+ cultural spaces serving 100+ artists and cultural organization tenants.

Prior to joining the Vancouver team, Jacquie’s career was deeply imbedded in the museums of BC including the BC Museums Association, museums in Prince Rupert, Port Alberni and West Vancouver, as well the Vancouver Art Gallery and Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Her focus on increasing access to collections and cultural knowledge and working with diverse communities earned her a place on the Founding Board of Directors for the Royal BC Museum. She is the recipient of several awards for work individually and as part of collaborative teams in museums, housing, neighbourhood planning and environment.