Our Team

Our Team:

Avery Gottfried, ME, EIT
Strategic Planning and Relations
avery@fairtradevancouver.ca

"Fair Trade is becoming a transformational force in society, connecting producers and consumers in new and powerful ways."

Avery has been passionate about development ever since he figured out what it meant. He also shares an environmental conscience and a desire to determine innovative ways to meet the needs our current society demands. At FTV, Avery plays a key role in planning and managing of special projects, along with developing the policy and governance that guide FTV’s operations and relationships. Avery also has a career is in consulting, working as an environmental engineer and project coordinator with expertise in contaminated site remediation, sustainability planning and (zero) waste management. Avery’s development experience has come from being an active member in Engineers Without Borders since 2003, serving many roles with the McMaster, Dalhousie, and Vancouver Professional Chapters over the years. He was born and raised in a rural area outside Thunder Bay, Ontario and has obtained a Bachelors of Engineering and Society Degree at McMaster University (2007), and a Masters of Engineering at the University of Auckland (2009).  He is an avid cyclist, poor backcountry telemark skier and loves participating in anything outdoors.

Bryce Tarling, BA, BEd
Social Media, Photography
givebrycewords@gmail.com

Bryce is FTV's resident photographer and social media expert. He also assists in editing organizational publications. He is currently studying in the Douglas College Print Futures Program. He enjoys all kinds of writing, but can often be found writing for a number of blogs and social media outlets that relate to technology and sustainable development.  He has worked as an English teacher both in the Lower Mainland and in Japan. He has also served brief stints in the restaurant industry. In his free time he enjoys photography, consuming media in the form of books, film, and music, and finding delectable places for trying new cuisines.

Christine Ho
Consultant, Organization and Leadership Development
christine@pallasleadership.com

“Being a part of Fair Trade Vancouver’s efforts allows me to align my actions to my values regarding practices that support sustainability and equity worldwide.”

Christine Ho is a skilled organization and leadership development consultant who excels at systems thinking, surfacing mental models, and strategizing and leading process improvement programs. She is a talented facilitator with the ability to find the perfect balance between moving things forward and allowing things to unfold. She consistently utilizes her inherent coaching skills to support the people with whom she works, catalyzing leadership and team development. Christine serves the Fair Trade Vancouver organization in a consultative role, supporting the Board of Directors, Executive Director and other key volunteers. When not with her clients, you’ll find Christine practicing Iyengar yoga, walking in the woods, gardening in her community plot, supporting local sustainable businesses or perhaps cooking up a storm with beautiful, organic and wild foods.

Eileen Knowles, BA (Hons.)
Communications
eileen@fairtradevancouver.ca

Eileen is leading the Communications team at Fair Trade Vancouver. She is also currently the Managing Director of Education Generation, a crowd-funding community providing scholarships to students in the developing world and  In 2005, Eileen co-founded SEED, a Canadian registered charity that works to increase access to education in slum areas of Kenya and Zambia. Eileen's international experience includes work in India, Ghana, Costa Rica and Ecuador.  She has represented Canada as a participant and speaker at conferences including UN Habitat World Urban Forum, UNAIDS, CIDA's International Cooperation Days and as the co-chair of the World Bank's Youth Development and Peace Network, US-Canada. Eileen holds an Honors B.A. in Political Science from McMaster University and a post-graduate degree in Latin American Human Rights & Public Policy from the Henry Dunant School of Human Rights, Geneva.

Grace Boutilier, MSc, CPedC
Public Outreach
grace@fairtradevancouver.ca

“Educating and encouraging members of our community towards making fair trade choices is one way that we, at a local level, can influence a global system to ensure that producers receive what they have rightfully earned."

Grace got her first exposure to the principles of Fair Trade practices while attending Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, a "Fair Trade Town” since 2007.  A local Fair Trade Cooperative, Just Us Coffee Roasters Ltd., helped her appreciate the value of community action initiatives as a means of confronting corporate interests that undermine a just purchasing agreement. Grace became involved with Fair Trade Vancouver as the Project Manager for the 2011 EPIC Sustainability Expo. Having served as a director on several professional boards and coordinating symposiums at a national level has equipped her with skills such as event planning and management. Grace's experience as a health care practitioner contributes to her sense of empathy and compassion for others. She is actively involved with Vancouver-based NGO Hands Up for Africa which connects with individuals in Kenya in a joint effort to ensure access to education for children on the outskirts of Nairobi. In her spare time Grace enjoys hiking, swimming, running, cycling and pretending to have more spare time.

Jasel Reyes, BA
Marketing and Design
jasel@fairtradevancouver.ca

"If you care about how things are produced & made, support Fair Trade."

Jasel currently oversees the creative production of organizational materials. She also plays a key role in strategic planning and management. She has been actively involved in Vancouver's non-profit community since 2006. Jasel worked for the BC Council for International Cooperation in both administrative and project coordination capacities. In 2010, she was contracted as a Logistics Coordinator for the Civil G8 Dialogue. Jasel was also an intern for Oxfam Canada and a contributing art designer for AIDS Vancouver. At present time, she is a Financial Assistant at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. She graduated from Capilano University's Global Stewardship Program and attained her BA in Political Science from the University of Victoria. She likes good music, tropical weather and Harry Potter.

Kaan Williams, MASc Candidate
UBC Fair Trade Campus Committee Liaison
kaan.williams@gmail.com

"Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -- St.Francis of Assisi

Kaan connected with Fair Trade Vancouver as part of the efforts to get the University of British Columbia recognised as Canada's first Fair Trade Campus. The administration and student union at UBC have long been promoters of sustainable and ethical food production practices. Kaan began working with them towards the Fair Trade Campus designation when his fair trade work within Engineers Without Borders led to a conversation with Fairtrade Canada that highlighted the possibility for UBC to be a national leader in this regard. Now that UBC has earned this recognition, we are working to take things even further and continue to make headlines as UBC demonstrates its leadership in ethical purchasing. Kaan earned a diploma in industrial robotics at Thompson Rivers University (in Kamloops, BC) before beginning his engineering degree there. He graduated with a Bachelors of Applied Science from UBC (2009) is currently completing a Masters of Applied Science at UBC. Kaan was an active coach and instructor in both skydiving and alpine skiing/racing before landing in his more recent (and more sedate) life as an eager cyclist, hiker, climber, and telemark skier.

Kelli Erickson, BBA
Finance and Fundraising
kelli@fairtradevancouver.ca

"Fair Trade is a way for consumers to make their purchase’s matter."

Kelli has been working with Fair Trade Vancouver since the beginning and has never looked back. The concept of fair trade was new to her before her work with FTV. Now uses her new  perspective to build understanding for people who are not familiar with Fair Trade. At FTV, Kelli heads the financial matters in the organization including accounting, fundraising and budgets. Kelli was born and raised in Burnaby and has a degree in business from Simon Fraser University. It was there she started a club called Fair Trade SFU, which continues to do make major strides in the Fair Trade campus movement.  She now works as a business analyst for a major telecommunications company. She uses her expertise to manage the FTV accounts and to continuously come up with ways to make FTV a sustainable organization.

Linda Yauk, BSW
Public Outreach Volunteer
yaukster@hotmail.com

“Fair Trade provides choices to consumers and to producers, and builds stronger connections between them.”

As a member of the core Fair Trade Vancouver team, Linda has put this passion into action through public outreach activities:  helping to plan and coordinate FTV activities at festivals and other events, engaging the public at these events (including dancing in a banana costume), and organizing/translating for a presentation by a Bolivian coffee producer.  Communicating with people has always been a part of Linda’s life.  With a background in social work, career counselling, advertising, food services, and teaching, she has developed strong communication and organizing skills, as well as an ability to quickly establish rapport with a wide range of people.  Born in Saskatchewan, Linda grew up in Calgary and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Calgary. She also has a CELTA certificate for teaching ESL to adults. Linda currently teaches at a private language school.  Bilingual in Spanish and English, she loves salsa dancing, films, outdoor pursuits (such as hiking, kayaking, and rollerblading), and drinking fair trade coffee.

Marianne Pemberton, MA
Research and Organizational Capacity
marianne@fairtradevancouver.ca

“Would fair trade heaven have descended on Earth if say, fair trade Nescafe were sold by a financially responsible Wal-Mart?” (David Ransom, 2000)

Before joining FTV in 2011, Marianne spent five years bouncing between Southern Ontario and Latin America engaged in Fair Trade thesis research, food sovereignty activism and academia. Her MA research through the University of Guelph (2010) explored how producers experience Fair Trade when partnered with mainstream actors, and led her to the sides of volcanoes, coffee processing plants and export warehouses in Central America. After completing her degree Marianne flew South again, first working with a participatory research NGO in Honduras that changed the way she thought about local markets, participatory research and maize, and then took a CIDA internship in Ecuador at the Ecuadorian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce as a Sustainability Officer. At FTV, Marianne is keen to continuing engaging with Fair Trade research and debates, as well as help to improve FTV’s organizational strength. When Marianne is not thinking about research and development she’s probably off on a hike, biking around the city, watching a movie or baking a pie.

Maziar Ghaderi, BA
Graphic Design
maz@maziart.org

“True integrity is measured in the good that you do when no one is looking; especially in your supermarket aisle”

As a global thinker, Maziar spent his teen years dreaming of places to go, and when he found the airport on a map he was on the next flight to the wide and diverse cultural pool of Brazil. After 3 years of teaching English, and becoming fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, Maziar grew to value the importance of connectivity in today’s treetop-sized world. In 2009, he returned to Vancouver to finish his BA in Communications & Graphic Design at Simon Fraser University and is the current Social Media Coordinator & Content Contributor for TckTckTck.org, an alliance of more than 270 NGOs campaigning for Global Climate Action. Maziar also writes for his weekly arts column in the English section of Shahrvand BC, the largest Iranian newspaper in Western Canada and for his personal site MaziArt. When Maziar is not donning a plump banana costume near any given Fair Trade Vancouver booth, he spends his free time ambitiously climbing trees and biking along every inch of the Seawall.

Natasha Pirani, BA
Volunteer Coordination
natasha@fairtradevancouver.ca

Charity is the rent you pay for leading a good life – I love my life

Natasha has always been passionate about helping others grow and prosper.  When she was a teenager she found the perfect outlet – the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Programme Young Canadians Challenge.  She achieved her Gold Award and went on to help others do the same through the creation of a successful club at her university.  Her first encounter with the developing world was through a volunteer project in Ghana, West Africa that focused on the prevention of HIV/AIDS.  Since then, she has geared her life towards international development.  Currently, she is studying at Simon Fraser University and intends to gain a major in International Studies. Natasha is also the Office Administrator for African Canadian Continuing Education Society. She is a research assistant for SFU Professor Morten Jerven, focusing on the economic progress of Kenya.  Natasha loves to lead and has found a place for herself being the Volunteer Coordinator of FTV.  Being the organized person that she is, she strives to help FTV grow and helps out in other areas such as data management.  She has travelled to 19 countries and 5 continents and can’t wait to see more!

Sasha Caldera, MA Candidate
Policy and Development
sasha@fairtradevancouver.ca

“The word 'radical' derives from the Latin word for root. Therefore, if you want to get to the root of anything you must be radical. It is no accident that the word has now been totally demonized” (Vidal, 1992).

Sasha Caldera is a graduate of Simon Fraser University and holds a degree in Political Science, and an extended minor in Economics. As an undergraduate, Sasha lobbied his university to resurrect its ethical procurement committee and is working with SFU administration to become a Fair Trade campus. After his graduation, Sasha co-founded Fair Trade Vancouver, and created International Development Drinks; a bi-monthly networking event designed to increase collaboration amongst NGOs in Vancouver. Sasha is pursuing a master’s degree at Royal Roads University, and chairs a working group with We Canada—a civil society organization—to research how the federal government can implement a Fair Trade Purchasing Policy.

Sean McHugh, BA
Executive Director
sean@fairtradevancouver.ca

“Global trade and the system in which we live, very often has unforeseen and very often harsh consequences for many in the world; Fair Trade provides an entry point to begin the process of equalizing and re-evaluating the trading system, with the hope of creating a more fair, equitable, socially and environmentally responsible world”

Sean graduated high school in Burnaby and was unsure with what to do with his life, he went to college for a while, before taking off to travel, after what turned into several years, he returned to Vancouver an became engaged in the many social and environmental struggles. This interest led him to Africa where he worked on and off for three years developing the capacity of youth groups around the city of Nairobi, in Kenya. Upon returning to Vancouver Sean joined friends and colleagues to develop Fair Trade Vancouver. In February of 2011 he became the Executive Director; alongside a strong Board of Directors and leadership team, and many strong private and public sectors partners has worked to develop the organizational capacity and impact of Fair Trade Vancouver. He holds a BA in Sociology from Simon Fraser University. Sean looks forward to see how far we can take things both throughout Vancouver and across the country. When he’s not busy working too much, he loves spending his time in the mountains, kicking around a soccer ball, laying on a beach or going for a cycle

Travis Chase, BA
Event Production
travischase44@gmail.com

A newcomer to Fair Trade Vancouver, Travis is keen to become an integral part of the organization by helping out wherever possible. He is currently in charge of event production for the EPIC sustainable living expo. His interest in Fair Trade was perked by travelling throughout southern Asia and South America where he saw the hardship endured by local farmers, which made him wonder how he could make a difference. This led him to volunteer with Fair Trade Vancouver. Travis has also geared his education towards helping others; he is now studying for his bachelor’s degrees in international business. Once he has graduated, Travis hopes to expand the Fair Trade market to include a much broader variety of products and ultimately expand the amount of lives that can be positively affected through Fair Trade.

FTV Alumni: Jeff Geipel, Mark Abbott, Kieran Smith, Rogayeh Tabrizi, Rebecca Peel, Sarah Robbins, Mark Soares.