Siobhan Kelly is a national scholar at Western University, currently pursuing an Honours Business Administration degree at the Ivey Business School accompanied by a Bachelor of Arts Double Major in Gender and Women’s Studies and the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities. As the founder of A Teen Perspective, Teach our Teens, and GoFacepaint, Siobhan has spent the past 7 years refining her leadership style and approach to prioritize emotional intelligence, empowerment, and inclusion. She is interested in mobilizing her different ventures to explore her biggest interests: post-structural feminism, queer theory, and sustainability. 

What is your personal definition of sustainability? 

To me, sustainability is working to decolonize the spaces you inhibit, planting legacies to mould cultures and mindsets to become in real favour of the people and planet. It is advocating for and amplifying the voices of folks who are natural stewards of the land. Sustainability means taking real action, standing up, and making sacrifices for a better world. I believe that practicing sustainability constitutes staying educated on world issues and climate conflict, becoming hyperaware of the ways violence, colonialism, and the environment are interlinked. Finally, sustainability is addressing problems that don’t impact you, or go beyond yourself. 

What role do you see sustainability playing in your professional career?

As an aspiring entrepreneur, I imagine sustainability will play a major role in my professional career as I attempt to shape more progressive workplace cultures and business practices. I have always been interested in creating the workplace that I wish existed growing up. I want to build a venture that is transparent, empowering, innovative, and equitable. Similarly, I want my company to address social and world issues, leveraging our privilege to give back to the environment around us.  

I see myself learning from speakers and attending sustainability-themed conferences, engaging with the community to promote radical solutions. Likewise, I see myself in the community working on grassroots campaigns that advocate for people and the planet. I hope that, as an entrepreneur, I will have the power and resources to organize for sustainable causes and contribute in a more tangible way.  

In my career, I intend to take action, and, as I said above, plant seeds for corporations to become more fluid and iterative in the name of social progress. I want to learn, spread knowledge, and above all, challenge conventional imperialism as it appears in corporate America and its deadly impacts on climate change and the environment. 

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in?

My first dip into sustainability was volunteering with Bleed the North: a NPO addressing period poverty and stigma in Ontario. Together, we donated over 100,000 products to menstruators in need and established Canada’s first Period Equity Day (May 28th)! Very quickly, we formed a sustainability pillar, securing several partnerships with sustainable period product companies. We led educational campaigns on waste derived from menstrual health products, promoting alternatives like digital tampons (with no applicator), Diva cups, and period underwear.  

During this time, I founded A Teen Perspective, an online creative publication empowering youth to explore their activism. In this role, I wrote and edited articles to do with over-consumption, intersectional environmentalism, COP26, and Indigenous fisheries in Canada. Inspired by the platform we created, I wrote a research proposal on the food waste crisis in Canada which led to a national scholarship from Western University.  

Through my second NPO, Teach our Teens, we created resources for teachers based on social issues we felt should be better represented in classes. As part of our ‘Geography’ and ‘Leadership & Social Awareness’ units, we built digital lessons, assignments, and escape rooms to do with fast fashion, the Landback movement, environmental racism, and effective activism. 

Please list any sustainability-related interests you want to explore during the certificate. 

• Environmental racism  
• Menstrual health & sustainability  
• Corporate America, imperialism, and exploitation of the global East (through a sustainability lens)  
• Sustainable approaches to entrepreneurship
  • Shaping company culture
  • Sustainable manufacturing