Meet the Collective
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Victoria King
Victoria King is a lifelong learner, traveller, and passionate advocate for the environment. Deeply concerned about the well-being of future generations, she dedicates her personal and professional efforts to creating meaningful, lasting change. Motivated by a desire to be a source of hope in a world that often feels uncertain, she aims to inspire others to act with purpose and compassion.
Her commitment to sustainability led her to establish Environtastic, an official University of Ottawa club that promotes environmental awareness and community engagement through action-based initiatives. Under her leadership, the club has organized shoreline cleanups, hosted gardening workshops, and developed several pollinator gardens on campus. Most recently, Victoria collaborated with the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada on a project titled “Food Security in Urban Settings,” which encourages volunteerism and social innovation to address environmental challenges and build a more sustainable future for all.
Kwame Twumasi-Ntiamoah
Kwame Twumasi-Ntiamoah is an IT Systems and Data Professional based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a deep passion for equitable and data-informed governance. He combines his expertise in technology, risk management, and analytics with a commitment to using data as a catalyst for transparency, accountability, and community empowerment. A graduate of Saint Mary’s University with a Master of Computing and Data Analytics, Kwame focuses on leveraging technology to bridge gaps in access, amplify underrepresented voices, and promote inclusive policy design. His advocacy emphasizes responsible innovation, ensuring that advancements in governance and technology serve people first. Through The Collective, he hopes to collaborate with other changemakers to drive community-centered impact, inspire civic participation, and champion systems that uphold fairness, inclusion, and trust.
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Meral Jamal
Meral Jamal is an independent journalist and union worker in Nunavut via Ottawa. Originally South Asian from the United Arab Emirates, she is based in Iqaluit and reports on climate stories in partnership with Inuit and Indigenous communities across Canada’s North.
Meral has covered local, national, and international news for various publications. In Canada, her work's been featured in The Globe and Mail, CBC North, Canadian Geographic, Briarpatch, Broadview and other publications. She's also written for international publications including Undark, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and The Weather Network.
Meral has been a frequent (and the youngest) guest on the Unexpected Elements podcast by the BBC, and recently, reported on Indigenous law in relation to energy, resource extraction, climate action and stewardship with IndigiNews. As well, on climate change in Canada’s North through the Persephone Miel fellowship with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Meral is passionate about producing journalism that is grounded in community, that dives deep and sees wide. She aims to share stories that are respectful, responsible, rooted in reconciliation and reflect the resilience of diverse communities back to themselves.
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Natacha Papieau
Natacha is a passionate public affairs specialist who is dedicated to creating positive change in the health and environmental sectors. With an interdisciplinary background and experience in regulated industries, she brings a unique blend of skills in strategic thinking, project management, and communication to shape public and corporate policy transformations.
She is currently Campaign Lead of an advocacy campaign on health and climate at the Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ). Previously, she supported government relations in the health and life sciences sector, with a focus on health equity. She also spearheaded several sustainability initiatives in her community and in the workplace.
For over 5 years, Natacha has joined her voice and time to community organizations upholding climate action and equity as core values to reflect her own. She notably took part in several initiatives by the United Nations Association in Canada and represented Canadian youth at COP28.
Driven by her passion for helping others and her commitment to building a healthy, equitable, and sustainable future, Natacha is eager to continue mobilizing individuals and organizations while advocating for lasting change.
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Maria Preoteasa
Maria researched Food Forests in many different ways, from her Spring 2023 REM 495 capstone project on Vancouver’s policy pathways to food forests, to SFU's Environmental Education field school in Indonesia, where she researched more about sustainable agriculture and cultural practices, to the ideation of the new Food Forest Outdoor Learning Space (FFOLS). Inspired by the existence of global food forests dating as far back as 11,000 years ago, she decided to make use of a pre-existing food forest site at SFU's Burnaby campus. She is helping to fight the collective forgetting of human nature-based skills. She is an undergraduate student in her final semester of the Resources and Environmental Management program, minoring in Environmental Education. Currently, Maria is partnering with community members to integrate this space into SFU classes, Indigenize the curriculum, and make the Food Forest Outdoor Learning Space a place of belonging. She has obtained the position of research assistant for the SFU Food Forest project, assisting with Learning with the Land (ARCH 200/ENV 299), and planning events such as workshops and other gatherings in the space. Maria loves nature, eco-art, studying plant identification and ethnobotany, and reading poetry.
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Megan is an activist-scholar currently living on the unceded territories of the Mi’kma’ki people in what is colonially known as Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is a white settler with mixed Mi’kmaw and European heritage. Megan’s work is inspired by the disconnect she feels between the environment and humanity. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Labour Studies department at McMaster University. Her research focuses on the perceptions and experiences of just transition policies among workers and communities in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia who depend on fossil fuel extraction for economic survival, but at a distance through patterns of long-distance commuting. Her academic research also explores just transition at different scales; from the international level all the way down to the local.
In addition to her academic research, Megan is involved in climate policy through different national and international youth-led organizations. She has worked on policy debriefs and consultations on various federal policies including the Right to a Healthy Environment and the Sustainable Jobs Act. She has served as a delegate at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan and at SB 62 in Bonn, Germany. Megan also holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University and an MA in Globalization and the Human Condition from McMaster University.
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Megan Devoe
Jessica Warren
Hello, my name is Jessica Warren. I'm from Burgeo, Newfoundland and I'm 23 years old. I attend Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador Grenfell Campus studying Environment and Sustainability. I love the outdoors, especially the ocean and I am often trying to spend time near or in it. I have taken part in some amazing organizations like the Canadian Youth Climate Assembly this past fall and Ocean bridge through Ocean Wise more and can't wait to see what else I will be a part of.
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Laurie Trottier
Laurie Trottier is a French-Canadian living in the Yukon, where she works as an independent reporter. She holds a college degree in journalism, a bachelor’s degree in International Law and International Relations, and a master’s degree in Political Science, with a focus on Arctic international governance. Her studies and travels have all quenched her thirst for knowledge and allowed her to meet people with different opinions and realities. To her, that’s what journalism and climate change have in common: cultivating empathy and inspiring change. She wants to explore ways to report on the climate differently.
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Kayos Jones
Kayos (Kay) Jones is a Tsleil-Waututh Blackfoot 2-spirit genderfluid queer artist and activist based in Tkaronto. Kayos has been working in Community, arts and the non-profit sector for over a decade. Kayos' artistic practice is multi-disciplinary and covers many forms of art and performance and advocacy. Currently their artistic practice has led them to be the co-founder of Strawberry Moon Crafts, a business adventure alongside Prism Arcobaleno to spread joy and whimsy.
Kayos' passion is to continue to allow communities to thrive and grow, through arts, cooking and nature. Kayos is currently at Park People as a Project Coordinator, where they continue to connect with communities and groups across Toronto that do work in parks, ravines and green spaces, in the hopes to keep uplifting the importance of community and land.
"Do what makes you happy"
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Hi! I’m Sandra, a Poli Sci and Business graduate who believes that change starts with compassion, collaboration, and courage. I’m inspired to connect people, policy, and the planet to help build a world rooted in justice, connection, and shared purpose.
Through my professional, academic, and volunteer experiences, I’ve learned that climate action is, at its heart, human action — it’s about listening, empowering others, and creating space for every voice to be heard. My internationally mixed background has shaped how I see the world: as an interconnected place where empathy and understanding can drive transformation.
In my spare time, I’m a caffeine-fuelled overthinker who enjoys reflecting on life and spending time with friends who’ve become my family away from home. I aim to keep learning, growing, and contributing to a future where leadership is shared, communities thrive, and our relationship with the planet reflects respect, balance, and hope.
Sandra Amarjargal
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This work would not be possible without the financial support of the Trottier Foundation and McConnell Foundation, as well as partnership support from Academy of Sustainable Innovation.
