Staff
Prior to joining Above Ground, Karen headed the Guatemalan office of Project Accompaniment Quebec-Guatemala, a grassroots NGO that works to support and protect threatened human rights defenders. Karen has also worked as a researcher with the Centre d’études sur le droit international et la mondialisation and as a consultant for the Inter-Council Network, a Canadian coalition of provincial and regional councils for international cooperation. She completed a master of laws degree in 2014.
Georgina is a PhD candidate in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. She brings to Above Ground considerable experience researching social and environmental justice issues in the context of large-scale resource extraction. She travelled to Peru to learn from mining-affected communities for her master’s degree research on corporate social responsibility in the Canadian mining industry. For her doctoral degree, she is studying labour, environment and gender issues in fisheries, in part through research with fishing communities in Vietnam.
Lori is a writer, editor and communications strategist with more than a decade of experience helping organizations inform and engage key audiences with clear, compelling messages. She has researched and written about a broad range of social and environmental justice issues on a freelance basis, as a labour reporter for rabble.ca and in her work with non-profit organizations including Climate Action Network Canada and the Nobel Women’s Initiative.
Shawn is a writer, educator and communications strategist with over five years’ experience as an author and researcher on issues pertaining to citizen empowerment, democracy, and social and environmental justice. Prior to joining Above Ground, Shawn served as the managing editor for various online media outlets, and he wrote as a freelance contributor and columnist for over ten years. Shawn holds an honours B.A. in political science and an M.A. in communication and culture, and has served as a public outreach intern within the Morelos state human rights commission in Mexico.