Alison Olson joined the Me to We team in 2009 as a group trips coordinator, eager to share her passion for travel and social issues with others. She feels honoured to be able to work with so many enthusiastic and socially conscious young people as they plan their trips abroad.

Growing up in Oshawa, Ontario, Alison decided to attend university in "la belle province," and spent four years at Bishop´s University in Quebec. She graduated with an honours degree in history and minors in sociology and French. While in university, Alison coordinated and participated in the Best Buddies program, where she met amazing friend and participated in the school´s chapter of Habitat for Humanity. After graduation, Alison spent a year in Seoul, South Korea, singing karaoke, perfecting her chopstick skills and teaching English to a fabulous group of five-year-olds. She then spent the next four months seeing amazing sights and meeting wonderful people all over Asia. She has now spent time in over 15 countries on three continents and is eager to keep exploring the world.

In her free time, Alison loves to read, watch movies and spend time with friends.

Andrea joined the Me to We team in 2010 as an international trips coordinator. Her passion to see the world and meet its diverse people has led her on adventures through Europe, Australia and Central America.

The classroom can take many forms, and Andrea has experimented with quite a few. Both in high school and university, Andrea took her studies overseas studying in Luxembourg and Australia. She also worked for several summers in Northern Ontario, and there took the classroom off the beaten track when she taught a high school leadership course at a camp and on canoe trips. Her volunteer trip to Costa Rica in 2006 was an incredibly educational and motivating experience, as she worked with an ecologically sustainable indigenous community. That trip encouraged her enthusiasm to study diverse regions and cultures, which led her to the University of Guelph and the international development studies program. Andrea graduated in the spring of 2010, and quickly jumped at the chance to join Me to We.

Andrea is very excited to be part of such a dynamic organization. She is energetic and enthusiastic in work and in play. Her interests include anything and everything outdoors, from relaxed barbeques and hangouts, to more active running and hiking, and pretty much any adventure in between. Although she has a passionate love for travel and is always planning her next adventure, she also believes in Marcel Proust’s words, “The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Julie Creen joined the Me to We Trips team in 2009, eager to help send youth on Me to We's incredible volunteer trips abroad! She knows first-hand the impact an international trip can have on young people, inspiring them to get involved in their communities both locally and internationally. She started travelling at the age of 15 and has no plans of stopping in the near future.

Julie is a graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where she spent four years studying sociology. While living in Hamilton, Julie got to know her community, through a service learning experience focused on poverty and the human condition. This eye-opening experience urged her to look for other opportunities to get involved. After graduation, she set off to India where she worked with the World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts, offering trips to international participants. She enjoyed meeting fellow global citizens, teaching them about the culture and watching them fall in love with the country. It was here that Julie discovered her love of Bollywood dancing, eating with her hands, and sari shopping!

Once Julie arrived home in 2008, she started working at her alma mater in student affairs where she helped student leaders plan events in the residence system. She also worked with the service learning office that got her started, leading students through an incredible week volunteering in Hamilton. Julie loved working with student leaders and is excited to assist youth with Me to We Trips! Julie loves being told new funny and inspirational quotes, and her favourite at the moment is, "The greatest journeys are the ones that bring you home" - Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

Nkosi Halls joined the Me to We team as a trip facilitator in 2009. As of January, 2010, he began facilitating tips in the heart of Kenya's beautiful but poverty-stricken Maasai Mara land reserve. Nkosi holds a B.A. in history and is an avid international activist, raising almost $6,000 with his friends for the overseas development projects of our partner charity, Free The Children. He believes that taking action is the best way to make positive change in the world.

During and after university, Nkosi set out to see the world for himself by travelling to Europe, South East Asia and South America. Through his travels, he has witnessed the difficulties that people in developing countries face on a daily basis. He says that visiting orphanages and spending time with local people in impoverished regions worldwide were enlightening experiences to say the least. In 2009, Nkosi has celebrated the famous Carnaval in Brazil, climbed a volcano in Chile and watched a soccer game in Argentina.

Reading about fish, playing soccer and spending time with the people most dear to him are some of the many things Nkosi enjoys doing in his spare time. Now that he has the opportunity to work for Me to We, Nkosi feels that the possibilities for him to make change in the world are endless. One of his life goals is to visit some of Africa's Great Lakes.

Pratima Gounden joined the Me to We team in 2009, ready to share her passion for helping others as an international trips coordinator. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a combined honours bachelor of arts degree in political science and English.

Originally from Guyana, Pratima moved to Canada when she was just four years old. Having grown up with parents who lived in a developing country for a significant portion of their lives, Pratima was instilled with the values of hard work, sincerity and education. Challenged by a teacher to pursue what she truly loved in life, Pratima began volunteering with autistic and MID children with the Toronto District School Board and learned what the true meaning of love and education was. She organized a Christmas campaign with her friends and co-workers to donate both food and toys for youth overseas and in downtown Toronto. While undecided about her major in university, Pratima spent a year volunteering with local shelters and children's organizations. Working with these amazing children was the greatest privilege of Pratima's life. She looks forward to continuing her passion of helping others through encouraging them to think of the larger community at Free The Children.

In her spare time, Pratima can be found anywhere where there is a good book and a good cup of tea. Her love of reading is well known among her friends, and she has over 500 books on her bookshelf. She also loves to watch old TV shows (which she says she does too much of) and staying active (which she says she does not do enough of!). But her favourite way to spend time is with the people she loves.

Gina joined the Me to We team as a youth philanthropic initiative coordinator. With a passion for social change and a degree in political science and hispanic studies, Gina brings a wealth of knowledge to the table and an eager spirit to make change happen.

Ever since Gina first flipped open the National Geographic she has been interested in the larger picture. Gina has always been an avid traveller, living and travelling by sailboat throughout Europe when she was younger. In her last year of high school Gina had the opportunity to volunteer in Guatemala. She built a chicken coop, sorted coffee beans and didn’t shower for about ten days. It was the best trip she ever had. Since then, Gina has travelled widely throughout Central America and Southeast Asia where she has come face-to-face with the lack of basic human rights that much of the world lives with daily. Most recently, Gina worked as an ESL teacher, and also teaches donation-based yoga classes around Vancouver, which benefit all sorts of local causes.

Gina is just starting her journey of social change and plans to stay dedicated to this path for the rest of her life. Although everyday life sometimes makes it difficult to travel, Gina wishes to travel much, much more and remains a devoted traveller at heart. She also hopes to climb at least one mountain in her lifetime, and one day very soon, when she is brave enough, she would like to go skydiving. When she’s not doing yoga, you can find her making delicious lattes at a local coffee shop and riding her bike around town.

Before taking on the role of media relations and publicity coordinator, Pirom studied public relations at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Pirom’s first involvement with Me to We was in his last year of college, when his environmental club used Me to We Style as its supplier for organic and ethically-made club shirts.

Pirom has worked as a communications office assistant at Humber, public relations assistant for the Humber Students’ Federation and in his final year, was president of the Humber Environmental Club at his campus. Pirom interned at Mount Sinai Hospital for four months, where he was able to fine tune his writing skills for internal communications through newsletter writing, communication plans and feature articles. In addition to his coordinator position at Me to We, Pirom is also volunteering as the new media consultant with the World Conference on Breast Cancer Foundation.

In his spare time, Pirom likes to ride his bike after sunset, go camping and browse bookstores for new books. His life goal is simple, to continue to be surrounded by amazing friends and people who love him—oh, and to take a road trip across Canada.

Favourite motivational quote: “If they can do it, why can’t I?”

Brittany joined Free The Children in March of 2010 as a speaking engagement coordinator. She assists and coordinates activities between speakers, event organizers and speaker bureaus. A recent communications graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University, Brittany is dedicated to “communicating” Free The Children's message of change and activism in the world.

Brittany began volunteering ever since she could walk and talk. She first began helping her favourite person – her mom – by assisting in Sunday school. She then helped create the first “Think Pink” campaign for breast cancer awareness and travelled to Grenada for hurricane relief, New York for flood repair and Mexico to help rebuild a school for children with disabilities. With her volunteer involvement and experience with residence life, she knows that her passion is people and loves seeing the look on students’ faces when they reach their goals and are supported in the activities and hobbies that they are passionate about.

When Brittany is not doing her favorite thing (volunteering) you can find her dancing to her favorite country songs, balancing on her head at hot yoga, hiking the escarpment, camping, snowboarding or playing beach volleyball with her friends. In the future Brittany wants to participate in a service learning trip with her best friends, become a “big sister” with Big Brothers Big Sisters and travel the world.

Dwight Ireland is our senior manager of speaking engagements, music and promotions at Me to We. He got his start in the entertainment business as a booking agent, working with artists such as K'Naan, Serena Ryder, Molly Johnson and Two Hours Traffic. He's passionate about discovering new talent and helping their voices be heard. Originally from Scarborough, Ontario, Dwight first felt the need to make a difference when living and working in Johannesburg and Capetown, South Africa. The immense poverty and crime was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. Having also lived in Montreal, New York and Los Angeles, travelling to Africa left the most lasting impression on Dwight–illustrating how we take for granted what we've been given here in North America. Working with Me to We Speakers and musicians allows Dwight to help motivate worldwide audiences to make a change. You can find Dwight in his spare time singing Liverpool football chants with the supporters club, going to the gym, playing soccer and enjoying the sunshine. His favourite quote is by Thomas Edison: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

Ellesha Wanigasekera joined the Me to We team in 2008 as a speaking engagements coordinator. Having recently completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in English and religion, she is excited to serve the global community here at Me to We.

Ellesha has been volunteering on a monthly basis since she was nine years old, taking part in various activities, like cooking and serving food to the homeless, entertaining elderly patients with music, writing to prison inmates, helping out in classrooms, and organizing various community projects. After reading Craig and Marc Kielburger's book Me to We, Ellesha was intrigued and started her career at the organization by volunteering with the communications department.

In her spare time, you can usually find Ellesha doing course work in her local college's sewing lab, laughing over homemade dinners with good friends, and trying to finish more than one book at a time.

Trish Huston joined the Me to We team in 2009 as a member of the speaking engagements team, coordinating our keynotes speakers. Passionate about engaging both youth and other community members in social issues, she is excited to be coordinating these amazing opportunities for the public to be inspired and motivated by our great keynote speakers.

Trish has always had a passion for using her talents to engage others to become more socially responsible. Beginning this journey at a young age, she started her own business with a $10 business loan from her teacher, handcrafting and selling beeswax candles to support her Grade 6 class´ charity, Hands That Help. To raise money, she was also a part of organizing a silent auction, a dinner theatre, a benefit concert and a poetry reading cafe. Throughout the year, the charity raised over $3,000 and distributed this among several local non-profits, like Children´s Wish Foundation, WWF, and The Denise House, a local women´s shelter in Durham Region. Always wanting to try a bit of everything, Trish went on to complete a degree in theatre at the University of Guelph, a yoga teacher training program, and a certificate in volunteer management at Humber College, where she worked directly with volunteers at the Durham Children's Aid Society. Although these three educational endeavors seem without similarities, Trish now realizes that all her passions tend to revolve around being a part of a unique community–which she is thrilled to continue here at Me to We.

Trish enjoys running; walking her dog, Casey; practicing yoga; cooking and baking; reading anything and everything she can get her hands on; writing; sewing; knitting; fishing; listening to CBC Radio; and watching a good movie (or So You Think You Can Dance ) with her friends. A common salutation in yoga, Trish says "Namaste" to everyone. "I honour the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honour the place in you which is of love, of joy, of light and of peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are one. Namaste."

Ryan Bolton is a self-described bibliophile. He loves books, writing and the world of literature. More than this, he is quite the social activist. Good thing, then, that he works as an editor and writer with Me to We´s bestselling, critically-acclaimed books. As a raging idealist, Ryan stands by his beliefs that writing is the impetus for social change. Having published myriad articles in national, provincial, online and print publications, Ryan holds an honours English degree with a minor in history from Wilfrid Laurier University alongside a print journalism diploma from Sheridan College.

After graduating university and working as an editor with Laurier´s campus magazine, Blueprint, Ryan joined Journalists for Human Rights in Ghana, Africa. Working as a foreign correspondent and journalist trainer at a Liberian refugee camp, Ryan´s deep-seeded passion for human rights was married with storytelling. Ever since, Ryan has written on an expansive collection of investigative articles unearthing buried stories on homelessness, human rights violations and even chatting about metaphors with the Jonas Brothers. As an award-winning writer, Ryan has worked with Dose.ca, the Burlington Post, Spacing magazine, Adbusters and as editor-in-chief of Sheridan College´s magazine, TRAVIS.

When he´s not drumming away on his typewriter−­yes, typewriter−Ryan enjoys skateboarding, reading, biking on three-speed bikes and travelling to places where he can make a difference. Oh, he also likes long walks, well, anywhere. And that, in a written nutshell, is Ryan.

Kari Trogen joined Me to We as a writer and editor in 2010.

With equal love for Jane Austen and Charlotte's Web, Kari is a hopelessly idealistic bookworm. Kari devoured English literature at the University of Alberta and the University of London, UK, travelling as much and as widely as she could on student exchanges and backpacking trips. From Luxembourg to Russia to Thailand, she is fascinated by people's stories across the globe, especially those of women and young people.

After a creative writing MA at the University of New Brunswick and trips to P.E.I. to study the life of children’s author L.M. Montgomery, Kari worked as a writer in UNB's development and donor relations office.

In 2009, she moved to Toronto to pursue children's publishing at Ryerson University. It was while interning with Kids Can Press that Kari came across Me to We Books at a publishing event. This exposed her to the Kielburger story for the first time, and the idea of "children helping children" stuck with her.

As a member of the writing team, Kari is thrilled to contribute to such a passionate, unique organization committed to engaging youth in social change. She hopes to one day see the work of Free The Children firsthand!

In her spare time, Kari can often be found loitering in used book stores, bursting into song and dance, sobbing at inconvenient moments, thinking up excuses for costume parties and playing "pop quiz Harry Potter," a game invented by her sisters.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before beginning to improve the world… you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness." – Anne Frank

Kelsi Prince has been involved with Me to We and its partner charity Free The Children since 2005. Through participating in a Me to We international volunteer trip to Ecuador in 2008, various leadership and facilitation training workshops, as well as the Me to We Mobilizers program, Kelsi maintained close ties with our organizations for several years. Then, in 2009, Kelsi officially joined the team as a Me to We (Mob)ilizers Coordinator, allowing her to empower youth to use their voices and talents to create change.

Since the age of 15, Kelsi has travelled around the world–from Antarctica, to the Arctic, Iceland and Greenland–observing the impacts of climate change on indigenous populations. Interested in learning more about the social implications of environmental and development issues, she participated in two Me to We trips to Ecuador and Mexico in the summer of 2008. Now a student of Trent University's environmental studies and international development program, Kelsi continues to influence local and global change in both her professional and personal life. A passionate activist, she is an avid public speaker, having delivered more than 230 presentations in the past three years. She has also been involved in supporting student action projects through national environmental and social justice education programs.

After losing her voice for nine months and realizing how fortunate we are to be able to speak out for what matters, Kelsi is committed to helping empower youth to use their skills to make a positive difference in the world. She lives by the words of Leo Buscaglia, who said, "Our talents are the gifts that the world gives us, but what we make of those talents is our gift back to the world." In her spare time, Kelsi can be found enjoying the outdoors, singing, dancing, stargazing, laughing, hanging out with friends and giving free hugs–all with a smile!