Staff

Mary Ruth’s core belief of “Authentic communication and engagement within a community, combined with collaboration, is transformative, and integral to the success of our collective future.” informs her daily perspective and approach.

As the only staff person Mary Ruth has benefitted from and is grateful for tremendous support from the board of directors, as well as interns from North Island College that have been instrumental in the exponential growth experienced by the chamber’s social media channels — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn — which has provided the crucial amplification of the #ShopLocal #SupportLocal #ExperienceLocal messaging.

Her earliest memory of “working” was for her family’s retail store at age 9 during the summer sidewalk sales in her hometown of Harrow, Ontario. She continued for 15 years, the last five of those were combined with a transition to the hospitality industry and 15 years of that work led to a re-education in the Applied Communication Program at Camosun College (1997 Graduate). 25 years and counting immersed in the communications field has included positions in media, within the non-profit sector, as well as event management.

Mary Ruth’s unique professional journey has enabled continuous enhancement of her extensive skill set: Communications, Community Engagement, Customer Service, Event Management, Graphic Design, Hospitality, Photography, Project Management, Publishing, Radio, Strategic Visioning, Television and Writing.

She credits her parents for engraining the values of positive, encouraging, community engagement and collaborative human interaction; and credits her time spent at Camosun College for solidifying her ability of ‘learning how to learn’ and understanding innately that it is a life long endeavour.