Blogger
| Topics: Arts & Entertainment |
| Interview Date: May 28-2013 |
| Extraordinary Insights: Dream big and follow your passion. Figure out what you are great at and continue to do that. If you fail, get up, dust yourself off and keep going. |
Audio-only version:
Lisa Charleyboy is a writer and blogger, Native Urban Girl, about pop-culture with an Aboriginal twist. Lisa has written for publications such as THIS Magazine, National Post, Job Postings, as well as online for the CBC series Trailblazer site. She was recently published in a McGraw-Hill textbook beside esteemed writers such as Joseph Boyden, and Richard Wagamese. Before finishing her Honours of Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing at York University, Lisa had already had a fashion column at Williams Lake Tribune. She also has been a Fashion Editor at Excalibur (York University’s campus paper), a fashion intern at LUSH Magazine, a weekly contributor at MSN.ca on beauty, fashion, and lifestyle, and writes a fashion column for Indian Country Today. Her story started when at the age of 10, she discovered her love for Vogue, since then she has devoured the written word and had an insatiable appetite for all things fashion. Following her dreams, she moved across the country, from her hometown Abbotsford, B.C. to Toronto at just 17 years old to attend Ryerson University for Fashion Communication. It was her love of magazines, coupled with her desire to become a fashion editor, which led Lisa to transfer to York University for Professional Writing. It was there that she discovered a true passion within her Indigenous roots (Tsilhqot’in (Dene), Mexican, Cherokee, and Dutch) and began to discover her own unique connection to culture. It was the blending of all of her passions, which led Lisa to start her blog, Urban Native Girl Stuff, (UNGS) which is all about pop-culture with an Indigenous twist. It was born in 2007 out of a desire to fuel her fire online and engage in writing, social media, and connect with a new audience. Now the blog is known all over North America and she has even spoken to students at Harvard University. Lisa has also spoken about Digital Storytelling at the OSUM Day for Aboriginal Women Entrepreneurs as well as done radio interviews for CBC’s Revision Quest, and Native America Calling, and was a weekly guest on Streetz FM’s Urban Nation Live. Having served as a board member for Association for the Native Development of Visual and Performing Arts (ANDVPA), the Young Indigenous Professionals, and now as the Director of Communications for the Aboriginal Professionals of Canada (APAC), which has given Lisa the grounding in working with the Aboriginal community at large in Toronto, and in Canada. With experience working directly with the community in person and online, Lisa has also forged out a new path in stakeholder engagement consultation.