Our Story
Every December, Vancouver hosts the Street Store, an annual free, dignified shopping experience for Downtown Eastside residents called the Street Store. This special event was started in 2014 by Christina Wong and takes place in the heart of the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood at the intersection of Columbia and Hastings. During her time leading and organizing the Street Store, and through her conversations with the community, she gained a better understanding of the real challenges and experiences of people living and working in the Downtown Eastside.
In 2017, Christina was at the Street Store when she met a four-year-old boy named Justin, who would effectively change the course of her life forever.
Upon opening the doors of the Street Store Justin came running in, full of energy and liveliness, excited about the possibility of finding a toy for Christmas. After spotting a guitar in Christina’s hands, he charged at her full force and immediately began playing with the strings and trying to make music. Later on, Christina had the opportunity to meet the boy’s parents, who expressed grief that they could not properly provide for their son, due to lack of a stable income as artists.
It was in that moment that the idea for Employ to Empower was born and Christina’s quest to positively impact the community through employment and entrepreneurship began. The following month, Christina quit her full-time job and with the support of co-founder, Stephanie Chan, officially launched Employ to Empower.
Our Mission
We focus on providing personalized support.
Our mission is to empower individuals who face work and social barriers to cultivate community connections through entrepreneurship and self-advocacy opportunities.
Our Vision
Every person has the opportunity to achieve self-reliance, financial well-being, a sense of belonging and contribution to the community.
Our Annual Report
Our Values.
Community
We aim to cultivate an interconnected community of impact makers.
Empowerment
We collaborate to unlock self-confidence, self-belief, and self-agency so our community can step into their power.
Acceptance
We strive to create an environment where we meet each other where we’re at, without judgment.
Access
We work together to reduce the systematic barriers to endless opportunities.
What We Do.
Employ to Empower takes a compassion-focused, holistic approach to empowering residents in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside through business skill building, mentorship, and advocacy.
Stage 1: Business Skills Training
This stage offers foundational business skills that support you in creating a basic business plan for your business idea.
Stage 2: Mentorship
Our mentorship program supports residents and their business aspirations through access to: Personalized weekly mentorship sessions, free counselling from registered counsellor, specialized workshops, monthly networking events, a part time co-working space and affordable micro-loans.
Step 3: Community Partnerships
After a couple months of mentorships, entrepreneurs may get the chance to be featured on marketing platforms such as: Documentaries, workshops with private schools, and short video series. Our goal is to shift the stigma and share the talent of in the Downtown Eastside community.
Meet The Team
Employ to Empower is a team of qualified, self starting, and adaptable professionals who put compassion first, and are committed to creating positive social change in the Downtown Eastside community.
Scott Shaw
Co-Founder @ Sutton Realty
Breanne Lehodey
Associate @ BLG Law Group
Adam Lorant
Investor @ Magellan Angel Partners
Christina Wong
ED @ Employ To Empower
Darius Maze
Vice Chair @ Employ to Empower
Timothy Ames
Chair
Christina Wong
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Christina brings a diverse skillset to the team, reflecting a combination of: 14 years of volunteering in the DTES community, ten years of sponsorship experience, a major in Psychology from SFU and eight years working with people who face disabilities. She is very fortunate to have an incredibly team to help achieve a mission that is much greater than us - cultivating sustainable change for entrepreneurs who face barriers. Recently, she was nominated for the 2020 YWCA Women of Distinction in the Non-Profit category and a recipient for the Globe and Mail Top 50 Business Changemaker recipients in Canada.
Charissa Landicho
Community Partnerships Lead
Charissa is the Community Partnerships Lead at Employ to Empower works directly with a team of events specialists to curate documentaries, short video series, private school workshops & events that focus on destigmatization, education and awareness of the entrepreneurs in the program. She is also the co-lead for our annual Vancouver Street Store event.
Truman Wong
Operations Advisor Volunteer
Truman is an active champion in the community and is leading our development programming for our basic business fundamentals and ideation courses at Employ to Empower.
Hosea Cheung
Media Relations Coordinator - Volunteer
As Marketing and Communications director for Sageus Strategy + Digital, Hosea supports the external relations strategy by communicating ETE’s story to the broader community through impactful storytelling.
Vivian Wong
Marketing Lead
Vivian is an undergraduate student studying Health Sciences and Entrepreneurship & Innovation at SFU. This past December, she championed the Vancouver Street Store 9.0 and transitioned into the Marketing Lead. When she isn’t creating content or project charters, you can find her drinking a London Fog.
Robert Jago
Mentorship Lead
Robert Jago is an entrepreneur and journalist from the Kwantlen First Nation. He was born and raised on traditional Kwantlen territory in Richmond, and has a degree in political science. Robert has lived and worked on the Downtown Eastside for 20 years, first as a homeless teen, and then as a business owner in the education services sector.
Maryam Dada
In-house Counsellor
Maryam is our in-house counsellor at Employ to Empower. She’s worked and volunteered with marginalized communities for the past seven years. Her goal is to empower clients to work on becoming who they want to be and help them begin leading authentic lives as entrepreneurs. She specializes in addiction and recovery, grief and loss, trauma, life transitions, anxiety, depression, and relationship/family concerns. She is particularly passionate about working with individuals impacted by systemic issues. Maryam holds a Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology degree from Adler University and is excited to be a part of the ETE team. Maryam joined ETE because she wanted to be a part of a community that is committed to making a difference and helping people achieve their dreams.
Lara Debie
Business Skills Training Lead
Lara leads the Business Skills Training programming at Employ to Empower, facilitating Ideation Workshops and the 10-week Business Skills Training program. She values genuine and authentic human connection and is passionate about supporting people in creating self-confidence. This is what she brings into all her work at Employ to Empower and how she interacts with entrepreneurs and community organizations. As well as how she operates within her own Coaching practice, where she works with clients 1-1 in order to create the life they want and live it confidently. Lara holds a Master of Laws degree in Health Law from the University of Amsterdam (NL) and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach.
Isa Seto
Operations Lead
Isa is passionate about creating an environment and culture where individuals feel valued, appreciated and seen and will carry this into all her work at Employ to Empower. She is excited to own all things engagement, culture, volunteer and operations within the Employ to Empower community.
Deborah Scott
Marketing Advisor - Volunteer
Deborah has a combination of marketing, entrepreneurship and a boundless, genuine heart to support our community. She will be working on helping ETE curate and design a marketing/sponsorship strategy so ETE can engage corporations/donors/individuals in a meaningful way.
Alberto De Castro
Business Skills Training Coordinator
Alberto supports the Business Skills Training Program and the participants who go through the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey. He is passionate about creating and implementing strategies that bring internal and external program resources together, making it more accessible to the communities we support.
Janice OBriain
ED @ Venture Connections
Dr. Sarah Lubik
ED @ Charles Chang Institute
Alisha Masongsong
Director @ Exchange Inner City
Sharon Makina
Big Sisters of BC
Amy Hemmerling
Cillema Film / Videography
Alex Bocajj
Cillema Film / Videography
Len Pierre
Cultural Competency Advisor
Len is supporting Employ to Empower's leadership team with integrating indigenous worldview in to ETE's programming.
Vivian Chan
Chief Channel Officer Company at NexTech AR Solutions
Vivian is an advisor with ETE and supports with providing guidance around marketing, leadership and human resources.
Amanda Mah
Social Media Coordinator and Specialist Mentor
Amanda is a digital marketer who is supporting the Brand and Marketing team with social media. She also supports the Development Course by teaching digital literacy to entrepreneurs who face work and social barriers.
Sheila Kern
Strategic Planning Advisor
Sheila is supporting Employ to Empower's leadership team with defining the brand purpose to achieve the goals in to ETE's programming.
Katrina Pacey
James Pelmore
TELUS Storyhive Documentary
Have Questions?
Contact us for answers to all of your questions or to sign up for our services! We're always available to answer any of your questions or provide you with support if needed.
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