What do you do for fun?
For me, life is an opportunity to constantly create so I have fun all the time playing with ideas, making things happen, trying new things, going places, etc. However, I do have to give credit to La Belle Province and mention how much fun I have when I go to Montreal. Highly recommended.
What is your favourite community and why?
I might get lynched if I said anywhere other than the Comox Valley, but really – it has incredible natural surroundings, I grew up there so I feel connected to a lot of people in the community, and whenever I return I just know it’s home. Bocas del Toro, Panama and Jinja, Uganda are close seconds, though, and that’s just because they also have incredible surroundings and are also filled with amazing people.
What is your superpower?
Leadership, which I’ll boil down to vision, communication, perseverance, and empowering others.
How do you use this power to build community?
When I’m in a community I often see opportunities to create beauty and bring people together. In order to make those ideas come to life, though, I have to tell people about them. That’s the communication part. After that it’s all a matter of pursuing that vision while overcoming obstacles and empowering people to contribute towards the overall goal.
My three favourite things about Billy Strachan are…
1. He’s from the Comox Valley. What can I say? The place – one of the most pristine pieces of community on Earth – creates good people. And Bill is a perfect example of the goodness spread from the Comox Valley around the world.
2. He’s a powerful public speaker. I re-connected with Billy (long ago I was actually his camp counsellor) during a conference in Toronto, where I saw him give a very, very amazing presentation about his self-made non-profit, A Day for Africa. It was inspirational to see such a young man captivate an audience to the point where hundreds of people were hanging on his every word. It was a beautiful thing.
3. The world is a better place because of Billy. The guy has a heart the size of, well, Africa and is using his knowledge of business and people to explore novel ways of using social enterprize to build community, make things healthier and empower others to be leaders. Check out A Day for Africa today and continue to think globally. Hey, even Stephen Lewis thinks he’s a cool guy!