Who are you?
Who aren’t I really is the question. I don’t like 80s rock ballads, peppers, or spiders, but pretty much everything else is on the table.
My true loves, however, are community and learning. So far in my life, this has materialized though teaching, nonprofit event management, curriculum development, writing, and most recently developing community-university engagement initiatives at Simon Fraser University. I recently completed a certificate in dialogue and civic engagement, and am nearly finished an MBA in community economic development, where my final research project looks at volunteerism and leadership.
I’m also a keen traveller. I recently returned from a 5 month trip that took me through Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
I write about all my loves on my website at trinaisakson.com.
What do you do for fun?
Listening to 80s rock ballads while eating peppers near a spider web.
But really, fun is pretty low key for me. I ride my bike, go to concerts, read, have dinner with friends. Travel when I can. I tend to find joy in pretty small, sometimes inane things.
What is your favourite community and why?
The nonprofit community. I enjoy hearing the passion in the voices of those doing work close to their hearts, and learning about ways that we can better support our communities through better engagement, technology, strategy, etc.
What is your superpower?
To draw connections and see possibilities. I approach challenges with an open mind and wonder if there isn’t a better/easier/more collaborative way to do things. I can envision tactics in one area and relate them to opportunities in another area.
How do you use it to build community?
I collaborate. I work with community- and education-oriented organizations that are looking to better engage with their staff, volunteers, donors, citizens, etc. I participate in and organize activities that bring diverse people together to identify issues, pose solutions, and imagine a better future. Some of my recent activities include Vantage Point’s Next Leaders Network, Change Through _ _ _ _ _, and events like Dan Pallotta’s recent talk on restraints on the nonprofit sector, Net Tuesdays, Wiring the Social Economy, and the upcoming Social Innovation and Finance Open Event. Wanna join me?
My Three Favourite Things About Trina Are…
1. Her Smartypants. I was lucky enough to work with Trina at a certain Lower Mainland university that is not UBC. Chatting with her about life, the universe and everything was as entertaining as it was informative. The thing about Trina is that you always leave her better and more informed than when you arrived.
2. Cool Collaboration. Check out the links above – especially the one to trinaisakson.com – and you’ll get an idea of how many communities are impacted by Ms. Isakson. Going from me to we is how we’ll make a collective run at saving this poor little planet of ours.
3. Quirkiness. “Listening to 80s rock ballads while eating peppers near a spider web.” Yeah, that’s a special statement by a women who is certainly comfortable in her own skin. I love how her blog combines humour, adventure, ideas, hope, and connections in ways that bring together the nonprofit community and the people who are – or want to be – a part of it. It’s a beautiful thing.
– As told by John Horn