Horizon Publications

I was promoted from Director of Administration to Chief Growth Officer, then named CEO, eventually overseeing a division of roughly 100 to 200 people across four continents. One of them, a chapter in Shanghai, grew large enough to become its own regional agency for all of China — which mostly taught me to get out of the way of people doing good work far from me.

Under that leadership Horizon has brought on more than 300 young people, built long-term partnerships with the IVY 100 Education Center and other local businesses, and grown total student reach from 60,000 to 2.7 million across 21 provinces and states in 12 countries, with roughly 70% of engagement still local to Vancouver. Keeping that local share high was deliberate; it would have been easier to chase reach anywhere else.

The work itself is unglamorous and physical: reading submissions, laying out issues, ordering print runs, setting up a room before doors open. Our R.E.A.L. conference — Racial Education, Leadership, and Awareness — is the clearest version of what the organization is for. Young writers stand up in front of a room and read something they made, and the rest of us make sure the room exists.