BA Honours Sociology, minor in Environment and Society | MSc Candidate in Rural Sociology
Ella is a mixed Euro-Canadian and Korean second generation immigrant, born and raised on the unceded territory of the musqueam, squamish and tsleil-waututh nations, now residing on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton. Ella grew up with a passion for two things: the environment and social justice. She was grateful to have grown up spending much of her life outdoors in Vancouver, but hardships experienced by the people around her made her aware that there was a lot of injustice in the world. As she got more involved in environmental activism, she noticed a lot of polarization, and oftentimes a lack of diversity within environmental spaces.
For her undergrad and graduate theses, she focused on bringing the voices of energy workers into the energy transition dialogue. After conducting over two dozen interviews, she saw that many of the priorities of workers seemed to be underrepresented in the mainstream, leading her to decide to get involved in community work with Iron and Earth and other organizations like Migrante Alberta. She hopes that through working with Iron and Earth she will be able to help build relationships with local communities and ensure that marginalized voices are represented in the energy transition.