Knowledge Exchange Broker
As a knowledge exchange broker, I collect and hold ideas, visions, dreams, intentions, objectives and goals and exchange them so that they can be acted on. I establish relationships and partnerships, bringing people together who need to meet in order to move things forward. When something requires doing, I find the people who belong together to make their intentions a reality.
I provide the link between individuals, organisations and the forces that want to come together to effect change. I introduce them to each other -and then I step back. This is how things happen! I’ve seen it. My experience knows this is how it is done.
I introduce ideas to people who need to know each other because each one holds a piece of the whole. Like individual notes that blend into one full harmony so all may become clear, I help you realise and honour what you already know.
Both practical and idealistic, I am the dreamer and the doer, listening to the knowledge that is brought to me, packaging it to be heard, and then finding the person who listens. When this translates into action, the dream is made real. With a gift for making friends and acquaintances, I am able to span many different worlds. This is something intrinsic to my personality, a combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy.
Through my large social network built up over many years of advocacy and community work, I know where to go and who to call to bring people together. I am someone to be relied on, to connect you with the new information that I accumulate. Due to my experience, social skills, and ability to communicate, I am truly a knowledge exchange broker, sharing and trading what I know with others.
What people are saying
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Dan Reist
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Gail T. Muise
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Tom Rankin
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Ethan Nadelmann
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Diane Abbey-Livingston
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Maria Golovanevskaya
Dan Reist, Centre for Addictions Research of BC
"Gillian invests her life in making the world a better place. She does this by building connections. Her network of contacts spans the globe and includes an unbelievable array of interests and backgrounds. So much has happened through the many relationships incubated within that network; I don’t suppose it is even possible to calculate her influence."
Gail T. Muise, Registered Career Counsellor and Facilitator
"Our work with Gillian has helped us to manifest our dream of living in a wonderful, environmentally aware, supportive community, in the dream home that we created together. Gillian's caring and respectful approach allowed us to bring forth the necessary elements to accomplish this long term goal. As we looked back on the work that we did together, it was apparent that we manifested everything that we had indicated that we wanted in our sessions. Thank you Gillian!"
Tom Rankin, Independent Consultant & Facilitator for Canadian School of Public Service
"Gillian's special gift is in enabling very different groups to work together in ways that honour the distinctiveness of each while realizing their joint potential. She helps people explore the world of possibilities - to sense the future in the present, to discover the familiar in the novel, and to see oneself with new eyes."
Ethan Nadelmann, Founder & Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance, USA
"When I think of Vancouver and who to call, I immediately contact Gillian to find out. She is extremely well connected with the diverse group of players in the drug policy reform world in her local environment, nationally and internationally. From a street entrenched person to an elected official, Gillian is at ease with whomever she meets, and they with her."
Diane Abbey-Livingston, Consultant, Trainer & Facilitator for Canadian School of Public Service
"Gillian has a way of being with people that both affirms them and invites them to consider the validity and impact of their beliefs. She is gentle, firm, curious, knowledgeable and a delight to work with. She is the perfect partner to engage people in serious thinking about tough societal issues."
Maria Golovanevskaya, Former Program Officer at the International Harm Reduction Development Program at the Open Society Foundations
"I have worked with Gillian on facilitating knowledge exchange between medical professionals from Eastern Europe and their peers in Vancouver. Gillian is a natural mediator; she is able to diffuse the tensions and facilitate a dialogue when the differences seem too great to overcome. She builds bridges and forms meaningful connections, liaising like-minded people locally and globally. Her strength is her highly observant and analytical nature, coupled with compassion and empathy that instantly put people at ease in her presence."
