Jess Úst̓i (Housty) is a mother, writer, and citizen of the Haiłzaqv (Heiltsuk) Nation. She is executive director of Qqs (Eyes) Projects Society, a Haiłzaqv charitable non-profit offering youth and family programs focused on cultural resurgence, stewardship, and food sovereignty. She is also a poet, a plant worker, and a community organizer who cut her teeth organizing opposition to pipelines, tankers, and trophy hunting. Jess served her nation for nearly nine years as an elected Haiłzaqv tribal councillor where she championed the stewardship portfolio. She also co-leads the Right Relations Collaborative with Kim Hardy. She lives in her unceded ancestral homelands in Bella Bella with her husband, children, and extended kin.
Kim Hardy is Lead, Pacific Partnerships at MakeWay Foundation (formerly Tides Canada). Kim works with funders, change makers and innovators to collaborate around and activate shared solutions. Based in the unceded territories of the Ləkʷəŋən speaking peoples (Victoria, BC) Kim values the importance of learning/unlearning, the power of collaboration and networks and creating spaces for innovation and acceleration of solutions towards equity and ecological resilience.
