Kyle Sam
Community Relations Coordinator
Bio coming soon.
Marco
Community Relations Coordinator
Marco is of mixed ancestry. His mother is Anishinaabe (Rainy River First Nation) /Polish, and his father is Chilean, Spanish, and Italian. Marco was born and raised in Coast Salish Territory on Vancouver Island. Marco has over 24 years experience in martial arts and fitness which includes Capoeira, Kickboxing, and MMA. He currently works for the DUDES Club Society as a Community Relations Coordinator on Vancouver Island.
Frank Cohn
Co-Director
Frank has more than 20 years of experience in managing and evaluating Community Development, Social Impact, and Education Programs, in 22 countries; with leadership capacity building work with over 10,000 people in over 100 rural villages and urban neighbourhoods. Frank also serves as the Exec. Director of the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture.
Leona Lu
Operations Manager
As the operations manager for DUDES Club Society, Leona has demonstrated exceptional leadership and organizational skills, driving significant improvements in the organization’s overall efficiency and effectiveness. Leona holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and comes from a Han Chinese background. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and spending time with her dog and two cats.
Jason Fitzpatrick
Vancouver Coordinator
Bio coming soon
Cruz Rodriguez
Sr. Web Designer
Cruz is a jack of all trades. He’s a web designer, UI expert, talented artist, app store and advertising creative design legend. He also has experience working with Big IPs. Cruz is someone who has the creative flair that every client loves. While his talent is in his creativity, his output and speed of high quality deliverables is his forte.
Muhaned Shalash
Project Coordinator
Muhaned is the Project Coordinator with NexUp-DCS who’s main work is Youth and Community Engagement. As the project Coordinator, Muhaned has started the Core Projects with NexUp which reflect the NexUp pillars. With over a decade of youth and community work, Muhaned connects to the youth through shared experiences. Through previous Youth work opportunities- Muhaned has gained the life skills needed to communicate with vulnerable youth who have experienced past traumatic events in their homeland.
Gaston
Team member
Bio soon
Taylor Lee
Team member
Taylor lee is from « vancouver » ancestral, illegally occupied (unceded) homelands of the SkwxwĂş7mesh (Squamish), xĘ·məθkĘ·É™yĚ“É™m (Musqueam), and SÉ™lĚ“ĂlwÉ™taĘ”/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
she is an urban âpihtaw’kos’ân okimâskwîsis artist. her moms mom is saint laurent de grandin river métis. taylor uses artistic practice to tell her story and stories of their people. taylor’s lens centres complexity of her subject matter, refusing one-dimensional representation of women and trauma. Their works showcase joy and possibility through themes of identity, culture, and kinship. taylor allows her stories to be expansive, encouraging the audience to envision: resistance as love, truth as beauty, education as freedom, and care as critical for Indigenous futures.
Dan Castillo
Web and Data Developer
Dan is a software developer with a passion for data science and machine learning. He has worked with several non-profit organizations at different capacities, and he is particularly interested in working for initiatives that help protect and revitalize indigenous languages.
Robert Chippeway
Champion of Vancouver DCS
Peer Indigenous research associate in the HIV community.
Robert has utilized his lived experiences to support the men in the DTES community over the years in a good way. Robert is always working to support the community and wellbeing of others by walking the road in a good way and sharing knowledge from his vast past experiences and teachings.
Rome Mahdavi
Administrative Coordinator
​​Rome (They/Them) is a first generation immigrant with a variety of lived and professional experience. They find their best self in creative and challenging spaces. Rome always looks forward to developing their worldview and knowledge through community connections and meaningful conversations. In their spare time, you can find them with their cat Babylon, playing video games, or chilling at the park.