I build mission-driven organizations from ambiguity—turning emerging ideas into strategies, systems, partnerships and stories that move people to act.
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As Co-Founder and CEO of MycoFutures, I led the evolution of a rural mushroom operation into a Canadian biomaterials venture, developed the company’s ESG and impact strategy, mobilized partners across research, industry and innovation ecosystems, and represented its mission on stages across Canada and Europe.
Impact strategy, innovation &
mission-driven storytelling
5 years
Building and leading a science-based climate venture
C$215K
Approximate non-dilutive funding and in-kind support secured
18 programs
Accelerators and innovation ecosystems across Canada and Europe
20+Â invitations
Panels, presentations, fireside conversations and founder events
25+Â features
Media, podcast, print and digital coverage
7 countries
Business, program and partnership activity across Canada, the United States and Europe
I lead where mission, technology and people meet.
My work has never been only about developing a new material. It has been about asking what kind of company should carry that technology into the world, whose interests it should serve, how evidence should guide its decisions, and how its value can be made understandable to the people needed to advance it.
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I believe ambitious financial returns can coexist with environmental responsibility, human dignity and shared prosperity. I also believe that a mission becomes meaningful only when it changes what an organization prioritizes, funds, measures and communicates.
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My role is often to connect the parts: technical experts and customers, strategy and story, emerging evidence and difficult decisions, ambitious ideas and the operating systems required to sustain them.
From a mushroom farm to a biomaterials venture
In 2021, my co-founder and I recognized that one of the fungal strains growing in our Bonavista mushroom operation had characteristics with potential for a new material. The technical possibility was early; the company around it did not yet exist.
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I investigated the competitive landscape, contacted prospective customers, tested the market’s interest and developed the commercialization thesis. Five and a half weeks into an eight-week pre-accelerator, I rebuilt the company name, positioning, deck and long-term ambition while my co-founder developed the first physical sample.
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Within three months, I won the 2021 BioNova BioInnovation Challenge and secured our first CAD $25,000 pitch award. Over the following years, I led the company into Canadian and international research, climate-tech, investment, fashion and design ecosystems.
Turning values into priorities, measures and action
Using a materiality methodology provided through a sustainability accelerator, I led MycoFutures’ company-specific analysis and developed a three-year ESG and sustainability strategy.
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I assessed business and stakeholder priorities, selected six material topics and defined eight impact KPIs spanning emissions, waste, water, accessibility, responsible sourcing, product safety and impact-aligned revenue. I translated them into qualified objectives, operational focus areas, partnership criteria, a phased implementation roadmap and future governance responsibilities.
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The methodology was shared; the organizational judgment was mine. The strategy was designed as a living decision framework—not a branding exercise—to guide how the company allocated resources, prioritized actions and evaluated partnerships.
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Six material priorities:
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Materials, waste and circularity
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Climate and greenhouse-gas emissions
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Access, affordability and customer welfare
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Responsible supply chain
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Product lifecycle design
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Product quality and safety
Company-specific assessment used to identify six material priorities and guide our three-year ESG and sustainability strategy.
MycoFutures ESG Materiality Matrix
Capital efficiency with an honest understanding of its limits
Over five years, I secured approximately CAD $215,000 in non-dilutive funding and in-kind support through grants, research programs, pitch awards and ecosystem partnerships. I held primary responsibility for deciding how limited resources were allocated, consulting my co-founder and trusted advisors on major commitments while retaining final accountability.
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Our two priorities were consistent: make the material and validate the market. That meant concentrating resources on product development, technical de-risking, customer discovery and access to the right rooms and relationships.
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Capital efficiency preserved the company and its ownership, but it also taught me that underinvestment can become an operational risk. Responsible stewardship is not simply spending less. It is knowing when a missing capability constrains the entire organization—and when evidence requires a change in direction.
Building capacity through collaboration
MycoFutures was built with a small internal team and a wide external network. I developed relationships across research institutions, technical specialists, government-supported programs, accelerators, manufacturers, customers and international innovation organizations—often creating capabilities the company could not afford to employ directly.
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Selected examples include:
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Externally funded applied research
Structured collaborations with Lambton College and Mitacs to evaluate liquid-state fermentation, and with Impact Chemistry through NRC IRAP CONNECT to develop an improved tanning protocol. One project ruled out an unsuitable scale-up pathway before further capital was committed; the other improved the material’s appearance, hand feel and durability.
International ecosystem storytelling
Selected by a Lower Austrian incubator and business agency for a climate-solutions exhibition at Vienna’s Museum of Science and Technology. I included a finished handbag created by Vienna-based customer Saborka, demonstrating how an international material innovation could create value within a local design and manufacturing ecosystem.
Distributed commercialization
Currently convening technical and manufacturing contributors in Montréal and Toronto to evaluate a more capital-efficient contract-manufacturing pathway for material optimization and commercialization.
Choosing viability over prestige
Fashion was central to MycoFutures’ identity, investor narrative, public profile and network. It was also a market where years of customer discovery revealed structural barriers to repeatable revenue: long sales cycles, extensive testing requirements, price-volume misalignment and weakening sustainability-led procurement.
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Major-brand interest could create attention and media coverage without creating a viable business. I chose to preserve fashion as an opportunistic channel while rebuilding the company’s primary go-to-market strategy around eco-luxury hospitality, where finished products offered clearer unit economics, use cases and repeat-order potential.
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The decision required letting evidence override identity, prestige and sunk effort.
Making complex missions understandable—and memorable
I have been invited to speak on climate innovation, entrepreneurship, women’s leadership, biomaterials, fungi, circularity, sustainable fashion and design for audiences ranging from intimate expert rooms to national conference stages.
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Selected engagements include The51 XX Summit in Calgary, Invest Ottawa International Women’s Month, Pilzfestspiele/Fungi Economy Day in Vienna, Elevate Festival, Holt Renfrew H Project 10th Anniversary celebration, Canadian Circular Economy Summit, MaRS Climate Impact, BetaKit Most Ambitious Town Hall, Human/Nature and Lab2Market Summit.
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My public work has led directly to strategic introductions, commercial opportunities, media coverage and repeat invitations. I prepare for a room of twenty as though I am speaking to the entire world, because I believe that strongly in the message I am sharing.
Designing support from the participant side
After participating in eighteen accelerators and innovation programs, I understand not only what programs intend to offer, but what participation costs in founder time, cash flow and organizational focus.
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I have judged a founder pitch competition, reviewed applications and selected artists for residencies and exhibitions, designed and facilitated a national founder cohort welcome, co-led a pitch-deck storytelling masterclass, and advised programs as an alumna. I have served as a board secretary, regional representative, vendor liaison and impact-program advisor.
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This experience informs a recipient-centred design philosophy: combine capital with relevant expertise; make every requirement purposeful; respect participants’ time; design inclusion into operations; and measure what changed for the people supported—not merely how many attended.
Visualizing the future before it exists
As an under-resourced founder, I use technology to extend capacity, preserve continuity and move faster—but never to outsource judgment.
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After MycoFutures’ hospitality pivot, I used iterative generative-AI tools to place a real tissue-cover prototype into a carefully art-directed hotel environment. Drawing on my background as an artist and photographer, I refined composition, lighting, material details and brand context until the image communicated the market position at a glance.
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The final visualization became a hero image for the website and print materials and established the visual system for a broader set of hospitality product concepts. AI made the leap possible; human intention, taste and accountability made it credible.
SheBoot Alumna Advisory Council
Cool Climate Club / Canada’s Forest Trust
Founder programming, storytelling instruction and advisory support
Retail forest-contribution models and transparent impact reporting
Newfoundland Young Farmers Forum
Clarenville Farm & Market
Regional representation within a national organization
Governance & community leadership
Vendor representation, facility funding and shared-resource decisions
Early-stage entrepreneurship advisory
Yukonstruct Mentorship Program
Board governance, fundraising and residency/exhibition selection
Union House Arts
Media & Recognition
A publication about what we create, how we live and the meaning that emerges between them.
A reflection on a year of international stages, meaningful milestones, hard-earned lessons and the community behind the work.
Selected Writing & Media
"I believe in science. I believe in technology. As much destruction as there is in the world, we already hold many of the algorithms, formulas, molecules and processes that can help save it."
An unexpected path can still lead to consequential work
Because I led MycoFutures, Canada has a fungi-based materials venture built around circularity, transparency and responsible production. A Filipina artist with no conventional route into science became the CEO of a science-based company—and helped make that possibility visible to others.
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I believe technology can be directed toward a greener and more equitable world. My work is to build the strategy, relationships, systems and stories that help that possibility become real.
