Julia Grady
Co-Founder / Executive Director
B.A. Fine Arts, Applied Studies Co-op, University of Waterloo
Julia is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of 10C. Working with long-term community benefit as her core purpose, Julia has led 10C through a multi-million dollar expansion and a building acquisition which included the adaptive reuse of a 150+ year old property. This has helped 10C grow in size fivefold, engaging now close to 200 community members, expanding into new project areas and providing a voice for valuable community content – and action.
Julia champions collaboration as a way to realize interesting projects and harness new opportunities. Through 2008 to present, Julia has led multiple grant-funded programs in excess of 2M, each working with various stakeholders in collaborative methods to advance community goals. Through 2016-present, Julia led the 10C Community Bond social finance program, and engaged directly with over 140 investors who form our community financing base. Julia is committed to seeing the social innovation and culture sectors develop and thrive, in the city of Guelph and in other Canadian communities. Her core competencies are in problem-solving, interdisciplinary thinking and connecting community vision to action. She does this work with a tremendous amount of heart, stepping into areas that require a mix of courage, patience and trust.
As an enthusiastic and articulate social entrepreneur and community leader, Julia is able to lead and inspire team-players to carry ideas through to implementation. Julia is tireless in her dedication to helping 10C move to the next level of financial sustainability and social impact. One of Julia’s personal goals is to bring more programming and tools to benefit the 10C membership and help create a culture of sharing that can be truly transformative.
Julia has spent the past 20+ years of her creative career in Guelph fully engaged in everything she takes on. In addition to offering support and leadership to 10C, she has co-created a successful web design & development company, Barking Dog Studios. Barking Dog is now one of Canada’s longest-running web development firms. Julia’s focus with the business has been to support a high level of community work, balanced with very practical and focussed business, project and client development.
The importance of space carries through all of Julia’s work. These spaces at home, work and in the community, fulfill the souls of their inhabitants and allow for connection and collaboration – creating space for change.
Joy Sammy
Community Connector / Placemaker
BSc Wildlife Biology, University of Guelph
MA International Development, University of Northern British Columbia
PhD School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph
In her role as Community Connector, Joy is in close contact with all of 10C’s members and works to know the individual leaders in each organization. This provides 10C not only with a unique view of the community, but also an ability to pull stakeholders together to work towards common goals. In addition to membership, Joy delivers a variety of 10C programs and coordinates volunteers. Joy holds expertise in qualitative research methods and has both an academic background in place theory and lived, professional experience in the creation of place through the transformation and growth of 10C. Her strengths lie in creating connections and networks that address the needs and challenges of 10C members, project management and relational leadership.
Joy continues to work internationally in research and project evaluation while deepening her roots in Guelph as a board member of the Guelph Black Heritage Society and the Flying Dance Community, as well as an active volunteer with the Junction Neighbourhood Group of the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition.
Joy loves meeting new people, making ideas into reality and connecting people to the 10C community.
Jordan Delfs
Events Activator
Law Clerk Diploma, Fanshawe College
Bachelor of Commerce, University of Guelph (in progress)
As 10C’s Events Activator, Jordan connects people with our spaces for occasions of all sorts! She is passionate about providing organizations and individuals the opportunity to host events in 10C’s beautiful and versatile spaces.
In addition to talking to and meeting with the thousands of people who come through 10C each year, Jordan also has a huge working knowledge of the building! She’s been a part of 10C as a volunteer since 2015, and has seen it through many of its changes! She can tell you where everything is, what’s going on at any time, and help you solve any problems that may arise. Whether it be a last minute booking or a printer on the fritz, Jordan is eager to help.
Jordan can set up and tear down rooms faster than you’d think possible, and has an amazing imagination for ways to transform a room. She bar tends, is a door-person, and can even emcee in a pinch.
Outside of work, Jordan is a maker! She sews, knits, does block printing and more! She loves to get her hands dirty in her garden, or on long walks with her Rescue dog Clyde.
Emily Johnston
Financial Administrator
Emily has lived in Guelph since 2008, and has held a variety of positions within Guelph’s community over the years including; Member Service Rep. at Meridian Credit Union since 2013, organizer with the Guelph Night Market and Volunteer Coordinator for Guelph Jazz Festival, Guelph Film Festival and Kazoo! Festival. This past year Emily has moved to working as the Operations Manager with Kazoo! Festival and has been working behind the scenes at 10C since March 2017 as a part-time bookkeeper, moving into her current role of Financial Administrator in July 2018.
Emily’s passions include going to shows in support of local musicians and curling up with a good book while keeping her cats company. Her goal is to work for local, downtown organizations to use and hone her skills at organizing and “putting the puzzle pieces together”. Emily is hands-on for all invoicing, payables, receivables and the all-over financial inner-workings of 10C. She balances numbers like no tomorrow and has fun doing it. Emily is most enjoying the wonderful people and community surrounding 10C, and is looking forward to getting to know even more of them!
Bryan McPherson
Living Architecture Activator
BSc in Environmental Science, Trent University
MLA, University of Guelph
Bryan lives and breathes community. He is an urban agriculture researcher & designer and loves all things food. After a 20-year career as a mapmaker, he changed gears and moved to Guelph to purse a Masters of Landscape Architecture. Bryan keeps connected to grassroots efforts, helps to organize neighbourhood events, and is active in the design of urban food installations. At 10C he is involved in activating otherwise empty downtown spaces into food growing opportunities. Bryan’s goal is to activate rooftops, facades & interiors and transform them into productive food spaces. He also likes to share this knowledge with others, and aims to increase food literacy in the Guelph community.
Savanah Muller
Container Garden Program Assistant
BSc in Environmental Science, University of Guelph (in progress)
Savanah is a student at the University of Guelph studying Environmental Science with a major in Ecology. Savanah loves all aspects of nature and spends most of her free time outside painting, reading or playing guitar under a tree or by the river. Through previous experience working on a family-run farm, she has developed a passion for working hands on with nature and believes that creating connections with our food is important for community development and wellbeing.
As the Container Garden Program Assistant, Savanah is responsible for developing 10C’s beautiful container garden patio as an urban destination for passerbyers to stop and be inspired. Through running workshops on container gardens, she hopes to inspire others to get connected with nature and where our food comes from.
Vicky Huang
Community Animator Lite
BSc (Hons) in Bio-Medical Sciences; minor in Nutritional and Nutraceutical Sciences, University of Guelph
Vicky cannot imagine a more fulfilling way to spend her summer than as the Community Animator Lite for 10C. The way she sees it, her role as a community ‘animator’ means to ‘bring life into’ the community. Her enthusiastic, friendly and altruistic personality authentically brings a welcoming and positive space for all who walk through 10C’s doors, her passion for creating social change only finding synergy within this vibrant community.
Through her undergrad, Vicky’s involvement in environmental action, social justice and community development has kindled her passion for generating social impact. She is currently dedicating her year to explore various creative endeavours to facilitate knowledge, skill, and value-transfer in hopes of inspiring sustainable and meaningful living for all.
With that, Vicky is beyond excited to be 10C’s community engager, outreacher, communicator, and story-collector! From welcoming members and guests into the space to designing graphics to showcase 10C’s initiatives and stories, you will see her taking pictures, drawing sketches, and brainstorming ideas to add creative touches to our social media, website, and newsletters.
