Joanne de Vries

Joanne is a master communicator who loves to inform and inspire change at the personal, organizational, and community scales. She has a passion for creativity, consultation, collaboration, and community consensus.

As a consultant, she has provided communications planning and implementation services to organizations from all sectors for more than 30 years. Her specialties are public education and engagement for local government concerning sustainability issues, such as community planning, water and wastewater management, waste reduction, energy efficiency, active transportation, and air quality.

Joanne brings extensive writing and photography experience, having produced everything from local government annual reports and newsletters, to corporate fact sheets and presentations, to nonprofit grant applications and sponsorship packages. She is also a consummate editor, with expertise in all communication genres, including books.

She also founded FresH₂Outlook―a highly acclaimed magazine about water and environmental issues―and worked as editor-in-chief of Canada’s alive magazine.

Another of her passions is the Fresh Outlook Foundation (FOF), a registered charity, which she established in 2007 to “inspire community conversations for sustainable change.” FOF hosts hugely popular events, all designed and delivered by Joanne. These include the Building SustainABLE Communities conferences, Reel Change SustainAbility Film Fests, Eco-Blast Kids Camps & Concerts, Thompson Okanagan Climate Action Exchanges, CommUnity Innovation Lab, Breakfast of Champions, Women 4 SustainAbility, and Talking DIRTy x 10,000.

In addition to her professional achievements, Joanne received the City of Kelowna’s Mayor’s Environmental Achievement Award for the Most Environmentally Dedicated Individual. FOF was also nominated by the Vernon Chamber of Commerce as Green Business of the Year, and by the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce as a finalist for the Community Impact Award of the Year.

Rick de Vries

Rick is an entrepreneur who appreciates the undeniable link between good communication and successful business. Over the past 25 plus years, he has gained a great deal of business experience and knows the value of providing exceptional customer service.

Rick published an internationally acclaimed print magazine (FresH₂Outlook) for which he undertook all publication activities, including sales, research, writing/editing, design/layout, marketing, and distribution. He also worked as the editor and writer for Waterbucket.ca, which is a partnership of government and non-government organizations. Rick was the publisher, editor, and main writer for H₂Ozine, which was an online magazine featuring articles about water-centric environmental issues. He is currently the editor and main writer for Fresh Outlook Foundation's FOF Ezine, which explores issues concerning sustainability.

He has worked as a researcher, editor, and writer on many different projects. His work has also been published in a large national magazine. As a graphic designer, he has produced everything from logos to full print magazines.

Rick has a background in science and research and is a continual learner who loves taking on new challenges, particularly business- and technology-related. He has built and operated his own e-commerce business, and thus knows the essentials of website design, management, and marketing.

His varied background reflects an understanding of business challenges and opportunities from a variety of perspectives, including those of manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, and customers. This expertise and experience form the basis of his communications work for clients from many sectors.