Laura Kenyon, the Online Community Manager and Editor, took some time out of her busy day to do a quick interview, in which I learned a lot about this active woman. She was born in Toronto, Ontario and went to Queens University in Kingston for Film Studies and Global Development. She first got really interested in the topic of international development when she saw a documentary in her first year on Rwanda. She realized that she didn’t really know much about the topic and became involved with learning about it. She got involved with the International Development Conference; one of the speakers was Brent Beardsley who was part of the peace-keeping mission in Rwanda. Her hobbies include reading, especially history, writing, snowboarding in the winter, watching European football, and learning about Russia.

At TakingITGlobal, Laura is responsible for looking after the online community and managing the virtual volunteers who moderate various parts of the site. She helps out members who are having trouble with the site, finds tech bugs, and is organizing the revamp of the homepage. She is also managing the Mexico Youth Force Journalists for the AIDS Conference in August.

When she was a child, Laura had many career ambitions ranging from being a movie producer and being a journalist. She didn’t even realize that organizations like TIG existed so when the opportunity arose to work at TakingITGlobal, she was surprised. She first got involved with TIG when she was talking to one of her professors about what she should do after she graduated. She had to decide between going to other countries to help situations there and staying in Canada. The professor referred her to a graduate who gave her a list of organizations in Canada that did the type of work she was interested in. TakingITGlobal was on that list. She went to the interview and got the job. In the future, Laura sees herself having lived in different countries so that she can learn more about other cultures but she wants to still be involved in the type of work that TIG does by giving back to communities.

The most important issue youth should be involved with according to Laura is being concerned about having a responsible authority or government. Youth should be involved with decision making to make sure that it is completed justly.

Things to Check Out:
• One of the most important commitments someone can make is to have a positive impact on the people and environment around you. Make an effort to be open and respectful to others. Be aware of the effect you have on others.
• Laura is currently part of two projects online, Adobe Youth Voices and Mexico Youth Force Journalists. She is helping to organize both.
• Two photos have been entered into the global gallery by Laura. One for a contest dealing with the environment depicting a nuclear plant and a second photo of a beach.
• The blogger Sarah Zaaimi, the author of the much read ‘Educated Prostitute’ has caught the eye of Laura. Laura appreciates that Sarah writes frequently and always with interesting topics.
• When given the chance to travel anywhere in the world, Laura chose Russia. She has always been interested in its history and cities and wants to see all the locations first hand.

In 2006, Laura participated in the Toronto AIDS Conference. Throughout the conference, one of her most memorable moments was when a girl from South East Asia took the mike at the opening ceremonies. She talked about how Asia was becoming the new face of AIDS. A second memorable moment for Laura was when a group of Russian activists from Front Aids shared their story of how they had to watch their friends die because help services weren’t provided. These two presentations really got to Laura because the presenters were at a similar age. She really started to see the actual effect that AIDS had on people.

This August, Laura will be travelling to Mexico City for the 2008 AIDS Conference. She is looking forward to meeting everyone she has been working with virtually and wants to continue learning about what she got a basis on two years ago. She is excited to attend sessions and learn about what is new this year. At the conference, Laura would love to meet Stephen Lewis because he is very vocal and a great speaker. She would be content with even a couple minutes talking to him.

Finally, Laura finds everyone inspiring to her. Everyone works hard and does a lot. She finds that you can look across the room and you may not know what someone is doing, but you can be assured that it is something important.