MENTOR YOUR WAY - Key Persons

Cristyn MacDonald was born, raised and educated in Cape Breton, but currently resides in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Born a leader, she was only five years old when she decided she wanted to be a teacher. Cristyn would force her siblings to be her "students," and developed lesson plans to teach them everything from math and science to table manners. Over time her passion and commitment for teaching have only grown with each year and new opportunity she creates for herself as a professional. Cristyn embarked on her lifelong learning journey at the age of 22 when she obtained her Bachelor of Education from Cape Breton University. From there, she decided to move across the pond to London, England where she shared her passion for teaching with many students across a broad range of schools. This was a challenging and rewarding endeavour for Cristyn, as many of her students' first languages were not English, but she took it as a unique opportunity to adapt her teaching styles. While based in England she spent three years travelling continuing to learn and grow as an educator before embarking on her current adventure in the Middle East. Cristyn believes that life experience and travelling is the best way to learn and grow. She has travelled to over 50 countries across Asia, Europe and North America to gain independence, knowledge and wisdom while continuing to foster her connections to home.

Born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Erin McKenna is a self-employed Digital Marketing Strategy Consultant, living in Saigon, Vietnam. Erin works with international small business clients to build consistent content and streamline branding across various platforms. Erin's own consulting business has grown and moved with her across 3 continents over the past 4 years as she lives her life as a digital nomad. Erin began her business journey 5 years ago after graduating from St.F.X with a Bachelor of Business Admin, and gaining employment at InNetwork - an influencer marketing tech start-up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She later remained with the company as it was acquired by gShift in Barrie, Ontario, working as a digital strategist and influencer marketing specialist. In 2016, Erin relocated to Yorkshire, United Kingdom, where she began growing her own independent consulting business, and taking clients from Switzerland, Canada, USA, and the UK. In 2018 Erin once again packed her life and moved to Vietnam, where she now offers small business marketing strategy and design to local businesses. This venture serves to help emerging small businesses compete in the saturated Vietnamese market by utilising digital marketing strategies. Erin has a passion for travel, having now visited over 30 countries with her fiance. Finding a way to tie together her passions for travel and digital marketing played a key role in the development of her digital business. Erin has successfully assisted, and mentored many small business entrepreneurs globally, to establish clean and consistent branding, stable business plans, and to teach business owners self-sustaining digital marketing practices, in order to create effective, uniform, and attractive marketing collateral.

Maria Rizzetto is a third year law student at Dalhousie University. She has 12 years' experience in client management, communications and development within the private, public and non-profit sectors. Most recently she has worked with the QEII Foundation, the Province of Nova Scotia in Procurement and is currently working as law student with Halifax Water. Her initiative and ability to build lasting relationships has afforded her opportunities to work all over Canada, but Nova Scotia will always be home. Maria thrives in mentor relationships and any type of networking scenarios. She asks a lot of questions and takes every opportunity to get to know someone and what drives them. After participating in many programs as a mentee she decided to take on a mentor role with Immigration Services of Nova Scotia, where she helps new Haligonians build network strategies and job hunt. This sparked her idea for Mentor Your Way. She is heavily involved with her school community - sitting on the Judicial Board, acting as Chief Returning Officer for the Law Students' Society, completing pro bono projects, and volunteering at Dal legal-aid - while staying involved in the broader community sitting on the board for IABC Maritime Chapter and Welcome Housing and Support Services. Maria was born and raised in Cape Breton, but lives in Halifax with her long-term partner, their dog and bunny (yes… bunny). She loves to read, write, play the piano and travel. Maria holds a BA in English from St. Francis Xavier University, an Advanced Diploma in Public Relations from NSCC and is currently a JD Candidate.

Job Titles:

• Sales and Marketing Strategist

Teagan Smith is a Sales and Marketing strategist who has collaborated with CEO's, Executives and Multi-National Organizations to help them achieve success by implementing solutions based on their unique needs. With a 15 year sales and marketing career portfolio, she has spent time At Canada's Central Bank performing Market Research & Analysis, in the NGO world undertaking Business Development, has assisted senior Academic Administrators in the education sector and in multiple Sales and Project Management roles with various Global Top Employers. In addition she has professionally and personally provided career counselling for over 10 years. Teagan knows what drives human behaviour, marketing, and consumer behaviour. It is how well you connect with those you're trying to assist and communicate your understanding back to them. Teagan was born in Kitchener, Ontario, raised in Gander, Newfoundland and spent the last 16 years in various Canadian provinces including Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She currently resides in Canberra, ACT, Australia with her husband and three dogs. Teagan holds a BBA from Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia.