Chelsea Fung
BA, WGSI Major (2012)
What is your current position?
I’m Co-founder of an events and marketing company in my home country Guyana, RED Entertainment and RED Marketing, however my family and I live here in Toronto. This reality is truly absurd when I really think about it but with today’s technology, it’s not only possible but it successfully works!
How has your journey / experiences / learnings at WGSI, inside and/or outside the classroom, guided or influenced your career path / decisions? Can you offer a specific example to ground this for readers?
The embryonic stage of my spontaneous venture to start a business in 2012 with two girlfriends of mine, uncovered the event organizing talents and skillsets that I developed at WGSI during my academic journey at UofT. At WGSI I was a member of WGSSU (Women & Gender Studies Student Union) from 2009 and served as Vice President in 2010 and then Co-President until my final year in 2012. We successfully planned and coordinated several conferences and seminars, notably the Decolonizing our Minds event, that was co-coordinated with other student unions, like CARSSU (Caribbean Studies Student Union) and faculty members. It was always such an ecstatic feeling for me to watch an event, especially the larger events, unfold within 2 hours after months of arduous planning. Event planning as a career wasn’t even in my peripheral vision for my future, but all the while, throughout my journey at WGSI, I was learning and practicing what I would be doing now. I developed my event organizing skills and my ability to collaboratively work with teams of brilliant like-minded people as a member and leader of WGSSU, navigating differences in work styles and approaches – all of which I continue to exercise in my business partnership.
Is there a distinct class or experience at WGSI that has inspired the work you do/your practice/works that you’ve produced?
Hands down, my special experience learning and undergoing what I would call a spiritual transformation in Professor Jacqui Alexander’s 4th year course – Migrations of the Sacred: Gendered Spiritual Practices in an Era of Globalization. We were required to write a book on one medicinal plant of our choice. I remember Professor Alexander meeting with me and telling me that I am literally evolving before her eyes; that my research had driven me and my soul to another place. One of my conclusions in my book spoke to the knowledge that is taught and learnt in spaces like the classrooms of a university and how it creates a sealed space that does not usually allow itself to be disrupted by other worldviews or cosmologies. The lessons of indigenous knowledge and spiritual practices have practical and intellectual significance for academia and the rest of the world. These learnings I have taken along with me in my personal and professional life and it has guided me and my choices so many times.
After you attained your degree at WGSI, what did you do next? Specifically, what steps did you take from getting your degree to where you are now in your career?
In 2012, I returned to Guyana shortly after graduating at UofT and I applied for an internship with an environmental consultancy (Footnote: I also majored in Environmental Studies, hence the environmental work interest). During this time in Guyana, which was only meant for me to wet my feet in environmental work, and then return to Toronto to pursue my Master’s in environmental studies, I spontaneously founded RED Entertainment with two girlfriends in one night, from one conversation. Before that very night was over, a Jazz event (‘From Jazz with Love’) was beyond the embryo stage; the venue and a saxophonist from Barbados were booked, RED Entertainment was formed and the rest is history. We all had very different dreams and aspirations back then, were leading very different lives, but we had a common love for art/cultural-based entertainment and were interested in finding hidden talents in our country that we could bring together on stage with established talents in other Caribbean countries. After the jazz event, we hosted a New Year’s Eve Party (or what we would refer to as Old Year’s Night in Guyana), which was a complete flop! Nevertheless, this didn’t deter us from moving forward with our other ideas for the business as we continued to receive motivating words of encouragement from family and friends, and opportunities to execute events for people within our networks. I followed through with pursuing my Master’s degree in Environmental Studies at York University from 2013 to 2015 with the intention to possibly work within the environmental field in Toronto and still co-run our business in Guyana. However, from 2015, our company began to evolve and expand, and one of the job interviews I had in 2015 actually painted a very clear picture for me as the interviewer expressed that I seemed very passionate about my business and in so many words asked if I would truly be able to juggle both roles. I bluffed my answer of course, but in my mind I knew that I wouldn’t get that job and my business may very well be what I was destined to do. Today, our business delivers a range of event and marketing services to a wide variety of clients in Guyana, with a team of 11!
How did the skillset and knowledge acquired at WGSI directly or indirectly help you in your career journey? Does having a Women & Gender Studies lens positively impact your work and practice? In what ways?
My event organizing experience with WGSSU was definitely beneficial to my career development in the event industry where I create spaces for joy, engagement and community. After 12 years in business, I’m less involved in the event planning aspect of our company as it has grown. I wear a few hats, as you would expect in a small business – I manage our team of 8 employees and I’m team lead for our market research department that by extension periodically manages survey teams of 10-12. The cumulative knowledge / worldview / interdisciplinary lens gained over my academic years at WGSI also guide my role in remotely creating THE space in which our team of sharp, creative minds coalesce to design, produce and research. Here is where I feel like I am thriving like never before as 90% of us are women, young driven women, that are constantly defeating the odds and proving naysayers wrong. Leading and collaborating with our team is the most purposeful work I’ve done thus far. As a small business we go above and beyond for our team to ensure that their work lives are meaningful, sustainable, and equitable, especially in a rapidly developing country like Guyana.