Horizon Publications

Horizon Publications is one of North America's fastest-growing, fully youth-led nonprofits, amplifying youth voices through physical and digital publishing and printing globally, with 70% of engagement locally in Vancouver.

I initially spotted Horizon through an Instagram post about a youth-led publishing nonprofit being built in Vancouver, and the mission, giving young people a real platform and a real voice, was the kind of thing that quietly aligned with a part of me I had not been paying much attention to. I applied for a somewhat junior role available, Director of Administration, on the strength of a thin resume and a decent interview, and took it not for any strategic reason but because the work itself felt meaningful in a way that was different from my ventures.

Horizon Publications is now one of North America's fastest-growing, fully youth-led nonprofits, with 70% of engagement still local to Vancouver. Under my leadership, the organization has recruited 550 staff (up from 35), published youth literature and art through what is now the largest Canadian under-18 global culture magazine, reached 3M+ readers (from 100k), distributed 3,000 print copies, and opened teams in 15 countries. We have built long-term partnerships with the IVY 100 Education Center and other local businesses, and grown total student reach across Canada and abroad. I was promoted from Director of Administration to Chief Growth Officer after Horizon's leadership saw the track record I had built through my ventures, and was later named Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Executive Officer, eventually overseeing a division that spans four continents, including a Shanghai chapter that grew large enough to become its own regional agency for all of China.

Recently, I led the acquisition of Crimson Care, a nonprofit that raises money and awareness to donate feminine hygiene products to the most vulnerable in Vancouver, now under Horizon Publications. Bringing it under Horizon extends the kind of direct, local support that first drew me to this work.

Horizon is also where I learned how to build an organization rather than just a product, the people, processes, and accountability structures that most founders do not encounter until they have raised real funding and hired a real team. Managing people significantly older than me taught me that maturity in communication, speaking with clarity and sound reasoning, erases an age gap faster than anything else, and that the actual skill is knowing when to lead and when to ask, "What do you think we should do?" instead.