My name is Tara Mahoney and I’m a mother, daughter, sister and 4th generation Irish settler living as an uninvited guest on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I’m the Research and Engagement Lead with SFU’s Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) and I have been an instructor with the Civic Innovation Change Lab at RADIUS SFU, a research fellow in climate change communications at the David Suzuki Foundation and the co-founder and creative director of Gen Why Media. As a practitioner, educator and researcher in emerging modes of public engagement, I believe the best engagement meets our deep human need for belonging, creativity, meaning and connection.