Handing Over the Moose Reins

After three impactful years as the Co-Chairmoose team at the Digital Moose Lounge, Erika Wah and I (Griselda Zhou), and a thriving thirteen-person board, are thrilled to announce a new Chair who will be taking the moose reins. Please help us celebrate Sarah Price, a current board member who has stepped up to be our next fearless moose leader. As of this February, Erika and I both became past-chairmoose (“Pastured Moose”) and will remain on the board supporting Sarah.

Sarah is a spirited and talented Canadian, originally hailing from Toronto, Ontario. She moved to the Bay Area 25 years ago for a two-year tech job … and she never left! She’s held professional careers at Deloitte and Oracle, and eventually her own consulting company while raising two daughters. In her personal life, Sarah is a figure skater, an interior designer, a Leafs hockey fan, and a huge lover of the maple dip doughnuts at Timmies. She’s been an integral part of the DML and the DML Board for the last four years and we can’t think of a better leader to continue championing DML’s mission and serving the local Canadian community.

Looking back, we couldn’t be more proud of our term as “Co-Chairmooses” and the Board we’ve built. Being on the DML Board is a volunteer job that requires commitment and dedication. The Board oversees the governance and execution of the DML’s mission and strategy and is responsible for cultivating community relationships, partnerships, and cultural relations. Being part of the Board also means you might need to roll up your sleeves by leading a committee to organize Thanksgiving, or to serve Canadian beer to our guests at events, or moderate a Chesterfield Chat with Canadian thought leaders on Canadian/U.S. immigration, tax or cultural policies. Most of all, we felt rewarded by getting to meet many of you during our term -- our followers, members, and partners -- and hearing your stories and celebrating all things Canadiana with you throughout each year.

We want to take a quick trip down memory lane with some of the highlights from the last three years:

During our second week as Co-Chairs in 2018, we had the privilege to meet with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, during his first visit to the Bay Area. It was a great way to kickstart our new roles!

From there we grew our Board to thirteen members from diverse careers and backgrounds. With this Board, we have worked hard to sharpen our mission and focus on creating community for local Canadians in the Bay Area.

Finding partners and financial sponsors that align with our mission has been incredibly rewarding. We streamlined our event offerings each year making sure we celebrated Canada Day and Thanksgiving with everything from a toque party to a nanaimo bar baking show, as well as talking hockey and COVID-19 border restrictions. And, we honoured the DML’s 20th’ Anniversary through celebrations where we reunited the DML founders and early members.

We spotlighted Bay Area Canadians who were making a difference, launched our Ask A Canadian blog series, and built a local directory of Canadian-owned and affiliated small businesses. We also stepped up as friendly Canadian neighbours and worked with our members to raise thousands of dollars and hundreds of pounds of food for local food banks and charities in need.

We are very grateful to have been recognized by the City of San Jose and the Consulate General of Canada for our impact in the community. At the heart of our work, we want our mission to continue to light the way: We facilitate meaningful connections with Canadians in the Bay Area and gather over Canadian culture, with partners, to deliver social impact to our local community. We also welcome all new or old Canadians to the Bay Area and Canada-lovers with a big warm hug.

Thank you for being part of the DML community and joining in our crazy Canadian ways. As a Board, we look forward to continuing to serve you for many more years to come. 2021 has lots in store and we hope to hear from you on social media or see you soon at one of our gatherings!

Griselda Zhou & Erika Wah, Co-Chairmoose, 2018 - 2021 Digital Moose Lounge