Meet the co-creation team
Nice to meet you! Thanks for stopping by. We’re already eyeball-deep in our first phase of NS GovLab, but we wanted to tell you a little more about our team and why we’re in the business of complex, tangly issues, social innovation and human-centered design.
Beth Fox
Day job: Senior Service Designer, Service Nova Scotia
Other hats: Straw-bale gardener, baker, solar powered mom
Claim to fame: Empath Level 11
Beth is a digital professional with more than 15 years of working on everything from online services for citizens, to tiny websites for local businesses. Beth has always worn her heart on her sleeve and cares about people and making things better. These two things are what led her to be a human-centered service designer. In the past four years at Service Nova Scotia, Beth has been a catalyst for changing how government delivers online services. She is passionate about her mission: make dealing with government clear, efficient, and human-centered.
Rayna Preston
Day job: Evaluation Consultant, Health Promotion Branch, Department of Health and Wellness
Other hats: Mama of two wee lads, master hat-crocheter
Claim to fame: Has almost reached the end of the Internet
Rayna is passionate about bringing people together to discover what works, under what conditions, and for whom. For Rayna, valuing the ways people find and interpret meaning in their lives and communities is essential to innovative and transformative public policy. Rayna’s work on our co-creation team comes from her desire to practice, apply and work in a way that aligns with her core values. In this role, she helps fellows explore a world outside their comfort zone and discover new and meaningful ways to work.
Jocelyn Yerxa
Day job: Design and Process Lead, NS GovLab, Department of Seniors
Other hats: Amateur vintage-moped mechanic, Netflix connoisseur, mother to the best barber in the world
Claim to fame: Once visited 6 countries and 16 cities in 3 weeks
Jocelyn has a passion for making the world a better place. She has rarely met a complex social problem she hasn’t loved to dig into and try to understand on a deeper level. The aging population, and the opportunities it holds, is a passion of hers.
Jocelyn feels greatly honoured to be entrusted with the establishment of the Nova Scotia government’s first social innovation lab — especially one focused on an issue of such great importance and close to her heart. She is grateful to be working with an amazing group of people and excited to be learning alongside our team and fellows during the NS GovLab journey.
Aubrie McGIbbon
Day job: Data and Evaluation Lead, NS GovLab, Department of Seniors
Other hats: Triathlete, super-nerd, animal lover and proud paw-rent of three rescue dogs and the occasional potbellied pig
Claim to fame: Potbellied pig whisperer
Hearing “How Might We…?” as a way to reframe an issue fundamentally altered Aubrie’s approach to work. Having a passion for communicating data in the most effective way possible and chronically curious by nature, the opportunity to collaborate with citizens, support a deeper understanding of a shifting demographic and tell the story of NS GovLab is Aubrie’s next great adventure.
Marguerite Drescher
Day job: Graphic recorder and facilitator, Brave Space
Other hats: parent, comic artist, gardener,
Claim to fame: Willing to have tough conversations
Marguerite is the founder of Brave Space and aspires to shift the way we do business by integrating a participatory and inclusive approach to decision-making and collaboration. Marguerite believes that imagining and visualizing a world that is possible can allow us to create it through our collective conversation and action. Marguerite has been involved in many Social Labs in Nova Scotia and abroad, and is grateful to be contributing to design, reflecting the voices of fellows and creating living artifacts that illustrate the NS GovLab story.
Natasha Halili-Banks
Day job: Public relations and public policy student, Mount St. Vincent University
Other hats: Step-parent, Salt Spring Island transplant, antique hunter, reluctant housekeeper
Claim to fame: Managed to fall onto and off of the same India Railway train (it’s a good story)
Natasha is a public relations and public policy student at Mount Saint Vincent University who joined the NS GovLab team during a four-month co-op work-term and couldn’t seem to break free. Natasha is keenly interest in evaluating experiences of resistance and empowerment and believes wholeheartedly in the value of lived experience to inform policy and system change.
Finding her way onto NS GovLab team has been one of the ultimate highlights in this season of her life. She is excited to have the opportunity to work with the many amazing individuals at NS GovLab, believing that true collaboration comes from the trust and value we place in one another.
Sarah Levy MacLeod
Day job: Communications Advisor, Seniors/Health and Wellness
Other hats: Fitness junkie, audiobook aficionado, donut lover, overwhelmed mama of two
Claim to fame: Can make black leggings work in literally every context
Sarah is a communications and public affairs advisor with a background in economic development and an overdeveloped interest in creative marketing (probably because she married an ad man). She is a lover of words big and small, and a true believer in the importance of plain language. An eternal optimist, in NS GovLab, Sarah has found her people.
