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Celebrating Positive Leadership and Advocacy: Chelsea’s Story

Every year the province of BC recognizes Child and Youth in Care Week to raise awareness of the strength, diversity, talents, contributions, and dreams of youth in and from care in the province. Aunt Leah’s celebrates the strength, determination, resilience and virtues of the young people we serve. Our staff and peers come forward with nominations and our leadership team votes for winners in 5 categories. Then we gather at a special event to honour the winners.

One of the 5 awards is The Leadership Award- Positive Leadership, Advocacy, Empowerment

This annual award and bursary is presented in honour of Pam Costello , a long-time and very esteemed co-worker at Aunt Leah’s. Pam was a solid fixture at Aunt Leah’s for nearly 21 years. She began her career with Aunt Leah’s as a Family Support Worker for teen mothers at Aunt Leah’s House, moved on to work as a youth worker in the Support Link Program, and became the Program’s Coordinator. Pam’s leadership abilities and willingness to grow, moved her into the position of Director of Operations; a “jack of all trades” she always surprised us with her ability to get stuff done. Pam went above and beyond to ensure the young people connected to Aunt Leah’s were safe and supported.

Chelsea is this year’s Leadership Award Recipient. You may recognize Chelsea from our Mother’s Day story “Mom’s Who Beat the Odds“, and this time we’re sharing more about her drive and achievements..

Chelsea is proud of her Indigenous heritage and vocal about making positive changes within her culture. Her kind spirit and helpful approach enables her to support younger moms with parenting and cooking skills. Chelsea has said that her journey with Aunt Leah’s has helped her be more confident and has given her the tools to trust herself to be a better mother for her two daughters.

Chelsea began her journey with Aunt Leah’s at age 15, as a participant at Aunt Leah’s House, where she gave birth to her first daughter. She was the first person to receive the Aunt Leah award in 2011 because of her dedication to herself and her new baby. She moved back to Toronto with her young daughter to reconnect with their Indigenous community. She became a licensed nail and skin technician in Toronto and was very successful. She continued to thrive as a young entrepreneur and had her second daughter in 2017. In 2020 she moved back to BC and reconnected with Aunt Leah’s.

Chelsea is self-motivated and resourceful; she is full of ideas and always works on projects. A few of her professional achievements are:

Graduating from the Indigenous Community Entrepreneurship Development & Action Recovery program at Gustavson University in Victoria.
Completing an internship in a communication program, Indigenous 150, through Films in August of 2022.
Getting hired as a communication coordinator and works on a new youth series which will be released this summer.
Beginning the Global Make-up Diploma Program in January 2024, offered to the Indigenous community by Blanche MacDonald.

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