Kelley knows firsthand what it means for a young person to need someone in their corner, and what it means when someone chooses to show up anyway. Like many young people navigating the uncertainties of growing up, Kelley’s path was shaped by someone who gave something no job description required: a mentor who invested time and energy in her growth at a pivotal moment in her life, and whose belief in her potential helped shape the person she would become. That relationship didn’t just help Kelley get through. It showed her who she could be. She carries that gratitude forward every day.
Kelley brings over 20 years of professional experience to the BBBSO Board, spanning Human Resources leadership, economic development, and strategic partnerships. She currently serves as a Partnership Strategist at Invest Ottawa, where she leads sponsorship and partnership strategy, builds high-value relationships across the public and private sectors, and drives measurable community and organizational impact. Her earlier career in HR gave her a deep grounding in the human side of organizations: how people are supported, how systems either open doors or close them, and what real leadership looks like at the frontline. In 2017, Kelley was recognized with Ontario’s Leading Women Building Better Communities Award for her exceptional community leadership and sustained contributions to improving lives across the community. Giving back has never been separate from whom she is. As an Emergency Disaster Responder with Team Rubicon, a Girl Guides leader for twelve years, a former Street Smarts Outreach officer working with vulnerable populations, a volunteer at a local youth shelter, and a fundraising volunteer with Ronald McDonald House, she has shown up consistently wherever she was needed. Most personally, she opened her home to four teenagers over the course of her parenting journey, offering them the stability, consistency, and sense of belonging that every young person deserves.
For Kelley, equity, diversity, and inclusion are not frameworks. They are lived experience. She understands what it means to navigate systems that were not designed with you in mind, and she brings that lens into every space she occupies, from the boardroom to the community. She leans into these values by listening deeply to those whose stories differ from the dominant narrative, using her platform to amplify voices that are too often overlooked, and consistently asking who is not yet at the table and why.
Kelley joined the BBBSO Board because mentorship is not abstract to her. It is the reason she is here. She has seen proof in her own story of what one person, choosing to show up consistently for a young person, can do to alter the entire course of a life. Joining BBBSO is her way of ensuring that more young people in Ottawa have access to that kind of transformative relationship, regardless of their background or circumstance.
