Tara Mahoney is the creative director of Gen Why Media and is currently completing her PhD in Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. Her PhD research explores the emerging forms of civic engagement at the intersection of politics and culture. As a PhD candidate, she is the project lead of the Creative Publics Lab and has been a research assistant on the national research project ‘Art for Social Change (ASC!): an integrated research program in teaching, evaluation and capacity-building’. Tara holds a BA in international relations from University of Calgary, a MA in media production from Ryerson University and certificate in Civic Engagement and Dialogue from Simon Fraser University. She has worked in the non-profit sector for In Focus Film School, the Sierra Club of Canada and Greenpeace at their Headquarters in Washington D.C. Tara is also serving as Vancouver Ambassador for our Canada 150 project.