About Patti
My story
Let me respectfully remind you:
Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Let us take heed,
DO NOT SQUANDER YOUR LIFE
The Beginning
My dad and I. My dad died this year, just 4 months shy of his 100th birthday. He has been my inspiration and foundation after I lost my mum at 20. Seen here hiking up to the Lake Louise Tea House, me with my geological backpack and my dad of course with cigar in hand!
not afraid of making mistakes
I became a short- term natural gas broker in 1986 right at the beginning of deregulation of the natural gas industry with two years of exploration and reservoir geology experience in my corporate portfolio. It was a spontaneous decision made with absolute clarity.
I loved being a broker in those early days because everything was wild. The field was wide-open to create and engage with others and to land ideas in concrete action. It was fun and the people working in the field were fearless at one level. There was no-one to tell you what to do or what the price of gas was. It was very raw. Pricing was not transparent at that time.
There of course was an enormous shadow in all of this as we are all well acquainted with through the exploits of Enron but there were some attributes that were very healthy. People connected and had fun. We were resourceful. We could tolerate ambiguity. We were energetic, insightful and generous and most importantly we were not frightened to make mistakes. We trusted our own internal voice because decisions often had to be made quickly and at times things were incredibly chaotic. We also knew how to let go and not stay too attached to our ideas and just keep moving with steadfast optimism.
leading in my own life
Motherhood led me to starting my own natural gas brokerage business that I operated out of my home for 13 years while simultaneously co-founding and teaching at an integral school for grades 1-5. Ignoring comments like, “That will be a nice hobby for you,” from men and unsupportive comments from women who were disappointed with my decision to quit the corporate world and lead a, “successful,” life to look after my kids.
They saw it as a betrayal of what the feminist movement fought for. But in my mind the feminist movement offered me the opportunity to choose not to lead a life as a, “Second class man.”
I applied to zen buddhist chaplaincy training with the same spirit of not knowing what I was really getting into and yet knowing with certainly that it was the next step in my life. I was one of 12 to graduate in the first year of a unique chaplaincy program that was designed to affect change on a personal, interpersonal and systems-wide basis. This was a chaplaincy that was designed to alleviate suffering at every level of our society. We were trained to intervene in systems at maximum points of leverage to affect change. In addition to receiving training firmly grounded in buddhist philosophy, ethics and meditation practice, we worked with leading edge teachers from prominent universities and institutes. The teachers were linking meditation with the latest neuro-scientific research, and with emerging social presencing technologies designed to foster communication between groups who rarely come together to learn together and open to possibilities beyond their wildest knowing.
The first cohort team was eclectic, certainly not your usual suspects taking chaplaincy. Our team included a lawyer, a pentagon employee/Rhode scholar working on nuclear disarmament, a shamanic healer, a business consultant, a mental health worker, a teacher and myself; a natural gas broker, just to name a few. We all shared a spirit of adventure and willingness to be in a program that evolved as we were in it. We didn’t need to know everything. We adapted as the program found its ground, its strengths and the places that needed to change.
The team and the program co-created, and co-evolved together with the same healthy qualities found in those early natural gas brokers with a profound new addition that we moved grounded in strong ethics and the commitment to do no harm, to do good, and to do good for others. I am deeply indebted to all my teachers and most importantly Roshi Joan Halifax the founder of Upaya Zen Center and the chaplaincy program teachers and all the teachers that came before them.
After graduating I attended a university dialogue on the trans-local potential of diaspora development. I had no idea what it was about, but a young man from Kenya who spoke so genuinely and wholeheartedly about his youth platform back home moved me and I jumped in and I helped co-found an organization called Ujamaah, that resourced diaspora youth platforms focusing on art, fashion, music and sports. To me working with successful diaspora who were working with youth in their homeland was indeed a maximum point of leverage to affect change and indeed it was to some extent. I learned as I grew.
venture into fashion
Our main success was bringing Ras Kasozi, an incredible fashion designer over from Uganda to showcase his line at Vancouver Fashion Week.
He has gone on to be voted #1 fashion designer in Uganda and has trained over 30 others to successfully create their own fashion line and sustainable livelihood. I am still in contact with Ras of Kaswear and we are currently exploring another collaboration a decade later.
I continue to work directly with James Kamau of Beyond Hoops Africa from that early cohort of committed diasporic leaders.
The Warm heart of Africa
In 2015, I ventured over to Malawi in S.E. Africa for five months and fell in love with the country known as, “The Warm Heart of Africa.”I did many things during this time including volunteering at a local school, resourcing a large community baby shower, filming several hiphop artist videos, participating in local permaculture ventures and contributing to a large regional event led by Malawian artists.
My path become clear
In 2016 I returned to Malawi after recovering from two months of chemo on my face, healed and full of ideas. Unfortunately I found myself hauled down to jail within five days of returning. People desperate for money and living in poverty do desperate things. My staying power was challenged. After being released with criminal charges dropped I went into seclusion for three weeks, and took the time necessary to respond to what had just happened and to feel my way into what the hell I was doing in Africa.
After three weeks I made a decision to stay in spite of the trauma and urging by my family and friends abroad to get the hell out. I was invited to live for 8 months in the maid quarters of a Malawian woman’s home for free. All of my resources were gone in the North so people who wanted me to stay opened their hearts and minds and offered me refuge. These 8 months proved to be some of the the best learning and joyful experiences of my life.