GERALDINE YSSELSTEIN
I am an inspiring innovator, creative consultant, safe spaces facilitator, learning decolonizer, critical thinker, program designer, cultural translator, heartfelt researcher, leadership educator, curious agitator, integrated leader, community collaborator, joyful provocateur, deep listener, creative writer, arts integrator, and change maker - all from my heart.
I am Geraldine Ysselstein (she/her) and I was born in the Netherlands, which is in the lowlands of Europe. I lived in Bangladesh and grew up near the Speed River in Guelph, Ontario. Guelph is situated on the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabek Peoples, specifically the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. My ancestors took their name from the Yssel/IJssel which is a Dutch distributary of the Rhine River that flows northward and ultimately flows into the Ijsselmeer. Stein means stone or rock.
Currently, I live in Mohkinstsis which is the Blackfoot name for Calgary and is where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. I am a Treaty person leaning into the responsibilities and relationships of living in the Treaty 7 Territory, along with my husband and our two children. The Treaty 7 Territory is the land of the Niitsitapi from the Blackfoot Confederacy including the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani First Nations; the Îyârhe Nakoda (Stoney Nakoda) including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations; the Tsuut’ina First Nation; and I also acknowledge that this territory is home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6.
My life has been immersed in arts, culture, and creativity. Growing up, my family hosted classical, folk, and jazz concerts and an art gallery in their one-room schoolhouse in Arkell, Ontario. Since that time, I have worked at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Wilder & Davis Luthiers, Big Boreal Adventure, Willow Springs Creative Centre, Calgary Civic Symphony, and the Rozsa Foundation.
As a curious learner, I have completed a BA and MA in European Studies at the University of Guelph and University of British Columbia and a Diploma in Arts and Cultural Management from MacEwan University. I have also completed certificates in Banff Centre’s New Fundamentals Leadership program, Rozsa Foundation's Rozsa Arts Management Program, City of Calgary's Artists Working in Community program, Mount Royal University's Adult Educator Seminar Series, Evaluation Canada's Essential Evaluation Skills, Community Wise's Anti-Racism Organizational Change program, Indigenous Perspective Society's Cultural Perspectives Training, Elaine Alec's Cultivating Safe Spaces program, Selam Debs's Anti-Racism Course, and Resmaa Menakem's Education for Racial Equity - Somatic Abolitionism program.
Currently I participate in three communities of practice who are practicing decolonization, reconciliation, and racial equity. These include: Cultivating Safe Spaces with Elaine Alec, Racial Equity Community of Practice with the Calgary Foundation, and Reparative Communal Consultation for White Bodies with Resmaa Menakem.
Working towards social justice, social change, and systems change has always been part of me in my personal and professional life. I am constantly envisioning a more just society and I take steps to make that a reality through listening, researching, questioning, reading, inviting, speaking, writing, showing up, building reciprocal relationships, cheering, imagining, creating, translating, and being.