Alysha joined PeaceGeeks in June 2021 as the first Product Manager and transitioned to the role of Continuous Discovery Lead in August 2023. She focuses on centering the newcomer user experience of the Welcome to Canada app, heading up UX/UI research. Alysha utilizes her insatiable need to understand what motivates people to build solutions that address global displacement. She applies her penchant for creativity, connection, and organizing to facilitate mutual understanding between humans, making micro-impacts to contribute to macro ecosystems of peace.
Prior to PeaceGeeks, Alysha was the Social Innovations Hub lead at Options Community Services, contributing to research and design projects with newcomers to Canada. Her Master's in Human Geography from the University of South Carolina shaped her lens of questioning power structures, striving for equity, and continual unlearning of white supremacy ingrained in individuals & societies across the world.
Alysha became a dog mom in 2020 and a human mom in 2022 and enjoys rearing them both with her life partner.
Born in the US, Alysha moved to Canada in 2016 as a temporary foreign worker and recently became a Canadian citizen. Prior to that, she studied abroad in Chile, and taught English as an Additional Language in Brazil, Czechia, and France. Alysha's experience being a newcomer in various countries and learning how to speak new languages (poorly) has informed her career path of imagining smoother journeys for immigrants and refugees.
