“ Creating change starts with care – for ourselves, our communities, and generations yet to come. ”

Aubrianna Snow

TOP 30 UNDER 30 HONOUREE | 2026

PROFILE SNAPSHOT

AGE: 27

PRONOUNS: She/Her

HOMETOWN: Glovertown, NL, Canada

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ORGANIZATIONS:

GLOBAL IMPACT FOCUS (SDGs)

I am most passionate about:

Gender Equality

I work full-time as a Project Manager at the Courage to Act Foundation, where I support collective learning and institutional progress related to addressing sexual harassment in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) learning environments.
From 2019 to 2023, I worked with Possibility Seeds in both volunteer and professional capacities to support the development of toolkits and resources for addressing and preventing sexual and gender-based violence on post-secondary campuses across Canada.
I attended Oxfam Canada’s Youth Summit in 2023.
During my second term as Vice President Student Life at the Students’ Association of MacEwan University (2020-2021), I founded and chaired a student committee that conducted institutional-level advocacy on issues related to violence prevention.
I served as a MAVEN Peer Educator on Consent with MacEwan University’s Office of Sexual Violence Prevention, Education, & Response in 2019, providing dozens of presentations on consent awareness across campus.

Quality Education

I am currently entering my final semester of a Master of Education at the University of Alberta, where I focus on social justice and international education issues as they relate to educational policy.
I am the creator and host of Under the Mat: A Dark History Podcast, which explores historical and contemporary abuses of power through a feminist, anti-violence lens. The podcast has regular listeners in 27 countries.
I served two years (2023-2025) as a member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s Youth Advisory Group, where I contributed to educational resources for other young activists and advocates.
Peace, Justice, & Strong Institutions
I have served on the Creation Advisory Circle with Indigenous Youth Roots since 2023, where I support granting programs to provide funding for Indigenous-youth led initiatives across Canada.
I am currently the Chair of the Youth Committee, as well as a Board member and member of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee at the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. In these roles, I work to make creative opportunities more accessible for young and emerging writers across the province.

Motivations

Across all roles, my work consistently focuses on transforming institutions that have historically failed marginalized people, particularly women, Indigenous peoples, and
young people. I am motivated to address issues of gender equality because I am a survivor of gender-based violence who has supported many other women and gender-diverse people through issues related to violence and inequity. I believe that an intersectional perspective in addressing gender equality is especially important, and I feel that my identity as a Mi’kmaw woman deeply influences my perspective on this work.
I am motivated to address issues related to education as well as peace, justice, and strong institutions because education has been a major tool of empowerment for me. However, I have also faced many barriers in institutional spaces of all kinds. Working to make learning opportunities more inclusive and accessible, and
strengthening institutional spaces through intentional efforts to increase diversity and equity are my life’s work. I am committed to continuing this work at the intersection of policy, education, and media to create safer, more just institutions for the next generation.

I curate connection primarily through my podcasting and writing, which I approach as tools for public education and community-building around social justice issues. I work to create spaces where people can explore complex issues with care and feel less isolated in their experiences. Using media as a platform serves to foster connection across geographic and social boundaries, both locally and globally.

This work is inherently collaborative and involves those with lived experience whose stories are shared; diverse, global audiences who engage with the work; editors and creative collaborators; and funders and community organizations that support accessible, public-facing education. Each stakeholder contributes to shaping work that is accountable and grounded in collective responsibility.

In working with communities and individuals, I prioritize care, consent, and accessibility. Podcast guests and interviewees receive questions in advance and are empowered to decline topics or pause conversations at any time. When releasing work that addresses potentially triggering material, I provide content notices and share information about relevant support resources. I am intentional about centering lived experience over my own voice and remain responsive to feedback from participants and audiences.

During my undergraduate journalism training, I interviewed someone who had just experienced a house fire. Listening to their reflections on the timing and impact of media coverage challenged my assumptions about journalistic urgency and reshaped my understanding of ethical storytelling. That experience played a significant role in my decision to move away from breaking news journalism and toward work that values care and meaningful connection over speed. Today, I measure the success of my work by how well it contributes to collective understanding and community care.

Connection plays a critical role in development work, as the core of so much development work is collective wellbeing. To adequately understand and address community needs, connection and clear communication are not just the first place to start, but absolutely essential at every stage of a project. This ensures that development work responds to lived realities rather than external assumptions.

The kind of connection needed to create meaningful impact and lasting change is rooted in ongoing, reciprocal relationships between institutions and communities, as well as practitioners and those with lived experience. Development work cannot be a checklist – it needs to be rooted in the communities it serves, highlighting not just their needs but the areas where they excel.

Connection has to be the future of sustainable and inclusive development. Without focusing on connection, we risk reproducing the same systems that have contributed to systemic harm and inequities. Development work must begin with deep cultural competency and an understanding of the principles of relationality. When the approach to development is rooted in relationship and shared learning, positive change will be both mutual and sustainable. In my future work, this means prioritizing co-creation and long-term accountability over short-term outputs.