Meet Our Team

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-pepper/

Kayla Pepper is a crisis leadership practitioner and emergency management professional with more than 16 years of experience supporting communities before, during, and after disasters. Her work focuses on strengthening emergency management systems while cultivating safe spaces for collaboration, learning, and recovery.

Kayla has held operational and executive roles with the BC Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, where she led complex negotiations and partnerships with First Nations, local governments, and community organizations. She has also served as a Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Centre Director, Regional Manager, BC Wildfire Service Communications Specialist, Canadian Red Cross Disaster Coordinator, and Emergency Support Services volunteer, bringing both strategic and frontline operational experience. She currently serves on the Board for the Network of Emergency Support Services Teams (NESST) conference. She is also a sessional instructor at Thompson Rivers University in Wildfire / Crisis Communications as part of TRU Wildfire. 

Throughout her career, Kayla has supported communities through wildfires, floods, evacuations, and large-scale emergencies, helping organizations coordinate effectively and centre community wellbeing in crisis response.

Her work is grounded in a master’s degree in leadership focused on cultural safety in Emergency Support Services, and a deep commitment to reconciliation, compassionate leadership, and systems change. Through facilitation, advisory work, and teaching, Kayla helps communities and organizations dream, design, and deliver emergency management systems that are collaborative, resilient, and human-centered.

- Resume & LinkedIn

- BC Office of the Human Rights Commisioner: New guidance supports local governments to address the unequal impacts of disasters

- Tourism Industry Association of Canada: Tourism Emergency Preparedness Summary Report

- Master of Arts in Leadership Thesis: Cultural Safety in Emergency Support Services

- Canadian Journal of Emergency Management

- HazNet Magazine Article

- Industry Article: Colliers Project Leaders 

Michelyn Lepage is a thoughtful, equity-centred leader experienced in delivering professional services. She is a researcher and writer based in Victoria, BC, with experience supporting complex projects involving collaboration between government, Indigenous organizations, and community partners. She brings strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage communications, logistics, and documentation across multiple initiatives. Her work has included coordinating meetings and travel, managing invoices and records, producing clear meeting summaries, and supporting strategy sessions and engagement sessions as a facilitator and notetaker.

In her previous role with Naqsmist Storytellers Inc., Michelyn had supported several significant initiatives, including Indigenous engagement processes for the Province of British Columbia, program evaluation work with SPARC BC on the Cultivating Safe Spaces methodology, and the planning and coordination of multi-partner meetings involving provincial government and First Nations representatives. She also had responsibility for digital communications and online content, including blogs, newsletters, and learning materials. Michelyn holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria with a double major in English and History, bringing strong research, writing, and analytical skills to her work.

Samara is an emergency management professional with nearly a decade of experience supporting communities across British Columbia through emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience initiatives. She has worked alongside communities facing earthquakes, floods, landslides, severe weather, and wildfires, always with a focus on building relationships and creating spaces where people feel heard, supported, and empowered. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Geography from the University of Victoria, where she focused on natural hazards and their impacts on social, economic, and political systems. 

She has worked in emergency management consulting on community-led projects, including operational emergency planning for public notification systems, evacuation routes, emergency and disaster communications, emergency food security planning, and recovery planning. She has also worked on multiple Indigenous Engagement Requirements reviews, after-action reviews, and the design and facilitation of tabletop and functional emergency exercises. She has managed complex, multi-partner projects that require collaboration across all levels of government and with community leadership.

Her operational emergency management experience includes working within Emergency Operations Centres in Indigenous, regional, and provincial emergency operations centres.

Prior to consulting, she was also a federal public servant supporting Indigenous Relations on fisheries-related initiatives. She also served as the Emergency Response Coordinator for Snuneymuxw First Nation, the Electoral Areas Emergency Services Coordinator with the Capital Regional District, and an Emergency Response Coordinator for Emergency Management BC (now Emergency Management and Climate Readiness). 

In addition to her planning and coordination experience, she has maintained an active role in emergency response as a paid-on-call/volunteer firefighter, and is currently in the process of becoming an Emergency Medical Responder.