Ange Frymire is an author, writer, teacher, communications expert, mentor and storyteller.

Experience includes various acting roles in community theatre (ON, SK, BC). She worked in banking management, was a radio personality/news reporter and began teaching post-secondary business courses at BCIT, University of Victoria, Camosen College and KPU (Kwantlen Polytechnic University), while running her communications firm, Vocal Point.

Her ongoing communications work earned her multiple awards, including Canadian Mentor of the Year with CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society). She’s also an international mentor for women from Kenya on behalf of Opening Doors Foundation.

Since moving to Nanaimo in 2022, she teaches “Speaking with Confidence” and “Creative Writing” at the Beban and Bowen community centres. She also facilitates ongoing writing circles and is a regular storyteller and host with Nanaimo’s Around Town Storytellers.

As a freelance journalist and author specializing in upmarket commercial fiction, Ange’s passion for storytelling has resulted in coverage with many print publications. Her writing has been published in three memoir books and one textbook (all multi-author collaborations), which each ranked in Amazon’s Top 10 Bestseller’s List.

Oliver was born and raised in a small Japanese town. He has always loved any forms of art, visual, media, performing, martial, culinary…if you can name it, he will try to dip his toe in it. He moved to North Vancouver in 2019 to study tourism management. After some eventful years, he became a permanent resident in Nanaimo, 2023. He has a cat he absolutely adores, and works at a Bosley’s while establishing himself as a bookkeeper. Whenever he’s at home, he loves to paint, draw, read, and write. His creations are all about queer loves and identities. He can get shy about sharing his works, nonetheless, he is proud of them. His goals in NAC are not only to gain bookkeeping experience, but also to connect with the arts community and to make friends with like-minded folks.

Victoria has been involved in every aspect of stage and theatre, from acting, dancing, and musical theatre to directing. She’s also held positions as a talent consultant, extra’s casting agent, and runway model instructor. Through a one-day acting job she landed herself a position for 4 years as a writer, producer, director. Since then she he has been writing, producing, directing and casting for commercials and corporate films.

Victoria is concentrating on developing several projects with an eye for Business Development, Events production, and Social Media Marketing & Branding with key people in the Art, Film and Fashion industries, which are her passions.

She established the Victoria Film Industry Network and Events Facebook group, which now has over 6000 members. These sold-out monthly film mixers have proven to be great moral and confidence boosters for those in the film industry, especially after the pandemic. They have resulted in people moving their dreams and careers forward and gaining paid work on local productions.

Using the wealth of Victoria’s experience and connections as an asset, she is a vital and successful part of any team. She looks forward to continuing to contribute to job growth and economic development and supporting this vibrant, talented film community we have built here on beautiful Vancouver Island.

Jenaya Shaw is a fourth-year student at VIU, majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Psychology. She has grown up writing in the Cowichan Valley, a passion that blossomed into 3+ years of experience editing and helping others improve their own writing. She was Art Director for Portal 2024, and has a book review of Burning Sage: Poems from the Lytton fire by poet Meghan Fandrich published there, as well as photography titled “Wall Crawler,” “Match Made,” and others.

Jenaya is Managing Editor of VIU’s The Navigator Student Press, which publishes student journalism and literary works; several of her articles can be read there. She has dabbled in English tutoring, portrait painting, and photography, and spent her childhood fishing and sailing the West Coast of Vancouver Island with her family in a 1972, 32-ft Ericson called Windfall. She has recently found home in the Nanaimo Arts Council’s team as an Associate Editor of the Sea Wolf Literary Review and Program Coordinator for Art Walk.

Amelia Watford is a writer and artist from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She is currently in her final semester at Vancouver Island University, completing her Bachelors degree in Visual Arts with a Minor in Creative Writing. When she’s not indulging in her various creative endeavours, she’s busy working as the Creative and Art Director (among many other jobs) for The Raspberry Literary Magazine.