rebecca sweetman

founder + executive director

Rebecca is the Founding Director of The Paradigm Shift Project, a registered Canadian charity that creates documentary media to change worldviews.  With a background in grassroots movements for social and environmental justice, Rebecca uses a lens of solidarity in her filmmaking to build trust, connection, and engagement across socioeconomic and geopolitical boundaries.  Her projects are diverse and benefit communities across the globe working for a better and more sustainable future.  From human rights violations in Sumatra's palm oil plantations, to food insecurity in Peru's slums, to street and refugee children in Malaysia, to access to water and sexual slavery in India, Rebecca documents the amazing solutions happening on the world's toughest issues, to show that each one of us can, and should, get involved.

natasha nancekivell

peru editor + education outreach coordinator

Natasha is an independent documentary filmmaker. As a graduate of Queen’s University’s Global Development and Film and Media Studies programs, Natasha’s work has focused on using multimedia platforms as tools that contribute to community-led development initiatives. Natasha works in partnership with community groups and non-governmental organizations. Natasha approaches film as an instrument that enables community members to share their perspectives and experiences, as well as to communicate information and facilitate dialogue around specific social justice and environmental issues. Natasha believes in the potential of video and multi-media platforms to foster connections across socio-economic and geo-political divides, and to ignite and empower citizens to work towards positive systemic changes.

lauren sweetman

development officer

With a background in ethnomusicology and anthropology, Lauren first started working with The Paradigm Shift Project after she realized the need for an organization to help bridge the gap between the people who think about development, the people who work in the field, and the people in need of support. Lauren holds a Bachelor's degree in music and an Master's degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto. Her research with indigenous populations in Canada and New Zealand has inspired her commitment to developing more sustainable research methodologies, and helping to shift scholarship toward more ethical practices. Currently, Lauren is beginning her PhD at New York University, for which she has been awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and NYU's McCracken Fellowship.

jill thomas

assistant development officer

Jill recently graduated from Carleton University where she received her Master of Arts in Anthropology. Her studies focused largely on Aboriginal peoples in Canada, with a specific focus on Aboriginal women and issues relating to identity and health. Her interests concentrated on the importance of working with Aboriginal women and communities using culture and cultural practices to empower women, restore and reclaim identity, and address health issues. She is very excited to be working with The Paradigm Shift Project, and believes that creating awareness of issues and educating people who are unaware or under informed can ultimately empower people to generate new understandings, take action, support initiatives, and effect change. 

robin campbell

assistant development officer

Robin is from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, and she is currently pursuing her Masters in Recreation Management at Acadia University. Her research is focused on Canadian youth volunteers participating in international projects and the impacts these projects have on the leisure and lifestyle of the volunteer. She is interested in how volunteers use leisure (recreation, sport and the arts) as a tool in international development. After traveling to Guyana, South America and Ghana, West Africa to complete volunteer projects, she immediately knew that she wanted to spend her life working in international development and is extremely excited to be working with The Paradigm Shift Project.

jennifer borsellino

assistant fundraising officer

Jennifer is from Toronto, and she is currently pursuing her Masters in Environment and Business at University of Waterloo. The program focuses on integrating sustainable development policies and practices into industry, government and not-for-profit sectors. She is employed at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment where she works on the Ministry’s corporate sustainability program. Jennifer strongly believes in the goals and objectives of The Paradigm Shift Project and the need to empower local communities in developing nations to create a sustainable global future. 

samantha waite

education outreach officer

Samantha received her BA in Cultural Anthropology and Cinema Studies from Northeastern University in Boston, MA; her undergraduate research was focused on Indigenous women’s media and documentary production.  She believes strongly in film as an educational tool, and the potential that it has to both inform and empower.  Samantha is currently pursuing her MA at NYU in the Humanities and Social Thought, where she is focusing on Human Rights Education and more specifically, contemporary slavery and sex trafficking.  She is extremely excited to be working with PSP, as she believes structural change toward a more just society is possible with transformative action and pragmatic solidarity. 

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kamil bialous

project photographer - peru

Kamil Bialous is a Vancouver-based photographer whose work focuses on authentic and honest images of people and places. Whether shooting active people in the outdoors, everyday people enjoying life, or cultures and places he finds in his travels, the common thread is that of understanding the human desire to be present in one's life. The opportunity to work with PSP on the project From the Earth to the Pot in Lima, Peru was an organic and welcomed partnership and allowed Kamil to tell people's stories in photographic stills, and to support the small, humble, yet passionate crew of Andrea Maldonado and Rebecca Sweetman in the making of the film. His work is inspired by people he meets and the things they feel, and more recently the raw beauty of the Pacific Northwest. For more of his work visit www.kamilbialous.com.

navreet deol

education outreach facilitator

Navreet is currently pursuing her Joint Honors in Environment and Resource Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Waterloo. She is very interested in the link between spirituality and the environment and believes that these two concepts are important in creating a sustainable world. Navreet is very excited to work with the Paradigm Shift Project as she believes that need for awareness on global and local issues is important. After traveling across India for three months she has realized the power and need for increased support for grassroots organizations in Third World countries. She is also very excited to be able to educate and deliver workshops developed by PSP to schools and institutions about social justice and world issues.

al milton

education outreach facilitator

Bio coming soon!