Speed Mentoring

Need editorial or career advice? Sign up for speed mentoring, 15-minute one-on-one consultations with some of Editors Canada's most highly regarded editors. This hour-long session is on Sunday, May 27, at 10:45 a.m.

Speed mentoring offers editors of all experience levels an opportunity for advice and feedback from someone who's been there. Reserve your spot at 2018conferencementors@editors.ca.

How to sign up for speed mentoring

1. You must be registered for the conference to schedule a speed mentoring consultation.
2. Sign up for speed mentoring when you register, OR send your request to 2018conferencementors@editors.ca, with "Speed Mentoring" in the subject line. The deadline to sign up is Monday, May 21.
3. Tell us who your top three speed mentors are, in order of preference. We'll accommodate as many first choices as possible.
4. Let us know if you'd like to talk to more than one speed mentor. We may be able to book up to three consultations for you if schedules allow. Speed mentors will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.
5. Before the conference, we'll email you your speed mentoring schedule. To make the most of your speed mentoring experience, come prepared with specific questions.

Our speed mentors and their specialties

Berna Ozunal

Berna Ozunal is a Certified Professional Editor who has helped produce award-winning work for agencies with clients all over the world. She works in-house at an integrated marketing communications agency in Toronto and freelances for a creative talent agency. She has been on the national executive council of Editors Canada and teaching editing at George Brown College Continuing Education since 2016. Berna is also a member of Editors Canada's mentorship committee. She can advise on:

• editing marketing, advertising, and business communications
• working in-house and freelancing
• volunteering for Editors Canada at the local and national levels
• beginning the Editors Canada certification process
• staying competitive through education and professional development
• developing soft skills for editors and understanding their importance
• being mentored formally through the John Eerkes-Medrano Mentorship Program

Language: English

Beverly Ensom

Beverly Ensom has spent her 40-year career working with words, first as a freelance writer, then as an editor both in-house and freelance. Lots of non-fiction subjects need writing and editing in Ottawa, and Beverly has handled quite a range, from condoms to composting to the Constitution. She now balances  in-house work at the House of Commons with freelance work for a variety of government and NGO clients. She can advise on:

• transitioning to a freelance career
• preparing for certification
• managing a part-time in-house and part-time freelance career
• balancing freelance work with life
• winding down toward retirement (no, maybe she actually needs advice on that)

Language: English

Heather Buzila

Heather Buzila has worked as an in-house editor since 2007 and currently works at Athabasca University in Edmonton, editing humanities and social sciences courses. She also has experience editing fiction and non-fiction book manuscripts. Heather is a certified copy editor and stylistic editor with Editors Canada and volunteers as one of the Editors Edmonton twig coordinators (2017–2018) and as the social media coordinator for the 2018 Editors Canada conference. Specialty areas:

• in-house editing
• copy editing
• stylistic editing
• managerial/supervisory editing
• academic editing/working with academics

Language: English

Melva McLean

Melva McLean is an award-winning editor and writer. She has won the Tom Fairley Award for editing and several screenplay competitions. Her approach to narrative and screenwriting is built on classic 3-act structure and reader response theory. Her adapted short form screenplay, Chopin’s Heart, won a National Institute Drama Prize, and the film was featured in a Telefilm showcase at Cannes 2016. Mel is an instructor at the Winnipeg Film Group and is about to direct her second short. She can advise on:

• story structure for fiction and film
• reader response theory
• editing fiction
• editing genre fiction

Language: English

Tom Vradenburg

Tom has been a student of good writing and wit since age 11, the year he subscribed to Sports Illustrated and embraced Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He has been an editor for most of his 30 years in publishing. His career began in small-town weekly newspapers, then the non-profit sector, high tech, and government, mainly Statistics Canada—which is where he now runs a small communications unit. Specialty areas:

• plain language
• presenting statistics in text and tables
• editing analytical material in the social sciences
• managing and developing other editors
• web publishing in WET 4
• using Microsoft Excel to stay organized
• technical writing in an IT environment

Languages: English and French

Marie-Christine Payette

Marie-Christine Payette has a background as an English-to-French translator and ESL and FSL teacher. She started her own business in 2011 and is offering French editing, proofreading, comparative editing and EN-FR translation. Since joining Editors Canada, she has volunteered as a translator, editor, speaker, session host, and director of Francophone Affairs on the NEC and learned a great deal. Lately, she has developed new areas of expertise, adding to her background as a language professional. She can advise on:

• concordance editing and/or working on translations
• Francophone editing 
• working as a freelancer 
• academic & YA editing 
• serving on the NEC 
• volunteering for Editors Canada 
• networking
• working as a remote language professional

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Mika Lafond

Mika Lafond is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, and she resides in Treaty 6 Territory with her two children. Mika graduated from ITEP and has worked in education for a decade. She currently works at ITEP as an instructor/mentor. In 2012, she was a co-editor for Kimiwan Zine. Mika's writing is based on relationality with the land and her culture. She is currently enrolled in the Indigenous Language Certificate at the University of Saskatchewan. Specialty areas:

• the process of translation of Cree
• adapting stories to poetry
• editing emerging writers
• transferring oral stories to written text
• marketing to Indigenous youth
• using creative writing as a teaching tool

Languages: English