A passion for PEI

Growing up in Charlottetown, Christina MacLeod felt a sense of responsibility for the planet, and she also knew she wanted to see lots of it.

Community involvement started at age nine when Christina got fellow students at Spring Park Elementary and other Charlottetown schools to sign a petition to protect coastal areas and prevent the sale of PEI beaches.

That childhood action led her to a study path toward environmental law and policy development.

MacLeod’s ability to affect change continued while she was studying for her master’s degree at New Zealand’s University of Auckland, where she successfully worked with the president of the university to improve the school’s recycling program.

She said their program paled in comparison to the way we recycle here in PEI. “They weren’t even recycling paper. We were way ahead with Island Waste Watch here on PEI."

MacLeod says she has always wanted to build and improve whatever community she’s lived in.

After she completed her studies in New Zealand, Christina spent one year learning about federal politics in Ottawa as Legislative Assistant to Charlottetown Liberal MP Shawn Murphy and then she moved home to PEI to work in the MP’s Charlottetown office.

Christina and her husband Micah Thomas lived in Nova Scotia so Micah could study heritage carpentry, and then toured North America for a few  months, encouraging  everyone they met to  to either visit or move to PEI, before settling back in PEI herself.

In 2014, Christina was chosen as a member of 21 Inc, a leadership program. As part of that program, she launched Fusion Charlottetown with a team of nine young leaders. She then become the first CEO of the Startup Zone. This experience led her to her own startup, an all-female communications and marketing firm, called Volume 18.

Since their launch eight months ago Volume 18 has secured projects across the Island, offering facilitation, strategic planning, marketing strategies, digital campaigns and website design to a wide variety of clients.

Christina and Micah now live in Charlottetown with their two-year-old daughter Mabel. Christina says PEI offers a lot of opportunity. 

“There is no shortage of things to do and ways to get involved which is really important to us. We have gotten lots of advice and encouragement and have been blown away by the support we have received.”

The fact you’re 30 minutes from a beach no matter where you go is another upside to Island life, she says. “There is so much going on. It’s not a sleepy retirement village; it’s a very young jurisdiction, especially in Charlottetown.”