The Buzz Your source for everything Indie

What’s your experience as an independent?

Writing is my jam and I dove into communications in 2004 and haven’t looked back! For a number of years, I worked as an independent contractor for a PR firm. This was for a few years after my son was born, to keep my skills current while I was at home raising him. Shortly after moving to Barrie, my husband and I became proud parents of two, a son and a daughter. I now work full-time for the County of Simcoe.

What did you enjoy most about being an indie?

The biggest thing was the independence and flexibility to be there for my family. I still have a measure of that, being able to work from home two days a week.

I also enjoy helping friends who are starting small businesses with some of the tools and training they need to succeed and market themselves. I find it so rewarding.

What didn’t you like about being an indie?

Just my own personal inability to turn off at end of day. If my computer’s open, I’m working. So the challenge was learning work/life balance, and I could have done a better job of setting boundaries.

What advice would you give someone transitioning between freelance and full-time corporate work?

My biggest advice for living the indie life or working from home is to create a dedicated workspace, so it feels like an office, but warmer and more comfortable. Have all the things you need at hand so you don’t have to go to the kitchen or another room to get them. Buy a proper office chair – I worked from a dining room chair during COVID and it was painful.

Be open to transitioning from freelance to an outside office or vice versa. Be yourself. Use your skills; that’s why people hire us in the first place. But be open and able to take advice.

How long have you been an IABC member and what value do you get from your membership?

I’ve been a member on and off for years, but joined full-time and really dove into membership in 2022. I got acclimated just in time for the IABC World Conference in 2023. I’ve been a volunteer with IABC/Toronto for a few years and every role has been fun. I love to help the next generation of communication professionals and I’ve enjoyed contributing.

Until you immerse yourself in IABC – attending workshops, conferences and networking opportunities – you don’t know the real value of IABC membership. It’s such a welcoming community. You can be deeply involved or just a fly on the wall, but the more you get involved, the more you get out of it.

What are your hopes for PIC and Toronto’s other special interest groups?

The special interest groups show the international community new and innovative ways to include members who typically haven’t had a dedicated group. My intent is follow in the steps and build upon the hard work of previous VPs, like my predecessor Marie-Lauren Gregoire Drummond, SCMP.

I’m thankful for all MLGD has done and look forward to working with her as past Chair and with the rest of the PIC executive to grow and serve our membership. There are so many things we can do, and I hope that members will reach out to me at toronto-sig@iabc.to with any ideas or suggestions for what you want to see. I’m listening, and look forward to representing you on the IABC/Toronto board.

Communication creates compassion to catalyze change

By Arlene Amitirigala

As professional communicators, we’re called upon to support major transformation in organizations. Rarely is it a smooth journey. We often find resistance, fear and mistrust — all surefire contributors to poor mental well-being.

I believe that communication creates compassion to counter resistance, catalyze change and foster healthy environments. Why? Because I’ve experienced it firsthand.

For example, a change project along with a series of virtual and live events, publications, a major channel overhaul and a video production had my team clocking long hours over a six-week period. Each week brought heightened levels of activity and we were juggling multiple balls at once.

One afternoon, we discovered that a major task had slipped through the cracks. Some terse words were exchanged, and the team was thrown into disarray. I listened to the blame-filled angry rants and then asked, “What if we looked at this through the lens of compassion?”

Body language changed and air seemed to infuse the room. The conversation shifted. As we talked, a new door opened, one that allowed the team to work toward a solution.

Compassion in the workplace

I wasn’t always a proponent of compassion in the hard-nosed world of fast-moving consumer goods. In my mind, compassion seemed the antithesis of driving for performance and hitting the numbers. It was, in my eyes, the easy way out.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Tara Brach, a famed teacher of mindfulness and meditation, speaks about courage in the context of compassion. She defines radical compassion as “having the courage to love ourselves, each other and our world. Radical compassion is rooted in mindful, embodied presence and it’s expressed actively through caring that includes all beings.”

The need to extend compassion to the workplace has recently been on an upward swing. Research findings published in the Harvard Business Review link compassion to higher job satisfaction, loyalty and trust in the organization, higher retention rates and improvements in performance and motivation. Compassion helps increase connections, promote trust and belonging, and reduce job-related stress and anxiety.

Nurturing compassion

As my career as a senior communication professional has evolved, I have also evolved as a change navigator, moving and adjusting to life in different countries. Along with this, my attitude toward compassion has changed.

The most important leg of this evolutionary journey started with examining my own thoughts and beliefs towards myself, coming to acceptance and giving myself the level of nurturing required.

After all, in the words of Jack Kornfield, American writer, mindfulness teacher and Buddhist monk, “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

The path to practicing greater compassion is often not a linear process – we must revisit and refine along the way. Whatever stage you’re at, you might find the following questions useful for reflection:

• How do you practice self-compassion, and how does this influence your capacity for compassion toward others?
• When was the last time you felt a strong sense of empathy toward someone else’s suffering?
• Can you recall a situation where you could have been more compassionate, but you weren’t? Explore the reasons why not.
• Are you able to feel compassion for some people but not others? Why?
• How do you react when someone close to you is going through a difficult time?
• Are there any personal biases or judgments that might hinder your ability to be compassionate?
• What are your thoughts on the power of communication to create compassion in the workplace?

I believe that as professional communicators, we must create for ourselves what we wish to create for others. Only then can we courageously and lovingly support change in teams, across organizations and throughout entire communities.

Member news

Ali Wines (she/her) has a new certification in Business Sustainability Management from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Ali’s business, Uncommon Ground, helps purpose-led businesses and nonprofits achieve their goals by developing strategic communications that build momentum and inspire action.

“I loved taking this challenging, meaningful course, but it’s not just about me,” she says. “It means I have a solid grasp of sustainability challenges, from circular supply chains to shifting regulatory landscapes. I can support confident sustainability communications with investors, board members and senior leaders. And I offer the latest sustainability communications best practices, so my clients’ messaging doesn’t just sound good, it’s based on proven approaches.”

Join us August 21 to help close out PIC’s 25th year

Aw, the party’s coming to an end. August marks the close of our 25th year supporting IABC/Toronto’s professional independent communicators – but we aren’t done celebrating! Join PIC to party on a patio with an in-person social from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21.

We’re gathering for drinks and appetizers at Bar Caña (the rooftop patio at SOCO Kitchen and Bar), 75 Lower Simcoe St., Toronto. Your registration fee of $10 for members ($25 for non-members) includes shared appetizers. Drinks are on your own tab. Please bring cash or be prepared to e-transfer to cover your drinks, as we will be on a single bill. An 18% gratuity will be added.

But the celebration continues!

Want to share your own testimonial about the value of PIC? We’d love to hear it. Email toronto-sig@iabc.to.

See you on social media!

Build and strengthen your connections, advance your business and network with other PIC members on social media. In case you missed them, recent posts shared on our social media channels include these:

IABC has posted photos and videos from the World Conference in Chicago in June. You’ll spot a number of PIC members (including Arlene Amitirigala, Priya Bates, Matisse Hamel-Nelis and Marie-Lauren Gregoire Drummond) as well as IABC/Toronto board members.

Get ready for next year’s World Conference (in Vancouver June 8-11, 2025)! If you’re accepted as a conference speaker, here are five tips to wow your audience, like “Ditch the warmup” (also known as “corporate throat-clearing”) and “Open with a bang.”

IABC staff share 16 things learned at the 2024 World Conference, like “reframing failure as success in disguise” and “when it comes to ESG, simple reporting is best, backed by data and a human-centric approach.”

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Who we are

Professional Independent Communicators (PIC) is a special interest group of IABC/Toronto. PIC’s mission is to support independent IABC/Toronto communicators through professional development, networking and marketing. The Buzz informs members about upcoming events, shares professional development tips from past meetings and keeps us connected.

IABC connects communicators from around the world with the insights, resources and people they need to drive their careers and their professions forward.

Editor: Sue Horner, SCMP

Executive team

Chair: Andrea Walasek | Past Chair: Marie-Lauren Gregoire Drummond, SCMP | Membership: Kathryn Hollinrake | Marketing & Sponsorship: Brent Artemchuk | Communications & Social Media: Sue Horner, SCMP | Programming: Catharine Heddle, Trish Tervit