A Letter from the Founder's Desk
Engineer in training at Fort McMurray, 2005.
Dear reader,
If you’ve ever felt the tension between who you are and what a system expects of you – and still chosen to stay, lead, or even transform it – then you’re in the right place.
Much of the work we do at Campfire Kinship begins there: with people and organizations navigating complexity, contradiction, and responsibility in environments that weren’t really designed with everyone in mind.
My own path into this work started in engineering, in high-stakes, highly technical settings where decisions mattered and difference was often invisible (or hyper-visible when you’re the “only”).
Over time, I saw how much went unspoken, though lived experience shaped outcomes, leadership, and culture. That realization eventually led me to storytelling — first as a way to make sense of my own experiences, and later as a disciplined practice for collective reflection and change.
Campfire Kinship grew from that insight built over 17 years in engineering and leadership roles: that inclusion is not just a policy or a program, but a relational skill — and that story, when engaged with care and rigor, is one of the most powerful ways we build it.
Over the years, this work has taken many forms:
Leading multi-disciplinary teams in corporate and community settings
Completing my MBA focused on human-centered design – which ultimately led me to entrepreneurship
- Launching Campfire Kinship in 2020 and growing it into a trusted partner for 50+ organizations to date
- Publishing two arts-grant based community anthologies: Landed and The Fires We Lit
- Now integrating my doctoral studies focused on how story can inform leadership in complex contexts
You might wonder – why this name Campfire Kinship? To me, it symbolizes the warmth of a hearth where sharing stories ignites a sense of purpose and belonging – key ingredients needed to tackle today’s complex challenges together.
So whether you’re here as a leader, an educator, a changemaker – or simply someone looking to build a more human-centered culture – welcome. I hope you find ideas here that are useful and generative.
And if you’re curious about how we could unlock value together —I’d be glad to explore that conversation with you.
Warmly,
Gayathri
P.S. You can also find me on my newsletter and podcast Hearth 2 Heart – where I share ongoing reflections and learnings.
Gayathri’s professional background includes:
- P.Eng, Executive MBA from Queen’s University, and PhD student in Transdisciplinary Research at UofC
- 17 years of technical and management experience in the energy industry, most recently leading digital strategy and innovation programs in energy and mining
- TEDx Calgary 2025 speaker: The One Thing AI Cannot Replace
- Editor, Co-Author and Project Lead – Landed, The Fires We Lit
- TD Fellow for Financial and Economic Inclusion, Public Policy Forum, 2022-2023
- Board Director and Committee Volunteer, Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association, 2019-2022
- Advanced Communicator Bronze, Toastmasters
- Indigenous Canada, University of Alberta
- Top 75 Immigrants of Canada (2022)
- Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2023)
- Recipient of SAIA Outstanding Business Award (2024)
- For further details, find Gayathri on LinkedIn