StoryCamp

Design + Branding + Business Mentor | Victoria Ford 

Strategic Storyteller | Design Thinker | Educator

To tell a good story, you need to have good ears. Victoria's passion for design thinking means she spends a lot of time in the muck asking hard-hitting questions and listening to the answers (both spoken and silent) to create impactful and engaging content experiences.

Victoria brings more than 15 years of marketing and communications experience to this project. A brand anthropologist, Victoria digs deep with key stakeholders to unearth vital insights that drive strategy. A strategist with a passion for stories, Victoria creates compelling content that engages all audiences and drives client impact. Her passion for all things digital marketing results in authentic audience engagement. Trained in Design Thinking, Victoria employs empathy and creative problem solving to help clients turn problems into possibilities and deliver impact strategies that engage audiences. With more than ten years in the not for profit sector, Victoria is well versed in creating compelling donor strategies and campaigns that accelerate results.

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Narrative Support Station | Christine McWebb

Director
University of Waterloo
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business

Christine is the founding director of the academic programs at the Stratford School. Building a wonderful campus (yes, she did have to wear a hard hat at times during the construction phase of the campus) and brand new programs from scratch has been challenging and extremely rewarding. She would do it all again!

Before coming to Waterloo in 2003, she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta (1999-2003). She has published extensively in the areas of late medieval literature/culture, the interaction between text and iconography, scientific discourse in literature, and Digital Humanities. As director and a researcher of the MARGOT project, she leads several international collaborative projects in the area of Digital Humanities, such as the development of image annotation software and the creation of enriched databases of medieval manuscripts. Her teaching spans undergraduate and graduate courses in French and German literature/culture, translation studies, Digital Humanities, and Digital Experience Innovation.

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UX Mentor | Lennart Nacke

Associate Professor
University of Waterloo
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business

Dr. Lennart Nacke teaches User Experience, Human-Computer Interaction, and Game Design at the University of Waterloo. As part of the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business and the Games Institute, he is researching player experience in video games, immersive VR environments, and gameful applications, often using physiological measures together with surveys and player interviews. Professor Nacke has served on the steering committee of the International Game Developers Association Games User Research Special Interest Group in the past, was the chair of the CHI PLAY conference steering committee from 2014-2018. His publications have won Best Paper Honourable Mention (awarded to the top five percent) and Best Paper Awards (awarded to the top one percent) at the premier human-computer interaction conferences CHI 2011 and CSCW 2012. He has published more than 100 scientific papers, which have been cited more than 10,000 times. He strongly believes in understanding users first to build more engaging games and compelling player experiences

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Visual Storytelling Mentor | Laura Fong

Lecturer, Digital Design
University of Waterloo
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business

Laura Fong teaches Digital Design at the University of Waterloo’s Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business. Prior to her teaching career, Laura worked as an award-winning visual journalist and documentary filmmaker. Her academic research specialized in media framing and Post-9/11 service members. After being published in many countries, she has taken her love of investigation and research into her teaching and into her creative discipline by adapting recent film projects to include academically research methods like visual ethnography, and therefore legitimizing the overall subject material of her films with the addition of academic rigour. This methodology is changing her documentary work into research filmmaking. She specializes in marginalized subjects both nationally and internationally and has worked extensively with U.S. Military Veterans and Indigenous Peoples. She combines her research and traditional storytelling to define the issue or subject accurately and allows her subjects to communicate it. She produced a feature-length documentary in 2017 about a U.S. Army deployment to Afghanistan that won numerous awards in film festivals internationally, and had a nationwide theatrical release in the United States.

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Games + Wireframing Mentor | David Janik Jones

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Audio + Podcasting Mentor | Marisa Benjamin

Games Institute | University of Waterloo

Marisa Benjamin completed a MA in Rhetoric and Communication Design, and a BA Honours Arts and Business Co-op, Psychology Major, English Minor at the University of Waterloo. She is the Research Communications Officer at the Games Institute, overseeing the research communications portfolio and spearheading the Institute's knowledge mobilization efforts. 

Marisa is a Co-Host for the Games Institute Podcast and Director for the Unhinged Podcast (forthcoming). She's an activist for Indigenous rights and intersectional feminism. Marisa is also a painter and a writer and a massive fan of Harry Potter.

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Comics + Graphic Storytelling Mentor | Terry O’Neil

Sessional Instructor
University of Waterloo
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business

Originally trained as an architect, Terry earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Waterloo. He completed a Post-Graduate of Computer Animation at Sheridan College in 1995. Since then, I have continued to sharpen my filmmaking skills at Liaison of Independent Filmmakers in Toronto, attending courses on editing, writing and location sound.

Working as a filmmaker and designer in the realm of creative non- fiction, Terry makes short films, immersive installations, and feature-length documentaries. I teach post-secondary design and film making with a hands-on approach. I believe in craft, and I believe in working with a conceptual spine—a foundational idea that serves as a guide.

Terry teaches GBDA 101 Digital Media Design and Production here at The Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business. 

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UX Mentor | Jennie Heo

UX Research IBM

Jennie Heo recently completed her Master of Digital Experience Innovation program at the University of Waterloo. With her background in BA English and M.Ed in Applied Psychology & Human Development, she is passionate about conducting user research throughout the end-to-end process of delivering human-centric products through storytelling. Jennie completed her Master's capstone project with IBM Business Analytics on implementing artificial intelligence tools to improve university students' social and emotional engagement on campus. As part of her research, she explored different features that might engage various aspects of games to increase the quality of overall user experience.

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UX Mentor | Kiera McMaster

4th-year Global Business and Digital Arts
University of Waterloo 
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business

Kiera is in her final year in Global Business and Digital Arts and is looking to pursue her Masters's degree post-graduation. Currently, she is a Teaching Assistant for GBDA 203 (Introduction to Digital Cultures) in her third consecutive term as a TA. She loves having the opportunity to mentor other students and work with the Stratford School's phenomenal faculty. She has three years' experience working at CIBC in various business analyst and design roles. Most recently, she was on the Client Strategy and Insights team, where she derived data-driven insights to improve the experience for clients across Canada. A firm believer that design should be used for good, she founded the Stratford Resource Bins in 2018 to provide food and hygiene products to students on campus. Recently, she received a $1,500 grant from Rising Youth and the Government of Canada to continue her work with the Resource Bins and expand out into the greater Stratford community. In her spare time, she loves reading, cooking, and talking to her plants. 

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Visual Storytelling | Kalil Magtoto

3rd year Student, Global Business and Digital Arts
University of Waterloo
Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business

Kalil Magtoto is a passionate creator known for his active leadership and involvement across multiple campus initiatives, including StarterHacks, Power to Change, Entrepreneurship Society, and the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association. Now a seasoned videographer, he often explores his passions in interconnectedness, motivation, and language. A topic that he longs to explore through his work is Linguistic Determinism, and he is now in the process of creating a series of short films revolving around the English language and its rich lexicon. Professionally, he has experienced a broad mix of opportunities in creating commercials, documentaries, animation, and wedding videos. A few of his notable collaborators and clients include CIBC, RBC, Basil Box, and Chapters. Kalil has won multiple awards for his films, including Best Film, Best Director, and Audience Choice award in 2016 at Ateneo ACOMM's Project Motion for his narrative short film "Fili: Kwento ng Pag-asa".

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Games + Wireframing Mentor |Joseph Tu

Masters Student
University of Waterloo

Joseph is a Master’s student pursuing a M.A.Sc in Systems Design Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke at the University of Waterloo. He has immense interests in UX and UI interfaces and emotion in games. He enjoys doing photography.

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Social Media Mentor | Kayla Zawiski

Kayla is all about building communities and curating thoughtful experiences. With a Master of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI) degree and years of experience in real estate portfolio management, development consulting and project management, Kayla brings both empathy and economics to the development of meaningful experiences.  

After completing an undergrad in Economics, she spent the first years of her career learning everything she could from companies, both small and large. Her curious mind and search for new experiences sparked a love of travel, and she has lived and worked in many different cities across the globe. Her work and life experience have culminated in the opportunity to become a consultant for real estate developers working on projects such as The Bradshaw Lofts and EVE Park London. In addition, she loves taking time to work on community building projects like The Local Advocate, being a member of the BIA, hosting local events and mentoring with The Founders Institute and other organizations.

After completing an undergrad in Economics, she spent the first years of her career learning everything she could from companies, both small and large. Her curious mind and search for new experiences sparked a love of travel, and she has lived and worked in many different cities across the globe. Her work and life experience have culminated in the opportunity to become a consultant for real estate developers working on projects such as The Bradshaw Lofts and EVE Park London. In addition, she loves taking time to work on community building projects like The Local Advocate, being a member of the BIA, hosting local events and mentoring with The Founders Institute and other organizations.