Simone Massoud
As Simone Massoud (BMgt 2013: ESS) can tell you, knowing how to handle a lively workload is part of everyday life for the BC Public Service’s Citizen Engagement team, which assists the BC provincial government with public engagement processes and tools such as websites, surveys, data analysis, community meetings, and reports.
“It’s extremely high-pressure sometimes,” says Simone, who has been Team Lead since 2021. “Your projects are often scrutinized in the media, but it’s rewarding, too, to see the impact they have on the daily lives of British Columbians.”
Simone first joined the team as a citizen engagement analyst in 2017, gradually working her way up. In her current role, she still takes on some survey or web development tasks herself, but now handles more HR work and is the main point person for many of the project files. She takes client meetings, deals with contracts and contractors, and oversees her team members and their projects.
And there are a lot of projects. In recent years, the Citizen Engagement team has doubled in size from five to ten members, and the number of active projects has soared. Simone manages as many as thirty files at once, all in varying phases of completion.
Simone says she thinks the rise in workload is linked to ministries becoming increasingly aware of the need for good public engagement , which can impact both governmental decision-making and the resulting public reception of those decisions.
“I think there’s a level of engagement fatigue at this point too,” says Simone. “Every group needs to talk to Indigenous communities, and [those communities] only have a certain number of hours in the day, like we do. It’s hard. I know some communities are definitely feeling the strain of this much engagement. But then if you don’t do it, and some are left out… it’s a double-edged sword.”
Since the team supports a wide range of ministries, projects touch on everything from Anti-Racism Data Legislation, single-use plastics regulation, gender-based violence, active transportation, child-care measures, consumer protection laws, paid sick leave, and more.
“It’s always interesting, the variety of topics and things you learn about,” Simone says. “All the things that greatly impact people’s lives that you never thought of come across your desk.”
Simone deals directly with many environmental-related files, particularly in relation to the government’s CleanBC plan, which aims to reduce climate-changing emissions by forty percent by 2030.
“Initially, when I joined the team, I told them about my interest in this topic,” she says. “I’ve lead many phases of a climate adaptation project, as well as a plastics regulation project—there was also a ‘jobs of the future,’ project with regard to the clean economy.”
Originally from Toronto, Ontario, Simone knew early on that she had a passion for sustainability issues. During high school, she worked summers at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
As an undergraduate at Dalhousie, she had plans to study Environmental Science, but soon realized her planning and organizational skills made her a better fit for a Management degree—she subsequently switched over to courses in Business and ESS.
Simone enjoyed the combination, finding that studies in one major would often help her complete work in the other. The group ESS projects in particular were helpful for developing strong teambuilding skills—she remembers the Capstone project where her team assisted a local credit union in reducing its emissions.
“I think ESS helped with my personal understanding of the world we live in and my morals,” says Simone. “I don’t think it has necessarily changed or impacted my career, but [more] as a person and the way I filter the world and understand things and see things, perhaps.”
After graduating in 2013, she worked as a brand engagement specialist and project manager for the City of Halifax. Her main project was the new Halifax municipal brand that rolled out in 2014.
“The new brand all over the city, that was my baby. I worked on that project for almost two years, developing and implementing the brand. I know it was controversial—I’m curious as to people’s thoughts these days—but when I visited in September [2021], it was cool to go around and remember, ‘Oh my god, I designed that, and I worked on this.’”
When she left Halifax, Simone chose to do some travelling and finally settled in British Columbia in 2016. She loves her current home and work in Victoria, citing the short work commutes and the surrounding natural beauty, including ocean views and hiking trails.
Her advice to new ESS grads? Don’t write something off as being out of reach just because your formal qualifications don’t match up 100 per cent: “Follow all of your passions, don’t limit your job search to what you’ve studied.”
(March 2023)