In June, we welcomed Subagini Sivapatham as Pathways Canada’s inaugural Chief Impact Officer. With over two decades of non-profit leadership experience, Subagini will drive impact at Pathways through programming and research efforts, and will work alongside Program Partners to inform enhancements to the program.
This month, Subagini sat down with us to share more about her experience in the sector and what she’s most looking forward to learning from Pathways Program teams.
Welcome to Pathways! Could you tell us about your experiences in the non-profit sector that brought you here today?
Throughout my career, supporting equity-seeking communities and vulnerable populations has always been where my heart is. I started in the non-profit sector in disaster relief at the Red Cross in Hamilton. That was my first stepping stone in community engagement and services, and realizing it was where I wanted to be. From there, I gained experience in fundraising, marketing, and communications at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and then I began to flex my muscles in integrating programming and marketing when I moved into settlement services at the Newcomer Centre of Peel.
A great part of my learning journey in programming and community engagement was developed at Futurpreneur Canada, a non-profit focused on supporting young entrepreneurs. There, my work bridged marketing, communications, programming, and impact to serve communities across Canada. Prior to joining Pathways, I led the design and delivery of new programs and services to promote cultural space development as Artscape’s Vice-President, Community Experience.
What sparked your interest in Pathways and the CiMO role?
I crossed paths with Pathways when I was at Futurpreneur, so I’ve been familiar with the organization for a long time. Pathways aligns with my values professionally and personally, which are distinct areas for me to live what I believe in.
From a personal lens, Pathways’ mission connected with my own experience as an immigrant youth navigating the high school system in Scarborough, in the early nineties, a challenge new to both my parents and me. If I were to reflect on the experience of that young person, having something like Pathways accessible to me would have made a big difference. There is an affinity for me in terms of understanding how that could’ve changed the trajectory of my life and it fuels me as I think about where I can contribute today in some of the ways my younger self would have needed.
On the professional side, I especially love how Pathways delivers programming. I believe that success isn’t accomplished by one person but by a collective. That’s why Pathways’ partner delivery model deeply resonates with me. Knowing the collective alignment and the knowledge sharing it brings, all these things together made this opportunity a perfect fit.
After two decades of experience supporting equity-seeking communities aligned with Pathways’ mission, has there been a lesson you’ve learned that informs the approach to your work today?
Many, many lessons! A lot of people tend to lump equity-seeking groups into one space, and mistakenly think that we all approach things the same way. What is critical for success is understanding the unique lived experiences within those equity-seeking groups, and how they’re also evolving as we connect with them throughout their journey. One of the key things we must understand is how to remain agile with that evolution, like I had to in my own lens and my contributions in the past.
Two fundamentals I live by are to avoid becoming too familiar with where I am at and to welcome discomfort. For me, once I’m familiar with something, that signals complacency, a hurdle in terms of evolving and growing. The second part is examining where I feel uncomfortable because discomfort means there’s growth potential. Those two lessons play a key role when I’m thinking about new initiatives, opportunities, and programming.
Also, and this may sound silly, but I believe in having a little element of delusion. Going back to the greatest scientific discoveries in history, people pursued those discoveries because they believed before they could see them. If you do not have that level of belief within what you do, you’re soon going to become jaded, especially in the area that we work in and the things that we come across, and how frustrating that can be. So, having that bit of delusion is something I’ve learned to keep practicing as I navigate my journey.
What are you most excited about learning from Program Partners and about Pathways communities?
I’m looking forward to learning the ways in which we’re developing programming, but also really just experiencing how people live through that programming. Last week, I experienced my first Pathways graduation—I went to Pathways Scarborough Village’s ceremony, and hearing the speeches from the valedictorians was so moving. It really brought me home because I grew up in Scarborough, and just watching youth get up on the stage, I could recognize my experiences in them. There is so much hope and the slightest bit of impact that we are able to share with them can change the trajectory of their lives, and I fundamentally felt it there.
These are the moments that I’m most excited about in the coming months—meeting more of your teams and actually hearing from the young people. The beauty of working with partners like you is the diversity in thought and the unique perspectives you bring to the table. I welcome the authentic connections and learning about your experiences, as there are so many things we are doing well and so much more we can discover together. Our collective efforts will truly drive the impact to see youth thrive in communities across Canada.