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These two people are making Vancouver WAY more awesome

Sponsored by When the opportunity was given to profile people who have it in their nature to care, two names immediately came to mind: Alex Mazerolle and Jian Pablico.
Jenn Perutka

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When the opportunity was given to profile people who have it in their nature to care, two names immediately came to mind: Alex Mazerolle and Jian Pablico. If you're not familiar with all the awesome they do for the community and youth, let me familiarize you with their endeavours. Alex is the founder of Girlvana Yoga, an organization that empowers young girls through yoga, meditation, and healthy eating. Jian began Vars/ty Initiative to empower youth in community, athletics, and life. Together they joined forces to create Distrikt Movement, a place that is so much more than a fitness studio. Their space creates a community of support and encouragement for people of all ages and fitness levels, as well as local businesses. It's such an uplifting experience going to one of their classes that I've made it part of my weekly routine.

I asked the two of them a few questions about the community they are building through their work:

What drew you both into mentoring youth and the methods in which you reach out to them? 

We came together with a mutual respect for one another's work. Jian has a big background in youth work and has been facilitating Safe Teen and Neonology workshops in high schools dealing with anti-bullying, anti-racism and anti-oppression. He founded Vars/ty Initiative in 2013  to empower youth to become first string in athletics, community, and in life. Alex founded Girlvana Yoga a few years ago with a mission to help girls discover themselves through yoga and meditation. She leads girl empowerment retreats on Galiano Island as well as weekly classes in high schools and dance studios. Together, they joined forces to create Distrikt Movement, a space for yoga and fitness on the North Shore with a big youth focus. The after school time slots are dedicated to youth programs such a fitness, yoga classes and community events.

Describe how you cultivate community through your endeavors, including Distrikt Movement.

We are super passionate community builders. The studio gives us the space to host events and the youth feel really at  home here. As far as the studio goes, we do anything from movie nights, bbqs, planning meetings, to just hanging out. We have led big events at local high schools incorporating movement with our friends Tight Club, food truck Culver City Salads, and cold pressed juice Juice Truck. We love elevating our friend's businesses as well as broadening youth's horizons when it comes to holistic lifestyle. We also love social media and telling our story through instagram. People feel really connected to us and what we are creating and we love posting pics of our people.

What do you hope to contribute to the community through your work? 

We want to raise our community of youth to be leaders in everything that they do. We want to create a village where, regardless of age we all support and learn from one another. We want to provide a safe space where people can connect in a very human and real way. We want people to have fun and to feel like they belong to something.

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It’s in our nature to care TELUS truly cares about the communities where we live, work and play. Putting customers first is our top priority and guides everything we do, from our Give Where We Live philosophy to our Customers First days. See how TELUS gave loyal customer, Ramona, a big surprise to thank her for being such a great customer for almost 20 years.