Kathleen has positively impacted the community in many ways through her entrepreneurial endeavours and is a testament to leadership and passion. Among these endeavours is her involvement as President of Enactus uOttawa, a social enterprise project focused on creating businesses revolving around the community's most pressing problems and her volunteer initiatives regarding mental health. She began her work in the community by starting a project aimed to empower at-risk youth, and help integrate them into a high school setting. Kathleen then ran a Nationally recognized non-profit organization called the Mental Health Project, which was designed to provide youth with the resources to access mental health care in their communities. In her role as President of Enactus uOttawa, she has contributed over 2,000 volunteer hours, empowered over 1,000 people, helped divert over 6,000 pounds of waste from landfills, and has helped raise over $90,000 in funding. Kathleen has grown and started several projects that work with at-risk youth, high school entrepreneurs, the homeless, marginalized immigrant women and individuals with mental illness. Her social enterprises include; EcoEquitable boutique, a fashion boutique that sells women's accessories made from repurposed fabric, which diverts harmful textile waste from landfills, and employs women, and CigBins a business that collects and recycles cigarette butts while providing meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with mental illness. Kathleen has secured multiple customers for CigBins and is projected to have over $100,000 in revenues in 2015, provide at least 5 jobs for individuals with mental illness and recycle hundreds of thousands of cigarette butt waste collected from city streets. Kathleen is a true leader and continues to inspire other young people around her to utilize their skills to have a social impact in the community.
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