Prestigious fellowship for FOXY leader
Candice Lys is the first NWT resident to receive international Ashoka fellowship
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
FOXY, or Fostering Open eXpression among Youth, co-founder Candice Lys is celebrating a milestone for herself and for the NWT.
FOXY co-founder Candice Lys recently received a prestigious fellowship from Ashoka, an international organization that recognizes groundbreaking social entrepreneurs and "changemakers" around the world. Out of 53 Canadians, she is the first fellow to receive the award in the Northwest Territories. - photo courtesy of Kayley Inuksuk Mackay |
She says she is thrilled to be the first territorial resident to receive a fellowship from Ashoka, a global social entrepreneur organization.
The lifelong fellowship recognizes "changemakers" and "social entrepreneurs" - individuals with innovative and practical ideas for solving social problems around the globe - by investing in them.
With this fellowship, Lys is joining the ranks of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Kailash Satyarthi.
Growing up in Fort Smith, Lys said she never heard words like "changemaker" and "social entrepreneur."
"It's pretty awesome," she said. "It's an incredible honour to represent the North ... and be the first fellow in the NWT. I'm pretty humbled."
But the road to the fellowship wasn't an easy feat. Lys said she was nominated in 2013 for the work she was doing with FOXY, and then with SMASH - Strength, Masculinities and Sexual Health.
The process involved several intense interviews with selection committees asking her questions ranging from silly ones to how she would handle a crisis that arose at her organization.
Lys found out she was the recipient in June.
The organization was impressed with how FOXY and SMASH supported Indigenous youth, sexual and mental health, Lys said. In total, 53 Canadians are Ashoka fellows. One high-profile name is Marc Kielburger, co-founder of international development organization Free the Children and youth empowerment organization Me to We.
Joining this network of global movers and shakers is the great thing about the fellowship, Lys said, aside from a stipend over the next three years to help create more innovative programming for FOXY and SMASH. Lys said she can't divulge details about the stipend but plans to use it to help expand both programs into the Yukon and Nunavut in the fall.
"It's great to be recognized on an international scale for the work that you do," she said.
