I'm a community development practitioner, drummer, builder, gardener, hiker, cyclist, kombucha maker, and sourdough baker. I love to be working hands-on in the outdoors either getting in to the nitty gritty with something new or being in the flow with something I love. 

I grew up in the suburbs of Ottawa and later moved to Nova Scotia, the unsurrendered territory of the Mi'kmaw people, where I fell in love with the Atlantic Ocean and the maritime charm. I attended Acadia University to complete a Bachelor's in Community Development with Environmental and Sustainability Studies. I spent my summers in Wolfville gardening at the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, going for lots of swims in the Bay of Fundy and the Gaspereau River, and making delicious meals from the bountiful produce grown in the Annapolis Valley. I had the priviledge of staying in the Valley after my degree to work as Property Manager and Eco Educator at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. I cared for, maintained, and was a steward of the 175 acre, mostly wooded, property and offered land-based education to campers, program participants, and visitors, using the gardens, forest, and trails as my tools. Around this time I started playing drums with my two bands, Steel Cut Oats and Alex Coley & Afterlove. With them, I've toured throughout the maritime provinces and into Quebec, Ontario, BC, and the Yukon. 

In 2023, I moved to Halifax to work with Every One Every Day Kjipuktuk, a program of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendhsip Centre, as a Neighbourhood Project Designer with a focus on building and placemaking. I coordinated the Community Build Trailer, a mobile project hub kitted with carpentry tools to complete collaborative build projects where community members can gain useful skills in power tool operation.

Now, I live in Victoria, on the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.