About Us

“Wonderful careers are for ordinary people. It’s true everyday and it’s been true for us.”

Meet The Team

Elizabeth Bowker

Lead Researcher, Developer & Author

“Imagine the sky at its bluest. We call this process of dreaming ‘Career Imagination’. It starts with believing that your dream can come true, no matter who you are, because wonderful careers are for ordinary people, it’s true every day.”

  • Elizabeth is an author, researcher, educator and business owner. Her research focuses on who we are when we work and how we can be successful in that work. She trained as a researcher at University College London.

    She is from Victoria, a small city on the western edge of Canada, where not too much ever happens. She went to the University of British Columbia, where she eventually received two degrees, a BA in History and an MBA. In her work, Elizabeth has done strategic planning, project management, sustainability, partner relations, and communications for a variety of employers, including large public agencies. Eventually, she moved to the private sector as an independent management consultant for small businesses, communities, and social enterprises. 

    After a career in some ordinary places, and some extraordinary ones, like an inner-city high school and a couple of Olympic Games, she went on to be a full-time Lecturer in Business Communications at the Sauder School of Business, UBC, a Top Forty business school.

    Elizabeth raised and supported two sons on her own. She is an ordinary woman from an ordinary place who has had a career that has at times been difficult, even struggling, and at other times been quite extraordinary. She is now working on a career as an entrepreneur.

    BA, DipEd, MBA, MRes

Timothy Cuffe

Co-developer & Instructor

“Career change is hard. I want to help make it a little easier.”

  • Timothy has always been curious about how to build a career that reflects who you are. He’s especially interested in how people navigate change, hold onto purpose, and redefine success on their own terms.

    He grew up in Canada at a time when careers were expected to follow a straight line and ambition was measured in titles and timelines. But his own path has been anything but predictable. After studying Political Science and International Relations at Simon Fraser University, he somehow found himself in the world of global finance—an unlikely landing place for a kid from Vancouver with no roadmap.

    Timothy has always been drawn to the human side of work. For the past eight years, he’s taught Business Communications at the UBC Sauder School of Business, guiding students to find their voices and define their values.

    He believes that careers are rarely linear and never simple—but they can be honest, adaptive, and deeply personal. His work is grounded in the idea that with agency and intention, people can shape lives and careers that reflect who they are and what they stand for.

    Like most people, he’s had moments of clarity and moments of chaos. And like many, he’s still figuring it out—with humility, hope, and a sense of humour.

Peg (Petti) Fong

Instructor

  • Peg (Petti) Fong is a journalist, educator, and author. She is the Vancouver correspondent for The Economist. She was a staff reporter at the Vancouver Sun, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the CBC. She teaches journalism, ethics and business communications at Kwantlen University, Langara College, and the University of British Columbia. She is the author and podcast host of “Alone Together,” a series that explores what loneliness means. Not to solve it, but to add one voice to another so that we are alone together. She earned an MS in Journalism (Columbia).