How is Serena Paul like Scotch tape?
She holds everything together!
Now if the tape came in pink (Serena’s favourite colour), the similarities would be complete. Serena is UINR’s Administrative Assistant, a fancy title for someone who does everything around the office from greeting visitors to operating the photocopier, organizing meetings and handling the mail. If you’ve ever phoned UINR or dropped into our offices, it is probably Serena who welcomed you or directed you to the person you were looking for.
If Mi’kmaq is your language of choice, you don’t need to hesitate to use it when you call or drop by. Serena is not only fluent, but we often depend on her to translate words or settle arguments on its correct use. Serena is often called in to take minutes for our various initiatives and her language versatility make her indispensable when the meetings are held in Mi’kmaq.
Serena graduated from Holy Angels High School and studied at UCCB in the B.A. program. She recently completed a business training certificate in “Minutes Made Easy.” Before joining us at UINR, Serena worked with the Eskasoni Band Council as its secretary and as receptionist at the Eskasoni Health Centre. Serena joined us at UINR as Coordinator for Unama’KIDS. Never content to sit idle, Serena filled in around the office whenever she was needed and when there was an opening for an Administrative Assistant, she applied and, well, the rest is history!
Whenever UINR is organizing a conference or event, Serena’s organizational skills are called into play–from the first planning meeting through to the final wrap-up party. She’s worked on scheduling video conferences and events for Unama’KIDS, helped organize our Moose Symposium and in the planning and operations of forestry conferences. Whether its organizing catering, booking facilities or following up with guest speakers, Serena does it all.
We don’t want to give the impression that Serena is all work and no play! She loves her weekends and values the quality time with her family spending time in Ben Eoin or at a movie or curled up with a good (preferably scary) book. One of the traits she shares with her sister Annie is a love of shopping…in November you can find her in Maine on her annual Black Friday shopping trip. To fill in the time between shopping trips Serena hones her skills on eBay!
“Not only am I helping the environment and the Bras d’Or Lakes by working for UINR, whatever I pick up along the way I take home to my kids. They love this part of my job, especially the Unama’KIDS program. (We also like the staff’s cooking when we have parties, especially Weldon’s cookies!)”
serena@uinr.ca
Ten questions
Chose an animal native to Unama’ki.
Eagle
Favourite season?
Fall.
What is the best part of your work?
UINR staff.
Choose a quality you admire in others.
Sense of humour.
Favourite beach?
Ben Eoin
Last thing you read?
How the Cougar Became the Ghost Cat by Michael Isaac
What’s for supper tonight?
I’m thinking maybe stew.
What is your favourite website?
ebay.ca
What did you do in the last week to help the environment?
Purchased “green” household products.
Chocolate or chips?
If I HAD to chose, it would have to be chocolate.
