Although originally hailing from Toronto, Lisi Tessler has spent the last five years living and going to school in Victoria, BC. It didn’t take her long to adapt to the “Left Coast” and she plans to stay there! She has very recently completed her theatre degree from the University of Victoria, and thinks this bike tour is the perfect way to commence her adventure into the Real World! Lisi is uber-passionate about her bicycle, urban gardens, and changing the world for the better. She plans to move to the big city of Vancouver next year, and possibly return to school eventually, most likely in the realm of environmental studies or design. In the meantime, she is busy finishing up her first degree, building a garden in her parking lot, and getting super excited for the Otesha tour in a part of Canada she has never been to before. Oh, and there is nothing better than fresh, local, organic steamed kale. It is better than candy.

Alysha Woolner is from Waterloo, Ontario and is currently in her last months of school at the University of Toronto.  She Studies Art and Art History and Psychology at the Mississauga campus and is extremely excited to get out of the suburbs. She is pretty ecstatic that she will be spending two months on the beautiful east coast and will hopefully spend some more time there after the adventure is over.  After that she hopes to work for an organization called L'arche where she will be an assistant living in a home with individuals with mental disabilities.  She is very excited for this whole experience to begin!

Michelle Evans is currently from Riverview, New Brunswick, but wants to explore more before actually living there. She loves being outside no matter what she's doing and is up for anything, the more ridiculous or embarrassing the better. She is a dog groomer and has just finished Katimavik. Michelle enjoys challenging people to live sustainably and to learn about social and environmental issues especially those pertaining to the local area. Her life has no plan, but she figures it will be fun to see how it pans out.

Leah Goldie began walking and talking in Vernon, BC.  She is looking forward to starting this new Otesha adventure.  She's had the great opportunity to see some wonders of the world while volunteering to help save sea turtles in Costa Rica, inspiring her to learn more about environmental issues in all parts of the world.  Leah is thrilled to be apart of Otesha and to see more of Canada, and is ready to share, learn, play and enjoy every moment of it. 

Andrew Wolf is a food educator at the Children’s Aid Society Go Healthy Program in New York City.  He began teaching about cooking and food at Brainfood in Washington, D.C. while studying at an American University.  When he’s not in the classroom, Andrew is gardening, composting, reading, or riding his bicycle.

Tania Cheng has just wrapped up her undergrad in Honours Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo and is looking forward to starting off her next adventure on the Highlands and Islands tour. Originally from Richmond Hill, ON, Tania has been involved with Otesha through the Triple-H program since high school and her dream to join a bike tour has been six years in the making, so this is big! Tania is passionate about social change and making a positive difference in the world. In her spare time, she likes to watch and play basketball, travel, pick up new skills (currently, drumming and juggling), and of course, go biking!

My name is Amber Seeds, and I start out shy, but then warm up quickly. I am an engineer currently working in the field of renewable energy, but looking forward to changing it up and personally delivering a powerful message. I get really excited when other people bring up sustainability and love to swap ideas on easy things to do in your day to day life. Do you know making your own yogurt is both easy and delicious? I can be a huge nerd and like science museums including crazy kitchens!  Being on a bike gives me a sense of peace and accomplishment. Life is a journey, not a destination, so lets giv'er. :)

Shirley Manh is thrilled to have found this wonderful combination of different things she loves in life: sustainable living, performance, and bicycles, of course! Living by Toronto's largest patch of green, Shirley works for an educational student travel company managing a team of Tour Leaders. She believes strongly in waste reduction, (environmental) education and setting an example for others, but also for herself. When she's not hopping around discovering how neat the world is, she enjoys the company of inspiring people, live music and delicious food.

Douglas Logan is currently a Project Leader for Katimavik in southern Alberta. He loves to learn about people, plants and animals, the environment and sustainability. When he's not in an office he's reading books, practicing French, or hiking in the mountains.

Guy Marsan was born and raised in Ottawa. After graduating from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Arts, Honours Theatre, Guy travelled to Germany, where he continued his theatre training, and perfected his knowledge of the German language at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Freiburg was also where Guy met the bike of his life, a wonderful grey Peugeot road-bike, which he happily rode through the greenest city of Germany. In October 2007, Guy left Germany, and sadly, his bike, to continue his training in Paris. Back in Canada since January 2008, Guy has found a new bike, and he has been riding it all over Ottawa. He is currently working for various theatre companies in Ottawa, including the Ottawa Stilt Union, a company with which he creates theatre on stilts. This summer, he and the latter company are creating stilt costumes made entirely of re-used/recycled/or reclaimed materials for an waste reduction awareness performance. In the last few years, Guy has developed a stronger interest in the environment and reducing his impact on the planet. To help play his part, he volunteers for Ecology Ottawa, a great organization that strives to make Ottawa the Green Capital of Canada.

Adrienne Gasior grew up in Saskatoon Saskatchewan after moving away shortly after high school; she has had a variety of adventures and lived in many interesting places. She enjoys hiking trips, canoeing trips, cycling trips, cross-country skiing, cooking things on a fire and just generally being outside. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art from the University of Victoria focused on painting and sculpture. Adrienne heard about Otesha in her first year of University - then whispers of the word from friends over the years and decided that now is the time to finally get on the trip! She is interested in the combination of the creativity process, social justice, adult education, and collaboration and how all of these things affect community on a small and large scale. She is interested in how Otesha allows for a new way to fit all of these things together. She is interested in continuing to pursue a studio practice and eventually returning to do more education.  Adrienne has been living in Wolfville, Nova Scotia the past year and is excited to cycle through and connect back into the amazing town and see some of the great people living here.

Makeda Zook recently completed her undergrad degree in Global Studies at Trent University and is excited to be entering the world beyond academia! At first, daunted by having no clear ‘plan’ upon finishing school, she decided to practice yoga and write poetry, connecting with aspects of herself that were sorely neglected throughout her university career. In her third year of university, she had the opportunity to do field work in Northern Thailand, giving her a taste of what life is like beyond the classroom. This, combined with spending her summers working at kids’ camps, going on canoe trips and gardening, have made joining an Otesha tour the next obvious choice in stepping out into the world and putting her passions into practice.

Salut gang! My name is Marie-Hélène. J’ai grandi à Montréal, mais depuis que j’ai quitté le nid familial, j’ai vogué de Whitehorse à Rimouski avant de me poser pour un moment à Québec. I’ve just finish my geography bachelor studies. Othesa seems to be the perfect project for me, my expectations and interests: théâtre d’intervention en environnement + voyage de vélo avec un groupe assurément trippant = the magic recipe for an unforgettable fall! Basically, everything interests me! I’m looking forward for a job or master studies about environmental issues. I really believe in education so, sooner or later, I will teach geography and French aux quatre coins de la planète. I can’t wait to meet the whole group. Vivement le moment de pousser mes pédales dans les Maritimes!

My name is Anna Wallace and I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. I love three things more than anything else in the world; riding my bike, traveling, and cookies (vegan of course). "You say adventure, I say I'm in", that's my motto! I spend most of my time trying to learn somewhat useless skills like juggling and uni-cycling. And if you are lucky I'll show you my one magic card trick. I am also constantly trying to learn new things about myself and the world around me, so I am super excited for this new adventure with Otesha! Seriously though, REALLY EXCITED! I can't wait to meet awesome people, see amazing places, and talk about important topics. Hurray for Otesha! Hurray for sustainability! Hurray for bicycles!