Northern Voice Keynote Speaker: April Smith

The Northern Voice personal blogging and social media conference is happy to announce that our Keynote Speaker #1 is none other than April Smith, a well-known Vancouver-based Freelance New Media and Social Media Maker for AHA Media, Citizen Journalist, Project Leader and Trainer for @FearlessCity with W2Woodwards - W2 Community Media Arts.

You may know April already for her incredible blogging and video work portraying the personal stories of the residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. April also represented this key neighborhood as a trusted community spokesperson during the Olympics. The CBC, Globe and Mail and many other media outlets have often interviewed April for a unique and honest perspective on local issues.

April's passion and dedication to telling these personal stories through social media came through well in a recent Georgia Straight interview where she explained how she collected her stories:

If I go out and film, say in the alley, I would say, yeah, it’s a democrative term for me to say, “Yeah, I’m not afraid to go and find the real story, to see people as they are in their own element.” Basically, I want to approach them in a way that, “I’m here. I’m your friend. I’m from this area. What do you have to say? What are your thoughts?” Like, I’ll see someone sitting on the sidewalk, carving. Or, I’ll see someone sitting on the sidewalk, ranting. To me, to be able to tell a story in a digital fashion though on-line methods, through new media and social media, I get to broadcast their stories out.

Check out a sample of one of April's latest videos.