Janice Ryan, B.Sc.
Janice's early career as a Marine Biologist took her up and down the B.C. coast and to Hawaii, working with a gamut of creatures ranging from tiny zooplankton to whales.
Janice has worked in television as a Producer, Director, Writer, Host and Voice Artist, winning numerous awards along the way. National show credits include the CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival, 2004 Olympics in Athens, Calgary Stampede, Canadian Country Music Awards, Hockeyville and Artspots, as well as, Provincial and Local television, web and radio shows (Ask Your Auntie, All About Pets).
Janice's book Amazing Animals is distributed across North America. She was the visual arts writer for the Edmonton Journal for four years, penning a weekly column and a monthly feature.
She hosted the National television series Company's Coming Everyday Cooking for two seasons and the award-winning, local info-entertainment show, The Edge, for six years. Acting credits include various movies and feature films, as well as narration for Discovery, Bravo and Access documentaries.
As a child, Janice enjoyed figure skating, biking, swimming and playing tennis. Today, she remains an active adult, horseback riding, hiking, bike riding, scuba diving and practising yoga. Past adventures include trekking through the Himalayas and paddling 260 kilometres down the Zambezi River. Future plans involve visiting the gorillas in Africa and exploring the Amazon.
Janice is the Co-founder of Spirit Runner, an iTunes Activity App. In leading this project as the Director, she has provided the creative thinking to develop a totally new idea and has combined that with her business acumen to implement an effective strategy.
Janice believes that keeping youth active is a key ingredient in helping them to enjoy a healthy, rewarding and productive future.
The Starfish Challenge
There’s a great story of a little boy walking along the beach, picking up a starfish that has been washed ashore and tossing it back. With hundreds of other starfish on the beach that are certain to perish, a woman says to the boy that what he’s doing won’t make a difference. He picks up another one and says,“well, it makes a difference to this one” and then throws it back in the ocean.The challenge we would like to throw out is this: In your own way, can you help out one child and make a difference in the their life?
