Vanessa is a teacher and artist from Hopedale. She holds a B.Sc. and B.Ed. from Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and a Certificate of Indigenous Language Proficiency from the University of Victoria (UVic) through Pirurvik.

She is a well-established artist, having facilitated many sewing workshops, attended cultural conferences, and has had art displayed in various exhibitions. She recently worked as an online Inuttut Language Instructor with the Nunatsiavut Government. She is currently living in Hopedale where she recently completed the Master Apprentice Inuttut Program.

Vanessa is passionate about Inotsiavik and the potential it has to serve Nunatsiavummiut. As a teacher, she has experience teaching children, youth and adults, and her role with Inotsiavik is to serve as a skills teacher and program developer, while assisting with lesson planning and administration.

In her free time Vanessa enjoys spending time on the land and at the cabin, hiking, baking, sewing, and spending time with family, friends and her cat Luna.