We Live Up Here welcomes Kaella-Marie Earle to its Board of Directors

Kaella-Marie Earle

We Live Up Here is proud to announce the appointment of Kaella-Marie Earle to its Board of Directors.

A lifelong advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental sustainability, and inclusive leadership, Kaella-Marie brings a wealth of experience and a deep connection to Sudbury’s urban arts organization.

Born at the Rainbow hospital in the ’90s, Kaella-Marie is an Anishinaabekwe from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory (Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850) and Aroland First Nation. Her work is deeply rooted in Indigenous human rights, but when it comes to We Live Up Here, she says she’s excited to focus on Anishinaabe joy.

A Sudburian through and through, Kaella-Marie has been part of the city’s cultural fabric since she was a kid—sledding at Queen’s Park, fishing in the mall’s pool pond, riding the glass elevator to the hidden garden at the City Centre, picking blueberries with her grandma near the Willet Green Miller Centre, and walking her dog with her dad on Mont Adam. She’s been attending Up Here since we were called Up Fest and even helped wheatpaste the Eyes on Ste-Anne back in 2013.

Kaella is a professional engineer with an impressive career spanning energy systems, environmental sustainability, and Indigenous leadership. She currently works at Enbridge on methane emission abatement and more recently was appointed by the Governor in Council to serve in public office on the Sustainable Jobs Partnership Council of Canada. She’s also a part-time professor at Brock University and a national voice for Indigenous inclusion in energy.

When she’s not working, she’s hanging out with her dog baby Ziisbaaktoonhs (Anishinaabemowin for “little sugar”) or working on her dream of becoming a gardener and homesteader.

Kaella brings deep policy knowledge, serious technical chops, and a bold, heart-led approach to community and public art—what she calls “an antidote to dehumanization and a practice of public safety.”

We’re honoured to welcome her to the team and excited for the vision and heart she brings to our next chapter. Welcome, Kaella-Marie!