Sunday 16 May 2021

2021-2022 Elections: Meet Your Candidates!

Elections are coming up soon! Watch your email for a survey link. Voting will be open from Thursday, May 20, 2021, to Thursday, June 3, 2021. Meet the candidates for President, Vice President, and Sew-ins and Workshops Coordinator below!


Candidate for President: Johanna Persohn

Hi everyone! I’m Johanna, (Instagram knows me as @yellowdoormakes)  I’ve been sewing since I was a kid, taught by my mom mainly (she sewed a lot of our clothes!), and I'm excited to hopefully continue to be part of the Guild!  I love how it has grown to share our joy of garment sewing with so many!  

Why am I running for President this time? I’ve enjoyed the last year as VP!  It has been a great group to work with and in particular I was excited to be able to bring speakers in from elsewhere. So I’d like to continue my work and keep helping the guild evolve! Next year will be a challenge.  We don’t know yet what it will look like, but for the guild I think this could mean looking at ways to have hybrid meetings and keep those that can’t always make it to in-person events engaged and involved, and hopefully, just hopefully something in person.  I love finding solutions to unique problems (my day job is as a researcher/analyst and figuring out approaches to things all day!), and I think next year will be one!

While my life is pretty busy and this last year has been an interesting one on many fronts, I always look forward to guild things. It’s a great opportunity to carve out some time for just me, even though I love spending all day every day with my two boys (8 and 11) and my husband, the guild is a great outlet!  I have also chaired a committee for my local community association (in heritage conservation, one of my other passions is old buildings) for a number of years and having been a team manager in my work life, so I think/hope I’m pretty ok taking a leadership role and am ready and excited to do so!

Thanks and I look forward to what the next year brings and continuing to see all your fabulous faces!


Candidate for Vice-President: Claire Kerry

I’m Claire Kerry aka @Brit_Can_Sew on instagram.

I’ve been a member of the Garment Guild since the inception of the Guild, and have been a member of the Executive for the last two seasons, in the role of Workshop and Sew-in coordinator. In this role I have organized a variety of in- person workshops and sew-ins, and in the current season, have set up and hosted several virtual sew-ins.

The Garment Guild has played a big part in enhancing my sewing hobby, I have expanded my social circles, and my sewing skills have vastly improved over the past four years. I’m a particular fan of the #OGGPOM, loving that it pushes you out of your comfort zone, encouraging more varied projects to undertake.

I thoroughly have enjoyed being part of the Garment Guild board, over the past two years, contributing to ideas and working through the issues that the pandemic year has brought to the Guild. I’m running for the position of Vice President, as I would like to continue as a member on board, building up on previous experience on this board and other boards, I am School Council secretary at my kids school, and have been on boards at both my kids nursery schools. 

Some of the ideas I have for programming would be to maximize the opportunities whilst still on zoom for speakers from outside of Ottawa, introduce a Member spotlight - learn more about members and their sewing experiences, tips/tricks and their sewing spaces! Include practical sessions - measurements, sketching, pattern adjustments, pattern hacking.

I’d also be keen to help the Guild build on the virtual aspect of the meeting to be able to appeal to those who would like to continue to access meetings virtually. And develop the member  idea of a Tool Library

As I’ve mentioned before I LOVE #OGGPOM so will happily spend time researching pattern ideas etc on Instagram/Pinterest!

Hopefully you feel my skills and passion match the requirements for the role of VP for the 2021/22 season. Thanks :) 


Candidate for Sew-ins and Workshops Coordinator: Laura-Lee MacDonald

Hello everybody! I am Laura-Lee MacDonald (@pippiannshirley) and I am running for Sew-In and Workshop Coordinator. I am a real joiner, as this is how I make friends as an adult, and I’ve run Girl Guide units, Parent Councils, grassroots environmental campaigns, and workshop series for fellow social workers. I came back to sewing after a long hiatus (1988 - Grade 8 sewing class - to about 2010) to help my kids realize their nerdy cosplay dreams. With sewing my own clothes, I have been able to combine my commitment to reducing my personal environmental footprint with my dedication to stop relying on the inhumane worker conditions around most RTW brands. The Ottawa Garment Guild has given me a space to commune with others who share my local and global anti-racist, pro-environmental values, and help me look better as I sew the wardrobe I want. I am ready to give back to this community who has served me so well.