People of Georgian: Equity director shares how to ‘catch a Sula in the wild’

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The Georgian community is full of unique, inspiring perspectives —and we’re sharing them as part of an ongoing series.

People of Georgian: Meet Sula Levesque

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved the Bee Gees.

But my parents wouldn’t let me take the bus by myself at age 14 from Sudbury to Toronto to go to their concert. I threatened that I was going to run away from home because I thought that was wildly unjust.

I never did get to see them live, but I still love them.

A child wearing a Brownies uniform of brown dress and white and red scarf. — *Sula as a child.*

A person stands outside in front of a lake. — *Sula today.*

Three keys to ‘catch a Sula’: 70s music, cats and knitting

I’m also a huge David Bowie fan. Duran Duran. Wham.

Losing Bowie was hard – and we recently lost Robbie Robertson. I guess I’m of an age where all my musical idols are dying, leaving us just their legacies.

But one of the great things about growing up in Sudbury was, despite there not being a lot to do, it was a common tour stop for a lot of big names. I saw Alice Cooper, Van Morrison, Brian Adams. I saw Simon and Garfunkel later in Toronto.

I always say if you want to catch a Sula (me) in the wild, the best way to do that is to start a conversation about 70s or 80s pop music.

Or, you could also talk about cats and knitting, both of which I also love.

I have two cats, Bug and Izzy, and they’re both delightful. I think of them as children, but they’re my little fur friends I met when I lived in New Brunswick and they moved back to Ontario with me.

They’re domestic shorthairs. Izzy is a tabby cat, while Bug is gray and white and also pretty rude, but she’s a cuddle monster with me.

And as for knitting, I got into it because I have a short attention span and like projects you can do fairly quickly. Socks, hats, mittens. I’m constantly knitting for people. I’ll just say, “Here, have a hat.”

I love knitting while I’m watching movies, or sometimes I knit when I’m in video meetings but not on camera. Knitting quiets your brain so you can sit down and focus. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment through a creative outlet – plus, it’s squishy yarn and fun colours.

A selfie of a person wearing a black shirt, glasses, and a red and grey knitted hat.

Sula’s ‘deep commitment to fairness’ grows at Georgian

But what I’m really passionate about at Georgian is my work with the Centre for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

I’ve always had a deep commitment to fairness.

Our world and our laws tell us what we have to do, but we ought not to be satisfied by simply meeting compliance standards. Can’t we be dreaming of more than that?

It’s exciting that many postsecondary institutions are growing their human rights offices to open the conversation about how to create more inclusive environments. It really does make a richer, more interesting and more innovative world when we take into account everybody’s needs.

When we create an individual sense of belonging and people feel safe, seen and valued, that’s when culture changes. Then, the work changes. We are more innovative, more creative. We create a community that values excellence.

When everybody at Georgian has the confidence and commitment and resources to be doing their work, with our commitments to equity in mind – that’s true success.

Sula Levesque, Executive Director at Georgian’s Centre for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

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