“I love puns and making people smile.”
As SDC’s CEO from 2019-2020, as well as the current Program Coordinator and Alumni Committee Chair, Anson Yu did just that. Not only did Anson bring monumental change to SDC throughout her years on the youth team, but consistently also made everyone around her smile with her bright personality. To honour Anson—and those similar to her in the coming months—we are proud to introduce our new program: SDC Person of the Month! Each month, SDC will be recognizing and appreciating individuals, such as Anson, who put in remarkable effort in their contributions to our cause.
Anson was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada, attending high school in Langley; she is now an incoming freshman at the University of Waterloo, studying Systems and Design Engineering. Anson is passionate about accessibility in its many forms—whether it be improving readability or researching urban design, Anson constantly finds herself working on projects to help promote socio-economic, environmental, or technological equity.
In particular, she enjoys working on ideas that improve accessibility for others. During her time on the SDC youth team, Anson was able to do exactly that, in a multitude of ways; her characteristic smile and warm spirit never failed to shine through as she worked tirelessly to empower youth to empower children with disabilities, through galas, concerts, video campaigns, pep talks, and team leadership, only to name a few .
In 2016, Anson first became a volunteer at SDC’s programs. Falling in love with the community that it fostered and the change that it imparted, Anson joined the youth team and began working as an Executive Assistant to the President, before eventually transitioning to Chief of Staff, CEO, and now Program Coordinator and Alumni Committee Chair.
During her past four years at SDC, Anson has made a significant impact on numerous people and projects; most recently, she spearheaded the SDC COVID-19 Relief Fund, which saw multiple organizations band together to deliver critically-needed PPE to senior homes across the Lower Mainland.
In addition, yet another way that Anson transformed SDC for the better was through elevating the internal workflow and capacity of the team during her time of leadership. In particular, her emphasis and talent in video production truly shaped the way our marketing team continues to approach content creation today.
Looking back, Anson describes her time with SDC as “completely and utterly transformative”, as she became increasingly more confident and outspoken over each passing year. The team became a “sandbox”, where she was free to explore and expand her skill set in a safe and supportive environment. During her tenure at SDC, she felt herself becoming more open to exploring new and unknown experiences.
Anson’s leadership, empathy, and compassion ultimately reflect the core of what SDC respects and strives for, as young leaders in this ever-changing and complex world, and we cannot wait to see what she will accomplish next.
