“We had the pleasure of working with Susana to co-facilitate and illustrate a community-based research project that explored experiences faced by artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. Using culturally sensitive approaches Susana helped empower participants to feel heard and share in ways they felt comfortable. Her illustrations provided a powerful way to capture the sentiments of the sessions and the final project visual summaries shared our learnings with the broader community.

She works with ease, is a thoughtful listener, flexible and engaging. If you are looking for someone to help make projects come to life, Susana with Bright Light Ideas is your answer.”

– Meghan Mergaert, Victoria Inter Cultural Association

“Working with Susana and Bright Light Ideas has increased the impact of our community-based research. Susana took the time to really learn about what the project was about and what we wanted a visual to do. She asked questions, listened, and made sure she got it right. The process of creation was collaborative, intuitive, and well-considered. It was magical to see the result of our work together; she beautifully translated what we had talked about into a stunning visual.

She was an excellent listener, receptive, and produced great ideas and demonstrated wonderful flexibility about how to visually display information. And she was able to fit a surprising amount of information into an easy-to-navigate and aesthetically-pleasing format! We have been met with such positive reception in displaying the beautiful, colourful image. The image is also so much more accessible to a variety of people, with different learning styles. I would highly recommend working with Susana!”

– Stefanie Hardman, Community Social Planning Council

“In my role as Director of Settlement Services for the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS), I had the opportunity to bring Susana, from Bright Light Ideas, to facilitate a strategic planning process in the spring of 2017, to help the VIRCS’ Youth Program complete a strategic plan.I found that Susana had carefully prepared for this workshop, and quickly was able to engage all participants in a lively conversation. Susana’s facilitation style is very relaxing, confident and result-oriented, and she guided the group in a very respectful and inclusive way, ensuring all participants contributed to the meticulous planning process.The final result of this process was an excellent strategic plan, with a very clear set of objectives and activities that all team members embraced enthusiastically, and with the added value of having the strategic plan documented in a beautiful, colourful drawing!”

– Alvaro Moreno, Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society

“Earlier this year, our staff started planning a fundraising project for our non-profit organization and we really had no idea where to begin. It is not always easy to clearly capture or articulate the work we do in the community and Susana helped us to communicate our vision clearly and creatively. I would highly recommend using Susana. Not only did she provide us with high quality and creative results, she was a source of support and inspiration throughout the process helping us to turn the vision for our project into a reality. Every step along the way Susana was there to facilitate collaborative discussions to help us achieve our goals for the project. Her contribution extended far beyond the role of providing us with a promotional video for our organization; rather, she facilitated a process of finding our voice for reaching out to our community.”

– Nick Sandor, Island Sexual Health Society

“Susana asked us poignant and thought provoking questions which provided an obvious and consistent direction. Her superior communication and facilitation skills served as a leading catalyst throughout the process. Sexuality education is a incredibly personal and sensitive topic for many and Susana created a video that was accessible and engaging to a wide range of potential donors. Susana was able to balance our message, the sensitivity of the topic with humour and relevance. As a testimony to this, several of our campaign contributors not only took the time to donate because of the video but also provided feedback on how much they enjoyed the video!

We would welcome an opportunity to collaborate with Susanna in the future and encourage others to do the same. Any work done with Susana is a worthwhile investment that will provide your staff, organization and clients an unparalleled creative process and end result. Susana is a true gift to the world of organizational development, creative direction and graphic facilitation; she’ll inspire and lead your projects with her creativity, humour and unparalleled skills.”

– Jennifer Gibson, Island Sexual Health

“I have had the privilege of working with Susana at the Victoria Women’s Transition House in our Children Who Witness Abuse program.

Susana took on the task of revamping our Violence is Preventable school presentation, where we cover dating violence, healthy relationships, consent and abuse. Her creativity was evident through the posters and new activities she created, which I have seen help to engage and educate youth in a fun way. Susana has a beautiful way of captivating her audience and holding their attention, even when talking about these challenging and sensitive topics. We have had nothing but positive feedback from these presentations, with both youth and educators asking for return visits. ”

– Sabrina Baines, Victoria Women's Transition House

“Susana has a gift for making people feel comfortable and welcome in a space. Her kindness radiates through her teaching, as she shares both the tools and the confidence to turn doodles into a fabulous tool for personal journaling, note-taking, education, and group facilitation. Not only are her workshops engaging and informative, she also gives tons of time to practice your skills and room to add your own personal flare! When I walked into Susana’s class, I was a little unsure about sharing my drawings with other people, but by the time I walked out I couldn’t wait to share it with my students and colleagues! Thanks Susana!”

– Alivia Veenestra, Wachiay Friendship Centre

"I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing Susana Guardado for over 5 years. During that time Susana has delivered many workshops for Volunteer Victoria on a wide range of topics that added tremendous value and capacity to the knowledge base of the not-for-profit sector. In Susana you will find a consummate professional who is caring, skilled, an exemplary facilitator, outstanding communicator, and is sensitive to the clients/students needs -- and always delivers beyond expectations. Susana is also an expert in designing processes that work to meaningfully engage groups and move them in a collaborative and interactive fashion to a desired outcome. And, thanks to her leadership, all of that is achieved in an environment of respect and positive energy. I would recommend Susana so very highly to any organization that is looking to deliver training, engage community, or design a process to support the agencies growth & mandate."

– George Colussi, Volunteer Victoria

“I loved the visuals, how you used less words and more images. It helped me see the link between ideas.”

– Workshop Participant

“I wanted to say that you did a fantastic job facilitating and planning these sessions with us. You are so thoughtful and astute when it comes to navigating these types of issues. I really appreciate that you get the nuance and challenges of how a membership organization has to approach issues on behalf of the sector and as well as supports for the members. This is a unique type of strategic planning perspective and I think a huge asset that you have. It’s a niche that is under-served in my opinion and I think you shouldn’t shy away from advertising your strength in that area.”

– Tanyss Knowles, BC Society of Transition Houses

“Susana Guardado is a very skilled and passionate facilitator.  She is organized and uses a variety of engaging techniques to both prepare and deliver workshops.   She is able to read a group and recognize the social, emotional, physical and academic needs of a group.   Susana has a warm and welcoming personality and takes care to be culturally sensitive and aware. She provides a safe and engaging learning environment for her participants and is an exceptional presenter.”

– Larissa MacDonald, Ilitaqsiniq