Bonnie Hillman
Originally from NY, Bonnie moved to Toronto, Canada in 1989 because she met and fell in love with a Canadian, and was ready to leave NYC. Having worked in communications and sponsorship, both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, Bonnie bought A&C from its founder in 2004. A pioneering cultural sponsorship agency at the time, Bonnie bet that its results-driven ethos could translate to the entire communications offering. (She won that bet and then some.) Bonnie is sought out by clients for counsel both professional and personal, and speaks at sponsorship and communications conferences in North America. She's a leading authority on sponsorship strategy and negotiation, with three decades in communications, strategic planning and corporate partnerships in New York and Toronto. Her current focus is city-building, and finding ways unprecedented public-private partnerships can work to help fund innovative spaces in cities.
Having offices in Toronto and Seattle, and a small but mighty team who punches well above their weight, A&C is Bonnie’s full time job, vocation and passion. Bonnie’s volunteer life has included stints on the Board of Directors of the Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada, the Stratford Chefs School, Evergreen Foundation, and the Loran Scholars Foundation. Bonnie has a great family – two exceptional adult sons, a wonderful husband, and an extremely cute French Bulldog. She is lucky enough to have the best of both the city and nature, so when she’s not walking to work in downtown Toronto, she’s on the dock at Lake of Bays in Muskoka, Ontario. Or traveling. Or doing yoga. Or traveling to a yoga retreat. Or any number of other things that make her happy, usually involving beautiful places and interesting people. And great food and wine.
3 words to describe Nature?
Real. Gorgeous. Dramatic
3 things Nature taught you?
How to be resourceful
How insignificant I and my worries are
How to listen
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The lake my house is on
A specific campsite in Algonquin Park, Canada
A small cove in Greece
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Invigorated and young
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Curious
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
I’ve only ever seen on in the distance, so it hasn’t felt real
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Lucky
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Happy
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Safe
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean and Mountain
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
15
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
A very early memory is being on a beach with my family, hearing the ocean and feeling the sticky, hot feeling of the sand, cooling off in the ocean, jumping the waves, and getting sticky and sandy again. And how when I closed my eyes at night, I’d only see waves.
Christine Mason
CHRISTINE MASON is the author of Indivisible, Love in the Face of Everything, & her upcoming Bending the Bow. She's the co-founder of New Earth, a farm-based retreat center for Integral Activism on Hawai'i. She convenes, hosts and facilitates conferences, salons, and events at the intersection of science and tech, spirituality, human optimization, society and institutions. She serves as Editor in Chief of Enter Magazine, sits on the board of GRIP, and is chairman of Now Labs, Inc. She's a mom, grandmother, and a long time practitioner and teacher of yoga, meditation and tantra. Follow her at xtinem.com, or on Amazon.
3 words to describe Nature?
Creative. Destructive. True.
3 things Nature taught you?
All things are interconnected.
We are always provided for.
How elegantly things adapt.
And more!! The resonance of beauty and that an ecosystem in balance sounds a harmonic chord, (out of balance there is dissonance - as in all systems).Humility and Awe.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The golden sunrise rocks in the high desert at Joshua Tree, Southern California.
The long slung white sand beach at Stinson, in Northern California.
The round stone beach at Washington Harbor, on Washington Island in Lake Michigan, surrounded by White Birch forest.
And more!! The ice caves above Aspen, Colorado and the giant rolling dunes in southern Morocco.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Surrendered. Integrated. Rebalanced.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Peaceful. Quiet. Curious.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Alive. Creative. Urgent.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Grateful. Potentiated. Connected to all beings.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Like a child in the summer rains.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Lonely
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I’m a planet earth person.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Cresting a ridge at sunrise on snowshoes, my father next to me, deep fresh snow; the morning light catching the crystalline crust just so, a thousand rainbow prisms refracting in every direction, against a crisp cold bright blue sky; cheeks red, legs strong, eyes wide open; a suspended indelible moment of pure beauty.