TELLING THE ALUMNI STORY

BCIT alumni are everywhere. They may have created that favourite sparkling cocktail you sipped at brunch on the weekend. They may have designed the roller coaster your family enjoyed on vacation last summer. Or they could be behind the sustainably constructed building you admire every morning on your way to work. This past year, the Alumni Association committed to telling the stories of just some of our outstanding graduates who are making a difference every day.

Read all our alumni stories: bcit.ca/news

Business Alumna Quenches Her Entrepreneurial Thirst With Duchess Cocktails Brand

Before Duchess Cocktails exploded onto the beverage scene, Olivia Lovenmark says she received resistance when she started her premium bottled-cocktail company in 2019: “It was frustrating to be told there wasn’t a market for my product when I knew there was.”

The BCIT Marketing Management alumna says that several years prior to launching Duchess, she noticed certain women-focused segments were being ignored. Olivia says this experience helped her identify new business opportunities. While the initial resistance she received was just one of many challenges along her entrepreneurial journey, the struggles fuelled her desire to succeed. In 2022, she was able to leave her full-time job to focus solely on her business and successfully open a local production facility that same year. Duchess Cocktails was also released in BC Liquor Stores. The company is self-funded (Olivia bootstrapped much of the journey) and recently secured non-dilutive capital.

Ever the entrepreneur, she has also launched another venture—Repose, a members-only digital club for creators and brands to own their own online communities. ∆

Seagate President Scott Comfort Champions Mass Timber As The Future Of Sustainable Construction

BCIT alum Scott Comfort says his rise in the construction industry didn’t have a glamourous start: “My first job in construction was cleaning up garbage on job sites when I was 16.”

Today, he is at the helm of the award-winning construction contractor, Seagate Mass Timber Inc., where he is a champion for using mass timber for more sustainable construction. He says that many types of mass timber can be made with waste wood, trees not usually utilized for structural material, or ethically farmed wood. When managed properly, these materials can save old growth trees and avoid deforestation. For example, his company recently completed a 10-storey, 300,000 square foot building in six months. Its mass-timber construction led not only to less overall waste but also shorter project timelines and reduced labour costs.

Scott attributes his career success to his completion of several BCIT programs, including BCIT Carpentry Apprenticeship, Construction Operations and Supervision, and the Introductory Studies in Mass Timber Construction microcredential. ∆

ENGINEERING ENTERTAINMENT IS ALL IN A DAY’S WORK FOR EMA BAKSA

Major theme parks like Universal Studios and Disneyland attract millions of guests each year with motion-based themed rides that make you feel like you’re actually in a movie scene. That effect may seem like magic but it’s actually the work of Controls Engineers like BCIT alumna Ema Baksa, who creates the motion of dark rides in amusement parks. These rides take place mostly indoors in dark conditions, and include special effects, sounds, light, animation, animatronics, screens, and a vehicle. A platform or coaster is often used as the vehicle that transports guests. The movement of the vehicle and the experience of falling or flying are what Ema creates.

“I truly enjoy knowing that I contribute to experiences that can even for a moment take people out of the real world and into fantasy worlds or experiences they never thought imaginable,” says the Bachelor of Engineering alumna, who credits BCIT for preparing her for the hands-on troubleshooting that her job requires. ∆

Share Your Success Story

Are you a BCIT alum with an inspiring career story? We’d love to hear from you. Share your details: bcit.ca/alumni/contact-us