This is the third post in our ongoing series, “Two Minutes With”. We’re getting to know a little more about the Elettra team, our clients, and our partners/suppliers. Today we chat with Jenna Anderson, who has been on the Elettra team since September 2014 as a Tour Guide at Vancouver International Airport. Jenna is now moving into a Community Relations Coop position at YVR. Best of luck in your new position, Jenna!

Favourite quote: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” - Anais Nin

Favourite place to visit: New Zealand. It has gorgeous scenery, lovely people, and amazing activities like canyoning!

Favourite author: George R. R. Martin, he created a captivatingly detailed universe in A Song of Ice and Fire and I cannot wait for him to finish the Winds of Winter.

Morning beverage of choice: First, orange pekoe tea then an hour later a cup of coffee.

Best piece of career advice you have received? Take initiative, triple check all of your work, and always arrive 15 minutes early.

Why do you choose to live in Vancouver? Where else can you hit the slopes, go hiking, go to the beach, and then get some of the best sushi all in one day.

Natural talent you wish you had: The ability to gracefully walk in high heels.

Elettra's Leanne Kedrosky has spent the fall at YVR providing tours to grade five students from around the Lower Mainland. In the following post, Leanne relates some of her favourite things about exploring YVR with a group of ten-year-olds.Navigating the Airport with Young Eyes

If you've been to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) recently, you may have seen streams of children being led throughout the terminal. Each year, from September to December, YVR hosts 60 Grade 5 classes for the YVR School Tour program, an educational experience were children learn about the airport's operations, history, and First Nations art. This year, I had the pleasure of navigating groups around the airport and sparking their enthusiasm for aviation. Each day provided new entertainment and lessons for me, as their tour guide. The following are some of my favourite experiences from the last few months.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Did you ever watch the old TV show Kids Say the Darndest Things? These are some of my favourite questions or statements from this fall's tours:

When I asked that students what is a domestic flight? Answers included:

• Is it one that carries animals?
• Is it a very fancy flight?

Students also asked: Can you take a hippo on a plane? And If there were no lights on the runways, could they use fireflies to light it at night?

Favourite Moments

One of the moments that caught me most off guard involved a Grade 5 girl. All the children in this group were exceptionally engaged throughout the tour and ran to give me a hug when the tour was over. One small girl ran up last with her arms outstretched. Expecting her to behave just like the rest of the class, I continued a conversation with another student, but was shocked when I was suddenly being lifted into the air and carried off. This girl was carrying me like it was no problem, which was shocking considering her tiny size! Thankfully I was able to convince her to put me down promptly, and after the shock wore off I was very impressed with her strength.

Tour Take Aways

Leading the school tours was entertaining and enlightening in many ways. I learned more about Vancouver International Airport than I ever imagined. The Airport Authority is highly involved in the local community and I am walking away from this position with a new appreciation for everything the employees do locally. Not only is the School Tour Program fully supplied by the Airport Authority, they also donate $750,000 a year to the Greater YVR Community, making a big difference to non-profit groups across the Lower Mainland. We have a very special airport here in Vancouver, and I am thrilled to have been part of it and to spread the word.

- Leanne Kedrosky

We are delighted to be working with alumni UBC to publicize Fashioning Cancer, a fundraiser in support of the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC. The event, part of Western Living Design Week, will feature the auction of ten exquisite evening gowns that were designed as works of art by Jacqueline Firkins, Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Theatre and Film, to encourage honest and open conversations about cancer.

The gowns were inspired by colourful microscopic images of cancer cells and cellular systems and auction and ticket proceeds from the event will go to the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC.

In addition to the auction there will be a live performance by Canada’s queen of punk, singer/songwriter and cancer survivor, Bif Naked.

The Fashioning Cancer fundraiser will take place in the Porsche Centre Vancouver on Tuesday, September 23

For further information and to buy tickets, visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/fashion.

The YVR School Tour Program  is almost set to take off for another year. This week our two new tour guides Jenna Anderson and Leanne Kedrosky are in the midst of a rigorous training program. It takes a lot of knowledge to be a YVR Tour Guide, so they're spending the next two weeks getting to know the airport, meeting the key players, and memorizing a three hour-long tour script.

Jenna is an SFU Communications student currently on a Co-op work term. Leanne is a recent graduate from BCIT's Marketing Communications Management Program, who did her practicum at Elettra this past spring.

Leanne and Jenna are excited to be a part of the Elettra and YVR School Tour team, and can't wait to meet a lot of smiling young face this fall.

Welcome on board, Jenna and Leanne!

The YVR School Tour is in its final month for 2013. Thousands of grade five students from across the Lower Mainland have visited the airport to learn about the operations, art, and architecture of Canada's second busiest airport. They've even learned the very best technique for folding the perfect paper airplane.

Tour Guides Jake and Anna of Elettra Communications have been leading the classes through their airport adventure day. Read about some of the rave reviews our tour guides have been getting on the YVR blog.

Tour Guide training kicked off today for the YVR School Tour Program. Elettra Communications welcomes tour guide Anna Burk to the team, and welcomes back Jake Sobrepena who was an all-star YVR tour guide last year. Jake also spent the summer as YVR's Community Ambassador visiting community festivals throughout the Lower Mainland. Anna and Jake are both students in SFU's Communications Co-op program. Elettra is very proud to be working with the Vancouver Airport Authority on this program for the 4th consecutive year. Over the next 3 months, Anna and Jake will give airport tours to thousands of grade 5 students from across the Lower Mainland. There's nothing quite like the excitement of 10 year olds watching jets take off from the runway, so we're sure Jake and Anna are going to have a great time!

Jake and Anna are pictured here in front of a favourite stop on the School Tour - the Celebrating Flight totem in YVR's Graham Clarke Atrium. The totem was created by Haida carver Don Yeomans as tribute to humans – the only creature who has learned to fly without having its own wings. Check it out next time you visit YVR.

Elettra Communications moved house a few weeks ago, and we're getting quite comfortable in our new surroundings. We've relocated just one block west and one block north to the Standard Building at 510 West Hastings. If you've ever looked for an office space in downtown Vancouver, you'll know how challenging it can be to find a spot with character. For Elettra, having an inspiring place to come to every morning and lovely surroundings to welcome our clients to is an important part of doing business.

We really lucked out with our new home in the beautiful Standard Building, which dates back to 1916 (photo of the lobby at right). Changing Vancouver has a great post on the history of our building and our corner at Hastings & Richards.

Though we do a lot of thinking about the future, Elettra Communications has always had a connection with the past. Our name, Elettra, comes directly from communications history.  The pioneer of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, had a floating laboratory, a ship he called The Elettra. From The Elettra, Marconi conducted the experiments that would forever change how the world communicates.

From the window of our new office we look out at the Dominion Building, Sun Tower, and the Woodwards buildings - all of which are architectural icons that represent Vancouver's past and present.  We feel really lucky to be here - connected to the past and working on the future.

We're looking forward to welcoming our clients, suppliers, and friends to our new office. Do drop by for a visit!

Suite 520 - 510 West Hastings, Vancouver BC, V6B 1L8

Today Elettra Communications bids a fond farewell and says a big "thank you" to our Tour Guides for the YVR School Tour Program. For the past few months, Jake Sobrenpena, Annalisa Pareja, and Breanna Kato (all Co-op students from SFU) have been leading more than 2,100 grade five students on tours of the airport. The review from teachers have been excellent!

For a Tour Guide's take on the program you can read Jake's recent post on the YVR blog here.

Elettra Communications is thrilled to be working with the Vancouver Airport Authority on their School Tour Program again this year. Through the program, 2,700 grade five students from schools across the Lower Mainland will have the chance to visit YVR for a first hand look at the operations of a major airport.

We're pleased to welcome to our team Jake Sobrepena and Breanna Kato who are new School Tour Guides this year. A hearty welcome back to Annalisa Pareja, Tour Guide extraordinaire, returning for a second year.

To learn a little bit more about the program, read Annalisa's post on YVR's blog.

Jaeger Mah, the man who's spending 80 days and nights living at YVR, caught up with the YVR School Tour Program last week.

Watch his video here.

This week, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is officially launching its 2011 School Tour Program, The Future Lands Here. Over the next two months, thousands of Grade Five students from Metro Vancouver will visit YVR for a tour full of activities, information, and fun. Elettra Communications' Marcus Tan, Wyanne Wong, and Annalisa Pareja are the YVR School Tour Guides. Our Tour Guides hail from SFU's Communications Co-op Program and we're delighted to have them on board. Read their bios on the YVR Connections blog.

The initiative was part of Joey Restaurant Group's Cup of Care program to help address hunger in its communities. In Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, the company donated 10,000 cups of nutritious soup to community groups, and its staff volunteered more than 100 hours at food banks, shelters, and community drop-in centres.