Her work with one powerful international organization has earned her an award from another.
Ashley Hilkewich, a 2002 graduate of the Estevan Comprehensive School, has been named one of Canada's Most Powerful Women of 2011 by the Women's Executive Network who made the announcements during their ninth annual summit of professional achievements.
It was Hilkewich's work within the Free the Children network as their partner relations and international operations director that earned her a place among the country's most powerful females in the Future Leaders category along with Shelby Austin who specializes in legal services; Lesley Scorgie, author and owner of Rich By Inc.; and Rumeet Toor, president and founder of Jobs in Education.
"It was full-time work for five years," said Hilkewich during a telephone conversation from Toronto where she is currently working on a master's degree in administration in sustainable business.
She was about to leave for the airport to catch a plane to Israel where she would be kept busy doing a couple of weeks of research after a short holiday with her mother Kelly and sister Mallory and her boyfriend.
Hilkewich said she caught the international travel and assistance bug while attending ECS when she took a two-month Rotary International Student Exchange trip to Â鶹´«Ã½AV Africa.
"My host family there were involved in an AIDS orphanage program as volunteers, so I went along with them."
She was attracted to Free the Children by its founder, Craig Kielburger, who began the impressive international foundation as a 12-year-old in 1995.
"I did some work for them as an international volunteer and a few years even before that. Craig and Free the Children is based in Toronto and I had spent a couple of summers working with him and doing volunteer work in Canada," she said.
Free the Children has a two-fold mandate. One is to free children from poverty and exploitation and secondly to free them from the idea that they are powerless, whether they are victims of an uncontrolled family or business environment, being conscripted as child soldiers or suffering as rape victims.
"We began a project in Sierra Leone following their civil war in 2001. I didn't end up going there, but I worked on the issue and visited other centres. I found out then how Craig is an amazing, committed man and a great communicator. When I started, there were fewer than 30 on staff and there are now more than 400 globally so the work is expanding."
While Hilkewich is no longer directly involved with Free the Children administration due to her university studies, she remains a steadfast volunteer with them. While she was becoming involved in international work, her studies took her to Ecuador and Cuba. She graduated from Mount Allison University in the Maritimes in 2006 with a degree in international relations. She majored in anthropology and political sciences and studied languages.
"I managed to pick up Spanish pretty well," she added with a chuckle. She completed her final year of that university in those countries and later volunteered with FTC for a relief trip to Kenya.
As a full-time student Hilkewich is still doing some consulting work for Kielburger's team and companies that are expanding their social responsibility partnerships and enterprises. Hilkewich said she sees that element of the corporate community growing significantly and she hopes to be a part of that trend once she completes her MBA in May.
"I'm studying such things as sustainable business and strategies to help businesses reach social impact goals ... how they can link to the community with financial stability."
Along the academic trail Hilkewich also managed to pick up a diploma in development management.
"I really want to look at corporate responsibility ... social responsibility. I'm working now on some consultancy issues. It's something a lot of companies are interested in. They want to be innovative, do something they know will bring a positive impact to the world while developing new potential."
Hilkewich said she finds Toronto is a great base from which to work since it allows her to not only pursue this consultancy and corporate partnership mandate but to also keep directly in touch with Free the Children.
"It will always be a part of me, especially their cross-cultural things," she said.
While in Israel, Hilkewich will join a volunteer team as she adds bulk to her thesis program. "I'll be working on developing an entry strategy from Israel to America. It's expected to take about two and a half weeks."
Hilkewich said she isn't sure how to take her new title as being one of Canada's most powerful women.
"I knew I had been nominated and when I learned about it ... well, for sure it's a very neat experience, just to meet those other women. Some I had met before, others just this once. The conferences were remarkable."
Hilkewich confesses to a love for travel, which she got a good taste of with Free the Children.
Her advice to other ECS graduates and her fellow young leaders of tomorrow?
"I would encourage them to get out and see the world and to get involved in something you can be passionate about, something that can be more than a hobby. Just take the leap, grab an opportunity and live it."
