Alumni Profiles

MPub alumnus Claire Cavanagh recently became a literary agent for The Rights Factory, an editorial agency founded almost two decades ago by its CEO, Sam Hiyate. Her clientele is already quite impressive and includes Gurki Basra, who you might've seen in Netflix's 2019 reality series, Dating Around.

While Susan Juby's Master of Publishing (MPub) degree enabled her to become a teacher, a role she finds fulfilling, it also taught her other invaluable lessons. Susan is a critically acclaimed author and the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Here is her MPub story.

Jazmin Welch graduated in 2021 from SFU's Master of Publishing program. She now owns and operates her own book design studio, fleck creative studio and design books for Arsenal Pulp Press. Jazmin spoke with us at SFU Publishing to share more about her experience with the program and the impact it has made on her career to this day.

Lauren Dembicky-Polivka is an MPub’18 Alumni who is currently working as the Development Manager at the Vancouver Writers Fest. We sat down to ask her some questions about the upcoming festival and how her Master of Publishing (MPub) degree has helped shape her career.

This interview is part of our “3 Questions” series with Publishing Minor students, Master of Publishing candidates, and MPub alumni.

This interview is part of our “3 Questions” series with Publishing Minor students, Master of Publishing candidates, and MPub alumni.

This interview is part of our “3 Questions” series with Publishing Minor students, Master of Publishing candidates, and MPub alumni.

This interview is part of our “3 Questions” series with Publishing Minor students, Master of Publishing candidates, and MPub alumni.

Originally, I thought I was going to be a fiction writer, but a funny encounter with local author, Douglas Coupland, made me rethink my plans. After a Vancouver Writers Fest event, I asked him if I should become a writer. His answer was a simple, and curt, “no”. When I stared blankly, he followed up by saying, “go live your life, do something else, become old…and then you can write.”

Heidi Waechtler was once an MPub student—and now she’s the Executive Director of the Association of Book Publishers of BC (or ABPBC, which being able to say quickly and correctly is almost a right of passage for Master of Publishing students).

It’s been just a few weeks since Jennifer Croll transitioned from her role as Managing Editor to Editorial Director at Greystone Books. And it’s been around 14 years since she was a grad student in Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Master of Publishing (MPub) program.

I’ve talked to a handful of Master of Publishing alumni lately, and somewhere in the conversation I always ask what advice these accomplished, successful women have for the next generation of publishing professionals. Their answers have been strikingly similar: work hard, accept opportunities, ask questions, and seek out mentorship.