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Candace Campo - artist, entrepreneur and advocate

Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series of stories about people who were raised on the Sunshine Coast who are making a successful mark in the world of their chosen vocations.

Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series of stories about people who were raised on the Sunshine Coast who are making a successful mark in the world of their chosen vocations. Some are residents of the Coast while others have left to pursue their dreams.

Candace Campo is a champion of her culture and her people. A soft-spoken Shishalh member of the wolf clan, Campo is a fountain of information about the Sechelt people, a teacher, entrepreneur and artist. A success by any definition, Campo overcame many obstacles to become the force she is today.

Early in her life Campo faced many sorrows. As a preschooler, she was sexually abused, and in her seventh year, her elder brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. And like many of her people, the aftermath of the Indian Residential School affected her childhood.

Perhaps the most wrenching part of Campo's early life was her mother's mental illness. Diagnosed when Campo was 12, the biggest challenge was the lack of services for the mentally ill on the Coast in the 1980s and '90s.

"There were few service in our small community, so I really empathize with people who are suffering from mental illness," Campo said.

The year her brother died was a difficult one for many in the community; two of her cousins both lost their mothers.

"I was surrounded by death. I kept hearing, 'God takes the young.' I really believed I was going to die young," she recalled.

Campo credits an obedient disposition, a sense of humour and support from family and extended family for helping her become the woman she is today.

"My mother is one of the most honest people I know. From her I learned you take responsibility for your actions. She was an awesome role model," she said.

One of the strongest bequests she realized from both parents was a love of learning and respect for the role of education in one's life.

"Both the Jefferies and Baptistes [her grandparents' families] are bookworms. They preach education," she explained.

And she accepts that what happened to her as a little girl was the result of tortured souls.

"I truly know that the people who abused me were abused themselves. No parents can be with their children 24/7. I didn't have the skill to self-advocate, and I was a well-disciplined child. But I come from a family that's very loving and protective," Campo said.

A sense of duty also seems to guide Campo's life.

When she went to Simon Fraser University to study anthropology, she faced the same difficulties many students struggle with. She had time management issues and study challenges.

"I'm really stubborn, and when I set a goal, I'm really set on achieving it. I was sponsored [at university] by my Band, and the thought of going back to my aunties and uncles and my chief and councillors and saying I didn't make it was unbearable. There was no way that was going to happen," she stated.

She also had an excellent example to follow.

"My eldest cousin Donna Joe was the first of my family to get her master's - a true role model - and she did it while she was raising three children."

After Campo got her degree, she faced a difficult choice. She could go on and get a teaching degree or branch off into art. After much soul searching, Campo got the teaching degree and for five years taught her people's culture at schools on the Coast.

Also during this time, Campo began a kayaking business giving unique tours. In 2004, she started Talasay Tours, a business dedicated to teaching people about Sechelt culture both on and off the water. Like many self-employed business people, Campo has to guard against being a workaholic

"I've had times where I've worked myself into complete exhaustion, where I've become completely useless. Now I have five staff to do marketing and bookings and 10 part-time guides," Campo shared.

However, the calling to create art never left her, and this past fall she returned to Capilano University to pursue a two-year art program. Her specialty is painting.

Campo hopes to use her entrepreneurial skills to help other artists in her community prosper. One of the residual effects of the residential school experience comes from people being forbidden to do their art. Consequently, Campo said, the local artists are not as well organized as other First Nations' artists.

One future plan that Campo quickly refutes is that of any political office.

"I love people too much. To have them mad at me because of a political situation would be unbearable. And I'm too impatient and wouldn't work well in a bureaucracy," she added.

She thinks the way most politicians are treated is despicable; she decries the character attacks Canadians level at their elected representatives.

At 38, Campo is a testament to the power of hard work and positive thinking.

"I always take the good out of everything. I take the positive. Life would be pretty dreary if I didn't."

Intelligent, creative and modest, Campo is a lesson in triumph, a true success story.