Christal Earle - Chief Spokesperson / Co - Founder
Hometown - Prince Albert, SK
BIO - Christal Earle is the Co-founder of Absolute, as well as the Chief Spokesperson. Christal loves traveling to new places and meeting new people, loud parties, great accessories, and seeing lives changed! Christal travels across Canada and internationally speaking the message that each life is worth living to both corporate and youth audiences. She also facilitates the training of road teams, students, and works with Hero Holiday. Christal is married to Vaden, who thinks she is incredibly cute (mostly because she always laughs at his jokes). Go to our keynote speakers page for details on booking Christal for your event.
Charles Roberts - Director of Programs
Hometown - Gaspé, QC
BIO - Charles Roberts is the Director of Programs.Charles has 10 years experience in youth leadership and international team development. Charles is married to Tricia, God’s grace on his life, and together they have 3 boys and a baby girl: Gabriel, Micah, Isaac, and Aliyah. Charles enjoys any kind of off road vehicle experience and lighting fires with questionable items.
Ryan Wood - Chief Operating Officer
Hometown - Saskatoon, SK
BIO - Ryan Wood is our Chief Operating Officer– He is known as the brain of Absolute. Ryan has spoken to thousands of high school students across Canada, given leadership to our road teams since 2004 and along with his wife, Michelle, he is now based in Hamilton, Ontario. Ryan is known for 3 huge obsessions: his baby girl Amelia, his hang-gliding career (ask him how his last landing of 2007 went!), and raw fish with scandalous amounts of wasabi…
Diane Ciarallo - Administrative Assistant
Hometown - Toronto, ON
BIO - Diane Ciarallo is our administrative assistant, which means she is definitely in the know. Diane has been with Absolute since September 2003, and is still in love with us! Diane is a proud Italian and loves dancing, jewelery that Christal brings back to her from her trips, and most of all: high heels.
Ashley Smart - Media / Marketing Department
Hometown - Shelbrook, SK
BIO - Ashley Smart is Absolute’s Media/Marketing consultant. This is a fancy title that means he is really smart and reads all the fine print that no one else wants to. Ashley is one of the original members of the Absolute team, and has invested many years into this generation in Canada through countless road trips, high school assemblies, and bad cups of gas station coffee. Ashley is married to Erin, and they live in Kingston, the original capital of Canada (in case you were unaware).
Nettie Brown - Programs Administrator
Hometown: Cayuga, ON
BIO - Nettie Brown is our Hero Holiday Administrator. Nettie processes applications, works with our teams and students, as well as gives leadership during our Hero Holidays throughout the year. Nettie is known for her kindness, her charming personality, and great jeans. Nettie dreams of beaches and of riding their waves…that is why her and Cole have decided to be based in Hamilton, Ontario…because of our pristine beaches,our clean air, and our tropical winters…
Jonathan Peters - School Liaison
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
BIO - Jonathan Peters (aka JP),is originally from the mountainous prairie city, Winnipeg, MB. JP has many interests, including driving the bus, playing the drums, leading high school assembly teams, and family vacations in RV’s. JP is also the uncontested Scrabble Champion on the tour bus (the competition is really fierce).
Jenna Lane - School Liaison
Hometown: Hamilton, ON
BIO - Jenna Lane hails from Hamilton, Ontario, but has been spotted around
Canada’s east coast frolicking with packs of wild moose between sips
of sweet tea enjoyed down in the southern states. As a seasoned nomad,
Jenna Lane takes her job very seriously: showers are sacrificed in
lieu of more sleep, snacks are routinely conquered, and random
shenanigans considered a staple in keeping the work atmosphere light.
We kinda like her.
Mandy Rousseau - School Liaison
Hometown: Simcoe, ON
BIO - Mandy Rousseau is our Booking Agent. Mandy is originally from Simcoe, Ontario. Simcoe is famous for….well…being Mandy’s hometown! Mandy loves working with Absolute for many reasons: the four flights of stairs up to our office that she needs to climb up and down countless times each day, the good-looking staff that she is surrounded by, and because she gets to chat with teachers all day on the phone. Mandy is passionate about the emerging generation and believes in the power of chocolate.
Andrew and Dawn Bernardi - Mexico Operation Managers
Hometown: Hope, B.C.
BIO - Andrew and Dawn Bernardi are our Mexico Operation Managers. Andrew and Dawn have recently come to Absolute from Hope, B.C. and we are excited to have them and their son, Anthonie with us in Mexico. Andrew and Dawn add years of experience hosting humanitarian groups in the Vicente Guerrero area. One of Andrews hobbies is racing child size motorbikes, he is always good for a laugh and is a genuine friend to all. (check out the motorbike pictures on his facebook) Dawn is an amazing woman, full of compassion and enthusiasm. We are thrilled to have this family as a part of our team!
Cole Brown - Construction Manager
Hometown: York, ON
BIO - Cole Brown manages our construction work sites on our Hero Holiday projects in Dominican Republic and Haiti. Translation: he does twice as much physical labor as the rest of us, but he gets a really good tan, so we’ll consider it even. Cole and his wife Nettie live in Hamilton, Ontario, and they are the uncontested champions of the best-dressed award in our organization. Cole was in a bowling league when he was younger, and always tries to show off at staff parties.
Rose Friesen - School of Leadership Facilitator
Hometown: Winnipeg, ON
BIO - Rose is excited to join the Absolute team, leaving balmy Winterpeg to live near the beach in Mexico. Rose is passionate about chocolate, photography, camping, traveling, farmers’ markets, music, and great purses. And we are ok with that - who can’t help but love a purse-toting, chocolate loving, traveling shutterbug?
Shane and Katie Davis - Road Team Managers
Hometown: Harrow, ON
BIO - Shane and Katie Davis are originally from Harrow, ON. Shane’s hobbies include kicking 10 year olds butts while playing PS3 online, paint-balling (he’s a bigger guy so this hobby is a little painful for him), fishing (as long as he doesn’t have to touch the worms or fish or…well maybe not fishing), and lastly pulling pranks on his beautiful wife, although she doesn’t think they’re that funny. In Katie’s spare time she likes to dream that her name is Bella Swan and she is in between two make believe creatures, Jake and Edward, who are fighting for her love until one day - oops, wrong life! However, Katie really likes to read and watch movies, and she likes to fish, (but it makes her mad when she has to bait Shane’s rod for him). They both love working with youth and have done so for many years before joining Absolute. One day they believe they will be too old to work with teens, but that’s not for another 80 years or so. They have been happily married for a year but started dating in high school. And yes, they are that good looking in person.
Jacob Seads - Road Team Manager
Hometown: Victoria, BC
BIO - Jacob is one of our road team assistants. Also known as “Israel” - or the more popular moniker, “Mayor of Party Town” - Jacob is a product of Victoria, B.C., where many of his days have been spent camping, travelling and attempting to play guitar. When not doing these things, he is usually located close to a bowl of Cheerios. Jacob is currently working on his Bachelors in Youth Leadership at Summit Pacific College. He has been known to climb 20,000 ft of Mt. Everest and, alternately, to drive to California for the sole purpose of eating an In-N-Out Burger. Officially, Jacob would like to pretend he never grew a rat tail, but in his heart he knows the truth: he would TOTALLY grow it out again for the sake of a few bucks!
Support Volunteers
Bill Rawlins - Team Leader
Hometown - Parksville, BC
BIO - Bill Rawlins is one of our Hero Holiday team leaders - and let the record show - he rocks our world! As the former principal of Ballenas Secondary School in Parksville, British Columbia, Bill has had many amazing life moments. One of those was the first time he joined us on Hero Holiday: his world was impacted by what he experienced and he was ready to take a leap. Upon his retirement, Bill joined Absolute in September 2006 (and is still trying to recover). Bill’s biggest challenge in life? All the persistent women that think he is cute and demand his attention!
Nicole Dufault - Team Leader and Medical Support
Hometown: Ignace, ON
BIO - Nicole Dufault, aka “Nurse Booty” is known to help lead Hero Holiday teams in Dominican Republic as well as be our staff nurse from time to time. Nicole is into sunscreen, Latin dancing, giving anti-parasite treatments, and mouth to mouth resuscitation. Famous for laughter and being frank about intestinal issues, Nicole is a valued member of our team. Nicole lives in Hamilton, Ontario and chooses to stay here because she insists that our quality of air is the best in the world!