The work that interests me most lives where complexity, relationships, and responsibility meet.
Elaine Alec is a strategic advisor, author, speaker, creator of Cultivating Safe Spaces, CEO of Naqsmist Storytellers Inc. and Practice Partner at Coeuraj. She works alongside Indigenous Nations, governments, organizations, and executive leaders to strengthen governance, leadership, human capacity, and partnerships across Canada.
Elaine’s work spans governance, Indigenous knowledge, leadership, systems thinking, organizational strategy, public policy, writing, facilitation, and human capacity.
She has worked in communities experiencing loss, emergency operations centres facing wildfire evacuations, intergenerational trauma, governance disputes, organizational conflict, and some of the most difficult conversations this country asks leaders to hold. Elaine has also worked alongside governments, executives, and boards navigating policy, public investment, and long-term systems change.
She believes lasting change comes from strengthening the capacity of the people responsible for carrying those plans forward.
That belief has shaped her work for more than two decades and led to the development of Cultivating Safe Spaces, along with a growing body of work exploring human capacity, governance, leadership, and systems change.
Today her work continues to evolve through strategic advisory, writing, speaking, facilitation, and the development of new frameworks that help people think, decide, and lead differently.
The Work
Elaine’s work has informed provincial policy, contributed to Indigenous-led planning initiatives across Canada, influenced public investments, and supported leaders across government, health, education, emergency response, finance, and corporate sectors.
As founder of Naqsmist Storytellers Inc. and creator of the Cultivating Safe Spaces framework, she has helped thousands of people strengthen their capacity for leadership, accountability, and relational decision-making though:
Strategic Advisory
Speaking
Writing
Governance
Economic Development
Business Development
Human Capacity
Facilitation
Adaptive Leadership Capacity
Cultivating Safe Spaces
Writing
Writing has always been part of how she makes sense of the world.
Over the years she’s written books, articles, curriculum, planning frameworks, and learning resources exploring leadership, governance, Indigenous knowledge, human capacity, and systems change.