People of PacifiCan: Elisa Au

Meet Elisa. As a PacifiCan Senior Policy Analyst, Elisa works on files ranging from life sciences to mining, and meets with federal and provincial counterparts to discuss policy issues - all while maintaining strong connections with her teammates! 

How did you arrive at PacifiCan?

I started my career as an economist with Industry Canada (now known as ISED) first in Ottawa and then in Vancouver. Later, I joined the Policy team at Western Economic Diversification (WD), which is now PacifiCan, as an economist/policy analyst.

What interested you about PacifiCan?

What interests me is the variety of files I get to work on, ranging from life sciences to mining, and from skills training to cluster development. I also get to work with many like-minded people to support economic growth in British Columbia. 

What do you do in a typical day?

There is no “typical day” in policy. My day can be filled with writing briefing notes to support an upcoming Ministerial trip, or to offer advice to Executives making decisions. There are days I am meeting new people at a conference and telling them about PacifiCan and key federal initiatives. I also meet with federal and provincial counterparts to discuss a policy issue. However, even though my days vary, I make sure I stay connected with my teammates.

What do you find most rewarding about your work? 

When a stakeholder, a client, or partner tell us the work we did was helpful to them. 

Can you give us one or two things that you enjoy outside of work?

I love cooking, especially making vegetarian recipes that are normally not plant-based. Another fun fact about me – I am a very proud dance mom of two super talented kids. 

Favourite project or experience at PacifiCan

My favorite experience was the announcement event for the National Biomanufacturing Training Centre. For me, it was a moment celebrating the milestone of bringing an initial engagement with the Province of B.C. to a reality.

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