Rebus Foundation’s global headquarters in Montreal is suddenly a bit more full, as three new team members have joined us over the past few weeks. Başak, Dexter, and David are bringing themselves up to speed on our current and future initiatives, and we are excited for the momentum and fresh perspectives they bring to the team. Başak takes on product management for Rebus’s open-reading initiative, Dexter works on community engagement and diversity, equity, and inclusion for Rebus Community, and David is developing our strategic marketing and communications efforts.
Coming from the worlds of project management and team development, Başak Büyükçelen will manage the team of designers and developers working to build our open-reading platform. Başak has previously worked in customer support and relationship management here in Montreal, following a career in finance in Istanbul. Her background also includes filmmaking and entertainment management, and she is the founder of the Supper Society, a non-profit organization focused on helping newcomers to Canada meet existing residents and integrate into the local culture.
Dexter Xurukulasuriya has worked in many contexts and roles over the years, fomenting community, diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are a gender-defiant, trans-feminine community organizer and meditation instructor, with a long history of civil disobedience, direct action activism, and human rights and environmental justice advocacy. Dexter has also become our potted-plant expert, and with their help, the workspace has become much greener (and more oxygenated) in recent days.
David Szanto is a former food academic with a previous history in marketing communications, book and magazine publishing, film finance, strategy consulting, and digital media. His doctoral work brought together ecology, philosophy, gastronomy, and complex performative systems, and he is an advocate for the value of pluralistic knowledge and new ways of expressing it. For Rebus, he will be working across a number of initiatives and relationships. A Montrealer since his youth, David has also lived in a variety of other cities around the world.