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Black Current is a strategic design company committed to creating a sustainable and equitable future. Our design, communication and foresight skills support forward-thinking clients. Together, we can co-create innovative solutions for a thriving future.

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Team

Rebecca

Rebecca Black

A creative communications and foresight professional, Rebecca established Black Current in 2006. She relishes strategic design problems, branding and communication challenges, and the opportunity to build teams and innovative solutions that create a more sustainable future.

Rebecca is Co-Founder of Women in Renewable Energy WiRE and Director at TREC Renewable Energy incubator. She holds a Master of Environmental Studies specializing in Business & Sustainability (York University), and a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight & Innovation (OCADU).

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Yana

Yana Korytek

Yana is a creative and charismatic communications professional, with 10 years experience of delivering creative engagement strategies for national and global brands. She solves business problems using insights and experience drawn from a dynamic combination of human-centered design thinking, brand and media strategy, and public relations. She brings a passion for sustainability and social responsibility to Black Current's Marketing team.

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Yana

Sam Coultrip

Sam has over 18 years of experience delivering complex strategy and design solutions. His early career focus on signage and wayfinding included the WalkNYC city wayfinding project alongside the Department of Transportation in New York City and the Greater Toronto Area's Metrolinx Wayfinding Harmonisation system. A skillful communicator who thrives in complex projects, Sam is PMP accredited and applies his skills to help the Black Current team design innovative opportunities and find strategic value for their clients.

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Jen

Jen McKennitt

Jen has 17 years of experience in the event planning and catering industry, creating and managing high profile and high-end events. Since 2020 she has applied her unique skills to create meaningful and engaging virtual and digital events. With her eye for design, extreme organization, and attention to detail, Jen brings positivity and a calm demeanour to every occasion, be it in person or online.

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CLIENTS CREATING SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS

Biome

Biome Renewables

Biome Renewables is a clean tech design and engineering firm that employs an innovative design process inspired by nature to create products that redefine renewable energy. Black Current has supported Biome's brand and platform development, steered strategic communications, and managed marketing and comms execution since 2018.

ASI

Academy for Sustainable Innovation

A low carbon, socially equitable economy requires people who can manage and lead transition. ASI offers educational interventions to help people develop essential transition leadership skills throughout their career lifecycle. Black Current has worked with ASI from conception through brand and platform development through execution, and manages and evolves messaging and outreach as the education start-up grows and advances.

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Women in Renewable Energy WiRE

Black Current Marketing guided WiRE on its branding and communications journey, from a Toronto-based networking group to a nationally recognized and active diversity organization playing a meaningful role in Canada’s transition to a clean energy economy. From logo design and core messaging, to a lively online presence and multiple stakeholder engagement platforms, Black Current helped WiRE develop, adapt and grow.

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Earth Day Canada

People across Canada and around the world mark Earth Day - April 22nd - as a time of environmental action.  Black Current Marketing has worked with Earth Day Canada on Earth Day campaigns for tree planting, pop-up outdoor unstructured playgrounds, and other Earth Day Every Day eco-actions, while crowdfunding to support the charity's important educational programs.

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Green Building Festival

Gathering hundreds of sustainable building professionals together can create a dynamic environment, one that sparks innovative designs and solutions for a greener built environment.  As the organizer of Sustainable Buildings Canada’s annual Green Building Festival, Black Current Marketing prioritizes a seamless, healthy and stimulating delegate experience so attending architects, engineers, technology providers and policy makers can focus on absorbing key expertise from expert international speakers.

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SolarShare

How do you engage Ontario citizens in solar power? Given them a share. SolarShare Community Solar Bonds allows everyone in Ontario to become a solar power investor - and solar power their portfolio - through the purchase of $1000 bonds invested in Ontario solar projects. Black Current strategized the marketing launch and campaign of Ontario’s first solar power co-op, including market research, website and social media design, marketing collateral and event materials, membership services training and more.

Sustainable Future: Conferences and Events

Black Current provides project and event management services for events that promote sustainable business solutions. We have fundraised, programmed, marketed, and organized sold-out events for clients promoting green roofs, wind power, green energy finance, urban agriculture, sustainable urban infrastructure design and more.

Testimonials

"Rebecca organized all registration and logistics details of a complex national conference with a very high level of professionalism, keeping on top of a challenging timeline, finessing the details and smoothing out the challenges along the way. The result - conference fully booked, on budget, and rave reviews from conference attendees and planners."

Mary Pickering
VP Programs & Partnerships, Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF)

"Rebecca oversaw Community Energy Partnerships Program’s logo and graphic design, our website and various communications materials. The results were excellent. This work was done within budget, met tight timelines, and we’ve received much positive feedback, especially about the logo and website. Rebecca knows what she’s doing and is able to run with a project with minimal guidance. She has experience working with many designers and other consultants and is able to bring her vast network to bear to accomplish the task at hand. She’s also a pleasure to work with."

Laurie Arron
Program Director, Community Power Fund

"Rebecca Black has played a leading role in the branding and marketing of TREC's SolarShare Co-op, including market research, product development, messaging, design, and outreach and communications. Rebecca has consistently provided great direction and added value to the SolarShare team in a creative manner while also staying within a strict budget."

Dr. Judith Lipp
Executive Director, TREC Renewable Energy Co-operative

"Rebecca brings extensive experience with environmental non-profits to the table, with results that show she gets the culture and communication objectives of green organizations, and understands what's going to stick with the target audiences. Rebecca is thorough and practical. She really works to understand the issues and comes up with creative and actionable solutions to move people towards greener solutions. Lastly, she’s great to work with! Rebecca is energetic and conscientious and can get the job done on time and on budget while making the process fun for everyone involved."

Janet McCausland
Principle, Get It Done Communications