Media mogul in the making

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Candis Callison of the Tahltan First Nation is the recipient of a scholarship from CN. Callison is completing a Masters of Science in comparative media studies at MIT in Boston.

Born in Dease Lake, Callison graduated from White Rock Academy with a Bachelors of Administration. Upon graduating, she traveled to Hungary to teach English. On her return, she launched herself into a successful media career, first with CBC Radio.

Callison also wrote comic books to help educate Aboriginal people about legal issues, such as domestic violence and child apprehension. She created her own company to create documentary films, one of which was a project called Traditional Renaissance, a documentary on the Tahltan band.

Her work in media took her to CTV and Vancouver Television and was co-host and director for the Aboriginal program First Notes.

In 1998, Callison worked as a reporter in San Francisco, then moved on to Boston where she worked for Lycos, one of the world's largest Internet search engine companies. That's when she chose to follow her dreams and pursue a Masters.

"Where I came from, no one had a background in media. I did encounter some good and tough challenges, but a lot of people gave me some good breaks. The support of my husband and family really made it all possible," she said.

Her scholarship was provided by CN's Aboriginal Awards program, established in 1988 to help Aboriginal post-secondary students in financial need. The scholarship is based on a student?s income and grades and is administered by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation.

A second scholarship was awarded to Richard Nelson, born in Saint John, N.B., but living in Montreal.

"I would like to congratulate Candis Callison and Richard Nelson for outstanding academic and personal achievements," said CN president and CEO Paul M. Tellier. "They are inspiring many First Nations communities to take advantage of the opportunities available through colleges and universities. We are proud to lend a helping hand in their pursuit of higher education.'