Carolee Israel Turner
Carolee Israel Turner (she/her) is a Calgarian born to Jamaican parents. As a proud second generation Canadian, Carolee brings forward the pride of her culture, the royalty of Africa with the resilience of the first peoples of Jamaica, the Arawak in everything that she does and in every aspect of her being. With over 30 years of working in local non-profit and government sectors, her professional history in community development and cross sectoral collaboration emphasizes her belief in identity-based leadership and the sharing of self in the work that we do. Carolee found her singing voice while participating in a musical youth group for almost a decade; she sang at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and later found great joy in vocal collaborations, as well as singing to her two beautiful children.
During the collaboration process, Walter identified the opportunity to bring in a vocalist on this project. Carolee and Shone first met in 2008 while working in the nonprofit sector; the two quickly began bouncing Carolee’s vocals off Shone’s Poetry at local fundraising and International Women’s Day events. This is Carolee and Walter’s first collaborative project together. Carolee’s soulful vocal and willingness to jump in on recording brought added joy, strength and beauty to this project.