The Revelstoke Railway Museum has a new Executive Director at the helm of this community staple. Laura Young, originally from Lichfield, England had her first day in the position on Wednesday, January 3rd.
Young has a Degree in Biomedical Science and a Masters in Forensic Science from the University of Manchester, a far jump from the position she is in now.
Young and her husband moved to Whistler in 2008 to play in the snow and began working as a resort representative while her husband, Jimmy, was a ski chalet. in the summer months they would venture to the Haida Gwaii until 2010, when they made their way back to Whistler to work for a catering company for Olympic Park during the Winter Olympics.
After an expired travel visa, Young made her way home and worked as a catering manager for the Visa Suite for the Olympic Hospitality Centre in England, then found a new quest in New Zealand, where she worked at the Matakauri Lodge as a Concierge Manager and then moved over to running the Hollyford Track Lodge.
In 2014, Young made her way back to Whistler and became the Operations Manager for Whistler Cooks, where she managed the catering company. Throughout the adventures Young and her husband were on, they had always heard about Revelstoke and despite having never visited, they made it a goal to one day move here indefinitely.
With the housing market boom over the past two years, their home almost doubled, so they decided to take advantage of the market and sell it so they could buy a home with a yard and a view in Revelstoke.
“It was time for something new, I needed a new challenge. It seemed like an opportunity that we are never going to get again. We came here on a real estate tour, we found a house on Hay Road with a garage and a garden and it’s what we wanted.”
Young is new to the world of curating and the overall concept of a museum, however, has a great deal of experience in financial planning as well as event planning.
“I am new to this museum world….I came into the interview with some ideas that I was interested in changing, like a new website, a multi-lingual audio tour app…for revenue generation.”
With the position vacant since the previous Executive Director vacated the seat in September, perhaps with Young’s array of unique experiences in both the tourism and event planning, this new style of direction will be of a great benefit for the Revelstoke Railway Museum.
