About Lisa Silfwerbrand, M.Ed (Manager)

Clients often ask how I came to be at Filosofi but I rarely have time to tell them the story...   

I was born and raised in Ottawa but have lived most of the rest of my life in the United States.  Immediately after High School I moved to Boston, Massachusetts to pursue a higher education.  During my 7 years in Boston, I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Child and Adolescent Psychology, a second Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education.  I began teaching at a private school in Boston before even finishing my second degree and upon completing my Masters Degree I moved to Toledo, Ohio where I proceeded to teach for another 7 years. 

In the fall of 2005 my work VISA to be in the United States expired and I moved back to Ottawa after being gone for 14 years.  I can’t say that I would have moved back if my VISA hadn’t expired but now that I am back I have fallen in love with Ottawa all over again.   

Upon returning to Ottawa I had fully planned on continuing my teaching career.  However, while waiting for my teaching certification to be processed I took a part time job at Filosofi working for the Naturopaths that were here at the time.  I quickly became more involved and took over more and more of the responsibilities of running the company.  Now, exactly 4 years later, I do pretty much everything that is involved in managing Filosofi’s operations including our marketing, staffing, scheduling, accounting, etc…  Filosofi has evolved in so many ways over the past 4 years and it has been very exciting to be a part of that process. I can’t begin to tell you all that I have learned during my 4 years at Filosofi but can tell you that it has become much more than just a job to me. 

When not at work I love to travel, read and do just about anything outdoors.  I have traveled to 12 countries in North and Central America, Europe and Africa and hope to add to that as soon as possible. J  I also love to spend countless hours at our family cottage kayaking, swimming and boating. 

Life has not exactly taken me where I would have thought, and it hasn’t always been easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  My wish for you is that you would learn as well to accept the journey that you are on and enjoy it for all it is worth or you’ll miss so very much along the way!