Chloe Popove’s enthusiasm is infectious. This bubbly and vivacious young woman has determined the course for her future and her dedication to making it happen is quite admirable.
The Chilliwack native was born a natural leader and while growing up she was well immersed in the arts. She was into dancing and acting; first with Centre Stage Dance Studio and then the Chilliwack School of Performing Arts. As she was growing up, her father, Chilliwack city councillor Ken Popove, was very active in organizing a variety of community celebrations and Chloe thoroughly enjoyed helping him out. “I loved getting dragged to all those events,” she laughed.
After graduating from Chilliwack senior, she headed off to Kwantlen University to study Public Relations. “I will be receiving my diploma very shortly and can’t wait to get things started. Right now, I’m attending school in Richmond, living in Langley and on the weekends, I’m working at Boston Pizza in Chilliwack. I don’t have a lot of free time,” she admitted.
Aside from working as a server at Boston Pizza, she’s also working part-time for the Chilliwack Hospital and Health Care Foundation. “I do PR for them and take care of Facebook, Twitter, their website and other stuff like that,” she said.
Chloe is also piloting a project at her alma mater. “I wrote a proposal for Barb Kroeker who is a teacher at Chilliwack Senior. She’s a PE instructor and is passionate about the health of our young people. On Fridays, I take her class, although Barb remains in the classroom. Basically, I lined up several local professionals and they come in and work with the students to help them remain healthy. Eron Jackson leads the class in kick boxing as a cardio workout, for instance. Christie Weightman handles yoga demos; we also have Dr. Chantal Chris who speaks to us on health literacy, Rawsome Chef shows us how to eat in a healthy manner by making raw food smoothies and Tanja Shaw from Ascend Fitness, who is a kinesiologist and fitness coach, does a 45 minute boot camp,” she listed.
Things were proceeding as they should; Chloe was working hard, she had a goal and was keeping to it. Then she came upon Brian Minter at the Business Excellence Awards. He planted a seed and it began to germinate, slowly but surely, in her mind. “Brian encouraged me to go somewhere; to leave my surroundings and expand my horizon,” she said.
As it turned out, Chloe’s best friend, Courtney Huth, discussed a South African program with her called the ‘Surfing Project’; a program that they could both join.
The Surfing program takes leaders out of the classroom and into the water to teach underprivileged children to surf while coaching them in other popular South African sports. “These kids get to do this free of charge and it’s a way to change their lives through sport. Now, Courtney isn’t able to go but I decided to do it anyway. I applied for the program and was accepted,” she smiled.
When she returns, Chloe intends to continue her work with the Chilliwack Hospital and Health Care Foundation. “I am passionate about people and communication; communication is the key to everything,” she enthused.
When not doing homework or working, Chloe enjoys hiking and kayaking. “I’ve also learned to blog. There is no question that I’m busy. I do love being busy, though. Sometimes, it’s just hard to catch your breath,” she laughed.