{"id":73653,"date":"2021-02-16T10:39:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T15:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=73653"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:47:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:47:39","slug":"denise-siele-history-community","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/denise-siele-history-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Black History Month: Alumna Denise Siele on History and Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Celebrating Black History Month: Alumna Denise Siele on History and Community\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Anytime Carleton University alumna Denise Siele engages with people or organizations, as an adviser, consultant or political candidate, she does so wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Denise
Denise Siele<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She has been a director on the founding board of the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa Charitable Foundation<\/a>, the director of Stakeholder and Community Relations for Equal Voice<\/a>, and she continues to serve as a director on the Telus Ottawa Community Board<\/a>. Her role in the latter is to connect, advise and engage community groups to apply for funding for their education, health and environmental projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her entrepreneurial gusto led her to co-found Hill Solutions Public Affairs<\/a> in 2004 after studying Public Affairs and Policy Management at Carleton. She went on to work in politics in several ways, from advising on political campaigns and running her own 2018 campaign for the federal Conservative nomination in Nepean, to working as press secretary for the Conservative leader in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cMy engagement is in the spirit of community building,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Siele was born in Nairobi and came to Ottawa because of her mother\u2019s job with the Kenyan High Commission. Siele decided to stay after her mother\u2019s diplomatic posting ended to attend Carleton\u2019s Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs<\/a>. \u201cNot only was Carleton close enough to home, but it automatically felt like home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had always been an A student, so she was taken aback when she received a B- in a second-year Canadian history course. Her essay about Newfoundland and Labrador\u2019s entry into Confederation in 1949 wasn\u2019t thoughtful or analytical enough, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am thankful to that professor for putting my feet to the fire because it gave me such a desire to learn about Canadian history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Denise<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The desire grew into a love of all things historical and cultural, which makes her current position as the Senior Communications Manager at the National Gallery of Canada<\/a> a dream job. That love of history also helped her see how – as a Black woman \u2013 she fits into Canada\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen I think about Canadian history, I think about people who look like me who fought, served and died for this country,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s a story that ought to be told.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Siele thinks of February as the month where Canadians can celebrate and applaud the contributions of African-Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack History Month is important because it’s like a focus \u2014 like a laser \u2014 so folks can look back and remind themselves. Let’s also remind ourselves that Black people don’t stop being Black on March 1.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She hopes all Canadians know why first-generation Canadians can be so passionate about the country\u2019s history:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve chosen Canada for very specific reasons. There\u2019s a promise here and it\u2019s so important that people understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

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During Black History Month, Carleton University is celebrating the many achievements and contributions of our Black community members. Visit our Black History Month page<\/a> through the month of February to read new stories about our staff, faculty, students and alumni.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anytime Carleton University alumna Denise Siele engages with people or organizations, as an adviser, consultant or political candidate, she does so wholeheartedly. She has been a director on the founding board of the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa Charitable Foundation, the director of Stakeholder and Community Relations for Equal Voice, and she continues to serve as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":73666,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[17,28],"cu_story_tag":[1924,1920],"class_list":["post-73653","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-alumni","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_tag-advancement","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97479,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/73653\/revisions\/97479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=73653"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=73653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}