Between Roles, Not Between Contributions
There’s a quiet assumption in our sector that contribution is tied to title. That when a role ends, momentum pauses, insight quiets and experience waits for its next formal home.
I’ve found the opposite.
In the space between roles, I’m continuing to contribute in ways that reflect how I’ve always worked. I’ve been sharing more openly and more frequently, grounded in experience rather than position, and focusing on the issues that matter most to me: how communications shape trust, how accessibility is built through everyday choices, and how stewardship shows up in ways that are often small but deeply human.
That sharing often happens on LinkedIn, not as advice or instruction, but through everyday observations. A handwritten thank-you note becomes a reflection on stewardship. A small detail, like emoji use, opens a broader conversation about accessibility. A local data report highlights how easily people can disappear behind charts and trends. This is how I share strategic communications insight: by focusing on context, naming the invisible work that shapes understanding, and creating space for questions rather than conclusions.
For much of my career, communications knowledge has moved through formal channels: strategies, campaigns, toolkits and reports. Those structures matter. But some of the most valuable insight in our sector doesn’t live in documents or decks. It moves informally, through stories, comments and moments of shared recognition, particularly in professional spaces when they’re used with care.
In practice, learning in our sector often happens without hierarchy. It’s shaped through peer exchange and shared experience. Digital spaces have become one of the places where that kind of learning now unfolds, with intention and impact.
This way of sharing also creates space for accessibility to be part of the conversation, not an afterthought. How we communicate is just as important as what we say. Design choices, formatting, language and structure all shape who can engage and who is left out.
What I’ve learned is that communications knowledge is most useful when it’s shared in context, through real examples and lived experience.
This is what contribution looks like between roles.
About the Author
Shannon Simpson-Peeling is a strategic communications and public relations leader with more than 20 years of experience spanning broadcast journalism and the non-profit sector. From the newsroom to the boardroom, she brings editorial instinct and executive judgment to mission-driven organizations navigating change.
Over 14 years at CNIB, she progressed through seven increasingly senior roles, from specialist to executive lead, helping shape national communications and community engagement strategies to advance programs, advocacy initiatives and system-level change across Canada. Her leadership is grounded in accessibility and inclusion, with a focus on clarity, credibility and trust.
Earlier in her career, Shannon worked at Corus Entertainment, reporting on the Cornwall Public Inquiry and co-hosting The Women’s Health Show, experiences that continue to inform her commitment to human-centred storytelling.
She currently serves on the board of Kids Can Fly and provides senior-level strategic communications counsel, aligning people, purpose and performance during moments of change.