We’re a team of enthusiastic communications professionals.
Lesli Boldt
President
Lesli cares about the work she does, and the kinds of organizations and clients she works for. She is a seasoned communications, community relations and public affairs professional with over 25 years of experience working with clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Lesli founded Boldt Communications in 2001. Over the years, she’s also accepted in-house roles to manage the City of Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games-related communications and to direct marketing and communications for Vancouver Public Library. Before founding Boldt, Lesli worked in public affairs at Vancity Credit Union, and held several progressively senior positions with the B.C. government in Victoria and Vancouver.
Lesli was born and raised in North Vancouver, B.C. and is a settler on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. A true West Coaster, she grew up in Lynn Valley, playing in the forest and drinking from Lynn Creek, falling asleep to the sound of rain on the roof, and waking up to the rush of the creek behind her childhood home. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. and was a B.C. Legislative Intern. When she’s not working, you can find her running on trails, taking French lessons, riding her bike, taking long walks, or sipping wine and talking politics with friends. She also dreams of one day fronting her own band.
Lesli is a member of the Canadian Public Relations Society.
Hillary Samson
Director of Operations
As a talented entrepreneur in her own right, Hillary brings cracker-jack business sense and savvy to Boldt’s operations, along with some well-honed editing and writing skills. While she can do just about anything, as Director of Operations, Hillary is in charge of Boldt’s policies and procedures, manages projects, collaborates with Lesli on proposals and business development, helps us set our business priorities, manages budget-related activities…and reads all of the fine print. Hillary joined the Boldt team in 2010.
Hillary was born and raised in Winnipeg, but has spent her adult life in many beautiful places including Ontario, British Columbia, and Innsbruck, Austria. After graduating with an MBA (Entrepreneurship) from the University of Victoria, Hillary worked for eight years at AbeBooks (now a division of Amazon) in communications, marketing and product management. With a passion for supporting small business impact and expansion, she has spent the past 12 years assisting with business operations and growth strategies for social ventures. Hillary has a fabulous teenage daughter, and a delightful stepdaughter, with her Austrian husband. She is grateful that the family is rockin’ the teen years so far – fingers crossed it stays that way!
Allison Murray
Senior Associate
While studying a Master’s in Communications, Allison got her break as a newswire reporter where she filed stories as part of a bilingual newsroom.
Since then, she’s experienced nearly every angle of the communications spectrum, working as a public relations practitioner at agencies in Vancouver and Miami, leading a national magazine as editor-in-chief, and working as a communications manager at the headquarters of a Vancouver-based financial institution.
True to her roots, Allison thrives at writing, media relations and stakeholder outreach. Her understanding of the ever-changing media landscape means she knows how to position clients’ stories so they resonate with audiences. Allison enjoys advocacy initiatives that are bolstered by communications strategies and tactics that support organizations’ internal and external objectives.
Allison is a settler, living on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. When not working, she’s trying to raise two kind and compassionate youngsters.