SOMETHING TO
WRITE HOME ABOUT.
my WORK IS A LOT LIKE my hair: Ever-changing, Colourful And full of joy.
It’s really wonderful to meet you. My name is Carly Greene Hill. I live on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen peoples, colonially known as Victoria, British Columbia. I work as a community connector, specializing in agile team practices. I believe that teams and communities are made up of who people take care of each other.
My work is a story that’s told through creativity, connection and contribution.
I started writing under the pen name tiny.writer in November 2015. A year earlier, I’d just completed my Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria. I earned a double major in Psychology and Gender Studies, focusing largely on social justice and intersectionality. Surprisingly, my degree kept pulling me towards this junction between academia, activism and art. Producing poetry under my pen name felt like a natural extension of everything I’d studied.
Writing was a bit like a reincarnation of all my childhood kookiness and expression. My mother is a remarkable artist; her first medium was watercolour, long before it was laundry and lunches. My father was a gymnastics teacher, who looks very much like Richard Simmons. Our family endured challenges early on; my father’s past trauma, mental illness and substance abuse meant that my mother + I left our family home to start over in a new city. For 18 years, in the downtown of Kelowna, my father lived in the community of those experiencing homelessness while managing liver disease. He has been my biggest teacher, constantly demonstrating the power of community and forgiveness. In 2020, he was housed. He’s a stand for what it means to love—to accept yourself, embrace others, and take care of each other.
My father, Allan Murray Hill, was known to many as "Big Al." Al passed away peacefully on June 4, 2023, wrapped in a quilt, surrounded by the care and compassion of the Central Okanagan Hospice House in Kelowna. His Celebration of Life was held on June 29, what would have been his 70th birthday. We came together to share words and memories about his unique story and impact on our communities.
Most of what I create has stemmed from, and is now dedicated to, my parents.
Back to 2015—with a decade of writing under my belt (and a lot of hope) I made a place to house my creativity. My compositions became more than hobby or late-night anxiety relief. I don’t know exactly how to explain what they became, but it felt dang good. There’s this funny thing about creativity: one good thing attracts another.
Still writing furiously throughout 2015, I stepped into the classroom at Ajna Yoga College. I began teaching. I kept writing. Then I went to work for TEDx Victoria, and other collaborative organizations, specializing in creative event work. I produced social impact and health + wellness initiatives. I kept writing. I began to perform my spoken word. I kept working. The poetry, yoga, and event work just kept weaving together.
To this day, tiny.writer continues to infuse art and activism through creativity. I make creative copy for fellow artists. I teach weekly movement, meditation and strength classes that pay tribute to poets, philosophers and other makers. For myself, I try my hand at dance classes (heels + feels!) and enjoy a hobby I wish I could have done in my teenage years, just now as an adult.
In 2017, I added a stage-name to my arsenal of artistry: Charlie Creamfill is my alter ego that writes terrible puns but takes the stage, clipboard in one hand and mic in the other, to emcee local shows and community events.
My work as a movement teacher / writer / poet / event coordinator / and emcee means that I’m constantly finding new ways to be creative. It matters to me that people have the chance to turn off their logical brain and turn on their intuitive side—that they get a little messy with whatever their chosen creative avenue may be. I believe that when people have the opportunity to create, they lead lives that are fulfilling, compassionate and on purpose. I think art makes us better people, and it leads to communities that take care of each other and their environment. And I think you belong here with the creatives, in the middle of all the art and wonder.
EDUCATION
Certified Advanced Scrum Master, Alluvial (2023)
Kettlebell Teacher Training with Katie Thacker & Brandon Sherbrooke (65 hr, CSEP, 2023)
Yin Yoga Training Program with Bernie Clarke & Diana Batts (50 hr, Semperviva, 2019)
Fire & Flow Vinyasa Yoga Intensive
with Natalie Rousseau (2018)Yoga Nidra + Yin Yoga Training (50 hr, Ajna Yoga, 2016)
Registered Yoga Training (RYT 300 hr / Ajna Yoga / 2015)
Undergraduate in Psychology & Gender Studies (UVic / 2014)
ACHIEVEMENTS
Scrum Master, Environmental Assessment Office (2022 - present)
Presenter, Victoria Yoga Conference (2016 - 2019)
Performer, Makings (2017)
Researcher, Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award (2014)