Isabel has a bachelor’s degree in drama/playwriting and a bachelor’s of education from Queen’s University as well as a fine arts diploma from Centennial College. She grew up in a Cree/Métis community in Northern Alberta, where her Burmese father was the town’s music teacher and her Métis mother worked at the library. She has taught Drama, English, and Art in Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and Europe, in settings from prisons to expensive private schools. She brings a wealth of experience as both a teacher as well as a student in a northern Indigenous community, and her experiences have made her a passionate advocate for equity in education.

Outside of Gakino’amaage, Isabel is a mother of three who works as a freelance illustrator, stand up comic, television writer, and commercial actress, making appearances at Just For Laughs, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, a mattress commercial that only played on airplanes, and a Turbotax ad that got five thumbs down on YouTube.