Our Board

Melody Frisk (She/Her)

Melody Frisk brings deep personal commitment and professional leadership to KSCI as its Executive Director. Her connection to this work began in childhood, growing up alongside her brother who was diagnosed with autism, and has continued throughout her career advocating for inclusion and community belonging.

Melody has seen firsthand the challenges individuals and families face in finding community, accessing supports, and being recognized for their strengths. She is passionate about self-determination, valuing each person’s right and ability to steer their own life, and believes that curiosity and intentional listening are essential to shared understanding and collective progress.

She defines belonging as a space where people can be their full selves and genuinely accepted. Under her leadership, KSCI focuses on aligning people’s talents, interests, and goals with meaningful opportunities for connection, participation, and personal growth. Melody also champions clear, accessible communication, including the use of plain language, to ensure programs and services are truly available to those they are intended to serve.

MJ Embury (She/Her)

MJ Embury brings strong lived experience, professional insight, and a long-standing commitment to advocacy and inclusion to the KSCI Board of Directors. She has served on the Board for five years and works as a Critical Care Nurse with Interior Health at Royal Inland Hospital, supporting individuals and families through complex and high-pressure situations.

MJ’s connection to KSCI is both personal and professional. She is the parent of a son who has been supported by KSCI and has firsthand experience navigating systems, advocating for her child, and supporting other families through similar journeys. This experience has informed her ongoing commitment to helping parents understand and access the supports their families need.

Inspired by her husband, Robert, MJ joined the Board as a way to give back to an organization that made a meaningful difference in her family’s life. Inclusion is the value that resonates most strongly with her, and she has spoken to Kamloops City Council in support of creating a more inclusive and accessible community.

For MJ, belonging means connection—access to meaningful relationships, housing, employment, mobility, and the right supports to live a full life. Through her Board service, she has contributed to strengthening governance practices, including supporting the development of the annual Board workplan to ensure the organization remains accountable and focused on improving outcomes for the people it supports.

Santhosh Kumar Mariyala (He/Him)

Santhosh Kumar Mariyala brings a strong combination of technical expertise, business education, and strategic thinking to the board. He is a software developer by professional experience and holds an MBA from Thompson Rivers University, with a growing focus on project and product leadership.

Although this is Santhosh’s first experience serving as a volunteer board member, he has been actively involved in community service through Thompson Rivers University and organizations such as Kamloops Immigrant Services. He is particularly interested in how strong governance, clear priorities, and sound financial oversight support long-term organizational sustainability. His experience bridging technical execution and strategic outcomes, along with leadership in cross-functional teams, informs the perspective he brings to board decision-making.

Santhosh is committed to equity and inclusion. For him, belonging means feeling accepted, valued, and connected — knowing that one’s presence matters and that there is a place for everyone. Since arriving in Kamloops, he has participated in and volunteered at numerous local events and is motivated by opportunities to give back to a community that warmly welcomed him.

Justine Richmond (She/Her)

Justine Richmond has worked in the field of community inclusion and support since 2011, bringing extensive experience as a program facilitator to the board. She has collaborated with KSCI over several years and is inspired by the organization’s commitment to empowering the people it serves.

For Justine, belonging means seeing people as individuals first, with all of their unique gifts, talents, and perspectives. She values inclusion and engagement as powerful tools for breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for acceptance, growth, and meaningful connections.

Justine is mindful of the importance of clear communication and the use of plain language, ensuring that programs and resources are accessible and understood. She has witnessed firsthand how KSCI’s educational opportunities strengthen confidence, build self-advocacy, and create lasting, positive impact for individuals and their support networks.

Amber Hum (She/Her)

Amber Hum has been a committed volunteer board member with KSCI for four years, bringing experience as a Project Coordinator and a former Executive Assistant within the organization. After stepping away from her previous role with KSCI, she remained engaged through her board work, staying connected to the society she believes in and contributing to meaningful impact.

Amber believes in self-determination, valuing each person’s right to make their own choices and communicate their needs. She defines belonging as active participation — being a contributor rather than a bystander — and appreciates how KSCI supports individuals in aligning their interests, goals, and needs with programs and opportunities in the community, employment, and beyond.

Through her board service, Amber has engaged closely with KSCI’s Impact Committee, helping develop, conduct, and assess programming to ensure it creates real, measurable outcomes. She has seen firsthand how KSCI’s programs foster growth, independence, and long-term connections, noting how relationships built through these supports can last for years and have a meaningful personal impact.

Frank Faraone (He/Him)

Frank Faraone brings strong program management experience and a thoughtful, community-focused perspective to the KSCI board. He works as a Program Manager with the Thompson Rivers University School of Trades and Technology, where he supports complex programs, budgeting, and operational planning. As Treasurer, Frank is particularly interested in helping fellow board members understand the organization’s financial picture and supporting sound, transparent financial decision-making.

Frank’s connection to KSCI’s mission is personal. He has two nieces with developmental disabilities and has seen firsthand the important role organizations like KSCI play in supporting people to live full, meaningful lives. This lived experience motivates his commitment to contributing his skills to an organization making a real difference in the Kamloops community.

For Frank, respect and inclusion are foundational values. He believes respect begins with accepting differences and using them as the basis for building strong relationships, while inclusion means truly valuing people for who they are. Belonging, to him, is being an accepted and valued member of society. He sees KSCI fostering belonging by supporting people to find employment aligned with their strengths and by creating opportunities for recreational, educational, and cultural connection.

Frank finds his board service rewarding and meaningful, and values the opportunity to both learn from KSCI’s work and contribute to advancing inclusion and community connection for all.

Prakash Koirala (He/Him)

Prakash Koirala brings a strong background in financial literacy, policy advocacy, and community-based education to the KSCI Board of Directors. He is an internationally recognized policymaker, advocate, and author who has worked with central banks, universities, local governments, and more than twenty financial institutions to design financial literacy roadmaps, curricula, and outreach initiatives. Through this work, Prakash has helped impact over 200,000 people globally and has organized dozens of financial literacy workshops in schools and community centres, including here in Kamloops.

Prakash holds an academic background from the Harvard Kennedy School and has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. Most recently, he was selected for the Governor’s Financial Literacy Award by the State of Wisconsin. His work is grounded in a values-based approach that focuses on reducing vulnerability, building resilience, and strengthening financial confidence across diverse communities.

For Prakash, belonging is more than participation or representation. It is the lived experience of being seen, heard, and empowered to contribute meaningfully, supported by systems that foster dignity, trust, and psychological safety. He believes inclusion is strongest when programs and policies are designed with communities, not just for them.

Prakash sees KSCI as a bridge-builder—bringing together diverse voices across culture, income, and lived experience and translating those voices into inclusive programs, policies, and pathways. By prioritizing access to knowledge, financial capability, and leadership opportunities, he believes KSCI helps reduce structural barriers and enables people not only to belong, but to thrive. Through this work, KSCI strengthens social cohesion, economic resilience, and shared prosperity within the Kamloops community.