Leslie Pulsifer is a third-year animation student at Sheridan College. She holds many roles including being the Student Union clubs coordinator, vice president of the martial arts club, and producing her own stop-motion films. Pulsifer is known for being extremely organized, hard-working, and dedicated to her studies, often staying late at the animation studio. She is well-liked in her roles due to being friendly, approachable, and a good communicator. While very talented and accomplished, Pulsifer remains humble and believes everyone still has room for growth.

1. #thesheridansun April 10 - April 16 2014 9
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S
HE might just be Wonder
Woman.
Leslie Pulsifer is the
Student Union clubs co-ordi-
nator at Trafalgar, she’s in the
third year of Animation – a re-
nowned world-class program
that ends in a Bachelor’s De-
gree – she is vice president of
the martial arts club, she mod-
els for photography and make-
up students looking for portrait
subjects, and she produces
stop-motion short films for fun.
Pulsifer can do it all… Well,
almost.
“One of the things I don’t
do well is relaxing,” said the
21-year-old Salmon Arm, B.C.
native, as she shuffles through
the jungle of items that have
overrun her desk space, be-
fore declaring “My life is orga-
nized, my desk is not.”
And she is organized. Really
organized.
“Good time management
skills really pay off,” says Pul-
sifer, who walks to and from
school 20 minutes each way
and often stays until the ani-
mation studio closes at 2 a.m.,
adding that she rarely sleeps
because of “a very heavy
course load.”
She’s currently working on
a short animated film project
as production manager, dele-
gating responsibilities among
11 other students, and making
sure everyone stays on pace
for their final due date. This
means 11 schedules, 11 per-
sonalities, 11 sets of problems.
“She’s a leader in the class,”
says James Caswell, who
teaches Story and Advanced
Project Development to third-
year students in the Animation
program. “Some folks don’t
like their leader, but everyone
seems to like her.”
With glowing brown eyes
and an eloquent demeanour,
her beauty is as intimidating
as her résumé, however her
down-to-earth perspective and
open-mindedness make her
easily approachable.
“I like meeting different peo-
ple, I don’t know, I love peo-
ple,” she says. Her program
is tailored to specific character
traits and does not exactly lend
itself to a mosaic of personali-
ties, which is why she decided
to apply for the clubs co-ordi-
nator position.
In her job, Pulsifer is the pri-
mary correspondent for all 40
club presidents at the Trafalgar
Campus. She allocates funds,
permits access to club space
and uses her resourcefulness
to help solve problems.
And she’s well-suited for it.
“I like the way she commu-
nicates with students. She’s
very accepting and laid-back,
which really helps when
you’re dealing with so many
different types of people,” says
co-worker Jenna Pulver, who
is Student Union president as
well as Pulsifer’s main contact
as clubs co-ordinator. “She’s
great with people.”
Lauren Marinigh, Student
Union marketing and commu-
nications assistant manager
and a Sheridan alum, agrees
with the sentiment.
“She’s very friendly, which
makes it easy for clubs to
come to her with problems
they have. She’s one of those
fun, bright personalities and
the Student Union needs peo-
ple like that,” says Marinigh,
adding, “she’s the one that de-
signed this room.”
The “clubs room” was an
idea put forth by Pulsifer ear-
lier this year. She restructured
the Student Union conference
room into a space clubs can
use if they need it.
And then she painted the
walls lime green.
She says the shade “grows
on people like a fungus” and
“boosts creativity and energy.”
And therein rests her pas-
sion: visual art.
When she walks through the
third-floor doors in the anima-
tion wing, she enters her king-
dom.
Her pen is her wand, in-
teracting with animated ele-
ments in the digital world she
has created on screen. When
her pen touches the monitor,
a flurry of exuberant colours
dance across its plane as her
playful and mysterious char-
acters come to life.
A masterfully drawn car-
toon figure with crab-like legs
walks across the pink-and-
purple-walled background, in-
voking an ominous tone inside
a flowery room that suggests
its resident is a young girl.
Pulsifer often consults tem-
plates to maintain continuity
from scene to scene: bird’s-eye
views of tables littered with
animated makeup appliances
and pencil crayons, 360-degree
perspectives of each character,
and detailed Photoshop brush
palettes specific to each scene.
“She’s so versatile, she can
do hyper-realistic work, but
she can also do quirky, funny
little side comics,” says her
roommate Naddya Adhiambo
Oluoch-Olunya, 24, an interna-
tional student from Kenya in
her fourth year in Animation.
Oluoch-Olunya has lived
with Pulsifer since 2012 and
finds her friend’s work en-
dearing, terming it “femme-
badass-chic.”
But what she truly values is
Pulsifer’s dependability and
willingness “to push herself
for people who care about
her.”
“Whenever I need a com-
rade-in-arms, she’s there.
When I’m sad, she’s there.
She’s a really good listener.
She knows when to be silent,
she knows when to say some-
thing positive. She’s always
there to hear me out without
judgment. I know I can always
trust her,” she says. “I cherish
our friendship.”
Pulsifer seems to have the
makings for a successful future
in any avenue of life, but don’t
call her perfect.
“I know I’m not the be-all,
end-all. We’re all on this jour-
ney to become better people.”
The next step in her journey
is waiting to hear back from
animation internship pro-
grams based in Toronto, Van-
couver and Los Angeles.
And then, maybe, she can fi-
nally learn how to relax.
Leslie Pulsifer at
her interactive
computer screen,
analyzing every
object’s place-
ment, colour and
size. She’s set to
graduate in 2015.
I know I’m not the be-
all, end-all. We’re all on
this journey to become
better people.
leslie pulsifer
3rd Year Animation
Animation student and time manager
extraordinaire Leslie Pulsifer does a lot of
things well, but one of them isn’t relaxation
spencer luyben
Making her mark