Colleen Yee | Mentor Spotlight

Beedie Luminaries — Mentorship is at the heart of the Beedie Luminaries program. With over 300+ dedicated mentors in our network, we are proud to highlight the incredible individuals who guide, support, and empower our scholars. Through their time, expertise, and encouragement, they help shape the next generation of leaders.

Today, we have the privilege of shining the spotlight on VPD Inspector Colleen Yee, a mentor who has made a lasting impact—both within our program and beyond.

A Career Built on Service, Protection, and Empowerment

For over three decades, Colleen has dedicated her career to service, protection, and mentorship. As an Inspector with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and a lifelong advocate for personal safety, Colleen has not only broken barriers in a male-dominated field but has also uplifted countless individuals along the way. Whether teaching law enforcement personnel about de-escalation tactics, coaching aspiring leaders within the department, or helping launch the VPD Women’s Personal Safety Team—an initiative that has served over 10,000 women in the Lower Mainland—alongside her sister, Colleen’s commitment to empowering others and protecting her community is unwavering.

Colleen’s passion for mentorship stems from her early years, inspired by educators who made her feel valued and capable throughout her childhood, growing up in Revelstoke, British Columbia. Throughout most of her undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, Colleen studied sociology, focused on becoming a social studies teacher and volleyball coach.

However, Colleen’s path shifted in 1991 when a friend introduced her to the VPD Ride-Along Program—an opportunity that encouraged women and visible minorities to consider policing as a career.

The experience exposed her to the unseen complexities of policing, and by the end of the summer, she knew she wanted to be part of it. “There’s a whole other dimension to the world that most people don’t know about,” she reflects. “I wanted to be in that space, making a difference alongside the incredible officers.”

Throughout her career, Colleen has witnessed firsthand the power of mentorship in fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. She acknowledges that policing remains a male-dominated field, where individuals outside the “traditional” demographic often struggle to find representation. She recognizes that “the majority of the population tends to support people who look, speak, and act like them”. However, Colleen believes that “mentorship provides an opportunity to break those patterns. It allows people to feel seen, to know they have value, and to realize their potential.”

“I wanted to be in that space, making a difference alongside the incredible officers.”
Colleen on joining the VPD in the 1990s

Colleen’s Mentorship Beyond the Professional Realm

Her impact extends far beyond the VPD. Umaira Tahiri from the second cohort of the Beedie Luminaries SHINE Program was a first-year criminology student at Simon Fraser University when she was matched with Colleen. As her mentee, Umaira describes Colleen’s mentorship as life-changing. “I was over the moon with Beedie Luminaries’ careful matching of me with a mentor whose principles and life experiences were so similar to mine. Since Colleen’s background and upbringing mirrored mine, we were able to establish natural and effortless rapport,” Umaira shares. She credits Colleen’s guidance for helping her believe in the possibility of post-secondary education, a dream she once thought unattainable.

The way their connection has transcended the formal mentor-mentee relationship is what makes Colleen a truly remarkable figure in Umaira’s life. Following Umaira’s completion of her bachelor’s degree, Colleen has remained a steadfast presence in her life, offering guidance and encouragement through life’s exciting changes and challenges. “Our relationship has only grown stronger over time, and I am thankful that she has stayed in my life to support and guide me while I seek my aspirations after graduation,” Umaira notes. More than a mentor, Colleen has become an integral part of Umaira’s family, embracing her as her own and leaving a lasting impression not just on Umaira, but on those closest to her.

Within the VPD, Colleen praises the organization for supporting many different personalities and skill sets. This diversity, she says, “is critical for those who fall into the grey spaces of what typical demographics consider ‘normal'”. In other words, she mentions that being able to embrace our differences is what gives us strength as a community, and that “it would be a disservice to both the organization and the community to withhold the knowledge and experience, rather than passing it on to those around us”. Colleen reminds us that her guiding principle in mentorship has never been about keeping all of the knowledge to herself. Instead, “it’s about sharing it, expanding access, and creating more opportunities for those who need it.”

The Human Side of Mentorship

At its core, her philosophy is simple: mentorship is about being human. “It’s about compassion, inclusivity, and care,” she says. “If we all embraced that, we wouldn’t even need to formalize the concept of mentorship—it would just be a way of life.”

Her approach to mentorship is centered on helping mentees filter out the noise and focus on what truly matters to them. She encourages them to define their values, set achievable goals, and take small steps toward success. “When you see progress, even in small ways, that’s where motivation comes from,” she explains. “You start believing in yourself, and that momentum builds.”

“What stands out most is how Colleen’s love for her own family mirrors my own, creating an immediate connection and a sense of belonging. Her generosity in allowing me to meet and interact with her loved ones has made me feel embraced as part of her family, the way she has with mine.”
Umaira on Colleen’s invaluable support as a mentor in the Beedie Luminaries program

Looking back on her journey as a mentor so far, Colleen hopes that every mentee she has worked with realizes one thing: their success was always within them. “I was just the person who helped open the door,” she says. “But they did the work. They found their own strength, their own direction.”

Her hopeful legacy is one of empowerment—of showing others that they are capable, resilient, and worthy of success. And as long as there are people in need of guidance, Colleen hopes to continue sharing her knowledge, leading with empathy, and ensuring that those who walk behind her have a clear path forward.