Andrea has always called British Columbia home. She wears many hats. She is the principal of Absolutely Literate, a communications service specializing in editing, research, genealogy, writing, design, and marketing; former editor of British Columbia History magazine; author of the sold-out book Commitment to Caring: Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary’s 100 Years; editor of heritage award winner, Surrey: A City of Stories; contributor, co-author of Study Guide: Balancing History: Warp Weft Weave: Joining Generations; joint author of Get Published: BCHF Submission Guidelines for Authors; researcher, editor, coach, and image harvester for Larder of the Wise: The Story of Vancouver's James Inglis Reid Ltd by M. Anne Wyness. She is the 2022 recipient of the Maple Ridge Community Heritage Commission Sheila Nickols Award, which recognizes a person who has helped maintain Maple Ridge history, and work that preserves original historic documents.
She learned the ins and outs of making software behave as the Communications Manager of a national software provider for the investment industry. Andrea’s journey through word processing software began with WordStar back in the 80s and then moved to WordPerfect, both DOS and Windows versions and then Microsoft Word. She now teaches others how to use Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to tell their family stories. She has designed websites for a number of organizations including the Surrey Historical Society, the Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary, and Peregrin Publishing. She has also facilitated virtual Annual General Meetings for the Mole Hill Housing Society and the British Columbia Historical Federation.
Andrea pursued her passion for history at the University of BC. Andrea Lister was awarded her BA in History in 1994. Her history degree led her to a job at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. She has added a Technical Communications certificate and the Editing Certificate, both from Simon Fraser University, to her resume.
Andrea regularly writes and speaks about researching your family history.
I worked with Andrea at a software start-up where she got our technical writing / communications department off the ground, eventually expanding it to a small team. Her responsibilities included online help, traditional manuals, organizing trade shows, and managing external audits of our documentation and software processes. Andrea is a self-starter with excellent software and writing skills. If you work with Andrea, you will not regret it. Also, Andrea consistently uses apostrophes correctly and read Eats Shoots and Leaves of her own volition, and liked it! Andrea knows what 'volition' means.
Greg Tomkins, Computer Guy at Broadridge Financial