We know there are many successful young leaders in our city. But how many of them would take a job — in a crumbling building on the Downtown Eastside — serving one of Vancouver's most vulnerable populations?

Laura Dilley would. She is the executive director of the PACE Society, an organization that provides peer-led support services to sex workers in Vancouver.

This year she's been named one of Business in Vancouver's Top Forty Under 40 honorees. The magazine's annual pick of top young entrepreneurs, executives and professionals hits news stands tomorrow.

"It's actually quite amazing you know. I looked at the panel who was voting and I was really shocked," Dilley said, noting that PACE could be seen as controversial or divisive because of its approach.

"We operate under a harm reduction model that recognizes that sex work is work, and we meet people where they're at."

Dilley started with PACE in 2013 and has seen the organization grow in staffing numbers and funding. Of the 10 people who work there today, 80 per cent are current or former sex workers. Together they perform a variety of frontline services while also advocating for legal reforms.

These days Dilley says her team is looking to the new federal government for signs of what's to come.

"We know that the Liberal government made some promises during the campaign," said Dilley, noting they recently reached out to Canada's new Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould for a meeting.

Top of mind is Bill C-36, a controversial bill dubbed the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which critics say puts sex workers at a greater risk of harm.

"Sex workers are ready to go back to court and challenge it in Supreme Court. We're just hoping that the Liberal government will repeal it and save us a lot of time and headache in that process."