In 1993 The Financial Post named Hardwick one of the thirteen most powerful people in the British Columbia film industry.

When New City was acquired by Sextant Entertainment Group in 1999, Hardwick assumed the role of president of their motion picture division.

[5][6] In 2010, applying technology to the information-gathering phase of urban planning, she founded PlaceSpeak, a location-based civic engagement platform designed to consult with people within specific geographic boundaries.

[11] Hardwick was elected as a member of the NPA but resigned from that organization in April 2021 to sit as an independent councillor.

[17] In 2019, Hardwick voted against allowing a 5-storey apartment building (where one-fifth of the units were below market rates) in Kitsilano, arguing "why are we promoting development to the detriment of our residents?

[21] In 2022, as a city councillor during a re-zoning hearing for a 12-tower housing project by MST Development Corporation (a partnership of the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation) on land owned by it and Canada Lands Company (a federal crown corporation), Hardwick questioned the suitably of the height of the buildings before voting in favour of the re-zoning.