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Toronto Star •

Hamilton has one of Canada’s most exciting food scenes. Here’s what to try

In case you missed it: Hamilton has shed its dated Steeltown stereotype, transforming into an increasingly hip travel destination, just about an hour from Toronto. It’s home to a food and drink scene worthy of a road trip (or GO train ride) and enveloped by abundant nature; the dramatic ridge of the Niagara Escarpment runs right through it. The recent “Heated Rivalry” fandom has also helped put the city on the tourism map: many scenes were shot at local landmarks and restaurants.The landscape ha...
The Globe and Mail •

This marketing strategist had $800,000 to buy a farmhouse in Prince Edward County, Ont. What did he buy?

In 2014, Justin Maguire moved from his hometown of Perth, Australia, to Toronto. He’d always imagined owning a house in the city one day but the real estate boom that started in 2016 made that milestone seem unattainable to him.

“It felt like the ladder into the housing market had been pulled up,” he explains. He might have been able to eventually afford a condo downtown or a house in the suburbs, but neither option appealed to him.

He continued to rent in the city, but, in 2018, Mr. Maguire,...
The Globe and Mail •

Daughter’s recipe for family’s frozen-foods firm erases dad’s early doubts

Noorudin Jiwani was initially skeptical of the new ideas his daughter Khadija Jiwani wanted to introduce at Aliya’s Foods, the Indian frozen-foods manufacturer he founded with his wife in 1999.

On the one hand, Khadija’s decision to join the Edmonton-based family business in 2015 “was the best day of my life,” says Noorudin, Aliya’s president and CEO. He’d been thinking about retirement and was keen for one of his children to take over. On the other hand, he found it hard to relinquish control....
Canadian Grocer •

How lifelong friends built a better-for-you breakfast brand

It was in Grade 3, in 1991, that Daniel Carson and Daniel Schreiber first met at elementary school in Thornhill, Ont. The two became inseparable and their friendship continued through decades—from high school to graduating from university and starting their first careers. Schreiber joined his family business, a candle and chafing fuel company for foodservice. Carson took an entrepreneurial turn, running a character education and bullying prevention company for students before launching into expe...
thestar.com •

The Tragically Hip’s lead guitarist shares his travel guide to Kingston

Three hours east of Toronto, Kingston has several claims to fame: The city was (briefly) Canada’s first capital and still attracts architecture enthusiasts with its 19th-century limestone buildings. It’s a university town, full of Queen’s students for much of the year, with a peaceful waterfront and highly walkable downtown. And for music lovers, it’s best known as the birthplace of the Tragically Hip, which formed here in the 1980s.
Canadian Grocer •

How Zoey Shamai built one of Canada’s most recognizable kombucha brands

It was in New Mexico, in 2005, when yoga teacher Zoey Shamai first discovered kombucha. At the time, she was living in an ashram—a community where yoga, meditation and mindful living are practiced. “Everyone there was making kombucha,” Shamai explains. “At first, I hated the smell and I didn’t love the taste, but I had the most incredible digestion boost.” Kombucha—a slightly fizzy, fermented tea—originated in China in 221 BC and gradually made its way to Russia and Europe, eventually reaching h...
Be Giant •

Indigenous founders in Canada are expanding their businesses faster than their peers: poll

When Logan Ashley opens his new 1,600-square-metre factory in Malakwa, B.C., in August, he’ll triple his company’s production of energy-efficient prefabricated houses and add 27 jobs to his current staff of 14. The new facility sits on a little more than a hectare, up from less than half a hectare at the old Revelstoke site for Good Way Homes, which Ashley started in 2017.It’s the kind of growth story that turns up disproportionately often among Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada. According to B...
Chatelaine •

“I Didn’t Even Know What Financial Abuse Was” - Chatelaine

TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD, Meseret Haileyesus was living an immigrant success story. In 2012, she arrived in Edmonton from her hometown of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with her husband and one-year-old daughter. “We came for a better future and better opportunities,” Haileyesus says. “My country was politically unstable at the time, and Canada was safe.”A former midwife who had worked in public health, infectious diseases and global health projects, Haileyesus landed her dream job as a prevention coordinat...
The Globe and Mail •

How AI is transforming market research: faster workflows and synthetic ‘personas’ that mimic humans

Addy Graves had been working in market research for over a decade when ChatGPT launched in 2022. While exploring the platform’s capabilities, she wondered: How could AI improve how market research is done?

Traditionally, studies would take at least two months, says Ms. Graves, who previously held positions at Critical Mass and Ipsos Reid. That included time to plan the study, develop a survey platform and questions, gather results, analyze them and create a report.

“It really wasn’t until AI t...
Canadian Grocer •

Meet the duo bringing a traditional Indigenous dry meat snack to a national audience

Ian Gladue’s career in food began with childhood imagination. Rather than playing doctor or teacher, Gladue preferred playing “restaurant” with his family. As he got older, that childhood play evolved into genuine experimentation with ingredients and preparing meals for the people around him.Raised on the Bigstone Cree Nation in Central Alberta, Gladue relocated to Edmonton as a teenager, eventually channelling his culinary passion into a food truck—opened in 2013—serving bannock burgers, a blen...
Toronto Life •

Inside a black-tie queer wedding that doubled as an ornate garden party - Toronto Life

Samuel Butcher, a 34-year-old creative director at a marketing agency, first met Matthew D’Silva, a 29-year-old director of business development at a construction company, on Tinder in 2017. The couple bonded over their shared love of campy movies and their close-knit families. Sam moved in with Matthew’s family during Covid, and the couple grew closer after Matthew lost his mom to cancer in 2022. Sam proposed to Matthew in 2023, followed by a second proposal from Matthew to Sam in March of 2025...
Canada Media Fund •

Meet the Vancouver brothers behind the finance and economics channel 2 and 20 | Canada Media Fund

Aman and Kamal bring their backgrounds in business, consulting, history, and economics to the explainer videos they upload to their YouTube channel, 2 and 20, which has racked up millions of views. As one of 21 creators selected for the Canada Media Fund’s Digital Creators Pilot Program, they plan to use the money to increase their output and build their media brand.
At the end of 2023, Aman, a Vancouver-based investment professional and former consultant and investor, started making videos abo...
Toronto Life •

Inside the rhythmic Bollywood-inspired wedding of two competitive dancers - Toronto Life

Shereen Ladha, a professional dancer and head of strategy at an ad agency, first met Gotham Ratnaraj, a real estate agent, in 2011, when they were individually scouted to compete in a dance group that made it to the final round of Canada’s Got Talent. They bonded over their shared love of dance, fashion and art but didn’t begin dating until 2015. They moved in together in 2017, then bought their first home four years later. In 2024, Ratnaraj proposed in Barcelona. A five-day wedding merging the...
Toronto Life •

$5 million for a cliffside Bruce Peninsula mansion with lollipop columns - Toronto Life

Location: Bruce PeninsulaPrice: $4,999,999
Size: 6,186 square feet
Bedrooms: 4+1
Bathrooms: 5
Real estate agent: Kevin Gilchrist, Sotheby’s International RealtyA four-bedroom-plus-den, five-bathroom detached home in northern Bruce Peninsula, this property is perched on a cliff nearly 100 metres above Georgian Bay, just next to Lion’s Head Provincial Park. It comes with parking spots for 10 cars, a hot tub, a great room with 33-foot ceilings and swirly columns galore. Motorists are a three-and-a-...
Canada Media Fund •

Italian + Music + Teaching = Winning Content for Frank Moyo | Canada Media Fund

His videos have millions of views and have been shared by actors Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Now social media star Frank Moyo is one of 21 creatives selected for the Canada Media Fund’s Digital Creators Pilot Program. The singing teacher explains why he makes videos that teach kids Italian, and how the money may help take his content to the next level
Frank Moyo’s Italian roots run deep. His parents and grandparents immigrated from Calabria, in Southern Italy, to Canada in the earl...
Toronto Life •

Inside a DIY cabin wedding that turned into a forest rave - Toronto Life

Kate Memphis Wurstlin, a 32-year-old tattoo artist, first met Mike George, a 33-year-old tattoo artist and builder, when they were first-year fine arts students at OCAD University in 2011. Though they didn’t connect at the time, the pair met up in 2018 over their shared career path in tattooing. After a few flirty encounters, they began dating in 2019. They discovered a mutual love for DIY projects and renovations after they flipped a Scarborough house in 2020. Later, they purchased a cabin in G...
U of T Magazine •

A Comedy About Mental Health? It’s More Than Self-Therapy | U of T Magazine - U of T Magazine

Leanne Toshiko Simpson, who earned a degree in creative writing from U of T Scarborough and is director of literary programming at Trinity College, released her debut novel, Never Been Better – which she describes as a “mental health comedy” – in 2023. After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she discovered that writing could support her path forward.
Tell me about how creative writing helped you after you were diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
It was hard living with a disruptive diagnosis....
The Globe and Mail •

This IT engineer had a half-million-dollar budget for a downtown Toronto condo. What did he buy?

In 2023, Abdo Laalami moved from Cannes, France, to Toronto under the French-speaking permanent residency stream. He found work as an IT engineer and rented a room in a two-bedroom condo in Toronto’s Harbourfront neighbourhood, paying $1,500 a month for his share.

Mr. Laalami yearned for a place of his own. He started saving up for a down payment, taking advantage of the TFSA, First Home Savings Account and RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan. At the time, Mr. Laalami thought he could only afford to buy a s...
Canadian Grocer •

How Khadija Jiwani is leading the next phase of Aliya’s Fine Foods

In 2015, Khadija joined the company full time, coinciding with her parents stepping back as they approached retirement. Her first order of business was redeveloping the company’s in-house brand, Chef Bombay. The company found early success producing private-label products for major grocers and prioritized that business, resulting in Chef Bombay being limited to shelves in just 100 stores.“The quality was there,” Khadija says. “It was just about communicating that to people. We had the brand, Che...
Canada Media Fund •

Time Hoppers:  from e-Book to franchise

How an Edmonton production studio that creates Muslim-oriented entertainment for kids turned a story about the Silk Road from an e-book to a game, web series and full-length feature film.
In 2017, producer, writer and director Flordeliza Dayrit started writing Time Hoppers, a children’s e-book about the history of the Silk Road and the Islamic Golden Age. She was fascinated by the era, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th centuries, and knew she had something special on her hands. “It’s just n...
Toronto Life •

How the owner of a Yorkville salon found a gorgeous apartment right downtown - Toronto Life

The Renter: Olga Onulov, owner of Rebel and Beauty, a brow, lash and makeup salon in Yorkville.The Story: In 2022, Olga was living in a 600-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment near Yonge and Charles. She was paying $2,100 a month, which didn’t feel worth it given how slow her landlord was to repair her broken fridge and leaky plumbing. More importantly, Olga yearned for some separation from her salon, as she’d often run into clients while walking around her neighbourhood on days off...
Chatelaine •

Are Private Menopause Clinics Worth It? - Chatelaine

When women can’t get adequate support from public clinics like Premji’s, they’re increasingly turning elsewhere. The menopause business is booming: Market research company Grand View Horizon predicts that the menopause market in Canada, which includes sales of hormonal and non-hormonal therapies, will reach US $784.9 million by 2030. And in the past 10 years, a slew of virtual healthcare startups like Felix, Science & Humans and Hims & Hers have sprung up alongside smaller private clinics to mak...
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