Home Resume Content and Travel Writing
The Globe and Mail •

This pharmacy technician had $425,000 to buy a condo in Scarborough, Ont. What did she buy?

In 2023, Patricia Inciong moved to Toronto from her hometown of Manila, Philippines, to complete a two-year pharmacy technician program at Centennial College. She rented a room in a shared apartment in Scarborough for $1,000. In her second year, Ms. Inciong rented a basement apartment with classmates and again paid $1,000 a month for her room.

While in her second rental, in 2024, Inciong, now 28, imagined buying a place for herself one day. “I was paying $1,000 every month,” she said. “I though...
NUVO •

Soak In the Healing Waters of Halcyon

Nordic spas might be trending now, but mineral hot springs have long been used as a therapeutic treatment. British Columbia is home to more than 130 hot springs, thanks to the province’s many mountain ranges and fault lines, which allow water heated by the Earth’s warmer interior to rise to the surface through fractures.

One region of B.C., the Kootenay Rockies, is so rich in therapeutic waters that its hots springs form a “hot springs triangle” or a circle route,  perfect for hot-spring hoppin...
Canada Media Fund •

Immersive storytelling: How two Indigenous creators are exploring the XR landscape | Canada Media Fund

Visitors to TIFF: The Market’s inaugural Innovation Hub can experience how extended reality (XR) is helping artists Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and James Monkman share Indigenous culture in a way that goes beyond traditional film and art.
Multidisciplinary artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory thinks back to 2018, the first time she saw a virtual reality (VR) film. Biidaaban: First Light, from Indigenous filmmaker Lisa Jackson, depicted a downtown Toronto reclaimed by nature. “It really blew me...
The Globe and Mail •

Determined to get a Nova Scotia property near water, what did $150,000 get this buyer?

Samantha Kennedy grew up in the small community of Berwick, N.S., about an hour and 20 minutes northwest of Halifax. She moved to Ottawa in 2014, at 18, to study at Carleton and has been based in the country’s capital since then, most recently renting a one-bedroom apartment for $1,300 a month.

Ms. Kennedy, now 29, works as a tantric yoga teacher and pleasure coach, hosting retreats and working with clients online. For as long as she can remember, she’s yearned to buy property. “I’ve always fel...
The Globe and Mail •

How to avoid back pain while driving, according to a long-haul trucker

Have you ever wondered how to keep your back from getting sore when you’re behind the wheel on long drives?

Kirk Reid, 53, has some tricks of the trade to share. He has been working as a UPS long-haul truck driver for more than 20 years. His route from Vaughan, Ont., to Kingston and back keeps him on the road for eight hours a day.

In the first instalment of Trade Secrets – a series of conversations with everyday experts offering their advice on daily life – Reid discusses how he avoids back p...
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...
Load More