Home Resume Content and Travel Writing
Canada Media Fund •

Mittens & Pants makes live-action TV magic with real animals   | Canada Media Fund

Phil McCordic faced a steep learning curve in adapting to the unpredictable nature of filming live animals. But his show is now airing in 57 countries, spurring viral social media posts, and has inspired a Roblox game. 
In 2006 director, producer and kids’ TV host Phil McCordic was working on a show called Tumbletown Tales, which featured real hamsters and rodents, when he came up with the idea for his preschool TV show Mittens & Pants. “Ever since then I had always been thinking to myself, ‘It'...
Canadian Grocer •

These three women are on a mission to create clean, tasty snacks

In 2015, Tara Tomulka was burned out from her career in corporate communications. She quit her job and decided to study holistic nutrition, which sparked her interest in raw foods. That led her to develop the first raw vegan food course and vegetarian culinary arts courses at Toronto’s George Brown College, along with hosting culinary workshops, blogging and sharing recipes under the name Rawcology. But, she wanted to have a greater impact and thought of developing a line of consumer packaged fo...
Cottage Life •

Buy the Way: This family from Toronto lucked out and bought the cottage they were renting on Stoney Lake

In 2018, Stephanie and Mike Haas rented a friend’s cottage in Marmora, Ont., for a week with their young son Benjamin, who was five years old at the time; Mike’s sister; and his sister’s kids.“The kids being able to run around and hang out was fun,” says Stephanie.
After returning home to Toronto, Mike and Stephanie thought it’d be nice to buy a vacation property of their own someday. They planned to spend the next few years renting to experience different regions, lakes, and cottage layouts to...
Toronto Life •

This flight attendant makes $95,000 per year. How does he spend it? - Toronto Life

Charles Parreira is a 43-year-old flight attendant. He’s paid hourly and brings in roughly $95,000 a year. In 2010, he bought a one-plus-one-bedroom, one-bathroom starter condo at Lansdowne and Dupont for $189,000, which he later sold for $530,000. Breaking into the market that early helped him pay for his current condo—a two-bedroom, two- bathroom unit at Galleria on the Park in Wallace Emerson, which he purchased in November of 2019 for $705,000. He considers it his forever home and hopes to r...
The Globe and Mail •

This engaged expat couple seeks a starter home in Toronto under $950,000 – with room to grow

Chris Latham moved from Brisbane, Australia to Toronto in 2019 for a work opportunity at an international construction consulting company. He figured he’d spend a few years in the city.

Then, in 2022, he met Lucia England. She had just relocated to Toronto from the U.K. for a job at the same employer.

“I was introduced to the work expat group, and that’s how me and Chris met,” Ms. England says. “We’ve been together ever since.”

In January, 2023, the couple moved into an 1,100-square-foot rent...
The Globe and Mail •

Against the odds: Lessons in resilience from Canadian women business leaders

In 2022, Kristy Miller, chief executive officer of The Scented Market, a handmade candle and bodycare company based in Guelph, Ont., went on a surprise vacation with her husband for her 40th birthday to Nashville. On the last day of their trip, as Ms. Miller was packing up her bags to head home, she bent over and heard a pop. “All of a sudden, I had no feeling in my legs,” she recalls. “I could not stand up on my own. I was completely paralyzed from the waist down.”

Ms. Miller, with the help of...
The Globe and Mail •

How AI is infiltrating the hiring process for recruiters and job seekers

When Aamna Coskun first started her career as a recruiter more than a decade go, she recalls that the “post and pray” strategy was prevalent. “Networking wasn’t even that much of a thing,” she says.

Then, around 2017, applicant tracking systems (ATS) – software that helps hiring managers and recruiters post jobs, screen candidate resumes, schedule interviews and communicate with them – came into the fold.

When it came to reviewing resumes, ATSes used to require filters and Boolean search strin...
Toronto Life •

How a family transformed their dated Woodbridge townhouse into a moody delight - Toronto Life

A four-storey, 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse in Woodbridge.In 2021, a father and his two children were downsizing from an estate home in Uxbridge to this townhouse in Woodbridge. The kids, who both played competitive hockey, needed to be closer to their home arena and private school. But, during the purchase, the family found their new home dark and dated and knew that a proper renovation would be in order. So they hired Kristi Bullock, an interior designer at Emeral...
Chatelaine •

Do You Really Need All-Body Deodorant? - Chatelaine

You might have noticed some new items at the drugstore lately: all-body deodorant sprays, balms and creams touting their ability to reduce odours everywhere. But are they really necessary? Here’s what you need to know.“Deodorant is a product that helps mask odours that result from the breakdown of sweat by bacteria,” explains Dr. Monica Li, a Vancouver-based dermatologist. It does this using fragrance, as well as with ingredients like mandelic and lactic acid that help inhibit the growth of odou...
Cottage Life •

Bestselling author Bryn Turnbull's family cottage used to be covered in frog tchotchkes. Now, it's a Georgian Bay gem

Bryn Turnbull’s memory of her family’s 1920s-era cottage on Georgian Bay, Ont., clad in rugged stone and charming blue panelling, actually predates their ownership of it. “It was stiflingly hot, and the interior was green and covered head-to-toe in frog tchotchkes,” she says. “I mean every available surface, every door stopper, and every piece of art.”
Bryn’s maternal grandparents owned the cottage next door, where she spent her summer vacations as a young girl in the 1990s. When the neighbourin...
Canadian Grocer •

Inside the making of a booming Jamaican patty brand

Once COVID hit, Rowe needed to pivot from her original business idea and decided to sell direct to customers instead, delivering her products to people’s homes. “I just started promoting the patties on Facebook Marketplace,” Rowe explains. At its peak, she would make up to 500 patties a week by hand and deliver them across the GTA. “People were so happy to see you,” she recalls of the home deliveries. But, she recognized her business model wasn’t scalable. So, at the end of 2020, she took a six-...
Canadian Grocer •

Inside the making of a booming Jamaican patty brand

Once COVID hit, Rowe needed to pivot from her original business idea and decided to sell direct to customers instead, delivering her products to people’s homes. “I just started promoting the patties on Facebook Marketplace,” Rowe explains. At its peak, she would make up to 500 patties a week by hand and deliver them across the GTA. “People were so happy to see you,” she recalls of the home deliveries. But, she recognized her business model wasn’t scalable. So, at the end of 2020, she took a six-...

The Non-Retirement Plan: Meet Michael Eskin, the Rapping Scientist Who’s Still Going Strong at 83

We’re used to hearing about retirement as a finish line – a moment to step back, slow down, and fade quietly into leisure. But for a growing number of people, the prescribed retirement age isn’t a deadline, it’s a doorway. In this series, we’ll meet the people who are rewriting the script on aging – and ultimately proving that sometimes, the most meaningful work begins when everyone else thinks it’s time to stop.
Michael Eskin, 83
Distinguished professor at the University of Manitoba

CLAIM TO F...
Cottage Life •

For the Sleeman family, the cottage isn't where they go to get away from it all—it's where their work begins

Quinn usually harvests enough bulrushes to fill two bags, leaving plenty for the frogs, birds, and other wildlife in the marsh. The family only harvests bulrushes at the cottage once they begin to die, around Labour Day, since they’re only useful once the stalks have dried out. Plus, it’s kinder for the environment to wait until the end of the growing season.
The Sleeman cottage, aside from being a good place to harvest bulrushes, has been an important family epicentre since John Sleeman and his...

The Non-Retirement Plan: At 84, Culinary Entrepreneur Myra Sable Says She Doesn’t Need an Exit Plan

We’re used to hearing about retirement as a finish line – a moment to step back, slow down, and fade quietly into leisure. But for a growing number of people, the prescribed retirement age isn’t a deadline, it’s a doorway. In this series, we’ll meet the people who are rewriting the script on aging – and ultimately proving that sometimes, the most meaningful work begins when everyone else thinks it’s time to stop.
Myra Sable, 84
Owner, Sable & Rosenfeld, a gourmet food company
CLAIM TO FAME: Long...
Toronto Life •

Real Weddings: Inside a Lula Lounge bash with Blue Rodeo - Toronto Life

Tori Chippindale, a 31-year-old graphic designer, first met Sam Polley, a 33-year-old musician and carpenter, when they were studying at Queen’s University in 2012. The two didn’t begin dating until a year later, and they continued their relationship when they moved back to Toronto, where they’re both from. There, Tori met Sam’s parents—including his father, Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy. After over a decade together, Sam and Tori planned their engagement in December of 2022. After that came a t...
Cottage Life •

Buy the Way: These sisters bought their dream cottage on Minnicock Lake beside their old childhood cottage

Kathryn Ivy has fond memories of the time she spent with her parents and her four siblings at their family cottage on Minnicock Lake, Ont., in the ’80s and ’90s. “We’d go every weekend and all summer,” says Kathryn. But as the years passed, the cottage upkeep became difficult—and costly—to manage. They sold in 2000. “We were heartbroken,” says Kathryn. “We loved that cottage.”
After having her first child in 2018, Kathryn yearned for her family to have the same cottage experience she did. So she...
The Globe and Mail •

Developers cash in on Canada’s hydrotherapy obsession

A few months after real estate developer Sky McLean acquired an old Holiday Inn, she had an ‘aha’ moment that would transform her business into a holistic wellness haven – a trend making waves in Canada’s commercial real estate sector. Initially, Ms. McLean planned to redevelop the picturesque Canmore, Alta., property into a hotel called MTN House By Basecamp and to use the location’s extra 1.5 acres to build more accommodations. However, she saw an untapped opportunity that would allow her com...
Toronto Life •

Real Weddings: Inside a wintry celebration at Prime Seafood Palace - Toronto Life

Coulson Armstrong, the 40-year-old culinary director of Our House Hospitality Company—Matty Matheson’s empire of food—first met Taryn Casey, a 36-year-old event planner, in 2015 at a running group. They were both seeing other people at the time, but they reconnected in the fall of 2020 and began dating. They moved in together in late 2021. Then, in March of 2023, their daughter, Nora, was born. That Christmas, Coulson popped the question. The couple were married at Prime Seafood Palace, one of M...
Canadian Grocer •

Alberta entrepreneurs turn a passion for coffee and the outdoors into a thriving business

Jamie Parker and Mike Wenzlawe were sitting around a campfire during an elk-hunting trip in 2014 near Willmore Wilderness Park in Northern Alberta when the idea to start a coffee company was sparked. The idea came to Parker, inspired by the pair’s work as wildland firefighters. “We learned to roast coffee in a cast iron pan on the fireline,” he explains. They wanted to embody that same connection to the outdoors in a business. “Our cause and our goal is to unite Canadians to pursue outdoor exper...
Toronto Life •

Real Weddings: Inside a luxurious red-themed celebration at the Carlu - Toronto Life

Whitney Waks, a 36-year-old jewellery-design company founder, first met Alexander McAlpine, a 36-year-old recruitment consultant, in 2010, when they were both studying at Western University. After a one-and-a-half-year relationship, the pair parted ways for over a decade before reuniting in 2022 over Instagram. They quickly rekindled their romance, got engaged and wed in a lavish 350-person red-themed affair at the Carlu in 2024. Here’s how it all came together. Whitney: I first met Alex in Janu...
Load More