March 2012
1 post
Helga
Meet Helga, a photographer and graphic designer who is both relentlessly positive and passionate about Ottawa. Helga immigrated to Canada from Columbia in search of adventure and snow; ten years later she’s still just as excited about living here as the day she arrived.
Read on to learn more about Helga’s life in Ottawa, her fascination with Canada, and her immigration experience....
December 2011
1 post
Nick
Meet Nick, a hip-hop artist, dancer, artistic director, and student. Nick is very connected to Ottawa’s dance and hip-hop music scene; he just released his first few studio-recorded tracks as SORU (scroll down to the end of the post to listen to a track and find out how you can download the whole thing), and is in the process of recording his debut album.
Nick and I met on a rainy...
November 2011
2 posts
Sabrina
A fashion blogger and communications student, Sabrina uses her sense of fashion as a way to connect with the city and people around her. We met on a rainy Saturday for photos in Old Ottawa South, the first neighborhood Sabrina visited when she was being introduced to Ottawa as a student; it’s still one of the places she feels most represents “her Ottawa.”
As a special aside this week, I’d...
Elsewhere: Q&A with Jennifer MacKinnon of Fenix...
This week I contributed a guest post to the Lead to Win for Women blog, where I had the opportunity to profile Jennifer MacKinnon, Founder and CEO of Fenix Solutions and creator of Ottawa Women of Wonder.
Jennifer and I spoke about her experience as one of Ottawa’s first female tech founders, mentoring, and more.
Read more: Q&A with Jennifer MacKinnon of Fenix Solutions at Lead to Win...
September 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Natalie
Meet Natalie, a social worker and the Manager of Operations at Operation Come Home. Natalie and I met after Corey – the homeless youth whose profile was featured last week – put me in touch with the Operation Come Home staff. He spoke so highly of the services they offer and the support they’ve provided him in his transition from the streets to student life that I knew I’d have to profile one of...
3 tags
Corey
Meet Corey, a homeless youth who has been living on the streets of Ottawa for the past year. Corey’s story is pretty inspirational: in the time since we met for this interview four weeks ago, he’s been accepted to Algonquin College, admitted to transitional housing, and started his first week of classes in Algonquin’s General Arts program, despite having to jump some pretty time-consuming...
July 2011
2 posts
Emilia
Meet Emilia, owner of Lilac Lingerie, a boutique lingerie store in Westboro. When Emilia contacted me about being profiled she was worried about talking about her business too much: “I don’t want to come across like I’m just doing this to promote the store,” she said, “but the store is my life! If we talk about me we’ll have to talk about the store.” And, it’s true! As a local small business...
Sandy
Meet Sandy, Executive Director of the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre. The ORCC is a local organization that advocates for equitable communities and supports women who have experienced sexual violence.
Sandy and I met for her photos along the Rockcliffe Parkway, a route she drives daily as she commutes between her home in Orleans and downtown Ottawa. Read on to learn more about Sandy’s life in Ottawa,...
June 2011
1 post
Colin
Meet Colin, an illustrator, cartoonist, and designer living in Ottawa. Colin is well known for his illustrations of Ottawa streetscapes and ‘comix’ depicting interactions he has with people living in the city. Right now – and through the month of June - Raw Sugar Café is hosting an exhibit of his work called Confectionaries, which is a collection of illustrations of corner stores in downtown...
May 2011
1 post
Alexandra
Meet Alexandra, a public librarian and runner who’s originally from Montreal. While she’s normally one of the happy faces greeting the public at the Rideau branch of the Ottawa Public Library, for the next few months she’ll be working as the Coordinator of Diversity and Accessibility Services with OPL. Alex shares her experiences and thoughts on being a librarian in Ottawa on her blog, Only...
April 2011
2 posts
Lindsay
An escort and student, Lindsay is an outspoken advocate for sex workers’ rights in Ottawa. She works with POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Work, Educate, Resist), a local non-profit organization open to people who self-identify as current or former sex workers, to help raise awareness about sex workers’ rights. Lindsay worked on POWER’s most recent report, Challenges: Ottawa Sex Workers...
3 tags
Ryan
Meet Ryan, a photographer and security guard living and working in Ottawa. Ryan is a military buff and a big fan of Airsoft paintball - he works part time at Combat 307 in Gatineau, which is where we meant to do photos. Some chilly days and a lot of snow led to a Plan B, though: Place d’Orleans station, where Ryan spends a lot of his day as he commutes from the edge of Orleans to his job...
March 2011
1 post
Kelly
Kelly is an interior decorator and design blogger who recently started her own business. With the support of a solid network of professional and amateur designers, she’s focused on making Ottawa’s living spaces beautiful.
Kelly and I met for photos at Bruce Pit, a dog park in the west end of the city, on one of the coldest days of the year. I don’t think I’d have made it if she hadn’t lent me...
February 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Chantal
Chantal is an entrepreneur, makeup artist, blogger, small business consultant, locavore, and – quite possibly – the friendliest, most positive person you’ll ever meet. Her two blogs, The O’ Valley and Me So Pritti keep her engaged in the community and in-the-know about the latest events and store openings.
For her photos, Chantal and I visited the Bank Street Bridge near Lansdowne Park on a...
1 tag
Bethia
Bethia describes herself as a “teacher and immigrant who lives a pretty quiet life” in Ottawa. We met over coffee and chatted about her life here, the culture shock that came from immigrating as a refugee from Liberia, and her two sons. Even though we met as strangers, it turns out that we’re practically neighbours – Ottawa seems like an awfully small city sometimes.
Read on to find out more...
1 tag
John
A semi-retired aspiring sci-fi author, John and I met for coffee near his home in Nepean. He’s full of stories about his life and experiences, and very passionate about science, the economy, and current events. We chatted for a long time before heading over to Andrew Haydon Park for his photos.
John recently received his one-year medallion from AA, and he definitely deserves a huge round of...
December 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Matt
Meet Matt: a new media specialist by profession, he’s a true Ottawa local who is passionate about advocating for a bike-friendly city, and he plays a lot of bike polo in his spare time. We met near his workplace in Centretown to talk about his life and experiences here in Ottawa, and how he feels about changes to the city. Oh, and also so he could tell me what the heck bike polo is.
Read on to...
Ashley
A painter, printmaker, animator, art instructor, community manager, and very creative person in general, Ashley wears a lot of hats. She’s also engaged in really exciting ways and working hard to help grow Ottawa’s creative communities.
It turns out that Saturday mornings at Major’s Hill Park are perfect for the kind of peaceful, well-lit, early morning wanders that will make you fall in...
November 2010
3 posts
Jonathan
Marketer and award-winning music producer, Jonathan is relatively new to Ottawa but busy building connections and feeling out the city’s music industry. He produces hip hop, R&B, and pop music as Menoza, and you can hear some of it at his Myspace page.
Jonathan and I met on a sunny autumn afternoon for our interview, and then visited two locations for his photos: his workplace in the...
Rachelle
Rachelle is a recently transitioned transgender woman living in Ottawa. She’s very active in the trans community, and is on the planning committee for Ottawa’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, which will be held this Saturday November 20th. This year is a particularly special one for the trans community: in addition to the annual candlelight vigil for trans persons who have lost their...
2 tags
Gisele
Gisele is pretty inspiring. She’s also very brave. Just two months ago, she semi-spontaneously moved from São Paulo, Brazil to Ottawa, an adventure she undertook for love of the city and a need for change. Despite only knowing a handful of people in Canada, she’s happily settled in Gatineau, and is keeping busy by exploring the city by foot.
Gisele and I met along the National Capital Pathway...
October 2010
5 posts
1 tag
Sucre
Student by day and popper by night, Sucre is at the cusp of a growing community of street dancers in Ottawa. He performs as Funkie Monkie with the crew Cartoon, who can usually be found practicing in the University Centre at the University of Ottawa or performing at events around the city.
Sucre chose the Museum of Civilization for his photos, where he also performed an impromptu dance that I...
2 tags
Nadine
Nadine, an actress, writer, blogger, and sex columnist living in Westboro, is about as engaging a personality as you will ever meet. An advocate for the arts and proponent of a bike-friendly city, Nadine has a lot of really interesting thoughts about the state of the arts community here in Ottawa, and her enthusiasm is both encouraging and catching.
For Nadine’s photos, we took a stroll along...
1 tag
Lenny
Lenny, host of the Wednesday morning Canadian independent music show Wild Works at CKCU, lives in Bells Corners but manages to make it to nearly every good show in Ottawa. He’s interviewed some incredible Canadian artists, and is very plugged in to the local music scene. He’s also a member of Ottawa’s local Success Dragon Chinese Lion Dance Troupe, and performs regularly with them at cultural...
1 tag
Kristian
I interviewed and photographed roommates Jay and Kristian at the Bronson graffiti wall near Carleton University. Musicians from New Brunswick, they’re both relatively new to Ottawa and involved in the hip hop and underground music scene.
Kristian DJs as DJ Sir K, and is a member of the Ultrasound Collective. He brought his beautiful dog Princess to the shoot, and she makes a special guest...
1 tag
Jay
I interviewed and photographed roommates Jay and Kristian at the Bronson graffiti wall near Carleton University. Musicians from New Brunswick, they’re both relatively new to Ottawa and involved in the hip hop and underground music scene.
Jay raps as iNTUiT, and blogs under the name Dr. Jay Cole. He’s also involved in the WickedBAD Collective. You can see his work and listen to his...
September 2010
2 posts
1 tag
SeDive
I met SeDive on a sunny Sunday afternoon on the University of Ottawa campus, where she’s a second year student studying Public Administration. With a family heavily involved in humanitarian aid activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, SeDive is very community-minded and feels strongly about participating in and contributing to local initiatives. She volunteers at her local food bank and...
1 tag
David Van Scheyndel
David lives in the South end of Ottawa, near South Keys Mall. A thoughtful, well-spoken advocate for youth issues and accessibility, he is very open about his experiences as someone with Asperger’s Syndrome and how it affects his daily life. His interests include coin collecting, crosswords, sci-fi, and listening to extreme heavy metal.
David and I spent most of an afternoon together as...
August 2010
1 post
Hello Ottawa launching soon!
Hello Ottawa will be launching with the first interview soon! I hope to have everything live by late September.
In the meantime, you can read about the project, and find out how to participate. Do you know someone who should be profiled? Send me an email!
If you want, you can also head over to Julie Michelle’s project, i live here: SF, to get a sense of what inspired me to start Hello...