I'm a Toronto-based journalist who has been published in the Guardian, Maclean's, Globe and Mail, National Post and more.
I spent the first part of my career in arts reporting and local news, working for Post City Magazines, NOW Magazine and Postmedia.
Since 2017, I've been focused on weed legalization and corporatization. I am currently a staff writer at Colorado-based trade publication MJBizDaily.
( 01 )
Recent Work
2015 - present
Feature writing
I write features, mostly about weed, but sometimes about other things like competitive super-hot chilli-eating. This story about cannabis corporatization was also picked up by the Guardian, and I've also looked at the hemp industry, weed-friendly weddings and Ontario's weird retail roll-out.
Spring 2020 - present
Business reporting
I've learned a lot about the business of regulated markets through the lens of cannabis reporting for publications like MJBizDaily and Leafly. I've written about Instagram's poor moderation of TOS-abiding cannabis accounts, the potential pitfalls of celebrity marketing, how US brands are dominating the Canadian market and the lack of equity initiatives in Canadian weed.
2015 - present
First-person writing
People seem to like my first-person voice... or not hate it. I've written about cannabis terminology, weed drinks, driving through the pandemic, an average day and shrooms. I'm a skilled opinion writer, and can whip one (like this or this) out in hours.
( 02 )
Schools I've Been To
2007-2008
University of Western Ontario, London, Ont.
I had my first real newsroom experiences at the London Free Press and the National Post's Arts & Life section while at school at Western. I wrote about sinkholes, a giant squash, Elvis Presley's birthday party, and an obituary about a long-time film reviewer.
Sept. 2001 - Dec. 2006
University of King's College & Dalhousie, Halifax
I completed the Foundation Year Program, where I struggled through philosophy and devoured literature. I completed an English literature degree, graduated, and then came back for one hyper-academic, GPA-boosting semester to get into journalism school.
Recent
Workshops and extra-curriculars
I loved Cooper Lee Bombardier's Introduction to Memoir Writing through the University of King's College, taught remotely on Zoom in the middle of the winter; I've also taken two workshops through the pandemic with author Sheila Heti: It Doesn't Matter What You Choose and What Do People See When They Read You?
Feast or Famine: Financial Management for Writers with Jen Sookfong Lee was massively helpful for budget-planning; Introduction to Screenwriting at Second City and Digital Photography 1 at George Brown College were both far more difficult than I imagined they'd be, and Intro to Google Analytics at BrainStation gave me so much insight into how to use data to assign stories.
( 03 )
Jobs I've Had
2017 - 2020
Cannabis marketing, communications, journalism
My weed experience began with running the social media channels at Peace Naturals, a medical cannabis company. I moved on to Lift.co, a cannabis conference company and weed reviews website, to write everything from blog posts to ad copy. I also worked for The GrowthOp, Postmedia's cannabis vertical.
2012 - 2017
Digital marketing and media
I was a customer success manager at ScribbleLive, a live-blogging software company. My clients included SCOTUSblog, WebMD, RBC and CIBC. That led me to NOW, an alt-weekly I'd read since I was in high school, where I was the online and social media manager for four years. We were nominated for a Digital Publishing Award, trained everyone up on social media and online publishing, and launched all kinds of new revenue-generating products.
2006 - 2012
Local news and indie publishing
My earliest assignments came from BlogTO and Torontoist (RIP). As an intern at National Post while at Western, my favourite stories were for the now-defunct Toronto magazine. After graduation, my first job was at Post City Magazines, a group of seven community magazines for affluent Toronto neighbourhoods. I mostly wrote stories about people trying to stop condo developments.