Contributors

LTOttawa is so grateful for our fast growing list of dedicated contributors, or as we like to call them, Local Tourists.

To read more about Jessey and Amy, the minds behind this growing project, please click here. If you would like to contribute to LTOttawa, please get in touch. All are welcome!

• Aaron Deane is a co-founder of STARFISH creative events & inspiration. He arrived in Ottawa in 2000 from Barbados, and is an international student at the University of Ottawa.

• Dr. Alan Viau has been performing weddings and other life celebrations in Ottawa since 2004. On his own blog, he compiles useful tips on what’s gone well and what to watch for based on the hundreds of weddings he’s conducted in the National Capital Region.      

• Alayna  is a proud Ottawa native who loves travelling, photography and the wonders of social media. She is a web communications specialist during the day and, in her spare time, she is often found baking, crafting and planning her next trip.

• Alea Cardarelli is the mastermind behind the allergy-friendly blog My Real Food Life. She also makes a delicious cupcake.

• Alex Hosselet is a marketing and business professional who likes to keep it real (especially in the kitchen).

• Amanda Rheaume is a very talented singer/songwriter who has lived in Ottawa for 27 years.

• Anand Chinnasamy is a computer systems analyst (he affectionately calls himself a button pusher/chair breaker) who was a mechanical engineer, fixing German CNC machines before immigrating to Canada in 1997. He moved to Ottawa on a stormy winter evening in 1999 and has been a happy camper ever since.

• Andrée Riffou has a supreme passion for food and is the owner of C’est Bon Cooking. After attending Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa and Paris, Chef Andrée founded C’est Bon in 2008, seeking to share her passion with others. She shared with us recently a little bit about her food-focused business that continues to bloom.

• Andrew Carson is the artist and photographer that you hear making a bunch of noise in front of house on garbage night while he digs around in your trash only to toss your discarded televisions into his trunk. He is also the artist and photographer whose landlord wants to strangle him for filling his backyard full of dismantled TVs.

• Anne Patterson is the creator of Hello Ottawa, a blog that photographs and interviews Ottawans about their relationship with the city, their favourite places, and their lives. When she’s not busy connecting with interesting people in the city, she’s a community manager at a locally-based NGO and the visual anthropology editor at Popular Anthropology Magazine.

• Angela Christiano is an event consultant who has lived in Ottawa ever since coming for the weekend in 1994.

• Anthony Woods is a consultant and entrepreneur who has lived in Ottawa his whole life. In his spare time, Tony enjoys paintballing, musicals, and participating in City Chases.

• Annie McKewen is currently studying at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. We miss her!

• Ariel Hartman is originally from Abbotsford, British Columbia, but came to Ottawa to study journalism at Carleton University, where she is now entering her fourth year. She loves antiques, and Agatha Christie books, and could tell you anything you need to know about the JFK era.

• Barbara D. is a public servant by day but nurtures her love of writing through social media. She blogs at Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go and Losing it in Ottawa and offers shorter thoughts as @OttMomGo.

• Brian Tong runs Start Up Dance. He loves dancing, marketing, and anything artistic in Ottawa. Brian continues to search and find hidden talents that deserves the spotlight and give these artists some hometown hero love.

• Bronwyn Lefebvre is a high school student who will be attending Carleton University in the fall. She enjoys shopping, music and spending time with family and friends in Ottawa – a place she has called home for 18 years.

• Bryony Etherington is an organizer of the Ottawa Zombie Walk. 

• Carolynn Lacasse is a 24-year-old marketing manager at SWIX. She’s also the founder and director of the Ottawa Foodie Challenge, a coffee addict, fashion enthusiast, rookie foodie and token geek.

• Catherine is a sociology student at the University of Ottawa, working towards becoming an urban planner. In the mean time, she does another form of urban planning by suggesting date ideas in Ottawa through her blog, Ottawa Date Ideas.

• Chantal Sarkisian is a fundraiser for the Canadian Foundation for Women’s Health, a local and national charity that raises funds to support research in women’s sexual and reproductive health.

• ‘Chris Clark’ works in PR by day and sings soul music by night. She is an Ottawa enthusiast, a terrible dancer, a Centretown hipster and loves to talk all about culture in the capital. 

• Crystal Beshara is an award-winning artist and illustrator who has been painting and drawing since childhood, when she grew up on a 30-acre hobby farm in Eastern Ontario. She’s self-taught realist artist who’s also created a children’s book!

• Conor Cronin (a soon to be lawyer) and Renée Dufour(a dedicated public servant) have lived in Ottawa their whole lives and couldn’t imagine living in a better city.  Their love affair with Ottawa stems from the serene calm that seems to surround the city, the camaraderie of the Ottawa Trivia League (they’re both on the team Spoiler Alert) and by trying new local things.

• Chantal Sarkisian is a fundraiser for the Canadian Foundation for Women’s Health, a local and national charity that raises funds to support research in women’s sexual and reproductive health. She dropped by Local Tourist Ottawa to talk about a fun local event she’s driving forward. 

• Charles Crosbie moved from Toronto to the Hintonburg area after discovering it three years ago. He is an occasional blogger and the founder of Clout, a boutique marketing firm on Wellington West. 

• Christine Skobe is the Ottawa International Film Festival’s director of social media.

• David Kawai is a very talented photographer living and working in the capital.

• Dominique Jones is VP of Human Resources at Halogen Software, a leading provider of talent management solutions. Dominique shares practical insights that help HR professionals positively impact business performance at the Halogen Software Employee Performance and Talent Management blog. Dominique spends her free time with family on their farm, tending her horses and rescued donkeys.

• Don Chow is a local foodie and one of the hosts of the wonderful local blog foodiePrints, a great space to read about food, drink, cooking, and eating in Canada’s capital.

• Elizabeth Howell is a business and science journalist based in Ottawa who blogs about Canadian space exploration at Pars3c. Her next astronomical venture will be using a telescope over the Internet as a Master of Space Studies distance student at the University of North Dakota.

• Emily Rack is a 21-year old journalism student, split cross-continentally between Canada (school) and England (family). She loves adventuring around the world, planning unconventional dates, going to music festivals, baking caramel sea salt brownies, and dancing the night away. She is joining forces with LTOttawa to bring you the very best weird and wonderful fitness classes throughout the city.

• Fiona Tapp is a British-born elementary school teacher who has called Ottawa home for the past five years. When she’s not teaching, she can be found dragon boating, dancing at Dance with Alana Studios, hiking in Gatineau Park or vegging out with her cat. As a native Londoner, she loves to explore and enjoy Ottawa as a still somewhat new tourist; so far she’s pretty impressed with this “tiny but brilliant” city!

• Geneviève Brisson is a master’s student in communication at the University of Ottawa, working on a thesis on gastronomic tourism. An Ottawa native, she has an appetite for discovering everything the National Capital Region has to offer, especially its burgeoning food scene.

• Gordon Dewis is a research analyst with the federal government. He grew up in Ottawa and counts among his hobbies geocaching, rock climbing, photography and dragonboating.

• Glen Gower is the owner and editor of OttawaStart.com, a great friend to Local Tourist Ottawa, and a life-long Ottawa resident. This list appears on his own blog, but we thought it was so great that it needed to be shared here too.

• Gordon Smith is a 23-year-old man with little rest; boyfriend (wink), web designer, runner and bike racer. He is the founder of the Human Powered Movement, an organization dedicated to improving persons and community through non-commercialized fitness avenues. He is also running 23 marathons in 2011.

• Grayson McDiarmid is an absolutely stellar sommelier and the wine director at Play food & wine in Ottawa’s beautiful ByWard Market (1 York Street). He also serves as an instructor at Algonquin College’s sommelier program and as a wine judge at the annual Ottawa Wine & Food Show.

• Greg Searle runs the Mysterious Events Company by night with his beautiful co-conspirator Samantha Biron – by day, he is the Executive Director of BioRegional North America, an environmental organization. Greg has lived in Ottawa, Rome, London UK, Boston, and now resides on the banks of the Gatineau river in Chelsea QC just outside of Ottawa. He loves the local food scene in Ottawa, and the work done by great local groups likeJustFood.ca.

• Hannah Yakobi is a former Ottawan and the editor-in-chief of FAJO magazine, a digital luxury fashion publication. Now based in Toronto, she is a journalist who’s covered such diverse beats as health, business, fashion and culture.

• Helen Morris arrived from Scotland to Ottawa almost six years ago. She loves being able to bike to work in the summer and skate along the Rideau Canal to the office in the winter. Other interests include dark chocolate and Wensleydale Cheese.

• Hilary Duff is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. When she’s not living the chaotically busy life of a Carleton journalism student, she also enjoys winter jogging and exploring the ins and outs of her Ottawa neighbourhood.

• Hillary Lutes is an inherently cheap vegetarian journalist-in-training at Carleton. She consumes copious amounts of coffee and chocolate to fuel her writing endeavors and public-transit trips across the city.

• Hollie Davies is the woman behind myjourney613.com, a blog dedicated to providing you with fun, ridiculous, crazy and inspiring things to do. A lover of earl grey tea and music, Hollie was born and raised in Ottawa. She hopes to inspire you to live a bigger and bolder life — and keeps a pretty impressive list of her own experiences, too.

• Jackie Irvine is a former Ottawa resident, publishing professional and book blogger.

• Jackson Lo is the founder and CEO of KayLo Marketing and an avid blogger. He is also an executive member and photographer at Begin 2 Believe, a not-for-profit organization that lives to build a stronger community in Ottawa.

• Jane Porter is a local sustainability practitioner. After a three year stint in Finland studying and working with sustainable startups, she’s jumped into the Ottawa scene face first to see what’s shaking, vibrant and green.

• Jasen Brousseau is an Environmental Studies student at Carleton University and founder of Lorgavore Tours (and the term Lorgavore). As a steward of the natural environment, he has long realized the importance of a healthy relationship between humans and nature. He believes the foundation of this relationship is our food.

• Jenna Farrell is a twenty-something PR girl who recently returned to Ottawa after two years in Toronto. She currently does freelance PR work for small businesses and startups. Jenna is also an avid blog reader/writer.

• Jeremy Milks is the writer/editor of the blog Black Aces which covers the Ottawa Senators on a day to day basis. He is also the author of a book of short stories, “A Sane Man vs. The Thing From The Woods.”

• Jessey is a writer, digital communications strategist, and the founder of Local Tourist Ottawa.

• Jessica Metuzals is an environmental science student at Queen’s university. The 19-year-old Ottawa native was awarded the Vimy Beaverbrook Prize — an essay-writing contest — four years ago, sending her to Europe for a summer study program.

• Jocelyn Wentland hails from British Columbia, but is calling Ottawa home while she completes her Phd in Psychology (specializing in sexuality) at the University of Ottawa. Jocelyn’s research interests include casual sexual relationships, female sexuality, mate selection, the ‘technologized’ dating script, erotic photography, sex education, and women’s health. When Jocelyn isn’t sex researching, blogging, or tweeting, she enjoys observing the mating rituals of Ottawa’s inhabitants.

• Joe Boughner is an Ottawa-based blogger and web consultant who has been known to attend a networking event or two in his day. When he’s not swimming mindlessly in the social media fishbowl, he can be found hanging out with his 11-month old daughter and his brilliant wife who, he admits, is way better at all of this social media stuff than he is.

• Joel Eastwood is entering his fourth year in journalism at Carleton University. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Joel escaped to Ottawa at the first opportunity and is trying his darndest to blend in with the locals. He curls in the winter, complains about the heat in the summer and procrastinates all year round.

• Johanna Read is a long time collector of advice on where to eat around the world, and has recently decided to start sharing it beyond her family and friends.

• Jordan Kent-Baas is the co-creator of Project: Priceless, a social media experiment with the goal of getting Jordan and her new husband Brian married on August 22, 2011, as free-of-charge as possible.

• Josée is an Ottawa engineer and mother of two who loves to find free and frugal activities and events happening in Ottawa. She puts her research to good use over at Frugal Fun Ottawa.

• Josh McJannett is a part-time local tourist with a full-time appetite for delicious food, authentic cuisine and a good story.

• Jordan Kent-Baas is the co-creator of Project: Priceless, a social media experiment with the goal of getting Jordan and her new husband Brian married on August 22, 2011, as free-of-charge as possible.

• Julie Hong and Katherine Forster volunteer with Transition Town Ottawa, a group helping to face the challenges of Peak Oil /Climate Change by encouraging practical solutions on a local scale and promoting local community resilience.

• Julie L.is a local blogger who likes to do fun stuff with her hubby and son “jellybean”… and if it’s on the cheap? Even better.

• Justin Van Leeuwen is an Ottawa-based event and portrait photographer who, in his spare time, takes pictures without people in them. Many of the images seen in his LTOttawa posts can be purchased as limited edition canvas prints through his website.

• Karen is a wife to Matt, mom to Brandon and works full time at an awesome social media job she doesn’t talk about online. She is the author of Karen’s Chronicles and co-founder of Losing it in Ottawa.

• Karina Bergmans is a local artist and fashion designer.

• Katherine Carter has lived in Ottawa for five years, and is the Community Relations Coordinator for the city’s Distress Centre. She is also the head of  the 2011 Festival of Chocolate.

• Kathryn Hunt is a displaced Maritimer who first arrived in Ottawa 15 years ago. A published poet and freelance writer, Kate blogs, performs and talks the city’s budding literary scene at every opportunity! She also enjoys cycling and rock-climbing in her spare time.

• Kathy Roussel was born in Riviere-Du-Loup, Quebec, but being raised by a military family fostered her moves across the country throughout her childhood. She eventually settled in North Bay, Ontario where her parents still reside, until her move to Ottawa in 2006. After studying for three years at Carleton University, Kathy enrolled at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, where she is currently in her second year of studies.

• Katrina Heer is a fourth-year journalism student at Carleton University. In her spare time she likes to watch movies, shop impulsively online, and snuggle into bed with the latest issue of InStyle and a cup of tea. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in fashion-journalism.  

• Kelly-Anne Maddox relocated to Ottawa from BC in 2010 and is busy being a mom to her one-year old daughter.

• Kelly Rusk is a former community manager turned consultant at Thornley Fallis in Ottawa. She spends much of her free time networking and seeking out Ottawa’s best local food offerings. She also blogs about marketing, public relations and community management at kellyrusk.ca.

• Krista Leben is the designer behind urbanite jewelry and a co-director of The Craft Co-Op, Ottawa’s source for all things craft in the capital. She’s also the producer of several indie craft shows around the city including this weekend’s alternative wedding show Wed By Hand.

• Lara Bender is the creator of Agritourism Ottawa, a blog that profiles wineries, orchards, gardens, farm tours, and other agricultural destinations within an hour’s drive of Ottawa. When she’s not hanging out on farms and driving Ottawa’s rural back roads, she’s a product marketing writer in the high-tech industry.

• Larra Skye is a singer/songwriter from Toronto.  She is a vegan, and lover of books and bicycles.  Her album of original music, The World Disappears, was named the #1 bestselling independent jazz album of 2006 by HMV Canada. She recently toured the Ottawa area.

• Lara Wellman is a wife, mother, and social media lover/freelancer. As co-founder of Kids in the Capital and Losing it in Ottawa, Lara loves to build online communities that translate into real life communities.

• Laura Allardyce is a cultural observer with an overactive imagination that is always insisting the glass is half full. She has lived in Ottawa her whole life and says she will only leave once she has smelled all the roses.

• Laura L. Benn is a published writer, photography enthusiast and animal lover. She is the founder/editor of PAWSH, a different breed of pet publication based in Ottawa that combines a deep love of words with a passion for artistic photography and a devotion to captivating design.

• Laura Nicol is an Ottawa native and an optimistic activist, realistically committed to leaving the world better than she found it. You can find her on Twitter at @311laura.

• Lenny Wu is a weekly radio host at CKCU-FM and blogs about the indie music scene, as well as a bit of food and silly things. He’s an avid Apple user (minus the iPhone as he doesn’t have one yet).  Lenny is also part of a local lion/dragon dance troupe.

• Lia Hiltz is a foreign service officer, mother, and wannabe artist who draws her fellow passengers on the bus ride to work. The she posts them on her blog Pictures from the bus, and other tales.

• Liz Bradley is a dog lover and photographer living in Ottawa with her partner in crime/husband, Thomas, and three dogs; Paddington, a Maltese/Yorkie mix; Corduroy, a Maltese/ShihTzu mix; and Wellington a Yorkie/ShihTzu mix. She loves dogs, candy, milk, tomato juice, grocery shopping, shoes, movies and DVDs, and most of all, her amazing hubby!

• Lydia Bociurkiw was born and raised in Ottawa. She works for a national television network and moonlights as a photographer and blogger of Ottawa Girl. She loves using big, bright colours in her photographs and creating whimsical images that make you smile.

• Malorie Bertrand is Editor-in-Chief of Eco-Fashion Magazine. Growing up in Aylmer, Quebec, Malorie left the Capital region as a child before moving back after university. In addition to her passion for green fashion, she loves staying active, cooking for friends and staying up-to-date on all of Ottawa’s fun happenings. 

• Marc-André Cossette has traveled extensively, but has so far always come back home. He is now preparing to present his photographs to the public for the very first time, along with three other local photographers.

• Marc Desjardins is an employee of the City of Ottawa/City Council, who has lived in Ottawa for 43 years. As the President of the Ottawa Flying Club, he leads a volunteer Board of an organization with 83 years of Ottawa aviation history.

• Melissa Dick recently became a city-dwelling Ottawan after growing up in the beautiful countryside of Gatineau, QC. She studies geography, works for a social justice organization, makes silkscreen prints for t-shirts, enjoys watching her garden grow and is on the continuous look out for the best rosemary-goat cheese croissant in town.

• Mel Gallant is a social media junkie using the Interweb to distract her from an incurable addiction to chocolate. A public relations program manager for an Ottawa-based high tech firm, Mel is an avid reader and a somewhat okay knitter. As co-founder of the Girl Geek Dinners Ottawa chapter, Mel loves sharing her passion for technology and gadgetry with others.

• Melodie Cardin has lived in the National Capital Region since 2000. A 2007 graduate of Carleton University’s school of journalism, she’s now the manager of communications for a small project assisting Canadian researchers to collaborate internationally.

• Michael Morreale, 22, moved to Ottawa in May 2011 and is a producer at CBC. He plans on staying in town as long as there are almond croissants in the market.

• Michelina Teti is a fourth-year journalism and gender studies student at Carleton University. Originally from Brampton, Ont, she’s a huge fan of a great yin yoga class, horrible television and hanging out with a pile of magazines in the traditional print form. She’s also Starbucks and agenda obsessed.

• Mike Matheson grew up in Ottawa and is the founder of iPricedit.com, a new website that lets you name the price for tickets to live entertainment.

• Mike Reynolds is an Ottawa born-and-raised husband,  father to one and soon to be second. He’s obsessed with making sure his daughter says ‘daddy and mommy’ and not ‘mommy and daddy’ and with finding junk he thinks will one day be considered an antique. He also blogs about his admitted cluelessness when it comes to raising a child.

• Mike Templeton is originally from a place in England you’ve probably never heard of.  But he now lives in Ottawa where, when away from his day job, he enjoys live music, good food, and most importantly, great beer.

• Mena G. is a fundraising consultant who moved to Ottawa in August 2010…and it all started because of a conversation in a British pub, with an old school friend and her Canadian husband.

• Margaux Carson is a fantastic chef, and the person behind Ottawa food blog Kitchen Graffiti.

• Mike Cullen is a young public servant who is also a regular contributor to (Cult)ure Magazine as a music editorialist. His passions include music, coffee, writing, travel and comic books.

• Nadine Thornhill is an award-winning playwright, actor and spoken word poet.  She honed her theatre skills amongst the freaks and geeks at the University of Waterloo.  Upon graduating, she moved to Canada’s capital where she has been living, loving and working ever since.   By day, she is the program coordinator for Planned Parenthood’s Insight Theatre. In her spare time, Nadine enjoys running, an occasional triathlon, and the antics of her husband and son.

• Nicola Maule is an event planner who is always trying to bring a bit more excitement to Ottawa.

• Noémie is a 25-year old woman from France, and a newcomer in Ottawa with a hunger to discover and share everything she learns about the city. When she is not looking for new foodie experiences, she is an online marketing and social media specialist.

• Olivia Johnston has been involved in the local arts scene for almost her whole life. A long-lasting involvement in the music community led her to another artistic passion: photography. Olivia is currently in her second year of the portfolio program at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa.

• Paul Couvrette is an Ottawa-born, award-winning photographer whose been practicing his craft for 35 years. Shooting everything from portraits of prime ministers to weddings to advertisements, his downtown Ottawa space, Couvrette Studio, is a hopping place. Named Canadian Photographer of the Year in 1994, Paul has shot more than 300 magazine covers, his work gracing the front of Time, Reader’s Digest and Ottawa Life.

• Pearl Pirie is a local arts enthusiast who arrived in Ottawa about 20 years ago for university. She blogs about the city’s literary events — in both word and image.  Her second full-length poetry collection is coming out this fall.

• Peter James is Twitter-obsessed sports fanatic, theatre-lover and journalist living in Ottawa.

• Regine Paquette and Katie Frappier  co-own Victoire Boutique, a women’s boutique specializing in Canadian design. The shops are celebrating five years in the business this Saturday with its biggest sale ever taking place at both shops during the day, and a big party in the evening at the Dalhousie location.

• Renée Rietveld is a lifetime Ottawan and current Sttitsvillian, who is a senior public servant by day, and a documentary filmmaker (and co-owner of On the Street Cinema) by night. Apart from her sometimes unhealthy obsession with the world of film, she also enjoys long distance running, traveling, photography, reading, and having a pint at Darcy McGee’s. But not all at the same time.

• Rusty Priske is the Slam Master at Capital Slam and has represented Ottawa on the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word a record four times. He is an unabashed Slam proselytizer.

• Ruvini Godakandae is a long-time Ottawa resident with a background in broadcast journalism and e-publishing. She loves to find ways to express herself and stay active, primarily through dance, photography and alternative fitness. You’ll often find her out and about discovering Ottawa’s many hidden gems and meeting some interesting and talented folks along the way. Some of her other passions include food, fashion and community involvement.

• Sean McConnery is a photographer and outdoors nut. Born and raised in Ottawa, he now lives in Thurso, Quebec.

• Samantha Everts  is a writer, freelance journalist, event promoter and music lover. She’s also the driving force between the Ottawa Rock Lottery, a music-focused charity event that’s now the subject of a documentary that’s part of the Ottawa International Film Festival‘s ongoing Spotlight Series.

• Samantha Moonsammy is the Creative Director of STARFISH creative events + inspiration.

• Sarah McPherson originally hales from the Niagara region and ventured to Ottawa to pursue museum studies. She now works in the education department at the Canadian Museum of Nature and loves every minute of it. Although she loves working with kids, she’s eager to develop programs that are geared towards a bit of an older audience, and hopefully shed the myth that this museum is only for children.

• Sarah Ormon is crazy for great ideas, meeting new people, and helping others find new and fulfilling experiences. Her passion is in communications and she thrives on finding innovative ways to share, collaborate and explore how individuals, organizations and communities interact. She is a product marketing specialist for InGenius Software by day and the lead organizer for TEDxOttawaby night!

• Sara Rose is a Carleton University student and the Fund Development and Event Coordinator for the Ottawa Independent Living Resource Centre. She’s been in living in Ottawa for the past 16 years. Her favourite part of the city is going to all the festivals, especially Bluesfest.

• Sarah V. has lived all over the world and (lucky us) she has been settled in the nation’s capital for a little over a year now.

• Scott Florence is a “Big Fool” — that is the artistic director of the local theatre group Company of Fools, which is Ottawa’s only independent professional Shakespeare company.  Established in 1990, the Fools have become a mainstay on Ottawa’s arts scene with their annual productions at the NAC and around the city’s many parks each year by providing “innovative, entertaining and accessible shows.”

• Shayla Brunet was born and raised in sleepy town North Bay, ON, and moved to Ottawa in 2008. She is a Journalism graduate and a third–year Mass Communications student at Carleton University. She is part of ‘Grounds for Break-Up’ and is an avid poetry reader/writer.

• Shelly Lyonnais is a local elementary school teacher who has been living in Ottawa on and off for 20 years.  She spends her weekends in search of Ottawa’s great date night dinner locations.

• Siu Hong Yu is a scientist working at the National Research Council. Outside the lab he tries to stay out of trouble with live music, food outings, photography, gallery visits, running, hiking, good reads and cinema.

• Stephanie Brooks is an Ottawa journalism student. Originally from “the country,” she is now discovering the places and faces of her new Westboro hometown.

• Steve Benson has 11 years in the hospitality industry, and has filled almost every role behind the bar. A passionate mixologist, he has also been an instructor at Algonquin College in Ottawa for over seven years.  He was previously a competitive flair bartender, with over 20 competitions to his credit.  Steve also co-created and maintains the seasonal cocktail menu at Play Food and Wine, and has been a regular guest on /A| News, Rogers and CTV.

• Stu Schwartz can be heard weekday mornings on Majic 100 FM with Angie Poirier and is the PA announcer for the Ottawa Senators. Stu is also a proud Barrhavenite!

• Thea is an avid fitness enthusiast, who spends her free time trying out new ways to sweat around the Ottawa area. You can usually find her on a yoga mat, or running  along the canal. She likes to say her favourite way to sweat is the “pre-sweat” before class – aka the dash to class to make sure she makes it on time. She loves plants and knows all the names of her OPI nail polish collection.

• Thomas Lynn is a proud father of three young sons, and can be found exploring the region looking for that next ‘special adventure’. Using his blog and twitter feed to share his stories, as well as topics that are affecting his boys, Thomas is currently building his ‘daddy blogger’ reputation.

• Travis Boisvenue is a king of communications: A writer, blogger,radio host, photographer and producer of videos. He’s also a regular contributor to MediaStyle and Open File Ottawa. Now, he’s made a very cool, eight-minute documentary on the family success story that is Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Co.

• Vanessa Wen is a born and raised Ottawan who loves finding all things small town, big city and internationally flavoured, in the capital.

• Vera Saltzman spent most of her life pursuing a career in human resources in both the public and private sectors.   After moving to Ottawa, her self-portraiture work led her to a crossroads in her life. She is currently a full time student at the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO).

• Vicky Smallman is a blogger, mom and “shameless communtiy activist.” You can find her on Twitter @offhandremarks.

• Younes Bounhar and Amanda Large eat, sleep and breathe photography. As a creative tandem, they are constantly on the lookout for the next inspiring photo project. Younes has called Ottawa home since 2004 while Amanda is a more recent arrival to the city. In their spare time they like to teach photography (Younes) play ukuele (Amanda) and both try new restaurants and play soccer. 

• Yuko Inoue came to Ottawa from Japan one year ago to study at Carleton University. After a summer serving as photo editor of The Charlatan, Carleton’s student newspaper, she’s now starting her second year of journalism. In her spare time, Yuko likes art, live music and exploring the city’s food scene.