Especially in pandemic times, we need to hear about good people doing great things. Thank goodness for Avenue magazine's annual Top 40 under 40 issue. I got to chat with a few of this year's good peeps. Check them out:
Plastic-Free YYC founders, Isabelle Couture and Briana Loughlin
Real estate investment guru, Jason Jogia
Neil Gruninger, developer of one of the safest video-streaming platforms in the world for kids
One thing I didn't expect to have happen with COVID-19 was the eruption of protests after the death of George Floyd. Though, in hindsight, it was not surprising with the tensions bubbling for decades and near boiling for the past four years. The amount of pain and trauma bursting forward was gut wrenching, to say the least.
The pandemic spurred a lot of reflection as people were forced to sit tight, often alone, with their thoughts. As a BIPOC, racism has never been far from my mind. But the protests suddenly brought it to the forefront of many minds, and the conversations about it were often far from pleasant as even people very close to me revealed just how deep systemic racism runs.
It's so complex, and we have much work ahead, but I hope this piece I wrote for The Sprawl helps move the conversation forward.
