Carolyn Van . com
A late 20s entrepreneur born, raised and currently living in Toronto, ON. Canada.
Carolyn is formally educated in and has had her hand on managing businesses, marketing strategy and digital communications.
Carolyn is passionate about business, leadership, marketing, education, social media, economics, technology, data, food, dance, smart design, culture and life.
Where Carolyn Van is currently making her mark:
Head Shark|Founder|Partner, thirdocean
Program Advisor, Sheridan College Business Program
Director & Mentor, Driven Accelerator Group
Mentor and Advisor to various tech startups in Toronto, ON.
Captain, Venus Ventures (new initiative)
my professional snapshot - exploring business beneath the surface
- one hundred forty characters
- thoughts on female leadership
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Info
- Entrepreneur | Advisor | Mentor | Digital Marketer | StrategistMarketing and Advertising | Toronto, Canada Area, CASummary
Carolyn has both startup and corporate experience and is known by her colleagues for her "cut-the-fat" communication style, fostering professional development in others, collaborative and purposeful strategic thinking, meticulous planning and detail, getting to the root cause/challenges, wiggling her way towards hard objectives - and getting things done.
Her marketing experience include creative idea generation, managing account teams, program execution and management, post execution reporting and analysis, experiential and influencer driven programs, the youth and generation Y demographic and communication strategies.
Having always been an early adopter of technologies and Web 2.0 tools and platforms, Carolyn has been weaving social media in to marketing programs well before brand pages, self service ads, share functions - and the array of interactive features we see now were ever introduced. She has lead up the successful development and execution of digital communications, social media marketing and experiential marketing programs for brands including Scotiabank, Rogers Wireless and Drake International.
Carolyn has also trained and educated many business owners, startups, recruiters, sales people and marketers on how to leverage digital communications and media tools to achieve their business goals.
Carolyn is passionate about startups, education, smart design, technology, leadership, innovation, management and the power of strong communities.
Specialties & Strengths:
•"Out of the Box" idea generation and formulating purpose-driven strategies
•Oral and written communication, research and analytical skills
•Professional speaking and exemplary training skills
•Marketing strategy and Digital Communications
•Adept at multi-tasking
•Account and Project Management
•Social Technology and Media
•Communication and Engagement Strategies
•Youth and Post Secondary Marketing Strategies; 18-24 demographic,
•Content StrategyExperience- Nov 2012 - PresentFirestarter / Venus Ventures
Details coming soon.
http://venusventures.org - May 2012 - PresentDirector and Mentor to Technology Startup teams / Driven Accelerator Group
A mentorship driven start-up accelerator group for startups that is designed to provide training, support and resources to under-represented minorities in digital technology.
STRATEGY, MENTORSHIP AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
•Reviewing and selecting applicants for the Driven program
•Advising Founder, Melissa Tamar on the development of Driven Accelerator Group. This includes helping her craft the value proposition, preparing her for "The Pitch" presentation, operations planning and recommending and introducing her to strategic partners.
•Creating and Delivering hands-on workshops to the technology start-up teams on Developing Value Proposition and Marketing Communications.
•Conduct status meetings with the tech startup teams - Mar 2011 - PresentAdvisor for Advertising and Business Program / Sheridan
Sheridan attracts students from across Canada and around the world, and is nationally and internationally recognized for excellence in business, digital media and communications, performing arts, visual arts and design, applied computing and telecommunications, engineering and manufacturing sciences, and community service studies.
ADVISORY
Advising in shaping the Advertising and Marketing Program at Sheridan's Business School. Responsibilities include ensuring that overall curriculums, materials covered in the program and opportunities offered to students speak to current and forecasted movements in media, marketing and technologies. - Nov 2010 - PresentHead Shark | Partner | Founder / thirdocean
As Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Carolyn spearheads and contributes to various business areas:
STRATEGY & OPERATIONS
•Develop business strategy, value proposition, direction, revenue model, sales strategy, organizational development, processes and policies.
•Provide overall direction, consultation and coaching on Process Management, Work Flow Management and Business Development.BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
•Develop prospect lists of potential new customers utilizing lead sources and research plans.
•Solicits information to understand our customer’s decision making process. Anticipate and preempt stakeholder objections to bring the customer to favorable outcomes.
•Present renewal contracts for customer approval on a timely basis ensuring that customer business needs are met while concurrently representing the best interests of thirdocean.
•Create innovative solutions that address the customer’s current needs and break down the obstacles as they present themselves.MARKETING STRATEGY AND EXECUTION
• Lead design and content for thirdocean.com and other online properties
• Identify, Source and Secure strategic partners including media, agencies and conferences.CLIENT SERVICES
•Interact directly with clients on a regular basis
•Maintain current knowledge of economic and industry factors, and company’s business marketing, sales, and pricing programs developed centrally for field implementation.
•Educate clients on industry trends and best practices.PROJECT MANAGEMENT
•Oversee management of projects to completion and ensure that they are in compliance with the specifics detailed in the proposed solutions
•Manage timelines with the team as well as with clients to ensure that they adhere to scheduled deadlinesINTERNAL DEVELOPMENT & LEADING TEAMS
• Prospect new thirdocean talent
• Develop and execute team on-boarding process and training programs
• Facilitate and lead brainstorming exercises - Nov 2010 - PresentFounder | Partner / XConnectTO
www.xconnectto.com
XConnect is a thirdocean project that is designed to explore how the relationship between a specific industry (X) has been and is being affected by technology. XConnect aims to contribute and support the tech space and our overall economy by bringing together industry executives and influential consumers to build awareness and encourage positive change.
As Co-Founder my role consists of setting the foundation and building the structure of the XConnect model, XConnect Series and Program planning and execution, constantly being on the cusp of innovation and game changing movements in various industries.
- Dec 2011 - Feb 2012Co-organizer of Canada's First Lean Startup Machine / Lean Startup Machine
I was approached to join the organizing team for Lean Startup Machine Toronto at a moment when cancelling the conference/project was being considered due to low registration numbers and sponsorship. This event ended up being the largest Lean Startup Machine conference globally.
MARKETING STRATEGY AND EXECUTION
•Developed partnership program that would increase exposure, reach, awareness and interest for LSM Toronto
•Strategically identified, sourced and secured influential partners and sponsors that consisted of relevant media and monetary contributors including CFC Media, Venture Deli and Bento Box + Miso.
•Established and built relationships with influential members of the startup and technology community to amplify word of mouth reach.MENTORSHIP
• Mentored and walked teams through applying lean methodology with customer development - Jan 2009 - Oct 2010Marketing / Drake International
My mission at Drake was to provide a fresh approach to the company's marketing strategy. Introducing, selling through and implementing non traditional methodologies/approaches to marketing, recruitment and business development. I reported to and collaborated with the Vice President, Marketing. My knowledge of marketing, advertising and communications equipped me with the ability to work with the branch network and the solutions sales team to create and support strategic marketing plans designed to drive net revenue within our talent management solutions businesses while enhancing the brand.
•Develop and implement marketing campaigns to attract and retain clients (B2B) and candidates (B2C)
•Manage accounts and business relationships with advertising/media agencies and suppliers
•Create print and online advertising for client and candidate focused campaigns
•Streamline event marketing process, logistics and operations
•Develop advertising copy for various client and candidate campaigns (magazine, newspaper, direct mail, email, online)
•Plan and execute events in various geographic markets designed to attract leads/prospects
•Understand industry trends and identify opportunities to increase competitive advantage and market share
•Penetrate new markets to attract the younger Generation Y demographic.
•Train and educate sales teams and recruiters on how to use Social Media to market and increase productivity in their business efforts via a weekly publication – Social Tech Tuesday
•Create and manage a Facebook presence, generating a recorded $27,600+ in Net Revenue within a few months. - Apr 2010 - Jun 2010Lead for SportsConnectTO - an XConnect project / XConnect
www.sportsconnectto.com
#scto•Create and manage master work back schedule
•Ensure department goals and timelines were met
•Orchestrate program on execution day
•Manage program operations and logistics
•Create and maintain program metrics and post program evaluation
•Create and maintain relationships with key program partners
•Currently developing XConnectTO’s brand and long term corporate strategy and structure - Sept 2006 - Jun 2008Account Supervisor, Senior Level Executive / Kognitive Marketing
Kognitive Marketing is an ad agency that develops marketing strategies for brands and products looking to specifically target the 18 to 24 post-secondary demographic, an extremely lucrative market.
Apart from Supervising accounts and account teams, I was heavily involved with the development, growth and sustainability of KM. This included developing and executing business development and company strategy, market and competitive research, employee training, expansion efforts, copy writing, and creating marketing programs for our clients.
ACCOUNT SUPERVISION
•Develop extensive and frequent written and verbal client program reports
•Oversee the organization of 8 experiential events per month
•Ensure that all requirements are met for each event from organization to execution
•Train promotion teams for all events
•Content writing for promotional material
•Create and implement project management documents and procedures for account team to use
•Identify and obtain resources needed for successful execution
•Supervise the successful deployment of the account
•Manage day-to-day operational/administrative aspects of the account
•Manage promotional items inventory
•Ensure that all tasks and goals are met and are executed within the time allotted
•Manage and coordinate employees to achieve goals
•Manage account teamRegional Manager
•Assisted in the organization and execution of a 2500+ experiential marketing event
•Organize and oversee marketing campaigns
•Consult with external organizations to develop marketing strategies while meeting all parties’ needs and objectives
•Sign up and manage student based organizations for experiential marketing events
•Assisted and consulted with student organizations with marketing strategies and campaigns - 2006 - 2007Board of Director, School of Business Management / Ryerson Commerce Society
•Represent one of four schools under Ryerson University Commerce
•Encourage cohesiveness amongst students under the School of Business Management as well as across all 4 schools under Commerce
•Create and maintain relationships with Business Management course unions
•Assist in maintaining and further developing the Ryerson School of Business brand and reputation amongst the Business community across the GTA.
Represent one of four schools under Ryerson University Commerce
•Encourage cohesiveness amongst students under the School of Business Management as well as across all 4 schools under Commerce
•Create and maintain relationships with Business Management course unions
•Assist in maintaining and further developing the Ryerson School of Business brand and reputation amongst the Business community across the GTA. - Jan 2006 - Sept 2006Senior Researcher / Adbase Inc.
•Communicate with North American agencies, corporations, and media companies on a daily basis
•Responsible for keeping the database up to date to maintain its 99% accuracy guarantee. - 2006 - 2006VP Project Development / SIFE Ryerson
•Train ACE/SIFE Ryerson members on the fundamental skills of a successful project manager
•Encourage leadership, and an entrepreneurial culture amongst project managers
•Motivate, encourage, and manage a team of project managers
•Create a training manual and project management documentation
•Educate project managers on all necessary components of ACE/SIFE projects, such as promoting entrepreneurship and market economics.
•Ensuring that all projects meet ACE Canada’s values and principles
•Presented at the National ACE Exposition
Education- Ryerson UniversityB.Commerce in Marketing
Activities: Business Students Association (BSA), Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE), Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Ryerson Commerce Society (RCS)
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Interests:All things media, communication, marketing and advertising, culture, and business strategy.
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Posts
- Apr 15, 13
I am loving today’s Google Doodle. In celebration of Leonhard Euler’s would be 306th birthday, the Google team created this interactive Doodle. Check it out before it’s the day after his birthday!
Euler (As in, of the Euler Equation) is known as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Learn more about the Swiss-born Mathematical genius here.
Filed under: Social Media - Apr 13, 13
I’m looking to connect with as many Video Game Designers who use paper prototyping in their conceptualization process. I’d love to pick your brain on something I’m working on.
Also, do you know what this is (see below)? Go ahead and guess! I’m testing out a new logo/icon.
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Process Tagged: Design, Paper Prototyping, Video Games - Apr 13, 13
50 Coffee Meetings: Zan Chandler
I first met Zan through work I do with CFC Media Lab‘s IdeaBOOST program. We got along fairly quickly and since then our conversations always include rants and discussions around Strategic Foresights, Futurism, Food and Dance.
As one of the first fleet of Alumni from OCAD’s Strategic Foresights Program – she has been able to provide me very useful insights in to the practice and the program. Zan has experience in policy and foresight research experience and is currently working on some interesting projects with OCAD as a Foresight Researcher.
Thanks, Zan. Looking forward to many more future coffee dates – and perhaps one day collaborating with one another.
Filed under: 50 Coffee Meetings, Strategic Foresight - Mar 25, 13
…and until we no longer are drowning in this pool of bullshit – I will continue to do so.
What are you doing about it?
Filed under: Leadership Tagged: Feminism, Women In Leadership - Mar 18, 13
Before you check when the article was published, yes it was in the 21st Century. October 9th, 2010 to be exact. If you haven’t read it as of yet, here it is.
Thank you to my friend Elena Yunusov who brought this article to my attention early this afternoon.
While admittedly, it put a little bit of a damper on my day – it gave me the opportunity to feel even stronger than I already do about Leadership, Women in Leadership and Women Founders and to also share the article with my network. I know of heap loads of women and men who have very strong opinions on this – from all sorts of angles. Click on the image below – and then on the “Shares” to view some insights from those in my Facebook network.
First off I’d like to say that I used to admire Penelope Trunk. In fact, I remember considering going to a conference a while back because she was a keynote speaker. I don’t know what happened to you, Penelope but I’m sure I’m not the only one who suspects that you may have tripped over everything that we loved you for and fallen in to a time machine. So sorry to hear. Apparently, all it took was for you to meet the love of your life and to have children. While I do not have children of my own, I do have this to say: I sincerely hope that when I do, I do not have the desire to produce a post as irresponsibly titled as “Women Don’t Want To Do Startups. They Want Children”
“WOMEN DON’T WANT TO DO STARTUPS. THEY WANT CHILDREN” – THE TITLE
I wonder if the title was created by Penelope’s PR rep. As soon as I saw it, I immediately thought “Great. Another cheap and low attempt to attract some attention and traffic”. As a marketer – I take these things like a grain of salt. While I do not agree with misleading titles, tags and link-bait (I find it irresponsible and dirty) – I know that it is done all the time in the journalism and communications world. While, I was very reluctant to read beyond the title I took a deep breath, moved any sharp and heavy objects away from me, and just dove on in. I figured at most, this piece would allow me to learn more about people in general. Even those whom I do not see eye to eye with.
AND THEN THE ENDLESS RANT OF OUTLANDISH STATEMENTS
Where do I even begin?
“So I had a going away party. To say goodbye, but also to acknowledge that I am officially not crazy enough to spend another year missing out on being with my kids.”
As if spending time with children while running the ship at a startup are for for insane folks. Women (and men) need to stop feeling guilty for being parents while also investing in their professional careers. I’m not sure how exactly Penelope announced this to her team, but I feel like if I had announced to my team “I’m leaving because I’m not crazy enough to spend another year here with you to miss out on being with my kids” that it could quite possibly send out a negative and low morale-like message. What kind of an example would I be setting for everyone (both men and women) on my team?
“Startups move at break-neck pace, under a lot of pressure to succeed bigger and faster than any normal company….”
Something I 100% agree with! Yipee.
“…And women don’t want to give up their personal life in exchange for the chance to be the next Google. Or even the next Feedburner…”
Way to ruin it. What makes Penelope think that men feel differently about not giving up their personal life in exchange for being successful? Quite frankly, I don’t think anyone would want to give up their personal lives and well-being in exchange to be the next Google. To think that men would is one massive false assumption. It’s about individual priorities and what one categorizes as “compromises” and “their personal life”. To each their own.
“…Which is why the number of women who pitch is so small, and, therefore, the number of women who get funding is small.”
This is just an absurd correlation. Really? Does Penelope really think that it’s as simple as that? Just like that, right? There’s a serious need for some systemic thinking here.
“Women are under real pressure to have kids, though. They have a biological clock. So women who are the typical age of entrepreneurs”?25″?need to be looking for someone to mate with. Think about it. If you want to have kids before you’re 35″?when your biological clock explodes”?then you need to start when you’re 30, allowing for one miscarriage, which is more probable than most young people think. If you need to start having kids when you’re 30, you probably need to meet the guy you’re going to marry by the time you’re 27, so you can date for a year, get married, and live together for a year before kids. If you need to meet that guy by 27, you are very distracted during your prime startup time.”
Lovely. The B-word. Although, I have to say that by the time I reached this part of the article – I pretty much expected her to bring it up. Let’s think about where the pressure to have children comes from. Guess what? It’s articles like this along with statements like “By the age of 25…blah blah blah” that contribute to having women feel they should be pressured to have kids. Also, it’s people who want to have children – not just women. While it may be ignorant to dismiss and ignore the biological clock point, I want to point out that it is both men and women who have a “biological clock”.
“And I’m not even going to go into the idea of women having a startup with young kids. It is absolutely untenable. The women I know who do this have lost their companies or their marriages or both. And there is no woman running a startup with young kids, who, behind closed doors, would recommend this life to anyone.”
Really? Untenable? Are you sure, Penelope? A part of me feels bad for you – at the possibility that you may not have a great support network. I know some great fellow women Startup Founders – who are also phenomenal mothers. I should introduce you all to one another. Although, some of them may just put you through the ringer based on this absurd article.
“For men it’s different. We all know that men do not search all over town finding the perfect ballet teacher.”
A false assumption. I know men who are looking to be mentored by top notch ballet instructors – as do I know men who are searching for a great gym, the perfect car, their first home for their family, a great carseat for their toddler, etc.
“Did you know that in Farmville, women make colorful, fun farms, and men make big, sprawling farms? And I don’t think it’s a social pressure sort of thing. My sons are under no pressure from me to beat each other up with anything that they can turn into a sword, which is everything. And the girls who visit are under no social pressure to sit quietly, and watch. Boys and girls are fundamentally different even before they get to Farmville.”
Sure, boys and girls are fundamentally different before they get to Farmville and any other games. I agree with this point. However, if children are not getting pressured from their own parents (directly – at least) it’s crazy to actually think that interactions between parents and their children are the only factor. Ask yourself this question: What type of toys showed up at your child’s baby shower? What did you purchase as a gift for the last baby shower you attended? That’s right, baby showers. Even before a child is born, we are putting them in buckets and educating them on gender roles.
“Women want to control their time, control their work, to be flexible for their kids.”
“And all men do is work. They are too busy bringing home the bacon that they don’t have time for their kids” – or something like that, right?
“My startup is me and a bunch of twenty-something guys. And if you’re a woman launching a startup, my advice is to stick with this crowd. They never stop working because it’s so exciting to them: the learning curve is high, they can move anywhere, they can live on nothing, and they can keep wacky hours.”
Men also develop the need to invest in their personal lives. Trust me, I work around MANY of this type of male breed that Penelope speaks of – but even I would not generalize men in their 20-somethings like this – as I find it intolerable when people make generalizations about me and the “profile” I fall in to.
My main issue with this piece is that there are endless amounts of assumptions, generalizations, statements and just idiotic comments that further perpetuate gender role stereotypes. I have the utmost respect for those who choose to have children and take a step back from their careers, those who decide not to have children and focus on their careers, those who have children and focus on their career simultaneously. To be honest, I couldn’t care less what route people take. To each their own. It’s all about CHOICE. Commit to them, do a great job in the roles you sign up for – and do not make generalizations based on your own life situations and experiences. Nobody twists your arm to do or be anything you don’t want to be.
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, startup - Mar 17, 13
A few weeks ago, I was referred from Yulia (whom also recently randomly reached out to me to meet a few weeks ago) to a woman, Elena who wanted to speak to someone who has founded a startup.
Throughout our coffee I had asked her about who she was looking to speak to and what she was looking to accomplish with these coffee dates – and she told me about the 50 coffees meetings mission that she was on. I made a couple of recommendations for her mission and after our discussion, I decided to do the 50 Coffees Meetings Challenge myself. Thanks for the inspiration, Elena. Since I was your coffee #9, you will be my coffee #9. See you soon.
Below are topics that I’ve been learning more about as of late. I’ve had some excellent conversations around them – and have made some valuable connections with those who are contributing to the respectable areas.
Strategic Foresights and Innovation
My hope for the future is that humanity, infrastructures, and social structures will evolve fast enough to take advantage of the technological capabilities and innovation that we ourselves have created. I’m looking to learn more about strategic foresights, innovation and design thinking – and identify some opportunities in the area. I’ve learned enough to know that there are some things that frustrate me about this movement of creating the next breed of thinkers and am looking to get to know some potential future collaborators to try and address them.
Women Leading Technology Ventures
I’ve always been the only (or one of the few) women on senior level teams - and have so far been the more technical one on teams. From mentoring and advising tech startups and some of our future entrepreneurs and organizing some of Toronto’s startup events – the big pink elephant in the room question is “Where are all the women leading these technology-driven ventures?” I’m looking to connect with those who currently are or aspiring to lead their own ventures specifically in the S.T.E.M. areas. I want to further understand pain points that exist – and perhaps collaborate with you on creating something awesome.
Venture Capital
Working around startups means that I have the opportunity to understand and witness some of the obstacles and challenges that capital hungry startups face. I’ve also gotten to know a handful of people on the other side of the fence – the funders – VCs, Angels, Governments – who are looking to contribute to the private sector. While I’m starting to understand some of the challenges that those on the funder side face, I’d like to speak to more of those who have experience in investing or funding Canadian startups and those who are actively looking to build their portfolios. I’m looking to see if there is an opportunity to whittle down the gap between Funders and Founders.
Let’s Coffee!If you can speak to any of the areas above, I’d love to have coffee with you. Over the past month and a bit, I’ve already spoken to a few and will be sure to take the time to mention some of them here.
Filed under: 50 Coffee Meetings - Dec 13, 12
We, humans strive to be more productive, energetic and robotic while technologies are striving to become more human. They will (and are) intersecting – and it’s exciting.
It’s no longer just about technological evolution – it’s human evolution.
Filed under: Social Media - Oct 29, 12
I often get these types of questions whenever I’m mentoring or leading a team of Marketing Communications folks – specifically those leading Social Media Community Management.
Q: But they are engaged! As long as the audience is engaged, that’s all the matters right?
My Answer: You’re right. Audience engagement is key. But is it all that matters? NO. It’s only ONE piece of the puzzle.Q: This is content that the Facebook Community should know, right? Why isn’t engagement happening?
My Answer: Do you feel that it is written the most effectively for Facebook?Q: But I’m sharing all of the important/key information!
My Answer: Absolutely. You are certainly sharing important/key info that the client often needs their customers to know – but is that all customers care about? Do they care? How do you know?Q: Why isn’t the community talking back to me?
My Answer: Do they care about what you have to say? How did you decide what to talk about and how? Are you speaking to them in a way that they relate to? What’s in it for them to engage back with you?In short, here are 3 things one MUST factor in with each and every published piece of content – and when developing content strategy. Questions like those listed above could be answered with a full understanding of the below:
1) The Client/Brand
Who is your client? What role do they play in their industry? How do they want to be perceived? What are their business goals? What are their communications goals? What is it’s brand positioning?2) The Audience
Who are they? How do they like being spoken to? How do they connect with others? When are they social online? What do they care about? What makes them itch? Who do they admire? Who and where do they go to for advice? Where are they?3) The Channel
What is the channel’s strengths and weaknesses? When is it best to use that channel? Who is on it? What are the content publishing best practices for that specific channel? How do people tend to show that they are interested in you on that specific channel?
Filed under: Communications, Marketing, Social Media - Oct 16, 12
My company, thirdocean is part of this statistic. More than half of SME’s have fewer than 4 employees.
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, startup - Oct 04, 12
If you haven’t heard the news, you may be living under a rock.
I remember receiving the news when Facebook reached 500, 000 users – and it was a really big deal. Especially because at the time I was part of running a startup where we were integrating the power of Facebook (before brand pages, self service ads, share functions – and the array of interactive features we see now were introduced) with experiential marketing programs we were doing for large brands such as Rogers Wireless. 500, 000 was a strong piece of data to include in our pitch decks back in the day.
Today, marks the day Facebook reached 1, 000, 000, 000 users. A HUGE congrats Facebook – but too bad your advertisement… sucks.
“Chairs are like Facebook. Doorbells, Airplanes, Bridges” Good one, Facebook. *Slow clap*
To be fair, I think the concept is there (and it’s a good one) but what’s an excellent concept when it’s paired with poor execution? A message that is lost – and leaves people responding with a “Whaaaa?” That’s what it is. If you haven’t seen this ad, what are your thoughts on it? My prediction: We’re bound to see a bunch of spoof ads pop up in our social feeds.
Filed under: Social Media Tagged: Facebook, social media
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Tweets
- RT @Venus_Ventures: Current Women Engineering, Mathmatics, Science, Tech students: Where do you see yourself post/grad? What about 10 yrs f…
- Celebratory drinks with Winston!!! (at Duke of Westminster) — http://t.co/rAyuC801fO
- RT @PSFK: Sears to convert defunct department stores into data centers: http://t.co/s3DCibEvO0 via @archinect
- RT @wearethirdocean: [STATS] 47% of young people aged 18 - 32 years old say that they text and tweet while they eat! http://t.co/RTwEV0Y8lC
- If you have not had the chance to play around w/ #GoogleGlass, visit my friends at @bnotions: http://t.co/ZMYJf6PJCE #GoogleGlassTO
- A great start to my day. Catching up (with Zan at @wearethirdocean) — http://t.co/8EK2chr5tA
- It's so cold out now! When did this happen? #ColdLegs [pic] — http://t.co/IWNM45Sc2p
- RT @wearethirdocean: If you 1) Are a foodie and 2) Have kick-ass research and writing skills - listen up! http://t.co/eQ6QGCOceh #internship
- Me. All the time. RT @karimkanji Who uses social media to spy on their competition? | http://t.co/ET7s9NFdqS #socialmedia
- THIS -> RT @mashable LIVE: Chris Hadfield and Fellow Astronauts on Google Hangout http://t.co/vLmt1GJF6w #Space
- Playing around w/ the @velomhealth patient to doctor experience. #vdoctor #mHealth #client #demo [pic] — http://t.co/gQHUoPQanR
- RT @fptechdesk: Samsung Galaxy S4 sells 10 million units in half the time of S3 http://t.co/FlR15TMPqQ #cdntech
- RT @wearethirdocean: INFOGRAPHIC: Are Social Sites and Food the perfect pairing? http://t.co/uSX4RkOyjb
- Sushi, Books, Star Trek. #DateNight :) (at Chapters) — http://t.co/AfEwGgg3wR
- RT @MAKERSwomen: Wow! Our own MAKERS make up 10% of @forbes most powerful women in the world list! http://t.co/PS83et9nGP #powerwomen
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Posts
A woman knows her limits. A wise woman knows she has none.
I’m not so sure who this is from. Apparently Marilyn Monroe? Regardless of who originally coined this quote - I like it.- [INFOGRAPHIC] Investing in Women
Check out this great Infographic created by Pemo Theodore from EZebis and Piktochart on Investing in Women.
Unfortunately, this is based off of U.S. stats - but it is useful and interesting nonetheless.
I had the opportunity to chat with Pemo about the VC space and Females in Leadership roles here in Canada. More on that later.
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Carolyn Van
- Sheryl Sandberg, the First Woman On Facebook's Board Of Directors
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s four-year chief operating officer, has a new position — and one many people thought she should have gotten long ago. She’s now the first woman on the company’s board of directors.
Check out the TechCrunch article here.
- Superwoman = Mother + Startup Founder
As much as we’d really like to think that men and women are on equal grounds as it relates to their professional lives - we are far from it.
I stumbled upon this great article on how to juggle being a mother and a startup founder - give it a read). While I am no where close to ready to having a child, I’ll admit that the thought of how to do so has definitely crossed my mind. None of my those around me are able to relate because they are primarily all men. It’s a good thing we have a mother in this #PowerUp group!
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Carolyn Van
- The League of Extraordinary Women
Fast Company profiled 60 Extraordinary Women and their organizations who are influencing the world. The list includes Rachel Sklar of Change the Ratio and TheLi.st, Carol Everson of Facebook Women and Nancy Lublin of DoSomething.org. A great list!
Our question to you: Who do you think is missing from this list? If you could add any Canadian’s to this League of Extraordinary Women, who would they be and why?
- Can you have it all?
In our Session #9 (2 weeks ago), we briefly discussed how to weave in other values and initiatives that are peak our interests in to our core businesses - IF it’s possible, how to go about it, if this is even realistic, etc. The conversation initially stemmed from discussing how to increase revenues at our respective organizations. One of us brought up the fact that opportunities and new venture ideas come her way from time to time - of which may not be completely in-line with her company’s core services.
Today, Jennie shared a great post from Fast Company, You can do anything - but not everything - that touches on some of what was discussed at Session #9, specifically around aligning personal values with professional ones.
Please give it a read. We’d love to know where you stand with this - and also on this bit from the article:
Interviewer: So a big part of setting priorities is being clear about your values?
Allen: Be careful. That’s a very popular notion these days: If you focus on your values, then you’ll improve the “balance” between your business and personal lives. Give me a break. Focusing on your values may provide you with meaning, but it won’t simplify things. You’ll just discover even more stuff that’s important to you.
We suffer the stress of infinite opportunity: There are so many things that we could do, and all we see are people who seem to be performing at star quality. It’s very hard not to try to be like them. The problem is, if you get wrapped up in that game, you’ll get eaten alive. You can do anything — but not everything. The universe is full of creative projects that are waiting to be done. So, if you really care about quality of life, if you want to relax, then don’t focus on values. Just control your aspirations. That will simplify things. Learning to set boundaries is incredibly difficult for most people.
- Stop apologizing
Leadership is a really broad topic and it is part of every discussion we have at our meet ups. It is something that is practiced in the way that one conducts themselves in various settings and situations. In our session #8, one of the items we touched upon which affect female leadership is being apologetic.
Many studies have shown that women apologize more than men do. This is not to say that men are reluctant to admit their wrongdoings, it’s just that men and women may have different thresholds for what warrants reparation. Women may have a lower threshold for what requires an apology because we are typically better in-tune and consider the emotional experiences of others. Professionalism and leadership is important for both men and women - and it involves knowing when to and when not to apologize.
Some of us had read Amber Mac’s Fast Company article, 3 things professional women should stop apologizing for (make sure you give a read) - and so we wanted to flush out some of the points she made - as well as some additional ones we came up with - and relate it to our own experiences.
YOUR APPEARANCE
Let’s be honest: On average it takes women longer to be boardroom, camera and pitch ready than it does for men. It goes well beyond picking out and ironing a shirt, selecting a tie, shaving, applying aftershave balm, deodorant, hair wax, cologne, etc. for a female to look as professionally polished. We all get busy and with running a startup and clocking in 14+ hour days on the regular, maintaining our personal appearance and health can really be challenging.Whatever you do, NEVER apologize for looking “tired” when you haven’t had the time to apply makeup on and NEVER feel guilty for not knowing what the heck is going on in fashion-land. Who cares if you haven’t had your nails done? While much of it is the pressure we put on ourselves, how others respond does not help as well. However, let’s start with what we can immediately control, our own perception and expectations.
WHAT YOU EARN
Let go of the fact that women are still making less income than male counterparts. When determining your financial expectations, free your mind of the statistics. Strictly consider the value you add to your organization.
YOUR INTELLECT
Can you school your colleagues? Be proud of it. Never feel apologetic or hesitant to correct someone or provide your opinion on something. It is more than ok to demonstrate how brilliant you are even if this means that it may cause someone else’s insecurities to flair up. Guess what? It’s not your problem.YOUR NON-NEGOTIABLES
We all have things that are non-negotiable when it comes to our personal and professional lives. Accept the fact that these exist for you and ensure that those around you accept them as well. Never apologize for your hard non-negotiables “getting in the way” or causing inconveniences for others. It is ok to want something and insist on having it no other way if it is truly important to you.
WHAT YOU HAVE ACHIEVED
Women have traditionally played the supporting role. Also known as that background person who is absolutely meticulous over detail and ensures everything public facing is picture perfect. This often involves highlighting other peoples’ skills, position and professional accomplishments. It’s something women are taught and conditioned to do and do well. With this comes with the fact that many women have a difficult time discussing their own wins. It also doesn’t help when the responses that one receives are underwhelming, full of resentment or just – embarrassing. Never apologize for being proud of kicking ass and taking names.
BEING A WOMAN
There is a laundry list of physiological differences between women and men of those, there are at least 3 that are completely absent from men: menstruation, pregnancy and lactation. Each of these significantly impact behaviour and feelings. Never ever apologize for being a women and everything that comes along with it.
While these are some things women should never apologize for, there are also things of which women need to speak more about. More on this soon!
- Work-Life Balance + Running a startup: Can they be friends?
Is it realistic for startup Founders to aim for work-life balance? Most Startup founders go back and forth on this one at different stages of their lives and ventures. Perhaps, the argument should begin with defining what “work-life balance” actually means?
For the purpose of this post, we’ll define it as a lifestyle that maintains ones physical, mental and emotional health while maintaining and only strengthening that startup “just make $h!t happen - and NOW” mindset. This was the topic of our session #7: How to maintain a work-life balance.
Below are a few tips:
Live by what’s in your schedule
Do not commit to things unless it’s in your calendar. This is something that works for me (It’s Carolyn writing here) I have trained clients and even some of my friends to know that if I don’t get a calendar request for a meeting or if I don’t put it in my calendar, it’s likely not happening. I am an avid user of Google Calendar. Stan Weitzman, CEO of mobile ad network mADtivity would agree. He uses tools like Jaxtr, Microsoft Outlook with Google Calendar and SmartSheet for scheduling, timelines, and project management.Resist from checking email first thing in the morning
Do not check your email until you’ve had some time to yourself. I used to check my email and respond to them while still in bed - before showering, brushing my teeth, washing my face and even putting my contact lenses in.Take breaks between ventures
We all know that vacations are almost impossible to commit to in the thick of running a startup. For some of us they cause more stress than relaxation. In between startups, take off a longer period of time to stretch out and indulge in a mental leave before diving back in to your next professional journey or new startup. My good friend, Anton Van Rhyn recently took a little bit of a vacation to Costa Rica after selling his startup, Brave Commerce to Rogers Media before joining the Wave Accounting team.Go dancing
Dancing is social, physical, fun and takes a great deal of focus on other parts of your brain. It allows you to kill multiple birds with one stone. It is also not an activity that involves your laptop or smartphone - forcing you to disconnect.Detach yourself from other responsibilities
Give yourself a reality check. Accept the fact that your priorities and responsibilities will have to be shifted around. What can be trimmed will be different for each person as we all have different things that we consider valuable. The point is to be realistic with what the capacity of your mind, body and soul is - while managing to build and grow your business successfully.Get over the traditional definition of “vacation”
The definition of vacation” are relative to what your regular work schedule is like. If you typically work 14 hour days, consider working 8 hour days for a couple of weeks.
Also, if you cannot get away for a good few weeks - consider mini long weekend get-aways.Just make time
Be honest with what is important to you and ensure that you keep them at the top of the list. Stay disciplined. What you experiencing when running a startup really helps you realize how bad you actually want it and where your priorities are.
A concluding point from our session #7 was that there is really no one size that fits all solution. If you plan to live a work-life balance lifestyle, be sure to lather on things that are important to you in your schedule. Spend time on yourself to make you happy, full and renewed is the key to being able to doing it all.
While there is sadly only 1 female representing leadership at the June 5th Art of Leadership conference, there are some really good people in the line-up - and Ron Tite (host) is amazing and hilarious! You are definitely guaranteed to walk away with thought provoking insights on Leadership. Do yourself (and your organization) a favour and attend.
You can use the code TOSOCIAL for $50 off tickets.
- Stepford Leadership vs. Step-forward Leadership
Stepford Women in the Workplace is an interesting Harvard Business Review piece examining current do’s and dont’s and rules of women in the workplace and it’s backwards approach to leadership. It really seems to perpetuate societal expectations of women.
“When examining, reporting, or discussing successful women, the emphasis needs to shift away from identifying them only from a gendered perspective and look more at the positive qualities they bring to the workplace.” <- Something we aim to achieve through our #PowerUp sessions.
- Words of Wisdom from Carrie Hindmarsh
Carrie Hindmarsh has spent over 20 years making her way up steep ladders in the advertising world. Currently, she is the CEO of M&C Saatchi Group’s advertising agency. She shares 5 of her lessons about women in business in this Wall Street Journal piece. Give it a read.
- Difference matters
- Identify what should change and what should stay the same
- Creativity is always the answer
- Feedback breeds success
- Emotional intelligence
- Session #6: Managing our Business relationships
This morning we had a discussion around relationships, a topic suggested by Jennie.
As our organizations grow, relationship management can become a challenge. While, relationship management is essential to organizational growth.
A little bit of a catch 22 situation.There are many groups of people whom we have relationships with: Clients, colleagues, partners, media and sales leads are among the few. Below is just a little bit of what we discussed and came up with:
Sales Leads
There is way too much invested in to generating leads to not be on top of those relationships and the progress of conversions. There are both tools and communication tactics that can be used to help one through this. While every one of us are utilizing some sort of CRM, challenges of managing sales leads was nothing new to any of us. This is not to say that we didn’t have some tips to share amongst ourselves.Ensure that the leads are being categorized. An example that was brought up was Green light, Yellow light, Red light or Hot, Warm and Cold.
Those in charge of sales are notorious for disliking tracking their progress or anything around administrative or reporting work. Be sensitive to this by making tracking as easy as possible. However, insist on capturing at least the minimum viable data you require to identify patterns, draw conclusions and plan for projections, sales strategy and marketing efforts.
Employees
Team members are key assets to your organization of which directly impact the success of your company. Thus, managing relationships with this group is essential. It is very easy to become detached with your team members especially when 95% of your conversations with them are around projects and the progress of those projects.
Arrange for non-(directly) related work activities. For example, having employees present about whatever topic they want may be unrelated to the business – but in many ways are very much so related. We know how this works, right? The world and all it’s musings are much more connected to one another than most of us think they are.Understand your employees’ personal and professional goals – and more importantly do something about it by always having it in mind when assigning them to roles and responsibilities within the organization.
Clients
How many of you have had that client who emails and calls you every second of the day and with multiple fragmented requests? The chances of this happening increases when clients are smaller or are start-ups. While having a very close relationship with your clients is ideal – there are also behaviours that work against working towards meeting project goals. There are small things that can be done to not further enable such behaviour:
Do not respond immediately to multiple requests. Instead consolidate all communications within a certain amount of time (Ex. A day) and respond in one shot.
Stick to your own client operating hours. Whether you operate on a 4 day client work week, only allocate 2 days client meeting days or split up half of each day for them – be firm and stay disciplined. Allocating time specifically and solely for client services time is an interesting idea on it’s own. Let’s face is, as those who run the business – there are things outside of taking care of clients that we are responsible and accountable for.Keep track of information that come up in passing which can be useful to know when communicating with your client point of content. Ex. Where they went on vacation last summer, who or what influences them, etc.
Thanks Jennie for having us at Bento Miso, Khalid for sending Lannie off with smoothies for us (Banana and Strawberry is always a winner!) and Henry for surprising us with croissants from Nadege (Do you own a piece of the business yet?)
- Stereotypes
Stereotypes exist for both men and women.
For example, women may generally be viewed as being great at building and maintaining relationships and possessing emotional intelligence. Men may generally be viewed as being dominant and competitive.
While traits that are often associated with women are generally positive, they typically are not the first ones that come up on a list when one is asked to describe or imagine a visionary leader. Which means there are also stereotypes for business leaders - of which many fall in to natural traits that men possess.
Thankfully, for the sake of the business landscape (and quite frankly, of everyone) what defines a great leader is changing. The definition of a great leadership 40 years ago will differ from one that effectively applies today.
- Our session on Leadership
If you look at old school traditional roles in old school traditional domestic relationship – the male typically played the breadwinner role and the female leads up ensuring that everything runs smoothly, cares for children, cleans up messes, etc.
It is no surprise that you still see remnants of these similar separation of roles in the boardroom of today’s world. There is The Breadwinning role – often the face of the company and The Make Things Happen role – often the operational lead or the one in the background (sometimes considered the “Supporting role”)
We went around the table and shared current and past situations as leaders in our organizations - both personal experiences and ones that were observed throughout our organizations. It was great that each of of us had different things to say and have had different experiences. There was much to take away because of it.
Here are just a few of the conversation topics we shared:
Leading vs. Managing the Company
We discussed distinguising between the two, how based on traditional roles which role males tend to fall in to and which women do, when they overlap and what skills are required for both.Being authoritative vs. Being downright unprofessional
Women being aggressive but being perceived as being bitchy, crazy or defensive and men being aggressive and being perceived as assholes (but somehow and for some reason, in a good way) and sticking to his guns definitely came up. We spoke about how to address this in the workplace and how to be authoritative while still maintaining a high level of professionalism.Utilizing and leveraging natural abilities
Being great at relating to others and supportive is natural to some and not so natural to others. Women can be great at it and if used correctly, can be a very powerful tool in forming rock solid business relationships and leading a team and organization. It could be anything but soft and passive - of which terms such as “relating”, “personable” and “supportive” often comes off to be.
Sometimes females (and males) often stand in the way of our own potential and that we do not give ourselves as much credit as we actually deserve. When one gives themselves credit, sits at front of the table, insists on making decisions, gets used to talking about themselves instead of always re-directing attention on others and leads conversations - the rest should take a hint and follow.Thanks, Lucia for the idea on the session topic - and for those croissants! Lannie, thanks for hosting us at your Pixel Dreams office - and for the muffins and smoothies.
What do you think we should talk about at this week’s session #6?
A great collection of insights re: Females and Startup Funding from interviews by Pemo Theodore.
Pemo Theodore is a startup coach (whom I have yet to meet but hope to one day soon) and is a strong supporter of high growth women led companies. I first learned about her through the Startup Genome project and have been following along since then. Learn more about Pemo and her work here.
- Up next at our Session #5: Leadership
Every one of our group members are partners at our organizations. This upcoming week we will be discussing overall organizational leadership (from a female standpoint) - including how to conduct yourself, managing expectations and communication tactics and how to deal with issues that arise in partnerships.
Lucia will be leading this discussion. She also passed along this article to us at our last session - A Message to a Woman from a Man: You are not “crazy” - as one that has inspired her. It’s not the shortest piece - but it is one worth reading this weekend.
- (Technology) Startups and Women
A Techvibes post written by Knowlton Thomas caught my attention today. It shed light on the representation of females in startups - specifically tech startups. While the statistics were unfortunately not so surprising, the good news is that there are some proactive efforts out there to try and change these numbers.
Knowlton, it was a good awareness piece. Acknowledging an issue and building awareness of it are initial steps towards making a change and encouraging others to. Oh, and thanks for sharing this beautiful infographic from the IT Manager Daily:
- "Listening is the Clark Kent of Leadership skills"
“Listening is the Clark Kent of leadership skills; everybody knows he’s a good guy, and nice and all — but nobody realizes the incredible power hiding behind those tortoise-shell glasses.”
Are you using the most powerful leadership skill? is good read by Erika Anderson on an often overlooked and underestimated skill when it comes to business leadership.
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Posts
- Lamb Carpaccio at Mercatto
I’ve always liked Mercatto especially for their charcuterie boards and sharing plates. The other day, I had lunch with a colleague at the Mercatto in my former work area in Toronto, King and Adelaide.
He introduced me to their Lamb Carpaccio - and holy F$%! is it ever beautiful.
Lamb Carpaccio with a fluffy bed of arugula in the middle, pistachio, ricotta salata and mint crema.You must order it the next time you’re at Mercatto.
- A Lazy Pizza Night
Late work nights typically means that by the time I’m home (IF I make it home for a relatively reasonable time for dinner) - I’m way too mentally and physically exhausted to make dinner. Even thinking of it hurts me.
My boyfriend and I try to come up with super fast dinner ideas - that do not compromise our love for food. Pizza is a no-brainer. One night recently - we just went to Metro, bought some pre-made dough and some ingredients and voila!
Left: Bacon, Asparagus, Provolone cheese, Field Mushrooms
Right: Pesto, Avocado, Shrimp
- My love for Persian Sweets
Last Sunday, while I was visiting my mother - I had a serious craving for Persian Ice Cream. My mother lives at Yonge and Finch - which is Toronto’s Korea Town North. Just North of it is Little Iran.
When I was in highschool, I frequented the area - and often stopped by Red Rose Patisserie (Located at 6184 Yonge Street) on late nights for coffee, Persian Ice cream or Persian sweet delicacies.
On Sunday, I decided to introduce my family to some of my favourite Persian sweets. My mother, my boyfriend and I headed to Red Rose to purchase some to bring back to the house for everyone.
Of my family members - I am definitely the most open-minded and experimental when it comes to culinary experiences and culture. Sharing my experiences with my family is something I really enjoy doing.
An assortment of Persian pastries and baked goods.
Persian Ice Cream - saffron, rose and pistachios.
- Spaghetti Squash
I got this idea of using spaghetti squash for pasta from my one of my thirdocean interns, Liane.
While it doesn’t exactly satisfy a warm, cheesy, saucy pasta fix, I found that the consistency and texture of the “noodle” was more vermicelli-like. This is great for when you’re craving a cold asian vermicelli dish.
This was crazy simple to make.
1) Take a fork to the spaghetti squash and poke a bunch of holes in it
2) Bake the spaghetti squash whole for about an hour for 375 degrees
3) While you wait, prepare whatever you want to include in the dish. I decided to add bacon, green peas, garlic, salt, pepper and carrots to mine.
4) Take the squash out of the oven, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds - and then scoop out the “spaghetti”.
5) Stir-fry your spaghetti with garlic, salt and pepper - and then stir in your other ingredients.
Enjoy!
- Good friends & Easy to prepare eats
Last night, I had some friends over for some drinks, snacks and just good company. After a stressful week, I had a little bit of anxiety getting things prepared for the night - as I only had an hour and a half to tidy up and to whip up some snacks - but I made it happen. While I was still cooking when people trickled in, I had some awesome help in the kitchen - and the group kept themselves amused with drinking games, drinking my boozy warm apple cider and getting to know one another. I love it when my friends get along!
Crab Cheesy Melts on Toasted Baguette.
Peanut Butter Pretzels
Mini Pancakes served with maple syrup to dip.
I made some baked plantain chips this afternoon. Take a mandolin slicer to green plantains, toss in some vegetable oil, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Bake. Eat. Enjoy.
- Steering clear of starchy carbs and craving lasagna? No problem.
It was Friday. I was craving cheat-like, warm, comfort food. I’m on a nearly carb-free diet. Carb-free lasagna ladies and gentlemen:
It was my first attempt at this. Instead of lasagna pasta, I took a mandoline to eggplant and zucchini. It turned out amazingly well.
The Sauce
- Whole tomatoes
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Basil
- Garlic
The “Noodles”- 2 Zucchinis
- 2 Eggplants
The Layering Goods- Ricotta cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Cheddar cheese
- Lean grond beef
- Mushrooms
Today was a good day. It’s the simple things. Some of my favourite things were on crazy sale today.
- Coconut Milk
- Chocolate flavoured cultured coconut
- All natural seed bar
- Avocados
- Coconut water
- Carb-free and Craving Burgers
With me taking it easy with starchy carbs these days, I’ve been getting odd cravings. I rarely ever have burgers - but that’s what I was seriously craving for. Since a visit to Burger’s Priest is now out of the question, we decided to head to St. Lawrence Market to grab some ingredients to make our own burgers wrapped in lettuce leaves (instead of my carby arch nemesis - delicious freshly baked bread)
Burger Ingredients:
Ground Beef
Bacon
Salt
Pepper
Steak spice
Oregano
Garlic
Horseradish White Chedder (to ooze out from the center of the patty)Burger Toppings:
Fresh Tomatoes
Kimchi (yes, Kimchi)
Portobello mushrooms
More Bacon
More of that amazing Horseradish White Cheddar
Raw pistachios (After we took a hammer to it - that was fun)
Avocado - Brunch at UNION on Ossington
Last Saturday before seeing Avenue Q for the second time in Toronto, I wanted to introduce my family and friends to Delux for good brunch before the show. When we had arrived - I was disappointed to see a sign on the door that told us that they were closed for the holidays. Unfortunately, they did not use their web channels to announce this. Nothing on their website - or even their answering machine.
A few doors down is a restaurant called Union and so we decided to check it out.
My overall verdict: It was OK.
Between the group, we ordered the following:
Smoked Ribs Poached Eggs Benny
It was good - the ribs were well sauced. Not too sloppy for brunch and the hollandaise was lighter and had more lemon in it than what I’m used to for hollandaise (which some may actually prefer for breakfast) This Eggs Benny however does not even come close to my favourite Eggs Benny in Downtown Toronto. Although, it’s tough to make the comparison because they are so different and therefore speak to different markets/audiences/tastes.Poached Eggs with Crispy Polenta, Braised Greens and Rustic tomato sauce
Between the poached egg, the not so crispy polenta and the soupy tomato sauce it was sitting on - the dish was too soggy.Swiss Train Ride (essentially Union’s version of a Croque Madame)
It was quite good - but I only had one small bite and it was just of the sandwich. Sorry. No photo :(While my overall experience was luke warm, I’d consider giving Union another shot. Mostly because I’ve heard they have a good dinner menu and service.
- Quick and Easy (healthy-ish) Crispy Buffalo Wings
…and with basic ingredients that you’ll have in your refrigerator and pantry.
Enjoy chicken wings without evil carby breading and frying. Here’s all you need:Hot sauce (preferably cayenne pepper based)
Butter
Cayenne Pepper
Kosher salt
Pepper
Chicken wings and drumsticks (WITH skin)
Crushed garlicToss, Broil, Eat!
Just some of last night’s incredible menu items:
Asparagus Soup (Yes, that’s a Christmas tree I drew)
Beef Wellington, Sweet Potato Mash, Cranberry Ham.
My pear strudel fresh out of the oven I served slices of it with Vanilla Ice Cream.
- 2012 Holiday Cookie: Packaging
I decided to package up my cookies for this year’s holiday cookies like this:
The material was quite pricey - but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
- Rosewood: A new favourite downtown Dim Sum spot
Rol San and Sky Dragon are downtown spots I frequent when I’m craving Dim Sum - but make no mistake, they are certainly not my favourite. My family’s regular spot, Crown Prince Fine Dining is at the top of my list of Dim Sum joints. However, it’s up north and so I don’t get the chance to go as often as I’d like to! Word on the street is that they opened up a sister restaurant appropriately named Crown Princess downtown right where 5th Element used to be. I’ve yet to make a visit - but you can count on that being my next Dim Sum stop.
A couple of weeks ago, I tried a new-ish Dim Sum restaurant on Dundas at Spadina called Rosewood - and it was delicious! I’ve been back for more since then. For good quality dim sum dishes with great service, check it out.
Some notes and notable dishes:
- The Chinese Broccoli served with hoisin sauce is a great vegetable dish to have on the table for when you want to take a break from your usual savoury meaty dim sum dishes: Har Gow, Shumai, Tripe, Fried Taro Balls, Turnip Cake, etc.
- You must order the BBQ Korean Beef Shortribs. Not a typical Dim Sum dish but it’s very good and nice and meaty.
- The Curry Cuttlefish is great. Often, an underwhelming dish at other Dim Sum spots it’s good here at Rosewood. It’s NOT rubbery and elastic-like due to overcooking.
- Latkas. Latkas. Latkas.
Latkas + Sour Cream + Caviar > Latkas + Sour Cream + Apple Sauce.
It wasn’t until I started having Hanukkah dinner with my boyfriend’s family that I had caviar and sour cream with latkas. I love it - but I’m almost always for salty/savoury over sweet.
- Wintertime = Ramen time
Cold to the bone weather only means one thing. Ramen…and Pho. and Curry. and Roti…..
But for the sake of this post, Ramen :)Here’s the general consensus so far for just some of our local ramen joints:
Ajisen Ramen = Disgusting. I’m not a fan of the spaghetti-like noodles and the dirty tasting broth.
Kenzo Ramen = Good and decent place for a quick bite. Although I’ve only had The King Of Kings. It’s my regular order there.
Sansotei Ramen = Really great broth and excellent noodles (The perfect amount of chewiness and softness)
(Above photo: Tonkatsu Ramen with regular noodles and extra pork belly)
Forget milk & cookies… I got Santa covered this year!
Merry Christmas Eve!!
Pic courtesy of Sun Noodle
Santa Ramen.
- Holiday Cookie-Run
What can I say? The holiday season gets me extra domestic-like.
I spent this past Sunday baking away. The result: Tubs of melt in your mouth candy cane shortbread and strawberry jam sugar cookies. I need to package and deliver these babies pronto, before I indulge on one more.
