Playing With ‘Memoir’ | Week 1 Creative Non-Fiction Class

I recently joined a 6-week “Creative Non-Fiction” class with Gotham Writers in NYC. I love learning and I‘ve wanted to get back into writing. This class seems like the best of both worlds and a...

“Brigitte’s Garden: Liberating Our Minds By Liberating Our Identities” | ESSAY

**Download the PDF version of this essay by clicking here.“Belief, like fear or love, is a force to be understood as we understand the theory of relativity and principles of uncertainty.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

My Mom passed away one year ago yesterday. I’ve learned a lot about grief in this last year. A year ago, I felt like I lost any innocence I had when we watched my Mum leave this realm.

#SafeSocial: Social Media as a Risky Behaviour

If we treat social media like we treat other risky behaviour such as sex and alcohol, we have a better chance at managing its harmful effects.

Couldn’t Have Said it Better: Soft Skills Star of LinkedIn Learning Report

I finally got around to reading the 2018 LinkedIn Workforce Learning Report, and I could not have written a better pitch for SkillsCamp.The report looks into the state of workplace learning year...

Goodbye Ryerson, Hello SkillsCamp — The Jump to Entrepreneurship

I am leaving my meaningful, well-paying, fun, job at Ryerson University to go to my business, SkillsCamp, full-time. For some of you, this is old news. For some, it’s unsurprising new. But, it's...

My Mom is Tough as F*ck!

…But she’s also been sick for as long as I can remember. — Let’s start chronologically, and this does not include the appendix bursting and poisoning her, the viral meningitis-gone-wrong, the...

How Twitter Got Me A Job at CBC

Through my company, SkillsCamp, I often teach people about personal branding and other life skills. The following is a short, personal, and true story I share about the tangible power of a...

7 Things I Learned From My First Business: A Booming Freezie Wagon

When I was 8-years-old, I had my first summer job as an entrepreneur. I ran a business with my younger sister in a suburb of Brampton, Ontario.

30 Things I’ve Learned in (Less Than) 30 Years

I realize this post would have been more poetic if I used my actual age and released it on my birthday, like the wonderful Hamza Khan did, who inspired the format. However, in the coming weeks, I’ll..

Why I Started A School For Soft Skills

In March of 2015, about a year ago, a colleague of mine, Hamza Khan, and I stood at the front of a classroom in George Brown College’s beautiful waterfront campus. We were delivering a “Community &...

Jack Dorsey Broke The Law?

Create your own opportunities — Originally published on Year One. We all know ambitious people, but do you know anyone that’s actually broken the law to get the job they want? Jack Dorsey did, but...

James Cameron Was a Truck Driver?

You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. — Originally published on Year One. Whether you love or hate James Cameron, you can’t deny he’s found wild success as a top Hollywood Writer-Director. The...

Flipping Organizational Hierarchy on Its Head

Who We Should Actually Work For — The concept of organizational hierarchy is one that exists in many of our everyday professional lives, but it’s not what we typically call it. Perhaps you’ve heard...

The Role of Student Affairs in Higher Education

By: Bailey Parnell Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. The other day, one of my friends and colleagues at Ryerson University, in a quest to define the real value of Student Affairs, asked me...

99 Learnings From 99u

The 99u conference was hands down the best professional development conference I’ve ever been to. That’s a fairly strong statement to open up with, isn’t it? But it’s true. The 99u experience was...

Why I’m Obsessed With Sports

As Someone Who Doesn’t Play or Watch Sports… — I am not a star athlete, or even really an athlete at all. I was fortunate enough to have competitively fought in Judo for a long time, but that...

Why do we Whisper?

The rise of anonymous social networks and my experience — I work in the world of Social Media and am fascinated with the way we communicate and share content, but as excited as I am for the future...

A University Lecture That Actually Changed Me

“Privilege is Invisible to Those Who Have It” — Me. [EDIT: After I published this piece, my professor reached out to me. She was happy the lecture had an impact and reminded me that the guest...

I Don’t Want One Mentor

Recently a few professional colleagues I respect have told me I should get a mentor. They don’t think I need someone to set me on the right path or anything, but think I would benefit from having...