Category Archives: Life

Networking Events – May 2012

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As I found last year, networking events are great ways to explore industries, meet some awesome people, and talk shop with those interested in what you love.

Yesterday, May 2, I attended the 2nd MEGA Networking Event at the Richmond Hill Country Club. Starting at 1pm and going until 4:30pm, I was able to attend the tail end of the event after work and was blown away by the size of it. Hosted in a larger venue by TheNetworker.ca – the same hosts of the Distillery District Networking Events – MEGA Networking provides even more ways to meet the people you want to know. The event was a great success, and I look forward to the next MEGA event.

Another event that I am extremely (understatement) excited for is York Region Arts Council’s first ever Arts After Hours Networking Event on May 24. Taking place at the gorgeous Willow Springs Winery in Stouffville and running from 7pm to 9pm, the night features a great opportunity to meet other artists in the area. It also includes wine and cheese tasting, raffle giveaways, and awesome performances by spoken word artist Sheniz Janmohamed and my good friend Manuele Mizzi. I can’t wait and hope to see you there.

Happy New Year – 2012

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Happy New Year everyone! I know this message is coming a bit late considering the new year has been present for about 20 days now, but I’ve taken one of those long breaks from posting to accommodate for the holidays, family time, and life in general. I’ve even eased up on tweeting! This disconnect from the Net and social media is disconcerting at times, but sometimes necessary, especially when special attention needs to be paid to life outside the computer.

It’s a new year and new start though and I recently renewed my ownership of MiaHerrera.com (with hosting! Though I still need to code the site beyond the basic blog template), so I’m dedicated to another year or two of infrequent posting for anyone who is interested (a small number, in fact, that more often visits my site for my MonopolyCity and Felicia Day posts).

I entered this year without any intention of creating resolutions. I’ve made resolutions every other year, but I’d like to believe that change can happen at any time – not just on the first of January. As the year drew to a close, however, I discovered an unintentional list of resolutions that continually grew. By the time the clock struck midnight on January 1st, my list of resolutions included Continuing Education and French language courses, more time in church, more time on the treadmill, and more time by the stove learning how to cook.

As 2012 began, however, life brought along many surprise and blessings. I put a down payment on a house (move in date September 2012), ruling out further courses due to the need to save money at the moment, and my love of chocolate and proneness to accidents threw a few wrenches on my road of progress towards cooking, eating, and living healthily.

If this year has taught me anything so far, it’s that everything truly does happen for a reason. Like that cliché quote says, sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. I naturally love to plan and when plans wouldn’t work out, I’d feel lost as I scrambled to create another plan for the changed situation. This isn’t a bad thing but, these days, going with the flow has been really nice.

This year, I’ll adapt. I’ll purchase Rosetta Stone instead of attend Alliance Francaise or keep active but try not to beat myself up when I slip up. I’ve always striven to do absolutely everything before, that life sometimes became too hectic to do anything at all. I’ve decided to choose what’s important and focus on it accordingly.  By the second week of January I already knew I needed to parse my ambitious list of resolutions down to allow for real life. And even if cooking, schooling, and running fell through, I was left with these final resolutions:

 I want to Live Well (live life to the fullest), Live Right (be kind, thoughtful, and thankful), and Write. If all else fails, I want to do these three things and always keep life, love and passion in mind.

2012 will be a good year. Happy New Year everyone. I wish you all a happy and blessed one.

Tips from a Networking Noob

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Vito Marchese, event host and owner of Whiteboard Studio, and I

On October 19, I attended The Networker’s 3rd Distillery Business Networking event at Tappo Restaurant and Wine Bar.

An evening of business networking held in open format, the Business Networking event was a night of amazing hors d’ouevres (salmon + cucumber = AMAZING), great drinks, and fantastic people.

The event was a huge success with over 100 participants. It was my first experience at a networking event, and it felt a bit like speed dating for professionals (there were plenty of quick “Hi, Hello, this is what I do” speeches before moving to another), but I found my groove eventually. It was interesting to find myself among so many people in Finance and Real Estate, and I did get a few surprised looks when I introduced myself as a Writer, but I am assured in the fact that if I need an Accountant or Agent I will find myself in good hands.

The next Networker event will be next year in York Region – the 1st Annual MEGA Networking Event. Held at the Richmond Hill Country Club, the event will feature appetizers, drinks, a host and MC, and door prizes and draws. Be sure to buy your tickets now to avail of the early bird prize.

Curtis, Sam, Vito, myself and Rajvir - YorkScene Bloggers represent! Haha

Random Tips from a Networking Newbie:

  • Wear a blazer with two pockets – one to keep your business cards to hand out, another to keep the business cards people hand you. Do not mix these two pockets up.
  • Try all appetizers. They are generally delicious. If the salmon and cucumber apps appear, it is your lucky day.
  • If you’re at Tappos, ask for a red wine sangria. It is delicious! If you are anywhere else, ask for any sort of wine sangria, which is a never-fail treat for your taste buds.
  • Try to attend a networking event geared towards your profession. If you’re down for something fun and new, though, attend one for a completely different industry and have fun meeting new people with different perspectives

Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Party 2011

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Last Tuesday, July 26, I attended the Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Launch Party and met with the organizers, mentors and other mentees involved in this year’s program. We had a beautiful evening of talk, food, and white wine sangria (mmm!) on the patio of L’Espresso.

Among those that I met, I was also able to acquaint myself with my mentor, Olive Senior, and the other writers being mentored by her. Aside from TWUC, I haven’t had the opportunity to attend a writing event in a while. It felt great to discuss writing with a group of people who were as passionate about the art as me. There’s something amazing about being able to talk about character, plot, and the horrifying revision process with people who don’t think you’re a complete geek when you get excited about these things.

Though I didn’t know it was possible, the Diaspora Dialogues Mentorship Launch made me even more excited for this year’s program. My peers are an amazing group of writers from a variety of backgrounds. I am already on my first round of revisions with Olive, and can’t wait for the rest of the season.

Just a heads up for other aspiring young writers, Diaspora Dialogues has released a call for submissions for a brand new youth (ages 16-25) mentoring program. Creative non-fiction, short stories, or poetry will be accepted up until September 30, after which 6-10 young writers will be selected through an adjudicated process.

P.S. I still get a schoolgirl thrill when I see “Writer” on any part of my name tags!

CAPM Arrival

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Look what I found in the mail today! I must admit, the thick paper and gold embossed seal make me feel a bit better about the past four months of school/work/business-juggling torture.

My Internet Highlight of the Week

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August 3rd, 2009 marked a memorable occasion: The day Penguin acknowledged me on Twitter. At the time, being acknowledged by Penguin on Twitter was like shaking a celebrity’s hand for me. It gave me a euphoric, giddy high. Over the past couple of years, there have been a few other times where I have had the same exciting feeling of going out in the world and rubbing shoulders with people I admire.

I received a similar thrill a couple of weeks ago when I visited Diaspora Dialogue’s website. I’ve been an avid follower of this Toronto-based arts organization since I happened upon it a couple of years ago. Imagine my surprise when I visited their site and saw they linked to one of my YorkScene articles. I was shocked and giddy. I print-screened it and saved it. It made my day.

How awesome is it to admire an organization for so long, only to find your name on the top of their homepage one day? Very awesome!

To read the YorkScene article, check it out here. The article also appears on Live in Limbo and Nerd Girl Pinups, so if you’re into Ontario talent or like books as much as hot chicks who dig Star Wars, check the article out on those platforms, too!

Project Management Progress

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As previously mentioned, this January I started a course in Foundations of Project Management. The course proved to be extremely challenging. Though hard work gave me an 80% average for coursework, the course’s final exam left me feeling downcast. Meticulously applying knowledge to plans and charters was one thing, but rote memorization of processes, inputs, outputs, tools and techniques was something different.

My certification exam was scheduled shortly after my course’s final exam but, after leaving school, I knew I might not obtain my certification unless I really hit the books. What ensued was 12 hours straight of studying each day until my certification exam. And I’m happy to say that the studying paid off.

I am officially a Certified Associate of Project Management! Now, I just need about a year more of related work experience before I can write my PMP exam. Would anyone like to employ me in a project managing capacity? I need relevant work experience, please! : )

52 Book Challenge Follow Up

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Ever since posting about it on YorkScene, a few people have asked me how my 52 Book Challenge  has been going.

I have a confession to make: Even after two years of participating in the 52 Book Challenge and publicly proclaiming my continued dedication to it in 2011… This year, I have read a total of 0 books.

How is it possible that I haven’t finished reading a single book in the past 3 months?

I have nothing to defend myself with except to say that life kind of just happened this year. In addition to a full-time day job, I am also enrolled in a post-grad course working towards my CAPM, and am enrolled in the Humber School for Writer’s Correspondence Course in Creative Writing. The day job takes up a good chunk of my time (at least 8 hours, of course), and when I come home at night my choice is to either complete Project Management or Creative Writing homework. Often I choose to do Project Management work because I feel guilty not acing something that could so benefit my career. As for reading, it takes the back burner because I feel foolish putting something so “impractical” first.

Halfway through February, however, I noticed something odd. I was dissatisfied and grumpy all the time. I couldn’t figure out why, except that I hardly had time to meet my deadlines, spend with my family and friends and, most frustrating of all, to read. Yet again, passion fell prey to practicality.

The practical matters of life seemed to choke out all sense of creativity. By the end of the day, after pushing paper and numbers and numerous cups of coffee, the urge to write was gone. It’s hard to justify giving time to creativity and books when other “more important” things are at play.

I realized things had to change. Even if I had a higher pay cheque, or the entire alphabet in certifications after my name, I realized I wouldn’t be happy if I couldn’t confront the awful beast of writing, and I could never relax if I couldn’t ease my mind with books. As a result, I decided to make the effort to read more. And I’m almost close to the end of my first book of 2011 (Ilustrado by Miguel Syujco. It really is as masterful as everyone says it is!).

How have your reading challenges been going? And how do you make time in your life for the things you love? Does creativity or passion ever take the backseat to the everyday and, if so, how do you find a balance? Give me tips, please. I’m still trying to navigate the fine line between art and real life.

Shop Spotlight: Heroes World

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In light of my previous post about nice places, the Markham-based comics and games store, Heroes World, is a really, really nice place. You may have heard me mention Heroes World before – I only have good things to say about it – but it was a real pleasure for me to write a full-length feature on the store, which appeared on the home page of CGMonthly.com.

To hear more about this comics and games shop and the role it plays in the Markham community, check it out. If you live in Markham, Heroes World is your best bet on finding the comic or obscure game of your choice. This place single-handedly provided for my game board addiction and recommended half the awesome comics I’ve reviewed. Hopefully they can do the same for you!