I graduated from University of Toronto with a B.A. (English major, art minor and psychology). Originally, I planned on being a journalist but then decided to go to the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). I graduated from OCAD with a Communication and Design diploma. During the summer, I worked at Ogilvy and Mather in Toronto as a freelance graphic designer. I saw trends in this industry quickly moving into the realm of computer applications with respect to design, I applied to Sheridan College for the one year Computer Animation program and completed this program. In the years following, I have worked as a graphic designer with many companies on a freelance and contract basis for government, a large financial company, non-profit organizations, small business, independent business owners, an international environmental company, large and small advertising agencies.

In ’92, I took a correspondence course from a well-known institution in the Northeastern U.S. on writing for children. During the research part of the course where we had to write query letters to three magazines of our choice, my freelance magazine writing career began. I was immediately asked by the editor of Computing Now magazine to write a feature of my choice. My query letter caught his attention, referring to it as “articulate.” My first feature article was on River Oaks Elementary school featuring Brian Alger, a teacher with a vision who taught children how to apply technology to higher creative thinking skills. I have been writing features and smaller articles ever since. My focus was on technology and social issues in the beginning.

While working in the graphic design industry, I saw a great deal of computer terminal stress among my co-workers. Hours spent in front of the computers were leading to back and neck tension, not to mention Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). I wanted to help in some way. There was a private school a few blocks away from where I lived, called the Shiatsu Academy of Tokyo. An advertisement outside of the school defined shiatsu as a healing art which involved applying pressure to designated points in the body to relieve stress. “Shi” means finger and “atsu” means pressure. Fascinated with this whole approach to creating harmony and balance in the body, I enrolled in the extensive one year training course.

At this time, I realized how important shiatsu was, not only by facilitating the stressful working situations of my co-workers, but also from a communication stance. When people are stressed, communication becomes compromised and negotiation skills labored. My shiatsu teacher and owner of the Academy, Kensen Saito, had a vision of taking shiatsu to a whole new level of public awareness. He wanted to educate people on the benefits of shiatsu, invented by the late great Tokujiro Namikoshi of Japan in the early 1900’s. Understanding his vision, I used graphic design and writing to disseminate information to the public and government officials, thereby assisting in changing the by-law at a municipal and provincial level to make shiatsu recognized. In turn, this created a whole new category for those practicing alternative medicine in the Toronto area, which came under the jurisdiction of the Holistic Practitioner’s License. This led me to writing many more articles and features in magazines and journals dealing with health and wellness.

It was this major event that made me realize that as a graphic designer and writer, I wanted to work for companies and publications that emphasized positive change. It taught me how to enable someone’s vision, to go one step beyond a thought or a piece of paper into the realm of the public on a much larger scale. Being a progressive thinker is part of viewing future trends and preparing the public for the effects of societal change.