In Toronto’s tony shopping district, Teatro Verde comes into view as I weave through pedestrians collecting on Yorkville Avenue. The Georgian facade of the housing emporium is soon behind me as I step through its entrance, where India Hicks stands against a backdrop of floral novelties. We politely exchange introductions before a customer interjects, her …
It’s only been an hour since she announced her resignation as CBC’s executive vice-president, but Kirstine Stewart is already trending on Twitter. From Richard Florida to Shinan Govani and Andrew Coyne, virtual congratulations from Canada’s business and media fixtures are pervading the T-sphere with a celebratory rhythm. As one of the most famous faces in …
It’s been almost a year since Peter Gilgan made the single largest private donation to a children’s hospital in Canadian history. “Didn’t you hear? I took it back,” he playfully jests about the $40 million he donated to the SickKids Centre for Research and Learning. Removing the lid to let his herbal tea cool while …
Margaret McCain’s mother had a problem managing her money: she loved giving it away. “She was incorrigible,” McCain says with a chuckle, recalling the predicaments that wild munificence brought. The family farm sunk into deep financial trouble over it, and was to be sold off. The family gathered at the Nova Scotia estate, sat down …
It began in 1989, a year when spending sprees and an emphasis on brand names captured the zeitgeist of the era. A freshly minted Boston College graduate thinking that success was to be found in the narthex of corporate margins, Joe Bastianich gravitated to Manhattan like a kid to a lollipop. Wall Street was his …
I can’t find Jack Diamond’s house. Back and forth, the car inches along the snow-lined avenue, my eyes scanning for the address, or anything to distinguish the home of the renowned architect. An unruly imagination had built-up preconceptions of a standout facade that only the mind of a veteran building designer could conjure. Something remarkable. …
In an otherwise ordinary downtown Toronto office tower, the Hal Jackman Foundation’s 10th-floor University Avenue suite reaches a level of unlikely wonderment. A museum-like foyer where Persian rugs kiss chevron floors and landscape masterpieces coat the walls is just a prelude to the erstwhile lieutenant-governor of Ontario’s penchant for the arts. The former chairman of …
Amanda Lindhout is standing in front of a predominantly female crowd sharing her harrowing story of survival. The former journalist describes the unsettling 15 and a half months that followed her kidnapping in Somalia. The terror of facing trained AK-47s on that fateful August day in 2008; the long and unnerving 460 days in captivity; …
My journey to become a master sommelier began under the dim lights of an intimate, Bohemian restaurant in Toronto called the Rosedale Diner. A casual conversation with head chef and inspired grape enthusiast Av Atikan intensified when I informed him that I wasn’t fond of white wine. In a breath, he began lining up glasses …
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is the definition of a woman who does it all. An unparalleled determination and passionate persona makes her the go-to girl in the fashion world. Unlike most success stories in the industry, Wolkoff didn’t eat, sleep and breathe fashion from a young age. “Having two older brothers, I was very much a …
