The Multi-Hyphenate Renaissance Woman with Sonja Scharf

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
She came up to me and started talking and I literally it was
like Charlie Brown, walk, walk, walk 'cause I didn't hear a word
she said. It was very funny and and she
spent over 2 hours with me and gave me a tour of the lab and
showed me where she works in herstudio and everything.

(00:22):
And every time I went there I was hoping that she'd be there
'cause she was often in the framing studio and not in the
front counter area. A lot of times when I come
there, she just happened to be. She'd see like you're you were
coming in. I always wore this ring on this
finger. And she thought I was already

(00:44):
with someone and she was talkingand this is gonna be really
funny because roommate, the wordroommate right now, we all know
what that code means kind of thing.
And she said to me, oh, my roommate's brother lives in New
York and he said we can come down anytime to visit.
I think I should do that sometime.
And as soon as she said roommate, I was like, oh, we're

(01:05):
done. We're done here.
We're done. Welcome to Graphic Content, the

(01:32):
podcast where we talk all thingswho, why, and the what the fuck
moments along the way. Now today's guest is a
commercial photographer turned creative entrepreneur who has
built a career defined by reinvention, community and a
fearless pursuit of new passions.
After years in the world of fashion photography, she shifted
into fine art where a pivotal exhibition not only changed her

(01:54):
creative path but also LED her to meet her wife and business
partner. Together they Co founded Akasha
Art Projects, now in its 16th year, serving hospitality,
design and corporate worlds, while also nurturing Toronto's
arts community through exhibitions, cultural
fundraisers and most recently their magazine Art House.
Beyond her work as creative director, she continues to push

(02:16):
boundaries, from launching her own clothing brand to pursuing a
DJ career at 60, proving it's never too late to be what you
might have been. Welcome to graphic content.
Sonya Scharf, Yes. So that's a lovely introduction.
My goodness. Thank you very much.
Well, you gave me a lot to work with.
I'll say that there was a, therewas a lot.
And so, and there's so much I wanted to cover and to

(02:38):
summarize. And so how do I, how do I do
that effectively without leavingout the the good bits, you know?
Right. Great.
Well, thank you. You're thanking me, but I have
to thank you. And I've had some feedback from
a couple of listeners being like, you gotta stop downplaying
yourself. Like you gotta basically like
live it to be it, Breathe it. Yes.
And but I still can't get over the fact that like I'm, I'm, I

(02:59):
asked you randomly at at the conference in June at the CTLCC
conference. And I was like, I'm just gonna,
I'm just gonna go for it. Let's see.
And you, you said yes. And to me, that was like a wow
to me, you're a big deal. Oh.
Oh my God. OK, I, I mean, I'm honored.
Like honestly, I'm honored when my being asked.

(03:19):
So thank you for that. We started talking a little bit
before this and just discussing like our passions and the things
that we like to do. And basically we're kind of the
same where we I want to do this.Let me just let me just make
make it happen, you know? Yeah.
Where does that come from? I've always been a very go, go
for it ambitious kind of person.I'm not a procrastinator at, I'm

(03:41):
the opposite of a procrastinator, actually.
I, as soon as I, as soon as I come up with an idea, I'm like,
I want to start now and I will go, you know, research or
whatever. So it can be, it can sometimes
be a bit much because I have a lot on my plate at all times
and, and sometimes it's a bit, you know, close to burnout.

(04:02):
But I, I'm trying to juggle it all.
And, you know, I just like too many things.
I, you know, multidisciplinary passions and I just don't want
to not do everything. And it particularly came to
light when my mother, sadly, wasdiagnosed with dementia six

(04:23):
years ago. And when that happened, and my
mother was a very big go getter.She owned her own business.
She was very, she belonged to a senior cycling group.
Like she did so many things and watching her, you know,
basically deteriorate has been really hard.
And it's just made me even push my heels in more to say whatever

(04:47):
I want to do. You know, I am going to go for
it because I just don't want to get to the end and say, oh, I
wish I would have did that or I wish I would have tried that.
You know what I mean? So and, and it's basically
feeling the fear and doing it anyway, 'cause there's some
things like when I started DJingout there was, there was fear.
You have to push yourself otherwise you don't grow.

(05:09):
So that was kind of the impetus for some of the things I've been
doing lately. I feel you on that.
I in the last like year or two, I've gotten to the point where
it's been ingrained in me where,you know, I'm designer.
That's my my identity. I am a designer and or my career
path and I'm like, what are we doing?
I'm like I can be a multi hyphenate I can do.

(05:30):
Multiple 100% and what a great word that is actually multi
hyphenate is fantastic. Yes, yes, you can do many
things, yeah. Like you said, like we have one
life. Like, you know, beliefs in the
incarnation aside. Yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes. But but truly like we have this
one life right now. I wanna maximize the things that

(05:51):
I'm doing. I also right to experience only
one thing over and over and overagain to me is so boring.
Oh, yeah. And I, I am like that too.
I get bored very quickly if I don't continually challenge,
learn, you know, move forward. So that's kind of what I, I, I'm
doing. Yeah.
So. When's your birthday?
I'm in the aquarium, so January 31st.

(06:14):
I love that. You know, aquariums.
They do. Tend to, they do tend to, you
know, think out-of-the-box and be a bit unconventional, right?
So I've never, I've never clicked that box my whole life.
So, you know, my upbringing was very different because, you
know, we came to Canada when I was young and we went back and

(06:34):
forth several times. And my father was a jazz
musician. So I grew up in a household that
was all about jazz. And we used to have incredible
people like jazz musicians coming over and our house was
full of like very interesting people, bohemians, writers,
actors, musicians all the time. And there was a lot of that type

(06:57):
of influence around me all the time.
And I was in awe of everybody all the time, you know,
everybody that was like a writeror they were this.
And it was that kind of life where we, we, we didn't live a
normal, you know, a lot of people ask me if my parent, my
father was in the army. And I'm like, no, we were
actually born. I was born and mostly raised in
Germany. And we came to Canada and back

(07:18):
and forth because there wasn't abig jazz scene in Canada in the
60s like there was in Germany. You know, when they were here,
they were homesick for Germany. When they were in Germany, they
wanted to come back to Canada. It was very funny, but it shaped
a lot of my life and the way I AM.
And, you know, so I'm grateful for a lot of that.
So and. So what made Canada stick?

(07:39):
We were told by the immigration officer, this is the story I got
from my parents, is that Winnipeg was a great place to
raise children, Manitoba. So we originally immigrated to
Montreal, but then we moved to Winnipeg and even though my
father was a professional jazz musician and he still had
another career because obviouslyjazz didn't pay 100%.

(08:02):
My father was a pastry chef and he worked in, yeah, he worked in
some very high end in Germany, pastry and like in France is
very big, you know, like there'sbakeries at every corner and
pastry shops and the pastries are gorgeous.
And my father also got into chocolate sculpting.
So he was entering competitions.And eventually I think my mother

(08:25):
wanted to stay in Winnipeg and my father wanted to go back to
Europe and it ended their marriage.
And so my father went back to Europe and lived there till he
passed away. And my mom stayed in Winnipeg.
So she is in Winnipeg now. I think if the two countries
were really close together, it would have been great.
Like, you know, just drive to Germany for the weekend.

(08:46):
But it didn't work like that, you know, so, and, you know, I
still have a very close family there.
So I, I'm very connected and I, I speak the language.
It's my first language. And a lot of the way I, my
cooking, although I, I don't eatmeat, I, I still do a lot of
German style of food and use German products.

(09:06):
And so I think European lifestyle is very much part of
my life. Yeah.
You and I have so much in commonbecause So I'm first generation,
I'm not, I'm not immigrant, but my parents are right now as we
speak. I have relatives from Italy who
are visiting and. That's so lovely.
It is lovely because it's an opportunity for me as somebody
who I grew up, the dialect, the Italian dialect that my parents

(09:30):
spoke was spoken in the house. Like we, yes, I didn't start
really speak like English. English wasn't really a thing
until I started going to school.Yeah, that's the same.
My cousin who's visiting, I haven't seen her in literally.
Oh, that's so lovely. 20 years. And so we got to reconnect and
it's been really, really nice. This is my father's niece.
Leading up to this this visit, Iwas a little nervous because I

(09:52):
don't really flex my Italian. Like I speak here and there to
my Nona. And then my parents, we are
primarily English. Like, I don't really speak to
Italian to my parents. And so coming into it, I was, I
was like, OK, like I gotta dig up the old bones, you know, and
get get into it. And it was really surprising to
me how it. Really.

(10:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I it's the same.
I don't speak German very often at all because I don't have
anybody here to speak German to.When I call Winnipeg and my
mom's husband holds the phone. I talked to her in German
because I feel like it helps with her dementia.
And then I'm very close to my cousin in Germany and he was

(10:34):
here for Pride this year, which was awesome.
And he speaks really, really good English, like he's, he's,
he works for the German DeutscheBan, which is just like Via
Rail. And so he's, he's very well
spoken in English too. But when we talk him and I, it's
all, we always talk in German and it keeps me up, keeps up the
language. And it's the same thing.

(10:55):
Once I start talking, you know, it just comes back.
But oh, yeah, you know, you're alittle rusty, and then it's just
back, right? It's just that kind of thing,
you know? I love it to me.
And you, you kind of touched on that, like having your like a
foot in both doors almost where you're here, but you're there
and being immersed in, you know,being forced to speak like I'm

(11:16):
like, I gotta, I gotta get back to Italy.
Like I gotta go back. It's been a hot minute.
Well, you know, when when you'refirst immigrating, your parents
do not speak English, you know, So my language at home until I
was in my like probably 12 or 13was German.
And every summer they flew me back home to visit my Oma
because that was my oma and I were very close.

(11:39):
So I was lived there all summer.So I never lost the language.
And then when I was around 18, Iactually went back to Germany
with the intention of moving there by myself.
And I lived and worked there fora year and was there, you know,
in my hometown of Darmstadt, which is near Frankfurt.
And I, I was there for a year and, you know, living and

(12:00):
everything. And then, so I still, I, I think
that helped a lot because I, my language was still with me when
I was already pretty much an adult.
Because if you're a young child,you lose it, you know, because
my siblings don't speak the language at all.
They understand, but they don't speak it because they're much
younger so. That's the perfect segue.
You started out as a photographer.

(12:21):
What drew you to photography in the 1st place?
Like what did those early years around the world in fashion
photography look like for you? Because my family was very
artistic, not just musical, but my parents both painted.
My brother is a super realist painter.
Like he's I'm always in awe of how lifelike his paintings are.
And I've never been able to really draw, to be honest with

(12:43):
you. Like I'm just not a a drawer
that way. And so I picked up a camera
because I felt like, well, maybethis is because I always had an
urge to create art and make something like that creative.
A friend loaned me a camera years and years ago, film.
I started creating scenes basically of portraits of

(13:04):
friends of mine. And most of my work, they look
like Renaissance paintings, kindof like the feelings here I'm
very influenced by like Caravaggio and all the painters
you know, and the pre Raphaelitepaintings and things.
So so that was my work early, early on.
And I didn't know what I was doing really.
Truthfully, I didn't know anything.

(13:25):
I didn't know enough stop from ashutter speed or whatever.
But then I actually decided to go to school and make it a
career. And because I've always been
into clothes and fashion my whole like from an early age, my
grandmother was a seamstress. I learned a lot of stuff from
her. She was a bit of a fashionista,
my Oma. So when I did go to photography
school, I decided that I wanted my special to be to be fashion

(13:48):
it. So I graduated in 1990 and
started the beginnings of what Iwas hoping to be a fashion
photography career. At the time.
I lived in Vancouver. I've lived all over Canada.
It's crazy, but I lived in Vancouver.
I did assisting first because I really wanted to make sure I
worked for some big name shooters that I knew what it was
like. And that really was helpful, you

(14:10):
know, And then I started slowly getting some work myself.
When I moved to Toronto, my intention was to continue like
really try to build up my careerhere with shooting and My
Portfolio and stuff. And I was getting some work and
I had a photo studio over on Carla Ave. where all the
photographers were gathered. In that time in the late 90s,

(14:30):
everybody was over on Carla and Queen area and there was big
lofts there and they were still affordable.
And I shared my studio with, I think it was about 5 other
photographers and there was two big dark rooms.
And it was a time when photography was still so analog
and the rumblings of digital were there.
I mean, some people had of course embraced it, but we were

(14:51):
still hanging on to, I was hanging on to for dear life to
analog until the bitter end, till there was no more film, no
more paper. You know, now it's actually is
making a comeback. But at the time, it was like
literally every time I went to the to go get more film or more
paper, there was less and less to choose from.

(15:12):
So it was at that time that, youknow, I started to think more
about my work. And my work was very editorial
and commercially it was not really selling because it was
too artistic. That's what I was getting a lot
of, you know. So I thought, well, I'm going to
take this to the next level and really, really see where this
goes artistically. And that's kind of where my

(15:35):
where I sort of transitioned from commercial work to fine
artwork. During that era, what was the
energy like around that time foryou in your life?
Like, how did you feel as far aswhat was in the future for
artists and creatives? Most photographers shared studio
space unless you were like big, big names and you had shoots
every single day. Some of the shooters that were

(15:55):
in the studio space did a lot ofon location shooting.
So they didn't need the studio space all the time, but they
needed the dark rooms. And then, you know, some people
like I needed the studio space and outside and back and forth,
you know, so, so it was more affordable to be sharing a
thing. And, and I was very lucky to be
sharing the studio with some very big name Toronto based

(16:15):
photographers who were also not just shooting commercially, but
doing fine art as well. So there was a lot of creative
energy in that space and everybody supported each other.
And, you know, I would usually do something and then run it by
a photographer next to me and show them the contact sheets.
You know, we had time at that time.
We had contact sheets do my first edits and then get a

(16:37):
second opinion. And everybody was there while I
was because I used to make all my own costumes and my props and
stuff for my work that, you know, they'd see me doing crazy
things like making big giant Angel wings with feathers.
And things like that. And they, and so they'd always
see me at doing something and itwas kind of fun because people
would always, I was like, you know, say, oh, I love that.

(16:59):
I love that fabric that you're going to use a backdrop.
And so you got a lot of that creative energy going.
And it really, really helps whenyou're, when you're in that
environment because the, the that kind of environment just
makes you want to make more work, you know, So that's kind
of that was the, I have very fond memories of that time in my
life. So.
At a certain point you started moving from editorial towards

(17:22):
more fine art photography, so talk to me a little bit about
that era and what led to that. Where did that come from?
Well, that came from wanting to explore, to make more art rather
than just be a commercial, do commercial work, which often it
involves an art director and youknow, you don't have as much
artistic, creative freedom. Deciding to do my own work

(17:44):
really gave me that freedom of artistic whatever.
And in the beginning I decided to go for it like I always do,
and I started creating work. And by the time I had, you know,
a good eight pieces or whatever,I started submitting work to New
York galleries. I was like, I'm just going right
to New York. I'm doing it, yeah.
Right, because New York, you know, as you know, is basically
the hub of, of art in the in thestates, You know, like in

(18:06):
regards especially photography was really big at that time and
I got some good feedback from some of the galleries.
I, when I think back of it now, I think, Oh my God, how brave to
sit like crazy that I did that because imagine you're a big
gallerist in New York and you get these pieces from somebody
unknown in Toronto. And it's like, but I was really

(18:27):
happy for all the feedback 'cause I got some really, really
good feedback. And the, and the personal note
from one of the top gallerists that I really admired, you know,
said this is some of the he was really impressed with the work
is what he said. And I was felt so honored and
actually kept me going to keep going.
So I ended up creating a dozen pieces and I sort of

(18:47):
happenstance lucky enough to getmy first solo show in Toronto at
Edward Day Gallery, which was the gallery on Queen Street at
the time in the in the early 2000s.
I mean, Edward Day was very respected.
Sadly, it's no longer open, but when it was, it was definitely
one of the galleries that I so admired.
And when I got reached out to tofor a studio visit by the two

(19:11):
curators who ran it, I was just like, wow.
So anyway, it was great it it turned out.
I want to go back to what you said.
Why not you though? Like why not you?
And you know. But like, legit, Like seriously?
What you said early on in our conversation about like, you got
to own it, but sometimes it's hard to own it, right?
So I know, but I think a lot of it was because I had just

(19:32):
started to, you know, and I knewother people who are making art
longer than me. And so that sort of you start
thinking like that, oh, you know, I'm not there yet and you
know, I have a lot more to do whatever.
So but it did. It was quite an amazing
experience and a big coup and that kind of kept me going.

(19:52):
So like started the the ball rolling on that.
Everyone has their own past, hastheir own experience that they
bring to the table. And like, I don't know every
detail of your past, but I'll say this as somebody who you
know, as a gay man, I'm like, I love it when a woman owns the
fuck out of who she is. And it's just like, yeah, I am
that good. I'm gonna fucking go for it to

(20:14):
me. And I see that.
And I'm like, you're telling me this.
I'm like, yes, like it makes so much sense as to why you're at
where you're at. You know what I mean?
Like, I see this. I'm like.
It's true, but that's not what Iwas thinking at the.
Time. I know, right?
I sure wasn't thinking I'm that good.
I was like, OK, I'm gonna try and see.
You know every artist. Like, I know very few artists

(20:35):
that are completely, 100% confident in their work and what
they do and not questioning everything all the time.
There's a few that are, you know, obviously, but a lot of
people I know, we're all questioned all the time.
Confidence is like building a muscle.
You just have to keep right. It's just a constant so but so
that was a big coup for me though, in the way that I to get

(20:59):
a solo show like that. I was just like, wow.
So it was wonderful. And So what kind of work was did
you show at the exhibit? Like what was the?
The theme or the topic, it was, it was called Divine Light and
it was all portraits of women that looked well, they were
settings scenes very, very much based on Renaissance art.

(21:19):
Like, you know, a lot of of, I'mnot sure if you can see, but a
lot of the yeah, the type of portraits and they were based in
sort of like the Renaissance feel and the pregraphite feel.
Lots of fabrics and costumes that I made basically on the
models. And, you know, they were a
little bit like the old cowboy and western, you know, where you

(21:41):
front is the saloon, but the back is just wood.
That's the way I did them, right?
Yeah. Because because I, I, I didn't
have time to do fittings. So I would just like kind of,
you know, keep them open and close them.
And, you know, the, the portraits were quite static, of
course, 'cause they women at that time were very, you know,
static. And so that's kind of what I did

(22:02):
in photography. I've always been really big on
lighting. That's my, my thing.
So, you know, they're all lit very specifically and, and lots
of props and costumes and things.
So, so that's what they, that's what what I did.
I love that you are not only doing the photography, but
you're also designing the costumes.
Renaissance woman, I don't even think begins to describe.

(22:25):
You have so many things that youlike to do.
I know I'm like you. What did you call it?
Hyphen. Multi hyphenate.
That's very much like that, yeah.
I used to go scouring second hand stores for fabrics and you
know, things like that. We talked a little bit about the
exhibit. This was a life changing time
for you, like not only for your career but also personally.

(22:46):
Can you talk a little bit about the story of meeting your now
wife and how your creative and personal lives merged together?
It definitely was life changing 100% in many ways.
So it was a kind of a happenstance situation because
my lab that was directly across the street from me on Carla
where I mentioned we were, had closed.
So I had to find a new lab to domy work.

(23:09):
I was researching labs. There's, there's a, it's a lot
longer story than this, but I'm going to give you a synopsis.
I was researching some labs and the lab that came up, which was
one of the top labs in the city was the lab that I thought,
well, I'm think I'm going to work with them because the
reviews, you know, rave reviews,everything like that, because

(23:29):
all my, my work was on film. So when I say lab, it's like
photo lab, right? And this particular photo lab
was very multidisciplinary as well because they offered
everything from printing to framing.
And I thought, well, I'll just use them for everything.
And at the time, I knew nothing about picture framing at all.
I had never really done much of it.

(23:51):
You know, I, I just, you know, would buy things that were
already framed or whatever. I never really paid that much
attention because of commercial work.
You don't really need frames toomuch, right?
So when I went there to talk to them, I had made an appointment
with, with someone there. And when I got there, you know,
went to the counter, I walked inand there was this woman on the

(24:13):
phone behind the counter and another woman who was taking
care of me. And when I walked in and saw the
woman on the phone, I was like, Oh my goodness, who's that?
I I seriously said that in my mind, oh wow, who's that?
Then she got off the phone and she walked past me and my
contact sheet was on the counterand she sort of looked and she

(24:34):
goes, nice work. And then she walked away.
I was like, Oh my goodness, wow.I started continuing my
conversation with the, the person who was helping me and
talking about my show and printsand everything.
And then we finished that part and I said, well, now I actually
need to talk a little bit about framing because I, I don't know
what to do with this work or howto, you know.
And she said, well, let me get Kelly for you, which I didn't

(24:57):
know this woman's name was Kelly.
As you know, I just saw her, literally it was Kelly and she
came towards me and as she was walking from a long hallway
towards me and I saw her and I went, Oh my goodness, that's the
framer, right? And she came up to me and
started talking and I literally it was like Charlie Brown walk,

(25:19):
walk, walk because I didn't heara word she said.
It was very funny and and now I know it was mutual because she
really had a lot of work to do. She spent over 2 hours with me.
Wow And gave me a tour of the lab and showed me where she
works in her studio and everything.

(25:40):
And every time I went there, I was hoping that she'd be there
because she's off. She was often in the framing
studio and not in the front counter area.
A lot of times when I come there, she just happened to me.
She'd see like you're you were coming in.
And it was very funny because I always wear, I always wore this

(26:02):
ring on this finger just for no reason.
It's just happened to me. And she thought I was already
with someone and she was talkingand this is going to be really
funny because roommate, the wordroommate right now, we all know
what that code means kind of thing.
And nowadays some friends say, what are you talking about?

(26:25):
Nobody calls does that anymore. I know.
But remember this was 21 years ago.
And she said to me, my roommate and I were planning because I
was going to New York the following week to visit a friend
of mine and do some gallery hopping and stuff.
And, and she said to me, oh, my roommate's brother lives in New
York and he said we can come down anytime to visit.

(26:47):
I think I should do that sometime.
And as soon as she said roommate, I was like, oh, we're
done. We're done here.
We're done. And it was very funny because my
best friend at the time, who I've sadly lost a few years ago
to cancer, she she called me andshe, she goes, were you there
today? And I said yes, Did you ask her

(27:09):
out? And I said no because she's
taken like I'm not even gonna go.
She's. A roommate.
She's got a roommate and she also said, are you kidding me?
Nobody says that anymore. I'm like, yeah, she's in a
professional environment, You know what I mean?
Like, anyway, it was very funny,but Long story short, it was a
comedy of errors. And when I got back from New
York, she had realized what she had said because someone pointed

(27:31):
out to her at work that you may have just said something that
she misinterpreted. Yeah.
You axed it before it even started.
Right. So she was like, Oh no, I gotta
figure out how to fix this. And the and the cutest line
ever. When I came back from New York,
I went there 'cause I had to meet with her for the another

(27:51):
design thing. I went to the counter and I saw
her and she goes, oh, you're back.
How was New York? And I said it was fabulous.
I had a great time, great galleries, blah, blah, blah.
And she said, well, how was yourweekend, you know?
And she goes, oh, I went to a movie alone and it was the
cutest thing. And I looked at her and she

(28:13):
goes, Yep, all alone. Yeah, you hear that?
Let me repeat myself. So it was after that that we
sort of started talking about going on a date and that's what
we did. And it was very cute.
And we had our first date 21 years ago, September 3rd.
So that was a long time. No, it's one of those memories

(28:36):
that you remember every detail. You know what I mean?
Like when things happen that areso profound, you remember every
detail. And that was, you know,
everything around that 2004 my show meeting Kelly.
It was all life changing. So you just remember all the
details, you know. So, and here we are now, all
these years later. How is that impact of that that

(28:56):
time in your life shifted the trajectory of your life to where
you are now? Like what would you say was the
most pivotal thing within that time that has LED you to today?
Yeah. Well, I think a lot of it was
Kelly and I deciding to go into business together.
We were actually, we started together as hanging art, art

(29:17):
installation. And we sort of fell into that
because we volunteered for the tsunami fundraiser at a gallery
that was, you know, that's how long ago that tsunami was.
And we, we volunteered and we went to the space to start
hanging art. And there was people there, lots
of people there mingling, talking.

(29:37):
And nobody had started hanging yet.
And we didn't have a lot of time.
So we were like, OK, let's just get this started.
You and I, we'll, we can figure this out.
And we did. And we had half the show hung
before it actually started, you know, and we were looked at each
other and go, wow, this is kind of fun to hang art.
Like we know this isn't you know, and Kelly's always a in a

(29:57):
handy person. I mean, she knows her tools.
She is very well a cute saying her father used to call her
handier than a pocket on a shirt.
And she really is like she thereis nothing she cannot engineer.
It always amazes me, you know, which comes in very handy in our
Business Today, especially for alot of very custom, custom
projects we have. We started just calling

(30:20):
ourselves Acacia Art Installation and together her
and I started doing these littlejobs, residential but also
corporate. And then we started getting more
and more projects. At the time we were doing that,
Kelly also, because she's the the master framer, she had left
the lab and decided that she wanted to go out on her own and
she put a little studio in my studio space, the photography

(30:43):
studio. And she had private clients
only. It was not retail.
It was, you know, people were coming, making appointments with
her, whatever. She was still building her
little custom framing business and we were doing art
installation and I was doing photography.
So it was kind of like all together it was, it was keeping
us going. And then we sort of started
talking about maybe we, we decide, you know, I did decide

(31:06):
to fold my commercial practice 100%.
It was just getting harder and harder to get work, especially
being a digital, an analog photographer, because digital
was really chomping at the, you know, coming up fast.
And I was teaching darkroom techniques at, at Humber College
for some time, you know, even incourses.

(31:27):
And then they called me and said, oh, we're taking all the
darkrooms out and we're going toask you to teach digital.
And I was like, I, I can't, I don't know anything about
Photoshop. I don't know anything about
digital. And so I quit that as well.
And I thought, you know what, it's inevitable.
I either have to learn this and do this or I'm going to pursue
my art. And I really decided to continue

(31:49):
pursuing my art rather than do the other thing.
And at that time, Kelly and I thought about also maybe opening
a, a, a framing business together.
And just coincidentally, or you know, I consider it
synchronicity because I don't, Ibelieve in synchronicities.
I do too. A very dear friend of ours was
on Church St. and he lived upstairs above Dudley's Hardware

(32:13):
store on the 2nd floor. There was a little office space
coming available and he lived upstairs so he knew it was
coming up. And our neighbor was actually
Fab magazine at the time. My God.
Throwback. Right, Throwback.
So we went to look at the space and it was a perfect size for
us. You know, it was small.
The the rent was super affordable.

(32:35):
And we thought, well, why don't we just take Kelly's sort of
personalized studio and move it in there and try to get a little
bit more work. And together we kind of thought,
OK, look, we're going to join forces and try to build this.
And in the beginning it was really naive, like very.
But that's how it starts. Yeah, we did all the, the
painting and renovation and building tables and, but it was

(32:57):
just Kelly and I and, and there was many, many times that we
were in our space just wishing somebody would come up the
stairs, right. But, you know, being on the 2nd
floor business is not easy, especially new, you know, when
you're brand new and stuff. But we managed to do it.
A lot of people knew us through the community and doing things
and events and things and and then Fab magazine decided to

(33:20):
leave. Vaguely I think Extra was in
there too for a bit. I think they were together.
They were together exactly and then one day we were one year in
business and it was just, you know, a, a very slow momentum,
but enough to keep Kelly busy. Because I didn't know anything
about how to put things togetheror, you know, frame or do

(33:43):
anything. But she did all that work and I
sort of was the, you know, client service person that they
came over and they said, you know, we're moving, we want to
sublet our space. Would you be interested in
taking over more space? And we always wanted to have a
gallery. We talked about that all the
time. We were like, if we had a bigger
space, wouldn't it be nice to have a gallery with openings

(34:05):
and, you know, whatever. So Kelly was just like, what do
I have to do to make this happen?
Right? We only been in business one
year. We can't take over that much
more rent right away without even, you know, whatever.
And again, a synchronistic situation happened.
The Churchwell's Ebia at the time was in an office down the

(34:25):
street. And they were experiencing mold
in their office. And we knew the fellow who was
the head at that time. That was like, you know, 2016
years ago. We've been in business.
And he came up to us and he said, would you guys know of
any, you know, office for rent? Keep your ear open.
I need to move. And Kelly was like, this office
is for rent. And it was, that's how it

(34:48):
happened. And so he moved in there and we
get along, got along with him really well.
He was the BIA there and we still kept the rest of the space
and we opened a gallery. So it, you know, we ended up
having a gallery space which that space up there was
beautiful, you know, arched windows and the lighting was
gorgeous. It was a heritage space, you
know. And so that was the beginning of

(35:09):
the gallery portion. Fast forward, we were there 8,
maybe yes, about 7 years. We just thought we have to move,
we need to grow and we wanted toadd more, more things.
We were getting busier and we wanted to add more offerings,
right? Not just to only picture frame,
but be a full service studio kind of thing.

(35:29):
And So what ended up happening is in the building where I'm
talking to you from now is whereour space is.
And we live upstairs on the 3rd floor.
And we've always lived here evenbefore the studio was
downstairs. So when the tenant that was
downstairs vacated, we were offered the space.
Like, would you think you could do something with this space?

(35:51):
And it was very broken up because there was an apartment
at the back and there was like, you know, levels and things.
We went in there one day and we just sat there and we looked
around and we sort of felt the energy.
And we're like, you know what, We can do this.
And we thought about it becomingsort of like the look of a
Chelsea, NY gallery, where a lotof the gallery in Chelsea, NY
are like 2 levels almost and they have like a mezzanine.

(36:14):
So we created this vision board with like our railing, which was
stainless steel and glass and, and then like this open space
with a big floating wall facing the window.
And when we sort of said, OK, we're going to go for it.
We're going to do this. We like we, we're going to dive
in now or it's just going to be where we are.
So we did, and we did all our own demolition because, you

(36:37):
know, we didn't have that lots and lots of money to spend.
But we ended up, you know, beingable to afford the rent, like
the just the rental portion. Yeah.
And the move and everything. And as soon as we moved here, we
added our fine art printing department because we took over
the loft space at the back, which is a freestanding
building. And then we have the basement,

(36:57):
which is our wood shop. We basically kept expanding.
Yeah. We sometimes pinch ourselves
from where we started to where we are now.
It's like, I don't know how thathappened, but we learned a lot,
you know, along the way. So.
The way you're talking about like the trajectory of Akasha,
yeah, To me, that is how you do it.
Boots on the ground, you're in it, you're part of it.

(37:20):
You're creating it from the ground up.
You're immersing yourself in allaspects of the business.
That, to me, is how you build something that is long standing,
that has to stand the test of time.
Because if I'm not in it, and ifI'm not part of it and I'm not
breathing it, I'm not experiencing all of it.
It's disconnected for me. Oh, yes, yes, 100% yeah.

(37:43):
It's quite interesting the way it grew.
And then we had a very functional gallery up until
COVID. And actually I was in that show
because it was an International Women's Day exhibition and there
was three women artists, including myself with my type of
work. And then actually Kate McLean
right here behind me, you know, her work is very, she's a
painter, but it's so works together.

(38:06):
And there was another artist involved as well.
And the three of us were in thisand then we had our art opening
and three days later we had to close our doors and we sort of
decided to change the gallery model and we had a few pop ups.
And the last couple of years we didn't do anything because we
were opening a second location in Prince Edward County, which
was another story. Now we're going back to pop ups

(38:28):
and next week we have our first pop up.
We're very excited and we're going to start doing that again.
Like we're it's pop up and either a guest curator or a pop,
an artist pop up or even other things.
We've had fashion shows in our space, we've had a few things
that are very interesting, so itdoesn't necessarily only need to
be a gallery exhibition. So that's what we're planning
now moving into 2026. From what you're saying, there's

(38:50):
so many different aspects of community, whether it's fashion,
whether it's commercial, whetherit's community engagement.
So like for you, why was the community piece such an
important part of Akasha? So one of the things we, we
really set sort of a intention when we started our business is
that we, we wanted to be able togive back to our community.

(39:10):
And the way we could do it was by sponsoring art auctions and
fundraising auctions and things like that.
So very early on we started being open to that.
Over the years we've done buddies, Snap for act, you know,
Inside Out Film Festival and other fundraisers.
And so that has been a very important part of our community.
I don't think we'll ever stop that.

(39:30):
We always, we're always willing to donate something or if it's
something that's near and dear to our hearts, we'll gladly do
that. So you do need to give back,
which is basically the same as giving thanks and gratitude.
With that said, I feel like you've given so much to the
community. I've experienced moments where

(39:51):
the community has given back to you.
Like, how do you feel where the tides are turning in the sense
that that energy that that love that you put out is now coming
back to you? We have a lot of support.
I have to say we have, we're very blessed with really
wonderful clients. We do all work for everybody.
I mean, definitely hospitality and design work is a big portion

(40:13):
of our business, but we have lots of residential clients and
collectors and members of our community and allies and the
people who are not members of our community.
We have a very, very nice clientbase and we have a wonderful
team. Our staff is amazing.
The art openings really helped give us exposure.
A lot of people were coming to art openings and then seeing

(40:35):
that we did this framing and things because at that time we
only did framing. We didn't have all the other
elements. People would come back with work
or whatever. And so that the art openings
definitely were responsible for a lot of exposure to our
business. We used to have a packed house
almost every Thursday of our of an opening and it was great.

(40:56):
You know, we had such diverse artists and such really cool
pieces and works and installations and that really,
really helped bring exposure to our business.
Which led to you winning an award at the CGLCC Summit?
I have to ask, how did that cometo be?
Because you were. We didn't know.
No. Because you know what?
They. Yeah, Because we're the ones who

(41:17):
framed the awards, right? Well, what happened is it's so
funny because when they when we were getting, you know, given.
And a shout out to Patrick Hunter for his beautiful work
frame. Who also was on the podcast.
I know I saw. Yeah, he's so, he's so
wonderful. I remember getting the names of
the winners. And I said to Kelly, that's odd.
This year there seems to be onlythree winners.

(41:39):
And I said, maybe they cut out acategory and she goes, yeah,
maybe because we only have threenames for the plates, you know,
the metal plates that go on. So that's the only thing I said
about it. And she said, and then we
continued to frame them and we brought them to the awards at
the at the business Summit. And it was very cute because
Jessica Gray from RBC, she was the one who was giving the OR

(42:03):
like the award. We were having lunch outside and
she kept coming over and going, why are you 2 sitting out here
by yourselves? You should be in the ballroom.
And we were like, oh, OK. We were just having a moment to
talk and just have a little lunch or whatever.
And she goes, come inside. And so we thought, OK, well,
we're being, we don't want to beantisocial.
So we went inside. We sat down because the awards
were starting 5 minutes later, you know, we were like just at

(42:26):
the table with a bunch of people.
We had no inkling whatsoever. And the awards came up and, and
all of a sudden we hear our names and I think both of us, I
think our necks went what? I now remember.
It was so funny. And Peter Hawkins, you know who
was in the room too, He actuallyfilmed us the whole way going up

(42:50):
on stage and we were just lored because we had no idea.
So what they did is they sneakily got one of those wooden
plaque awards as a stand in because now we are framing our
own awards like, but it was verycute and they did it in such a
great way. So surprised.
And I mean, Kelly got teared up.She was tearing up because we

(43:14):
were quite like, Oh my goodness,what an honor, you know, and
everything. So it was very nice.
It felt really good. And talk to me a little bit
about what the award was for, sothat any of the listeners
listening. Sorry, it was the community
Builders Award, so giving back to the community and you know,
building, community building andthings like that.
So and yeah, so that was quite alovely.

(43:36):
And we have it now displayed at our front desk here and a number
of our clients have commented onit and we said, yes, we're
pretty honored and. I remember being in the room, I
was sitting next to Dan Dan, DanSnow, because I had no idea.
And when they said your name, wewere like.
I know. I I was getting emotional just
seeing you 2 being so shocked like walking up and being like
Oh my God no. Like having no idea.

(43:58):
I have to say we both felt very happy and very honored for that
award. Yeah, yeah.
So part of this podcast is I like to talk to people about
like, what the fuck moments? Like as entrepreneurs, as
creatives, like we are all kind of carving out our own paths.
And, you know, it's not always the easiest.
We've talked a lot about like the beautiful things that have
come of your your path. But yeah, I want you to talk to

(44:19):
me a little bit about of like a what the fuck moment that you've
experienced like running a business and how that went for
you. Well, we've had a few in the in
the beginning, mostly we were two naive artists because
Kelly's also an artist. She's a photographer as well.
She's a graduate of NASCAD Nova Scotia College of Art and
Design. Yeah, you went to NASCAD too?

(44:39):
I went to OCAD. OK, so.
Sister School. Sister School and she, you know,
so she's very creative. I mean her she does some very
beautiful work too. The biggest was that we went
into our business together completely naive AS2 artists and
not two business people. That was the biggest thing.

(45:00):
And we were like that for good beginnings of our years.
We didn't know anything about margins and books and this and
that or I think, you know, we were just happy when somebody
came up the stairs and did a place in order, you know.
But the biggest was when we we're in the need of a
bookkeeper and we at the beginning, we, we didn't have

(45:23):
enough invoices that we needed that.
But then about our fifth year inbusiness and we asked a referral
somebody to refer us and they referred us to this person who
came and interviewed with us. And we were like, oh, you know,
they seem OK. Like I think they'll be OK.
They seem to know what they're doing.
You know, we didn't do any background checks.
We didn't do any kind of like referral calls, you know, just

(45:45):
very naive. Oh, you're nice, you know.
Just going off fives. So funny.
Anyways, so it ended up happening that it was the worst
decision we ever made because this person didn't do a very
good job and things were buried.And if, if, if they didn't know
where to put something, they would just put it there or, you
know, whatever. So it Long story short, we got

(46:07):
audited and it was an eye. It was an eye opener to us, an
eye opener that we realized we cannot be that naive in
business. If we want to keep growing with
this business, we have got to get it together and figure this
out properly. So Kelly took some business
courses. We both learned some things and

(46:29):
that's will never happen to us again.
We're pretty strick. Kelly works very closely with
our current bookkeeper and you know, we're very, very on it and
everything's by the books and onand or whatever.
Sometimes people who go into business, and I mean, we're the
worst. We did that ourselves.
My biggest advice is when it comes to money and your finances

(46:51):
for your business, just be so careful, you know, really
careful and really thoughtful onwhat you do or who you hire or
whatever, you know. And it was shortly thereafter
that we incorporated. So we were not incorporated at
that time, which was good. And even then we didn't, we
wouldn't know the difference between a partnership and an
incorporation. You know what I mean?
Like we just, we just were like,we just want to do the creative

(47:14):
stuff, right. Like most artists.
Yeah. And.
And now we realize you, you can't, you can't survive like
that. You have to know what you're
doing. And it's a lot different now.
But we laugh sometimes when we think back about the naivete.
That definitely is something. That was a WTF moment.
Yeah. But.
That's the thing too. Like me going into this, like I
was like, I'm a designer. I'm gonna make like whatever,

(47:36):
I'm an artist. And then, you know, now almost
nine years later, I've been in business and.
I'm like. I'm like Jesus like this.
There's so much there's. So much to learn and at the
beginning it was very much like,I don't want to think about it,
that's not for me. That's how we were.
That's exact. Oh, you know, we were like,
buried your head in the sand, you know?
Oh, that's not so interesting tome.

(47:57):
This is much more interesting over here.
Yeah. Well, you know, you, you neglect
this over here. You don't have this over here.
You know what I mean? Like that's basically it.
We're talking a little bit about, like, the early days of,
you know, figuring shit out and getting to where you need to be.
So let's Fast forward to today, where you're launching Art
House, your new magazine. Where did that come from?

(48:18):
Like, where did that idea come from?
And like, what makes it different from, you know, the
past newsletters and the blogs that you've done in the past?
And that's exactly what it is. Is I was getting really, I just
felt like are the newsletters and the blogging was getting
old, stale and I felt like, you know, the every month writing a
newsletter on things, you know, happening or whatever, whatever.

(48:42):
I just wanted to do something that people were looking forward
to reading. I came up with the idea of doing
a digital magazine. I wanted to cover three of my
favorite subjects, art, design and fashion.
And I thought that's those 3 subjects most people really
enjoy. So together with my social media
director Anthony, I started, youknow, sort of outlined what I

(49:04):
was looking for in this magazine.
And I wanted it to be really sleek and clean and really
informative. And I immediately set out a few
names of people I wanted to highlight and profile in each of
those categories. Our first issue launched in
April. We're planning to do 4 issues a
year. Because it is quite
comprehensive. It a lot of work.

(49:24):
Yeah, it's a lot of pages. And we're just finishing up
literally next week our fall issue launches and then we have
one more issue at the end of theyear and then next year we'll be
back on the, you know, the cycle.
I've gotten really good feedbackon it.
And I mean, I've never done a magazine, you know, I've never
been the editor of something, but I've been a curator many

(49:48):
years now. And so it's similar basically.
I try to set up interviews similar to this, but more
typewritten things. And, and yeah, the first two
issues were really well receivedand I think we're going to keep
going with it. So we'll see how it goes.
And literally, when it comes into your inbox, it is a flip
like a magazine. Yeah, I love it.

(50:09):
I got to see an an issue. Yeah, it's fun.
You know, it really looks like you're reading a magazine, even
has the sound of pages turning, which I thought was adorable.
And you know, when the layout isbeautiful, the photography is
really beautiful. The cover will always be
something really striking, like the cover image.
We've sort of set the standard with the first one.

(50:31):
There'll always be a piece of art on the cover, and then it'll
be always in a really interesting, dynamic sort of
setting, like really graphic. So the next one is going to be
stunning, too. I wanted it to have that look,
you know, right down to the font.
It was very important to me. The font was specific.
And of course. Now that we've done two issues,
we sort of have a bit of a rhythm.

(50:51):
In the beginning I started working on the issue that was
coming up. Now I'm starting to work on
further ahead because I realizedyou can't do that, but takes too
long. So now I'm yeah.
So I'm populating things for like next issue already and then
I'm going to start populating the issue for next spring, like,
and I'm just trying to highlightreally interesting artists,
really interesting design things.

(51:12):
You know, we're going to be partof design TIO this year.
So we have we're one of the hostgalleries and so Congrats there
a lot of interesting things interior design show that's
happening in January. So I want to do really
interesting profiles of things in the fashion sphere.
I've done a couple of people that are like Canadian designers

(51:33):
and another really cool guy, JP Michaels.
That's the one that was in my last issue.
He's a stylist and he's always dressed to the Max and looks so
cool. There's a lot of interesting
people in this world. And then we also did the summer
issue. We did a bit, quite a bit big
profile on two different spaces in the county because the county

(51:53):
is like Art Central. I love.
It so and we're very involved there in the art arts as well.
So you know, I wanted to make sure to talk about the county as
if people haven't been to the county yet.
It's absolutely a stunning placeso.
We have one more thing in commonnow because I so my thesis at
OCAD. I created an editorial piece.

(52:14):
I created a magazine. And.
I love editorial. Like when I was in school, I was
convinced I'm like, I'm going into editorial design like I
want, even though at the time, you know, in I graduated in
2011, print was already dead or was dying.
Yes. But I love to do it.
And I think the thing that is the most bringing it back in the

(52:34):
idea of community, the thing that I love the most about it
was and which now that I'm saying it out loud, like I'm
realizing that the podcast is also this this platform that
you're creating to highlight other creatives.
To me, it's, it's not really about me.
Like I just love, yeah, featuring, I love talking to
people. I love hearing about what's
going on in the world. Yeah.
And it's the same, it's the sameAve. that you're doing, you

(52:56):
know, and yes. It's very similar.
Putting it together, like I remember when I was, you know,
I, I put in like the final piecewas like the first edition,
right? And I had real articles.
I had people writing, I had people do illustrations.
I had I featured my friends who were creative.
That's cool. Everything was like authentic in
it though, it was all original content and so knowing I did 1

(53:17):
and that took me a year to do, Ican't imagine doing 4A year.
That's a lot of work. Big hats off to my, my wonderful
social media guy, Anthony, because, you know, he, we work
very closely together on it and he really helps me with the
layout and things like that because I couldn't, I just
wouldn't be able to do it myself.
The time. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but

(53:38):
we're in a rhythm now. So it feels like we're, it's
easier to, you know, do it. And he also does all of our
social media because that's a lot of work too, like Instagram
and but you have to do those things.
That's very important, you know,play the game.
I know it's, I wish it wasn't soreally, but social media, it is
unfortunately a really big way of getting known and people

(53:59):
seeing you, right. So yeah.
We talked a little bit about this at the beginning and
throughout. You have a magazine out, you are
a photographer, you own the gallery like you have so many
different elements that have ledyou to today.
And so let's talk about the multi hyphenate.
Yes. All right.
And so now that you're at this stage of your life, like you're

(54:21):
pursuing a clothing brand and you're DJ ING now.
Yes, I am. First of all, I love that you're
DJ ING like yes, I. Love I love DJ ING too.
I love it. So I'm gonna.
It's so much fun. I have been told by so many of
my friends that I also need to do this.
I'm I, I, it's never gonna happen.
But like, once again, it's this thing that I'm like, there's

(54:43):
like a through line with both ofus.
Yes. Where, how did you get to this
point? Like with that, you're like, you
know what? Fuck it, let's let's just do
this. So, well, with the clothing, for
example, so in our apartment, I,I've my own sewing room because
I've, I've been a sewer and, youknow, clothing maker for many
years. I make a lot of my own things.

(55:04):
And I've always done that. And it's kind of because I took
a pattern drafting course because I really wanted to be
able to draw it and make it. That's basically the way I
wanted to do it. You know, pattern drafting is,
is not easy like you have, there's a lot around it.
So I, I actually went to George Brown continuing Ed fashion
program and I took a pattern drafting course and also lots of

(55:27):
YouTube because YouTube is amazing.
You know, I mean, I am love YouTube.
I'm a huge YouTube person. I learn a lot from different,
you know, creators in both the DJ world and the fashion world.
So honed my skills on the pattern drafting and I got more
and more into it. I started making clothes that I
would wear to events, you know, like of Snap or the CGLCC black

(55:50):
and white Gala or whatever. And people were asking me where
I got things and Kelly was like,you really got to think about
something like here because people are really liking what
you're wearing. And I thought, well, you know,
maybe I should try to, to see about creating something like
launching something. Well, that was 2016 and I've
been at it ever since. So it's not as easy process

(56:13):
because I'm very busy during theday and I really have to I, my
business comes first. So I have to work around the
time. And so usually at night I'm in
my sewing room or do working on something.
It's gotten more challenging since we opened the county
because we're pretty much every weekend in the county now.

(56:35):
So Kelly's suggesting that I move my sewing room into the
county because I can, I have more time there, you know.
But anyway, Long story short, I,I, I just literally finished my
brand like my final piece for mycollection.
And I'm now at the stage where Ihave to photograph everything,
which I'll do myself and then put it up and everything and

(56:58):
it'll be made to order. I don't, I'm not interested in
doing wholesaling because I don't want to carry like
inventory. I just wanna do like a made to
order, which is a bit more, you know, special.
I have a very dear friend who I profiled in the first issue, Dan
Deweyer, who's House of Deweyer.He's a fashion designer and he's
been extremely supportive and helpful to me as well.

(57:20):
So I'm getting closer and closer.
So I'm hoping 2026 which will bemy 65th birthday, which I'm OK
with that. It.
Is like I want my 65th year to finally be able to say, OK, it's
ready and done and called Decal like Raquel with AD And the
reason I called it that is because my something else about

(57:41):
Kelly and I were were huge Jackson lovers.
OK, so we've had 3 dachshunds over the course of our
relationship and our first one, her name was Decal.
She's a little black and tan 1 when she passed away it I had
her for even before I met Kelly.So it was heartbreaking.
Of course, she was 16 so it was going to be inevitable.

(58:03):
I decided to honor her by calling my clothing label Decal.
You know, we used to say she wassuch a beautiful Dame, you know,
like, like, you know, like from the 30s, you know, that kind of
word. You know, she was such a, you
know, elegant how she held herself.
Oh yes. And we have an image of her in
our in our little, we have a little wall of jacks and pieces.
And we have a very dear friend of ours photographed her and

(58:25):
painted over the photograph and put pearls on her diamond
diamond necklace on her. You gotta send me this I.
Wanna Yeah, I'll send you a picture.
She definitely was a beautiful and you know, she was wonderful.
So anyway, now we have one. We lost one in May, which was
also very heartbreaking 'cause it was so sudden.
But now we're putting all our energy into our little guy Duff,

(58:47):
and he's sleeping on the couch right now.
I'm looking at him. So Decal is my clothing line.
Kelly put it really well one daywhen I was really feeling down
about how long it was taking me.And she said, you know what,
think about it this way. It is like you're getting your
masters in one hour a week over the course of how long, right?
And I thought, yeah, that is right.

(59:08):
Because it is like that master'sdegree takes a long time, right?
There's so many elements. And if you, if you're working
full time, you only have this much time to devote to it.
So that's, that made me feel a bit better when I was thinking
about like, Oh my goodness, thistaking so long and nobody's
putting the pressure on on me except me, you know?
100% I totally. We always do that to ourselves,

(59:31):
right? So.
But yeah. So anyway, so that's the
clothing line. The deejaying is another story,
and this is something I've always wanted to do.
I'm so I've been waiting to talkto you about this.
I'm like, I want to get into it.So the DJing is very interesting
because years ago, before we moved into this building, we had

(59:53):
a break from this building, but we were living in a loft space
on College in Little Italy there.
And we had, Kelly had her table set up in the living room and it
was like work live space. And she had her clients there
and things like that. And I was still shooting, so I
wasn't really. Get involved with her business.
Until we got into business together, there was a Bar Italia

(01:00:14):
across the street and Bar Italiaevery Friday.
Saturday night had DJs and we used to sometimes go and sit at
the bar and have a drink and a snack and the DJ and, and I
started talking a lot just because I was very fascinated
with it. And one day he took me up to his
booth and he showed me all the bells and whistles and, you
know, and I just thought, oh, man, I want to do this so bad.

(01:00:36):
First of all, I'm a huge House fan and have been for many
years, many years. And it has not changed as I got,
have gotten older. As a matter of fact, I've gotten
even more into House. And I like techno too, but
lesser. I'm much more house.
House. Yeah.
But I do, you know, like I went to see Fisher not that long ago.
It was awesome. He's awesome.
But. He's great.

(01:00:56):
And I love Tomorrowland, I love watching it on YouTube.
And you know, anyway, these whole scene house scenes, so and
he used to play house. So that was the other thing.
And I was like, oh man, would I love to try this, You know, So
that was like before we started a business, so 16 years ago.
And so I would say about 10 years, no, 11 years ago, just

(01:01:17):
before COVID, on my 60th birthday, I decided, OK, I am
going to do this. I'm just going to do this
because I was watching some DJs on YouTube and I was just, I
really wanted to learn it. So my sister had a really good
friend who is a DJ and who does private DJ lessons.
And I booked with him and I did 2 sessions, like 2-2 blocks of

(01:01:38):
sessions. And basically to learn how to
use the controller, how to beat match, how to, you know, all
those, all those things, which even then you still have to
practice a lot, right? But but he was great and he's to
this day, he always sends a message, super supportive and
basically learned from him. And every weekend I was renting
equipment from Long and McQuaid and shout out to them.

(01:02:00):
They're amazing people. Over on Bloor St.
One day I walked in and one of the people behind the counter
and I told her this a couple of weeks ago when I was renting
speakers. I said to her, you know, you
were pivotal for a lot of thingsfor me.
And she says, oh, I was. And I said, you know, you were
so kind because when I came in one day to rent, she says, you
know what, you come in all the time and rent.
I have a demo model that is likegoing for really reasonable and

(01:02:25):
a monitor, which is your speakerthat sits beside you.
And I can give you these for I can't remember what she offered
me. And I said sold.
That was amazing because, you know, so I had it.
And I told her that a couple of weeks ago.
And she goes, oh, I'm so glad I made such a difference.
And I said, no, really, you did.And to be honest with you, I
used to go in there sheepishly thinking, you know, they're
looking at me with my Gray hair and they're like, oh, this older

(01:02:47):
lady or whatever. I always think people are
judging me, but I'm judging myself, you know, isn't that so
funny? So anyway, and she was, she's
been like, she's so kind and letting me, you know, giving me
encouragement by doing that. And now I like whenever I need
speakers or I always rent it from them.
And there was a long McQuaid in Belleville, so if I need them in

(01:03:09):
the county, it's easy. Anyway, so now then I bought my
own own equipment and I was practicing a lot and I just kept
practicing. And in the beginning I was just
streaming music. But, and now I, like, I've
basically stopped doing that. And now I buy my own music and
I'm always on the hunt for new really cool edits and things.

(01:03:30):
So I'm always listening and you know, my Shazam's my best
friend, you know, Shazamming what happened.
And so oddly, this is the best thing that could ever happen to
me is the fact that in Prince Edward County specifically,
well, Picton and Prince Edward County, there's a big house
scene there, which is amazing, right?

(01:03:51):
You would not know that. And that is the reason, because
there's a fellow there, Ree, whoused to own a gallery and he's a
DJ and he manages the DJs at thebase, which is the Army base
that's being converted into a big arts and culture hub up.
There it's. Called Base 31 and they have an
area called the Commissary, which is big shipping containers

(01:04:13):
turned into like food vendors and bars and things, very cool
space. And every Friday, Saturday night
over the summer, they have DJs. And Ree is the one responsible
for all the DJs. And he gave me a big chance
there. And I played my first big gig
there in July, the 26th of July.I was terrified because I was on

(01:04:36):
stage and, you know, like I was worried because here I was and
I, I really worked on my set and, you know, wanted to make
sure that I was playing like only the best of the best of
what I love. And it was really good.
My set was two hours and I was like halfway about half an hour
into my set. I just felt really relaxed
because I could feel it was going well.

(01:04:57):
And then he hired me again for an August gig.
And then I did another thing in a park.
You know, the more I'm doing it.And I also have a very good
friend out there who has an Airbnb that sleeps 10 people and
he oftentimes he, when he's there, he'll, I'll go over for a
visit because it's got beautifulpool in the backyard and
everything. It's called dragon field House.
Shout out to a dragon field house.

(01:05:19):
Fabulous play, fabulous place. And I always bring my decks when
I go there. He's a good friend and there's
always a bunch of people and I just play like it's like, you
know, I just playing and having fun.
So every time I play, I considerit practice.
Every time I play. So this past weekend was Cabbage
Tongue Festival and we closed off Ontario St. right beside our

(01:05:41):
business and I. I asked a friend of mine if he
would guess DJ with me and the two of us played Saturday and
Sunday and we took turns. He's on vinyl, which is even
cooler, and I was on the Ducks and he's more techno and I'm
more house, so it was perfect. Great balance.
Yeah, so it was great. We had speakers out on the

(01:06:02):
street, people walking by, stopping to dance, moving on,
because it was a big festival. But the more I play and the more
I practice, the the more confident I'm feeling.
And the other reason I stopped streaming my music is because if
you stream you, you can't actually do a recording uploaded
on SoundCloud or anything like that.
And I am, I'm a SoundCloud. I have an account and I have all

(01:06:27):
my playlists on there, but all of them are private right now
because I'm using it as my holding.
I use it as my sort of research holding.
And then I buy all my music either on some of the, the
bigger platforms. You know, my music library is
getting bigger and bigger. So, and now I'm planning to
start doing a few recordings andI recently started my own

(01:06:47):
Instagram page because people have been telling me you got to
do that. But it's going to ask.
It's private right now because Iactually hired this amazing
photographer, Wade Muir. I hired him last week to do some
more shots of me that would be more suited to that.
Because the funny story is when when Ree asked me for photos for

(01:07:10):
the summer, a headshot, I sent him my headshot, which you know,
is a headshot for like LinkedIn.And when when he put it beside
the other DJ that was playing that night, I was like, I
started laughing. I said to be like, oh, this
can't be anymore. I got to get something better
than this. Something more catered to.
Something more suited right. So I, I asked wade if he would

(01:07:33):
be kind enough and he we did some cool stuff last week and
I'm just waiting to see them. But I think once I get those I'm
going to start being a bit more,you know, pursuing that a bit
more. Again, it always comes down to
time for me, truthfully, it's really time.
I mean, I, I would love to just spend unlimited time, but at the
moment I, I just don't have it. So I have to kind of like just

(01:07:55):
play with it. But I am taking the next steps
to that because, you know, it's feeling better and more excited
about about it. So yeah.
I'll say this though, I have madrespect for it, even though
like, you know, so many people can say I just don't have time.
I don't have the time. But then here you are.
You're you're running a business.
You're like, I'm also going to do clothing.
I'm also going to do, I'm going to DJ to me that I have mad

(01:08:18):
respect for because I'm exactly the same.
I want to do everything. Everything, yeah.
And so I got to ask because I'm a house head through and
through. Like This is why I'm like we got
to talk because if ever now thatI know this, I will be sending
you music because I. Have great.
My sister and I were really annoying.
We're in the best way where we we're constantly sharing music.

(01:08:41):
Oh, I would love that because you know, if I like it, I will
go buy it then, you know what I mean?
That's what how I'm doing it now, so.
And So what are you, what are you playing right now?
Like what are your go to's that you're like OK, this is in your
head. So I love UK garage, so I play.
I love Mike Millrain. He's one of my favorite DJ's.
You may know this. It's called Deep radio.com.

(01:09:02):
I'm a huge fan. OK, so I you're speaking my
soul. I love the radio.com.
And there's a DJ there that plays Saturday night.
It's called DJ Tsai SI. He has an English accent as, as
does Mike Milrain, who actually is based in London or like
outside of London, but he's in England.
And I looked up DJ Tsai thinkinghe was also in England because I

(01:09:24):
was a huge fan of what he was playing.
Turns out he lives in Guelph andI was so excited to see that.
And a couple of times I've commented on him and he's
commented on me. But through for through Akasha's
thing and I get I'm really influenced by people like him
and, and Mike Moraine. I love some of these really deep

(01:09:47):
house producers like Seb Junior from Spain.
I love his music. There's a lot of really strong,
really good producers in Italy and Spain right now.
I love really deep house, like really good dancey dancey dirty.
Dirty beat. Dirty dancy and I love really.
I do like melodic house too. Doesn't always work in with my

(01:10:08):
sets but if it's an early evening thing I would do a
little more melodic. But I also like the vibes of a
DJ that I've been following on YouTube called Gentlemen.
I don't know if you know him. No, I don't.
He spells it like GNTLIN and he's a producer DJ and he has
these really, really velvety deep house sounds that I'm

(01:10:30):
really, really drawn to. I love it.
Funnily enough, I'm starting to play around with a garage band.
I I know Ableton is very difficult to learn and that's to
produce your own house tracks. I have some ideas of playing
with layering sounds and creating acapellas from things
I've been playing around with that.
It's a little technical, but it,there's a thing called stems in

(01:10:53):
my DJ software that isolates vocals and the kick drum and
the, you know, melody and the bass.
So you can basically isolate A vocal and then, you know, take
that and low layer it over another track kind of thing.
And I've been playing around with that quite a bit.
And that's really fun too, But you got to play around to see if
things work right. And so, so I'm kind of thinking

(01:11:13):
about that because there's a DJ in the county that I, I played
with one night and I really likehow what he does and he takes a
lot of like maybe a commercial track.
That's tough. 40 or something. And he'll layer, layer it over a
deep house and it's just blows my mind.
Like it sounds so good. And he's really good at that.
Like he knows how to do all that.

(01:11:34):
He's a musician too, so he knowshow to use all those controls,
but so him I'm really inspired by him too.
And I listen to a lot of music alot.
Like I've always got house on orchill house at any form.
You know, I love watching DJs onYouTube.
Like I, I'm not necessarily a fan of the music, but I love

(01:11:57):
James hype. I think I just love the energy
he brings to every. Set Wild.
He's amazing and he creates likewhile he's flying from New York
to Ibiza, he's he's creating a track on the plane, you know
what I mean? And and he has his own YouTube
channel that's all about the hisback scenes.
And he just seems like a really nice, humble guy.
Like he does not seem demanding of his team or anything.

(01:12:19):
And he's just so I just love watching it and watching him
play. I mean, it is like that'll never
happen for me. Like that is, he is like it is.
Unbelievable. Next level like to have that
much hand control constantly like.
Just the way that you and the creation of those sounds and you
know, it's 100% he's legitimate like and I also love, I also

(01:12:42):
love that him and Tita Lao like they're like the couple.
Oh. They're so sweet.
They are. No, they're they're fiance's
now. I think they're getting married,
but. I love that we're talking about
this. This is giving me life right
now, right? No.
Oh my God, Sonia. Well, I love the whole scene.
First of all, the biggest thing I can say about house music is
it just makes me happy. It's a very happy sound.

(01:13:05):
And I love dancing. Kelly and I, we love dancing.
We both are the same in that andwe both love house music.
You know, moving your body is very important.
I've been, I've been athletic most of my life.
And I find whenever I'm able to move my body, it just makes me
feel really good physically, right?
You know, music just makes you happy.
I just feel like, and, and you know, and it's the same for

(01:13:28):
anybody. If you're into country music and
you love country dancing, it makes you happy, right?
It's the same thing. It's just the sounds are
different, right? So I think I got a lot of that
from my home because there was lots of jazz in our house and
lots of Diana Ross was big, always playing on our home.
And, yeah, iconic stuff, you know, Barbra Streisand, people

(01:13:50):
like that. And then, you know, Miles Davis
constantly Coltrane. This, this is what I grew up
with. And you know, and I never, I, I
did early on, my father was pushing me to learn how to play
flute because my father played sax and flute, but I did for a
little bit. But it, I just, it just didn't
interest me as much, you know, So I've really now my, my music

(01:14:12):
interest has always been in, in the house world and I love going
to events where there's music like that.
But now I'm excited that I'm actually doing the music.
So, you know, and I'm, I'm certainly not ready for a
festival or anything. I don't feel like that yet but I
do feel like I'm taking baby steps and I'm loving it.
And the best compliment I got was I got a message on Instagram

(01:14:36):
from someone who it's works in abar in the West End and asked me
where do I normally play? And yeah.
And I said, well, I don't, you know, I just, this is just, you
know, sideline and, and she said, oh, my God, that was one
of the best sets I've heard in along time.
And I work in a club with a DJ. And I was like, Oh my God, are

(01:14:56):
you real? I said to her, thank you so much
for saying that. That just really boosted my
confidence a lot, you know? I'm gonna ask cuz I know that
you you have some stuff on private but like I would love to
hear like also what's your what's your DJ name?
What do you say? OK, this is a cute story.
Yes. My DJ name is DJ Yaya.

(01:15:17):
OK, It's spelled Yaya. And the reason for that is my
little niece, our little goddaughter, niece, Kelly's
sister's child. When she was a baby, she she
couldn't say the word Sonya. She used to call me Yaya.
And to this day, she's now 10 and she calls me Yaya to this

(01:15:37):
day is my nickname. So when I started deejaying and
Kelly and I were very involved, were very involved as godparents
and aunts with her. And when I decided to call, come
up with a name, I, I said to her, I'm going to call myself DJ
Yaya for you. Because I used to when she was
little, like four or five, I used to practice on the decks

(01:15:59):
and she'd be dancing away and everything.
So I kind of thought, you know, I'm gonna, you know, she always
wanted to hear like when she gota little like 7-8, it was always
like, can you play Kylie Minogue?
Can you play Katy Perry? Can you play?
You know what I mean? Yes, yes.
You know what? Oh, now I lost her name, you
know, the big one. And no Madonna.

(01:16:21):
The girls, all the girls love her.
Spice Girls. No, the one that was just, I got
sorry, I'm having a moment. Lady Gaga.
No, no, she just got engaged to a football.
Player Taylor Swift. Yes, that one.
Hilarious. It's like, anyway, yeah, no.
And, you know, so I used to playlike those things for her, you

(01:16:42):
know, and stuff like that. So I said to her, when I become
do it, I will, you know, call myself after your name, DJ.
Yeah, Yeah. So.
Just hearing you talk about these new paths that you take,
you're dedicating them to these influences in your life.
These people like whether it's avery much or your DJ name, like
it's not, it's not. You're not making it about you

(01:17:04):
like. You're no, it's morning.
In. Yeah, yeah, I.
Love that. Yeah, yeah, recently a cute
story recently, my goddaughter really likes clothes too.
And you know, and it's very cutebecause since early age I would.
I was always very much doing things and like, I've made her
some things and she, I bought her a little mini sewing machine

(01:17:25):
when she was young and she wouldbring it into my room and sew
with me while I was sewing. You know, the kind that they
don't have needles, you know, And now she's at the age that
she's, I'm actually letting her practice some sewing on my
machine and she's so excited about it, you know.
Well, I decided to surprise her because I figured 10.
Like she's pretty mature for 10.She's old enough, yeah.
She's old enough now, so FashionWeek was on in the fall in like

(01:17:50):
the spring, spring Fashion Week.And I surprised her with
tickets. So I took her to Fashion Week,
her and I, and we had a blast. We got so dressed up and, and
you know, she's got impeccable fashion sense for 10 years old.
Like she'd always show me what she's wearing, you know, like
she'd have her whole week of clothes planned out for school,

(01:18:10):
you know? And so she, she's very, she's
very much into clothes and stufflike that.
So anyway, she basically styled herself here and it was amazing.
She looked so cool and we went there and you know, she was, her
eyes were like this big, you know, and the best part was it
that we even though we had general tickets, they moved us
to the front row. I just thought, Oh my God, what

(01:18:32):
an amazing experience for her, right?
So, so it was really, really fun.
It's all Canadian fashion running down the runway.
It was very cool. So we had a lovely evening
together, her and I just like exploring that that event so.
I'm not to make this about me, but we have another thing in
common. I brought my, my sister was 13
years old and I, I had a collab that I did for Fashion Week in

(01:18:52):
2012 and I got to bring her to the runway show.
My parents as well, but to see like my little 13 year old
sister. So it's once again another
parallel. It's so cool.
It is. I mean, I I think it's really a
fun thing to do. I know how much I was influenced
by other people in my life at that young age when you're like

(01:19:12):
around there, her developing this, this clothing thing was
just natural, right? Like, you know, it's really nice
to see that she just enjoyed, like, you know, she loves
Project Runway and, you know, wewatch it together, you know?
Are you watching the new season?I just, I just finished.
Yeah, I love it. I Apparently Project Runway

(01:19:33):
Canada is coming back. Well, on that note, that's
literally who so sunny Fong who?Yes, yes.
So. That's who I did the collab with
in 2012. My God with his vocline, yes.
Fabulous spring summer 2013, I think.
I remember when Sunny won. I know that's how I first saw
him and then I remember I ran into him at Fly nightclub and.

(01:19:57):
Then we. Started chatting and then that's
where it it came from. And then I was like 24 years old
when we did that. So cool and it and it is it
true? Is he going to be a host or
something for Project Runway Canada or is there some other is
there? I, I heard there was some, I
don't know if he is, but there'sI, I thought I heard that
Project Runway Canada was going to get revived.

(01:20:18):
I would love that. I think it would be.
Wouldn't that be great? I love.
Seeing Canadians thrive, you know, in this world is still
like US, heavy that I'm like, let the Canadians do their
thing. And there are some amazing
fashion designers and talent in fashion in Toronto, like in
Canada, but Toronto for sure, like I have to honor Toronto
Fashion Week because they reallyhave done the fabulous show in

(01:20:40):
bringing it back and showcasing the clothes like really good.
They have lots of different designers and emerging designers
and it was really a great event when we went so.
We've talked about. So many things.
Fashion. We've talked about music, we've
talked about art, photography, queer life in general.
Like we've talked about so many things.

(01:21:01):
Now, at the end of every episode, I like to ask all of my
guests the same question, OK? And you know, you can answer
this in any direction. You can go personal,
professional, whatever, but if you were to look at your the
trajectory of your life and say like what is the most on brand
thing about you? The most on brand I think is

(01:21:21):
definitely I rarely under dress.I have a very cute little funny
story about that. I love it.
Kelly's sister and her wife. They and the our Lagarde
daughter, this was like when shewas only three or something,

(01:21:41):
went to a Christmas tree farm and they were gonna cut down a
Christmas tree. And so they said we're all gonna
go on this and you ride on the back of a truck with hay bales.
So I said, oh, OK, I don't know what I was thinking, but I got
really dressed up for this event.

(01:22:01):
You're like I'm showing up. I was wearing a cap, a shawl,
boots, cute boots, everything. Honestly, I looked like I was on
the Highlands of somewhere in London in England.
You know, like when I showed up to their place to go together,
they looked at me like, are you kidding us right now?
You're like, yeah, this is what I'm.

(01:22:22):
Doing this is my outfit, yes, asKelly to this day she got a
picture of me on the back. There I was dressed like that,
sitting on the back of like thistruck with hay bales all over
it. And it was to this day we get a
kick out of laughing about that because yeah, that's me.
I I'm always the over overdressed.

(01:22:42):
Like, you know, I'm invited to something and it's like, oh,
it's casual. Oh, I don't know that word.
I don't understand what. That means I'm not doing that.
So that was the funniest thing, that story.
I, I, I kind of haven't lived itdown because they bring it up at
family dinners and stuff and we laugh about it.
But that is definitely the most on brand for me is I love it.

(01:23:03):
Dressing. Dressing, Yeah.
I could learn a thing or two from you.
I'm a casual girl. I'm casual Kelly, let's just say
that. Listen Sonia, you are iconic to
me. I think you are so
inspirational. This is my last episode of
season 1. What an amazing guest to have.
You really like thank you showedout for me.

(01:23:23):
This has really meant the world.Like, honestly, I can't thank
you enough for taking the time to chat with me.
I mean, you're now officially mylongest interview.
And no, no, I'm, I'm loving it. I'm like, please, let's do like
a Joe Rogan where it's three hours long.
I Oh my. Goodness.
Wow. Yeah, right, right.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God.
Well, thank you very much. I I appreciate you having me.

(01:23:46):
And your words are very kind. Thank you so much.
I it was this has been really fun chatting with you.
Yeah, I did. I did feel like we were just
having a coffee. I told you right?
I'm like, don't worry. It's just, it's very
lackadaisal. Very fun, so thank you very much
again. You're welcome.
And so to anyone listening, if they want to connect with

(01:24:07):
Akasha, they want to connect with you as an emerging DJ as
they want. I know it's all private, but
yeah, if they wanna connect withthe fashion line, like where can
they or the magazine, like wherecan they connect with you?
Well, definitely they can connect with me through a cache
art project, which I'm always there and I have a, my direct

(01:24:28):
e-mail is basically on like everything's on the website.
But personally you can connect with me on LinkedIn.
I'm on LinkedIn all the time too.
And I don't have anything yet with the decal or the DJ thing
personally yet that's to come. But you can always send me
messages on LinkedIn. Amazing.
And I'll put all that in the show notes so that it'll all be

(01:24:48):
connected and people. OK, OK, great.
And I'll make sure to let you know when I'm playing next.
Next time I'm in Toronto, like awe have to get together, but
also I will absolutely. If you're performing, I'm gonna
be there. OK, sounds good.
I love it, Oh my God. And so, and once again, thank
you so much for being part of the show.

(01:25:09):
It means the world to me. Yeah.
Thank you very much and don't forget to send me that music
'cause I'm all I'm excited to listen.
You sent me your number, so I will add you.
I'll send you a text after this and then I will we'll connect.
Sounds good. OK.
Thank you very much. You're welcome.
And to anybody who's looking to connect with me over design, you
can reach out to methroughgeographic.com, follow

(01:25:30):
the podcast on Instagram or on TikTok.
Like, comment, subscribe, all ofthe above.
I'm still new, so I would love the boost in the algorithm.
And Sonia, once again, I want tothank you for being part of
graphic content. We're wrapping Season 1 and
we'll be back in a little while with Season 2.
Bye. Bye.
Thank you very much.

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