Finding Purpose: Debbie Adams
Canadian Love Map
This love story belongs to Debbie Adams, originally from Upper Island Cove, Newfoundland. Opportunity is the concept that feeds our thirst to progress in life. Our role models and peers often teach us to take opportunities free of fear and baggage - that the world is our oyster. But what if you grew up in a small, remote community that lacked role models who matched your expectations in life? From her early childhood, Debbie was the square peg, driven by a dream that one day she'd find her fit. Life continuously threw Debbie curveballs and she herself found routes that felt like deadends. But...
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A Tail of Two Loves: Mike and Lisa
Canadian Love Map
If you've owned a dog or cat, you know the kind of love connection that's formed between a pet and their owner. The flipside of this unconditional love is the heartbreak and anxiety that takes place when your furry friends go missing. According to the SPCA, this happens over 1 million times a year in Canada. Behind each plea for help is a family worried for the wellbeing of their pet and an animal that is often scared and alone. The resources available to help recover lost pets are limited, so oftentimes the only tools available to owners are free time and goodwill. But one couple is...
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Rise and Shine: Katelynn Smith
Canadian Love Map
As a child of the fostercare system, Katelynn grew up in constant search of what she felt she never had: stability, family, and love. A life full of challenges and devastation eventually led her down a path of self-love and self-discovery, something which she now shares with an audience of nearly 300,000 followers on Tik Tok. Katelynn's life hasn't been without its dark spots, but she chooses to live in the light. She uses the pain of her past to relate to an ever-growing community of women online, becoming a personification of the unconditional love she once saught so tirelessly. ...
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Finding Strength in Vulnerability: Patrick Gaudet
Canadian Love Map
This week's story comes from Patrick Gaudet, a Tik Tok creator from Montreal. Patrick's emotional and authentic videos focus on the subjects of love, life, and relationships - and have found him a substantial following on the platform. Using social media as an engine for impact, Patrick and the community he formed online helped to crowdsource an act of incredible generosity, introducing the creator to an even wider audience. Today, he continues to help and inspire through his brand of radical vulnerability. Patrick has amassed a Tik Tok following of 310, 600, most of whom are...
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Holiday Favourite: A Holiday Heartthrob (Season 5 Episode 16)
Canadian Love Map
This is the time of year most of us try to take things a little slower. Maybe for you, the holidays mean family, friends and festivities. Maybe it means taking some time to yourself to read a book or watch a couple of holiday flicks. Speaking of holiday movies, this week, we're treating ourselves a little bit by replaying one of our all-time favorites. This love story belongs to Steve Lund, a Canadian actor who you may know from such shows as Bitten, Street Legal and Schitt's Creek. You'll also recognize him from seasonal favourites such as Christmas Bedtime Stories, Single All The Way...
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Creativity, Curiosity, Community: The Curiosity Club
Canadian Love Map
This love story belongs to a terrific trio of women, Stephanie McNamara, Erin Bulger and Kristen Herrington. Kristen, Stephanie and Erin first became creative collaborators and the magic they discovered led to a deep and rewarding friendship. Now they're joining forces to encourage others to tap into their creativity with a collective called Curiosity Club. It all started when Stephanie asked Erin to mentor her in photography, then led to a magical run of her one-woman show "Her Beautiful Brain". The experience was so profoundly moving it inspired the 3 women to start something...
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Open To Love: Coco Love Alcorn
Canadian Love Map
This love story belongs to the aptly named Coco Love Alcorn, a Canadian singer-songwriter whose music has found its way into hearts around the world. She had been writing and performing for decades when her song The River suddenly floated her music to a global audience when choirs everywhere started singing it. That birthed the idea for the Wonderland singers, a virtual community created by Coco, that might just be the best thing to come out of the pandemic. The Wonderland Singers is an interactive, spontaneous, offering creative freedom to those who participate. Her online and in-person...
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Seasons Greetings From The McMasters: Steve and Alyssa
Canadian Love Map
This love story is straight out of a Holiday Rom-Com. It all started at a party when Alyssa spotted a Christmas card featuring a scantily clad bachelor with a huge sense of humour. It was that very Christmas card that was the start of a great love story. For 5 years, Steve had his very own unconventional tradition of humorous photoshoots, which he turned into yearly Christmas cards for his family and friends. But when Alyssa entered the picture, the solo shoots were no more, and the pair has now embraced the tradition together. Steve and Alyssa are truly a united team, who have navigated...
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Beauty From Trauma: Jasyn Lucas
Canadian Love Map
This love story belongs to Jasyn Lucas, an Indigenous Canadian painter from the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation in northern Manitoba. Jasyn is a survivor of the “Sixties Scoop”, which refers to the large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their homes, communities, and birth families through the 1960s. Subsequently, these children were adopted into predominantly non-Indigenous, middle-class families across the United States and Canada. Jasyn graduated from the Studio Art Diploma Program from Capilano University where he studied Printmaking, Sculpture, Drawing, Painting, and Art...
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More Than Just Friends: Alex and Corina
Canadian Love Map
This love story belongs to Alex and Corina, a couple who met while working at a movie theatre. Their modern love story started with friendship, and soon grew into a sitcom-worthy romance. Both movie buffs, Alex and Corina share a love for the cinema, and specifically the show Friends has played a starring role in their lives. They are a real-life Chandler and Monica as their relationship took a while to get off the ground, but is now full of entertaining and sweet memories, including a Friends-inspired candlelit proposal. For Alex and Corina, shared passions, humour, and appreciation of the...
info_outlineToday's love story belongs to Jessie and Kolade. They are friends, colleagues, magic makers, and they are both part of a phenomenal social enterprise in Halifax, Nova Scotia called Hope Blooms.
Hope Blooms engages with inner-city youth to become change agents, positively impacting the community through innovative agricultural and culinary programs. These changemakers made a national impact a decade ago on the show Dragon's Den, where 6 young and enthusiastic youth pitched their salad dressing business and made a deal for $40,000. They even moved one of the dragons to tears.
It was a vision that started with a seed, and has since bloomed into a movement on a mission to create future leaders. It's all about growth. From the garden where the program took root, to salsa, salad dressings and scholarships.
Hope Blooms has become what it is today because of the hard work, commitment and compassion of Executive Director, Jessie Jollymore. The future is bright for this enterprise, and at the helm is Kolade Boboye, who is currently the Manager of Social Business and Innovation.
For more information about Hope Blooms visit https://hopeblooms.ca/
Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
Hosted by Nancy Regan
Produced by Podstarter
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