Sonya's Patates Braavos: Edition #2 💌🥔

TLDR: biz updates, cool upcoming events, history lesson

random cool things corner

• I found a new blood relative last week! From my birth father’s side (divorced-then-remarried parents club). He is my first cousin once removed and lives in Israel with his family. Hope to visit and meet eventually. He was warm and asked more about me than my birth father ever has 😂

• My fav fashion influencer (YouTube shorts is the best)

• Stayed at my friend’s gorgeous house in Iroquois this past weekend and had the time of my life hanging out with their adorable dog Kuiper.

• I’m attending this awesome Black Jewish Women event next week.

  

business updates

• Roger Greenberg connected me with the President & CMO of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation! While they have an in-house team, they will keep me in mind for over-flow projects and their emails were incredibly kind. Bonus: The CMO included my article on Roger in his LinkedIn post a few weeks ago and accepted my invitation request immediately.

• Apt613 work is in full swing. In case you don’t know, I’m a part-time Content Manager in charge of creating social and web content for our clients (orgs such as the National Gallery of Canada, the OAG, etc.)

• I’m working on developing case studies for my own clients and projects.

• I completed a cool International Women’s Day article for Telfer that I am excited to share with you. High-profile women execs = absolute bosses.

• I’m actively creating content for my site. Here is a blog about my story. Here is an article about freelance content writing. Here is why alumni success stories matter.

• The copywriting resources person from last week got back to me and said she’d love to work together. I gave her the highest range of my rate so it feels good. For reference, my rate was 3 times less just a few months ago. GROWTH!

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• I met two cool artists who combine digital technology and traditional painting techniques for their work at Studio Sixty Six.

• Saw something cool or meaningful this week? Reply to my email with the link or info and I will include it in the next edition!

food corner

My doctor said I have slightly higher “bad” cholesterol so I am going to eat more oatmeal, which is a soluble fiber that breaks down the “bad” cholesterol. Apparently, my instant pot can make good oatmeal! Even my DNA test I’d have higher bad cholesterol. But this is disappointing because I love butter, cheese, and cold cuts. Today, I attempted to make the oatmeal in my Instant Pot and maybe because I substituted maple syrup for sugar, I got the “burn” error and sacrificed some oatmeal to the machine. It tasted really good with almonds and dates though and the texture wasn’t atrocious—dare I say the package’s promise of “a hug for your stomach” ran true.

Special Report

Has anyone seen the Oscar-winning Navalny documentary on Crave?

politics corner: Israel-Hamas war 🇮🇱🇵🇸

I will spare you the long lecture this week and simply leave you with this. The next time you see this chant (like projected on Big Ben this week), remember that it is from the Hamas manifesto and it openly calls for the annihilation of Jews and Arabs in the land of Israel. Most don’t even know which river and which sea:

• Gazans protested against Hamas this week.

• Both sides argue Indigeneity to the land - I loved this article doing an incredibly deep dive to demonstrate that both Jews and Palestinians are Indigenous to the land. That’s why I’m uncomfortable with the chants above. It’s not “either or.” It’s both. Just without terror.

• TW. This is a graphic article. A Times investigation uncovered new details showing a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women in the attacks on Israel. The UN did not acknowledge or condemn these attacks for weeks. “#MeToo, unless you are a Jew” seems fitting. These attacks are not “resistance” or “freedom fighting.” They do not bring us closer to a two-state solution (which Israel has agreed to many times throughout the decades but the other side does not want any Jewish state to exist, hence problems). If you demand a ceasefire, you allow Hamas to regroup and continue this. They must be eliminated (although how do you eliminate ideology?) and Israel has the right to defend itself and free the Palestinian civilians from their government.

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My mother is an amazing art instructor who started her own art school! She began her entrepreneurship journey in Canada at 40 years old, after having to start over in a new country, with a new language, on a new continent. She’s an inspiring powerhouse who does an insane amount of things. Check out her Insta and website. You can buy original art online or do art classes in Guelph/Kitchener.