I’m a maker of community. I got kicked out of the house when I was 15 years old because my parents thought I was bad. I didn’t have much direction at the time; I was just going with the flow of life.
For about two years, before I came to Toronto, I was shelter-hopping and house-hopping. So I went to all the shelters in Calgary and Edmonton. I came to Toronto with an intention and that was to get into the arts field.
So then I went to SKETCH and it was totally unbelievable, because out west I’ve never seen anything like this. I never knew about a studio that was free and all these arts were happening in the same space.
Street Voices was an idea that started when I was living in a youth shelter, the basic concept behind that was just creating a platform for youth who don’t have a voice. At the time I didn’t have any money or connections or anything. Before SKETCH, it was just an idea but after SKETCH I got the funds to basically invest in the first magazine.
Coming to SKETCH, you forget about the fact that you’re living on the streets, on top of that, you might meet somebody else you can relate to.
In order for real change to happen, people from the bottom need to rise to the top.
I was destined to make it.
