TELUS Friendly Future Foundation: Helping Youth & Communities Across Canada

Across Canada, 1.5 million children go hungry without access to nutritious food every single day, 30K Canadians are homeless (mostly young people), and 40% of low-income families don’t have internet access putting kids at risk for falling behind in school. We can all do something to help and this year Telus launched the Friendly Future Foundation putting $120 million into addressing the social and economic challenges facing Canadian youth.  I am proud to work with Telus and have been a #TeamTelus partner for the last 8 years.   The Foundation will give grants to grassroots charities in communities across Canada who really know their community and how to help. By partnering with smaller charities, they’re able to help out groups that might be missed by huge corporate donors and make a big impact in small communities. I think this is an amazing approach. I work with Brands For Canada, an organization that provides new clothing & basic needs supplies to people across Canada and this method of working with local charities has worked great for them.  The Friendly Future Foundation funding will help kids build up digital literacy skills, get basic healthcare and mental health support to the homeless, and open up other educational opportunities. Here’s an example of doing good in a community not too far from us, Telus donated $20K to the Women’s Shelter in Barrie. The $120 million TELUS has provided for the Friendly Future Foundation is the largest donation made by a publicly traded Canadian company in history and one of the largest ever in North America. Way to go team! Over the past two decades, TELUS, team members and retirees have contributed more than $1 billion of value to Canadians, through $530 million in financial support and 1.21 million days of volunteerism. Last year alone they (we!) volunteered 1 million hours.  I’m continuously impressed by how Telus gives…

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Review: Dyson Cyclone V10 Cordless Vacuum

The vacuum is incredible. Best I’ve ever had. I love it. The end.  Ok jk jk.  I received an email about a month to review the new Dyson Cyclone V10 and was 100% down. In exchange for my review, I get to keep the unit and my house had never been cleaner! This thing has some SERIOUS power. It’s also easy to use right out the box (once charged!) and if you have kids around, a great motivator to clean. Adulting is cool. Excited to bust this open and take ‘er for a spin! Thank you @Dyson! Will be sharing my thoughts on the bloggy. pic.twitter.com/YV3R69Eq7O — CASIE STEWART ☀️ (@casiestewart) October 3, 2018 I love that it’s cord-free. You can just grab it and go for quick clean ups around the house, the couch, kitchen, stairs, baseboards. I’ve been using it almost daily as a small dust buster style like the photo above. This weekend we had my sister and her step-daughter over for movie night and DIY pizzas complete with chips and popcorn. I usually can be kinda crazy about not making a mess but I didn’t freak out, Dyson to the rescue!  The V10 is a godsend for the area around the couch and kitchen. How do they always get so messy?! We have dark hardwood floors in the living room and I find the area around the kitchen stools needs to be cleaned daily, the V10 is especially great for this. The dusting wand is amazing for corners by baseboards and other hard to reach areas like the ceiling vents. In other news, Emily has cleaned her room every weekend since we got it. Size wise, is a bit bigger and heavier than the V6 which is likely due to the larger bin and additional battery power. Also, I kind of…

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Smart Tech to Help You Through The Winter

We all know it’s coming, the dark and cold months of winter where all hibernate a little more and give thanks to the Netflix gods. I’ve been trying to stay on track with being productive when I’m at home and working out and am determined this winter to exercise just as much time as I spend binge-watching. Luckily, we live in a tech world that allows us to have all kinds of smart devices to help our minds and homes running smoothly through the dark seasons. A site like Wired Smart has some great info on practically every type of smart device that can be useful but today I decided to focus more on the tech that will help get you through winter. Scroll down for tech accessories I find help me through colder days. Finess Tracker: FitBit I have been using a Fitbit on and off for the past 5 years. I love the reminders to move every hour and getting those steps in each day. It’s a small thing that keeps me accountable to move. I also love seeing my heart rate, the interval tracking, and getting text messages on my wrist. The weekly reporting is a great way to motivate yourself to be more active. I’m currently using the FitBit Versa and Sean has the FitBit Iconic. I still use my FitBit Alta HR sometimes because it’s slimmer and looks more like a bracelet. Telus also has Apple Watch if that’s more your speed. A Home Assistant: Alexa I love her, I ask her things every day. Mostly ‘what’s the weather’ so I know how many layers to put on and what type of jacket to wear. I love the weekly email from Amazon telling me with ‘What’s New with Alexa?” and all the skills you can…

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Why Don’t You Have a Will Yet? Get One Today, Meet Willful. + Discount Code!

Do you have a will? No, of course, you don’t! Who thinks about that while you’re out living your best life? Hate to remind you but along with taxes, we can’t avoid death. You should have a will and you can get one with Willful in 20 min for less than $100 today. If you’re in a situation where you’re looking to contest a will, you might want to seek out will contest lawyers to help with this matter. This weekend my friends got hitched, Erin Bury married Kevin Oulds, the creator of Willful. I’ve knows this duo for 10 years and am not surprised that they had the most unique wedding guest gifts I’ve ever seen, they gave every one of their guest a will. Till Death Do Us Part, right? Kevin created Willful after dealing with a difficult family situation, something none of us wants to deal with. To be honest, I’ve learned anything from TV or The Young & The Restless, it’s really important to have a will. Do you have any idea what will happen if you don’t? Read this. If you’re common law, your partner gets nothing, the government will get involved in your finances, your family could have to vacate your family home, it’s not pretty. I saw first hand what can happen to families when certain aspects are unknown and what happens when there’s not a proper plan in place. I set out to make that experience easier to navigate and make it more affordable and accessible for people. Kevin Oulds, Willful Founder & CEO Their mission is to move estate planning from the back of your mind to the same spot as insurance, retirement, or financial planning. Stuff we might not want to think about and but get more intense the less attention you…

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Vancouver: The Telus Innovation Centre

Earlier this year I was in Vancouver for a city planning conference and stayed an extra day to pop by the Telus office and have lunch with a friend. I’ve been working with Telus since my days at Much/MTV Canada, about 8 years ago.  I’ve had the opportunity to do some really neat stuff like volunteering, videos, city adventures, and making friends. A couple years ago I helped them with some ideas to create their influencer program and it’s really grown into something awesome. Next month, they’re taking the ENTIRE GROUP of Canadian influencers (including me!) to their HQ in Vancouver. Telus Garden I was really stoked to visit this building. I remember when it started in 2012 and was opened in 2016. The Telus Garden building takes up an entire city block downtown Vancouver, totalling 1M sq ft. It has amazing energy saving features, a fantastic garden, and has won a bunch of awards for the design and sustainability. Unfortunately, I was there in winter so I didn’t get to see the outside areas, it snowed!   [symple_testimonial by=”” fade_in=”false”]“TELUS Garden is Canada’s most beautiful and ambitious LEED Platinum building, and one of the most environmentally-friendly developments in North America,” Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO[/symple_testimonial] Telus Innovation Centre I met up with Ana from Telus (check out her IG @msanadouglas) and she took us up to the Innovation Centre where. I was amazed to see a beautiful bright space filled with technology. One of the coolest features were the doors. Telus has created a set of doors that have screens instead of windows. Hello, why didn’t I think of that!? They’re the only 4 doors like this IN THE WORLD and they’re right here at Telus in Vancouver. A couple of them have cameras where you can host meetings and…

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The Internet of Things – Protecting Your Smart TV

We just got a new Smart TV and I’m super stoked. Sean and I worked from home the day it arrived and we also ordered tacos which turned into a great game of tv or tacos?! It’s my first time having a *brand new* TV. Our previous model was bought 2nd hand years ago, we’re retiring it to the cottage now.  The Sony 4K Android Smart TV is so clear and it was really easy to set up. It comes with Google Play, Netflix, and internet connectivity making it easy to watch your fav shows, download movies, or watch videos on YouTube. Over the last year, I’ve been making our home smarter with the addition of Hue Lights which I’ve heard a friend managed to build some of his own, wow! He told me he built some with parts he found at Octopart but I digress, a Dyson fan, Alexa, and now an Android Smart TV.  As we start to make our home smarter, we’ve got so many entry points putting us at risk for privacy and hacks. 90 percent of Android TVs are reportedly vulnerable to hacking The solution is to make sure we can browse the internet and watch all our fav shows without having personal data compromised. ESET is a leader in security solutions for home computer & mobile.  They’ve created the world’s first ever security solution for Android Smart TVs, using tech to guard against cybercriminals with their eyes on connected TVs. I quite like their i-Robot style dude below.  There’s a free version available for download as well as a paid version that gives you premium features for a year at $14.99. I went for Premium. If you have a Sony Android TV, the app is already downloaded you just have to pop into the HOME section from the remote and click Accept. Android…

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Building a Great Influencer Program

This summer I went to Vancouver to meet with the Canadian team of Telus Advocates. I’ve shared my love for Telus over the years but this experience was truly amazing. They flew in content creators from across the country to visit their Vancouver office, tour Telus Garden, create, eat, explore, and build relationships. I’ve worked with heaps of brands but I truly admire the influencer program Telus has built over the years. Ok yes, I am a little bias because I chatted with the team before they created the program and shared my likes, dislikes, and brand experiences. They have set the bar high for what it means to work with a telecom company or a big brand. The experience (as an influencer) is tailored to each person’s style of content and audience. This kind of influencer marketing service is bound to provide a great product for their clients too, as they clearly value quality and retention. In this post, I’m sharing a few of my tips for creating a great influencer program with Telus as my example. Build Relationships The thing about being an influencer is that you’re usually sharing your real life, so when you work with a brand, it means authentically integrating their content into your own experience. You have to get to know each other in order to learn what works and create opportunities that mutually benefit the relationship. It’s cool when you work well together and even cooler when it becomes a friendship. I’ve worked with Telus for about 8 years now and we’re colleagues but also friends. I can text with jokes, links, or that odd time on the weekend when I broke break my phone. (Sorry!) Since we’ve built a good working relationship, we all reach out whenever something cool comes up like…

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Amazon Prime Day is Today – Get 5x Aeroplan Miles!!

I look forward to Prime Day each summer! I bought my first Instant Pot on Prime Day years ago and I’ve been obsessed ever since. If you’re an Aeroplan Member, you can earn you 5x the Aeroplan Miles on Prime Day this year. Think about that for a hot second, get amazing deals AND rack up those miles! DYK what day it is tomorrow? Prime Day #PrimeDay gotta get deals on #PrimeDay ! So what i love amazon prime ok. pic.twitter.com/5RgkaFiFBo — CASIE STEWART ?? (@casiestewart) July 15, 2018 I’ve been earning Miles w/ Aeroplan as long as I can remember because mum was keen on getting any help we could in order to visit the fam back in New Zealand. I really love Amazon Deals and Amazon, in general, it’s such a great addition to life. An easy way to get just about anything sent to you in a day or two. If you don’t have a Prime Membership, sign up here. I love the future! Amazon Prime + Aeroplan Details WHAT IS AMAZON PRIME? The basic benefits of being a prime member are FREE 2-day shipping, access to Prime Video (Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle Transparent), access to Prime Music, AND special deals on Prime Day! There are over 100,000 deals across heaps of categories like electronics, fashion housewares, and more. How it works: Amazon + Aeroplan Visit aeroplan.com/estore Using the search function on the page, find Amazon.ca Enter your Aeroplan number and last name Click on the ‘Shop Now’ button to be redirected to Amazon.ca. GET ALL THE DEALS. Happy shopping! The Aeroplan eStore promotion starts on Prime Day and lasts until July 18th. Prime Day starts at 3pm ET on Monday, July 16 This week is an exciting one, today is Prime…

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Having My Moment

Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend a dreamy weekend driving around in a 2017 Porsche Boxster GTS. This car is INCREDIBlE. I drove all over the place, taking friends to run errands, back and forth to get groceries, from Scarborough to the far West, and all over downtown. I’ve never owned a car and I’ve joked since I was a kid that my first car would be a Porsche, well, there’s still time! Cool thing about this car is that the engine is right behind the 2 seats so there are two trunks, front and back. You can fit groceries and your weekend bag but only one friend at a time, it’s perfect. ?I took Embot around for a drive listening to music and felt like the coolest step-mama ever. It’s got amazing handling for city or highway. It is also VERY fast, not that I was speeding ever at all. The roof is fully automatic and pretty fast, you can put it down to take the top off while stopped at a traffic light. It’s pretty good on gas but you have to put premium, however nothing compares to the beautiful German engineering of a Porsche. My dad was v jealous!  Porsche is celebrating 70 Years, (HBD!), and tonight they’re hosting an event. I would love to work on this relationship so I can drive more and more cars for the media fleet, that way, when I buy my very own, I really know what I want! Ha! I’m serious. They gave a few media peeps the opportunity to drive cars. I booked this drop top baby a few months ago and waited patiently for the day I could pick it up. Thank you Porsche Canada! ILYYYYYY! As I sadly returned the Boxter, I saw this BRIGHT yellow Carrera and thought, that would look…

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#ShareLove Pride 2018! Video + Parade w/ Telus!

A couple weeks ago I was invited to Telus Toronto to share some of my Pride memories. I’ve been going to the parade since I was a teenager. Dad took my sister for our first time when we were in high school. It’s been a place for positive self-expression, to celebrate, to join friends for their first Pride after coming out, or to remember friends who have past. Every year we get together to share love, joy, and friendship while dancing in the street together. Pride is an opportunity to #ShareLove and inspire LGBTQ+ youth. Watch how Pride has impacted the lives of those from the LGTBQ+ community. pic.twitter.com/JUFwaVe8S9 — TELUS (@TELUS) June 20, 2018 Thank you, Telus for having me in to share what PRIDE means to me. I am so proud and glad to work with a company that supports diversity, LGBTQ, and gives back in communities across the country.  This weekend I’ll be walking in the parade with Telus. I love being there and feeling the happy energy flying all around. Sending you sunshine and I hope to see some of you at PRIDE! buy Citalopram no prescription buy Topamax http://buywithoutprescriptionrxonline.com/prednisone.html

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