CASIE STEWART

Casie September 18, 2022 TIFF

TIFF 2022: Twitter x The Woman King

I didn’t go to many TIFF events this year but I hate to miss a Twitter event! I had the day off from work to prepare for Lauren’s wedding so it worked out perfect that Twitter hosted a TIFF lunch that day for ‘The Woman King’.

It was a panel Q&A w/ Academy Award winner Viola Davis & the cast of the upcoming film. Joining Ms. Davis were four other stars of the film: Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, & Sheila Atim. Leveraging the important themes from the film, this panel conversation was focused on celebrating Black women & how we can all #TakeUpSpace.

“It was important for this film to be ours. It was important for it to be led by all Black women, with dark skin, with a story to tell.” — @violadavis #TakeUpSpace #TIFF22 pic.twitter.com/G7cgFRMdxf
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 9, 2022

i can’t even begin to explain how powerful the conversation was. Twitter’s global director of culture and community God-is Rivera (@GodisRivera) was the moderator and TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey (@cameron_tiff) was also there to introduce the guests and give opening remarks.

After, I took a stroll with Natalie before going to Yorkville to pick up Lauren’s dress. Traffic was insane, it took me almost an hour to get from Yorkville to my place in Dundas West.

I look forward to seeing The Woman King in theatres., Find your local times here! Thank you Twitter Canada for another amazing event!

New Scents & Bubbles!

This summer has flown by, how is it almost September?! Yes, we still have lots of warm days ahead but the nights are getting colder, and it’ll be spooky season before we know it.

Got two great packages in the mail this week, new scents & bubbles! Both fit right into my weekend plans of relaxing, recharging, and treating myself to some self-care.

The thing I love about September is the ‘new year’ energy it brings. I like to start things in September most people would kick off January 1st, that way, by the time the holidays come, I’m good and ready for the new year.

Ok, now onto the packages…

The first package was from MicroPerfumes, which just announced their expansion to Canada. I didn’t know about this well-kept beauty secret but I love the idea. Don’t wear a lot of perfume but I often buy the smallest size so I can travel with it or test it out. I’ve loved wearing Santal 33 for the past few years and before that was dedicated to a Dolce & Gabanna perfume that’s now discontinued.

The cool thing about MicroPerfumes is you can order all kinds of designer scents in travel sizes for a fraction of the price. I got a gift set of three scents: Santal 33, Dolce & Gabbana Pour Femme Intense (similar to my old fav!), and Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille (unisex).

The other weekend I was op at the cottage and ran into one of my cottage besties who works for Vitabath. Well, am I ever lucky! Today a gift box showed up full of bubble baths, bath salts, lotions, body wash, and more. She even sent some goodies from the men’s line for Sean. I can’t wait to run a nice bath this weekend and pamper myself.

This is the first Labour Day we’ve not been at the cottage in years. Along with my home spa, I plan to go to the park, ride bikes, and read on the roof. Sean and I might even take the sea doo and go to the island. Funday Agency gave us Friday afternoon off (THANK YOU!) so I’ve booked a mani-pedi to kick things off. 😁 I’m so ready for a long weekend!

Everlane Summer 2022

I know this is a little LATE as we’re approaching Labour Day but now is better than never! Earlier this summer I stopped by the Everlane Summer 2022 preview to see everything from the Vacation Shop and Linen Collection. I fell in LOVE this the oversized blazers, bags, and summer sandals.

This summer I’ve been living in the bright yellow Fisherman Sandals in the first photo and going to work with my black Cactus Tote like you see below in brown.

Here’s a gallery with some of my favourite items! Use this link to save 10% off your first order. I’ve been shopping at Everlane for years and went to their flagship shop in San Francisco a could years ago. They always have well-made items that will be staples in your wordrobe year after year.

We were sent home this super cute white bucket bag that’s perfect for summer days, boat trips or putting in your bike basket for a picnic. Was my first time trying Darling Mimosa, a perfect summer drink in a can. ☀️

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Mint Agency for having me and gifting me a few goodies! I’ve already got my eyes on a few Everlane items for fall!

Summer Vacation at Stoney Lake

Sean and I went to stay with our friend Jake at a cottage in Stoney Lake for a week and it was lovely. I honestly, can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t have to work on ‘vacation‘. A career in social means you are kinda ‘on’ 24-7′. I’ve never had a job like Funday/Hvr, where they actually value a break.👏 Grateful to work with such awesome people! This is the first time in my life my work was like ‘no, you’re on vacation‘ and didn’t reach out or ask me to do stuff. It was absolutely glorious!

I took naps, read my book, listened to a whole novel on Audible and did next to nothing. Highly recommend Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, get the audiobook, great story. My sister and I listened at the same time and texted about it non-stop.

Sean also rented a sea doo (that he later purchased!) and we cruised the lake together in the sunshine. It was magical. I left the cottage feeling relaxed and refreshed. 😎

Bring Back the Blonde Baby

Where did the last month go? Summer is passing by too fast and I wish time would slow down!

Last weekend I went I took the train to Chatham to visit my family in Kingsville, Ontario. It was so great! I hadn’t seen them in ages and we had the most relaxing time. We’ve not really been up at the cottage much this summer so getting out of a city was just what I needed.

Got my hair done yesterday at Sasson and feel like a new woman. It’s so much blonder and shorter than it was this time last year. Remember my long pandemic hair?

Been pretty busy the last couple of weeks with work and am looking forward to a little break. Next week we’re going to a friend’s cottage for five days. I can’t wait to float in the lake, ride the sea doo with Sean, and work on my tan.

In other news, we’ve released a bunch of new podcast episodes and you can watch them all right here on YouTube or listen on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes come out weekly on Wednesday! This one with friend Brigitte is one of my favs! She’s got such a great attitude and cracks me up. You’ll enjoy learning about her life and career path in television.

Our New Podcast, Cast of Creators is LIVE!

THE TIME HAS COME! Cast of Creators IS LIVE!

I’ve wanted to do a podcast for ages and creating this with Nelson & the Hvr Team has been a dream. I have truly never had so much fun ‘working’ in my entire life.

Nelson & I have spent our careers in media and publishing now we’re setting the stage for industry leaders, bloggers, creators and more to share their passions & perspectives. Each week, guests join us at Hvr Studios for a conversation about their lives, content creation, and business. We’ve had incredible conversations with inspiring people and laughed so much while doing it.

Cast of Creators is presented by Hvr, our new social browser, if you don’t have Hvr yet, download it here! If you’d like a little more info about Hvr, read this blog post.

Our initial guests include Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace, performance artist DevoDLive, multimedia host & producer Brigitte Truong, and more. For a peek at other upcoming guests, read our release on Financial Times here.

Hvr, developer of the first social-forward web browser, today announced the launch of the Cast of Creators podcast, hosted by its CEO Nelson B. Thall and award-winning blogger Casie Stewart. The video and audio podcast features perspectives on innovation and the future of content with notable guests including Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, performance artist, DevoDLive, and multimedia host & producer, Brigitte Truong, and is available for download wherever you consume podcasts. You can subscribe to the podcast at castofcreators.com. Hvr is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Financial Post, June 20,2022

Please subscribe/follow on Youtube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to our first episode with Jules Mercanti here or scroll down to watch the first three episodes on YouTube. If you like the show, please follow, subscribe, leave a review, or leave a comment!

I look forward to your feedback on our first three episodes. We have weekly episodes on Wednesday so please follow and subscribe to the show!

Episode 1: The Fine Line Between Art & Reality with Jules Mercanti

Episode 2: From Travel blogger to Filmmaker with Andrew Lovesey

Episode 3: The Power of Fandom and NFT’s with Raine Maida

Beach Date

I took myself on a beach date yesterday and it was lovely! It’s been years since I went to the beaches, and I don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner!

Found a nice little spot on the beach and started a great new book by one of my fav authors, Lisa Jewel. Felt like I needed a little escape, found out yesterday that my grandma in New Zealand passed away. She was my last living grandparent. It’s always hard when someone passes but this hits right in the heart and really makes me miss my family in New Zealand.

I walked around the neighbourhood and was reminded how cute The Beaches are. I used to live in the East End years ago.

Stopped into the store my sister works at, Charming Parrot. They have so many nice things in there! Resort wear, cute tops, beautiful silk dresses, and accessories. Say hi if you see her!

I’m planning to get back to the beach more this summer. I want to visit the island too!

Collision Conference 2022

I went to Collision Conference 2022 and it was great! I’d been once 2019 and after two years of a pandemic, it was nice to be in a conference environment. There were 35,000 attendees and 600 speakers over three days + events and more. I shared some tweets from the conference on our @FundayAgency account and soaked up as much marketing knowledge as I could.

One of my fav things was the TikTok booth, they had a 360 photo op. I loved it. See the video on Instagram.

Nelson and I attended a few sessions in the afternoon and walked the conference floor. Some of my favourite talks were Global Marketing Trends, What’s in for Gen Z This Season, Censorship in the Era of Misinformation, and the Future of Journalism. Also met TikTok & Instagram superstar, Bruce, aka @falafel.kimchi.

On Wednesday night Nadia went to the Collision After Dark party at Stackt Market. It was super fun.

On Thursday, to close out the conference, Nelson and I did four episodes of Cast of Creators, our new podcast. The first ep we did there was with Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace. We talked about web3, NFTs, connecting with his fans and more.

Collision is back in Toronto next year and if you can make it I highly recommend checking it out. I’m thinking about going to their next conference, Web Summit in Lisbon.

In other news, making our show is super fun! I can’t wait to share the first three episodes of Cast of Creators with you on July 20th. We have really laughed and had some seriously good conversations.

Bisha Toronto: Work, Stay, Play

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’m back with updates! Events have definitely returned and summer is here. Earlier this month we celebrated the official opening of the Bisha’s summer season, poolside on the roof. If you’re looking for a place to work, stay, and play, this is the place to be. I’ve stayed here a few times and the hotel is amazing.

Hand fun seeing a bunch of familiar faces, many I’d not seen in 2+years, and having drinks with Miche & Nadia.

Saw Bretty Boop IRL, such a cool babe. Girl crush! Have been following her on IG for a while, check her out at @bretttyboop and find her DJing around the city.

Thank you Lori & team for the invite, hospitality, and gift bag! Had a great time and look forward to my next visit to Bisha, especially the rooftop pool. Next time I’m bringing my swimsuit!

Photo credit: @arthurmola

May Long Weekend in Muskoka

We drove up to the cottage on Thursday night to spend the May long weekend in Muskoka. I haven’t been up North much this year but was really looking forward to a few days out of the city. It was meant to rain all weekend but Friday was a magical sunny day. I took FULL ADVANTAGE.

Went for a nice 7K walk/run in the middle of the day and it was beautiful. At Funday, we get a bonus vacation day during our birthday month so I booked mine to make an extra-long weekend.