Below is a selection of content I’ve produced over the years, primarily covering lifestyle topics such as travel and food and drink, as well as business and HR, personal finance, and world news. The samples include a mix of content marketing pieces produced for brands, and editorial articles for newspapers, magazines and websites.

Why we must visit Cambodia’s killing fields and S21

Urban Adventures, Content Marketing

Phnom Penh’s Killing Fields is the most terrible place I’ve been in all my travels. Which is why I think everyone should go. Read more >

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Embracing the chaos and learning to love Hanoi

The Journal (Intrepid Travel), Content Marketing

It took me all of a day to decide I didn’t like Hanoi. I arrived at night under a sky that was starless and rainy, air that felt cool and clammy – and in a taxi that cost me 400,000 dong more than I had anticipated. Read more >

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Should you visit a city after a natural disaster?

Urban Adventures, Content Marketing

When the earthquake struck on September 19, 2017, the residents of Mexico City had just finished their annual drill. It was the anniversary of the 1985 8.1-magnitude quake that killed some 10,000 people. Read more >

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What it’s really like trekking the Inca Trail

The Journal (Intrepid Travel), Content Marketing

Let’s get one thing straight: Dead Woman’s Pass is as awful as you fear. It’s called ‘Dead Woman’ for god’s sake. Read more >

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Essential stops along the Cabot Trail

Cottage Life, Editorial

On the far East Coast of Canada is one of the country’s most famous and most beautiful drives. The Cabot Trail is a 300-kilometre loop that circles the northwestern tip of the island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, swinging past fishing villages, darting into a massive national park, and landing at a number of historic and cultural landmarks. Read more >

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The 9 most environmentally harmful things about travel — and what to do instead

Afar, Editorial

Carbon emissions, animal exploitation, water waste—there are a lot of eco-unfriendly factors that you could be contributing to without even realizing it. Here are nine common travel eco blunders…and how to fix them so that you really do only leave footprints behind. Read more >

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Treat yo’self: A guide to self-indulgence in romantic Montreal

Eat Drink Travel, Editorial

There’s no such thing as bad romance in Montreal, even when it’s with yourself. A short guide to self-indulgence in Montreal. Montreal, je t’aime! Read more >

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Downtown and island-bound in Istanbul

Eat Drink Travel, Editorial

It’s just after 6pm on a Tuesday in Istanbul. The line of traffic snakes down Kemeralti Caddesi, workers all heading toward the Bosphorus Bridge to take them out of the city’s downtown European core and home to the primarily residential Asian side. It’s rush hour, but it could really be any time of day. Read more >

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New Zealand’s wild west

Travel+Escape, Editorial

There are dinosaurs on New Zealand’s south island. My guide for our south island tour, Mike, tells me this as he drops us off at the Pororari River trailhead in Paparoa National Park. Read more >

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Icelandic volcano fires up the imagination

Toronto Star, Editorial

The Icelandic ash cloud has lifted, following the eruption of the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano, and flights have resumed. So has volcanic tourism. Read more >

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Pre-dawn climb reveals ‘sun-sational’ view

Toronto Star, Editorial

Panting and gasping, I attempt to scramble up the steep slope, slipping and stumbling on the rocks, fumbling in the darkness. Read more >

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Escaping the clutch of a monkey’s paw

Globe & Mail, Editorial

While many of Bali’s temples are popular monkey hangouts, Ulu Watu on the island’s Bukit Peninsula is particularly notorious. Read more >

Best Thai restaurants in Toronto

Toronto.com, Editorial

There was a time when Toronto’s offerings of Thai cuisine was little more than ketchup-soaked pad Thai and frozen spring rolls served in PATH food courts and mediocre take-out joints. Thankfully, that time has long passed. Read more >

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Thailand’s secret street eats

Urban Adventures & Air Asia, Content Marketing

Deep down the backstreets of Bangkok and in the hidden corners of Chiang Mai is where #localsknow you’ll find the best street food in Thailand. Read more >

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In Ontario’s Simcoe County, you can forage for food

Eat Drink Travel, Editorial

The lack of connection to our food, a trait shared with much of the population, is at the heart of the growing culinary movements of slow food and 100-kilometre diets. It’s also at the heart of George Brown’s new line-up of culinary day tours. Read more >

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Napa of the north: Niagara’s trendsetting ways

Taste & Travel, Editorial

Niagara’s relative youth (its winemaking only really began to grow in the 1970s), combined with a unique geology and cooler, fluctuating temperatures, gives it an avant garde edge in an old tradition. Read more >

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Nova Scotia has plenty of lobster love and foodie finds in Cape Breton

Eat Drink Travel, Editorial

Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton has some of the world’s best seafood: lobsters are pulled fresh from the sea, scallops have put the town of Digby on foodie maps, and their chowder is as much a part of the culture as tartans and the fiddle. But there’s also a thriving food and drink scene along Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail, where lobster is just the beginning. Read more >

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Cuba libre: Why you shouldn’t dismiss Havana’s food scene

Taste & Travel, Editorial

Tell someone you’re headed to Cuba and you’re likely hear two things: how beautiful are the beaches and how terrible the food. Yes, Cuban food can be bland, especially in the massive resorts where buffet-style fare leaves much to be desired. Read more >

Head, heart, guts, and no BS: How the World’s Best Workplaces are changing work

Fortune, Advertorial (ghostwritten)

When a business says that one of its core values is “Open Company, No Bullshit,” it’s fair to assume you’re not dealing with a traditional workplace. Read more >

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How to build and support neurodiversity in the workplace

Great Place to Work, Content Marketing (ghostwritten)

Imagine this scene: You’re interviewing a potential candidate for a role as a developer with your company. The candidate seems to have the skills you need but also displays a few social eccentricities — perhaps he has a tick, or rocks back and forth in his seat, or won’t make eye contact. For decades, potential hires like this have been rejected from the candidate pool. “Poor culture fit” has typically been the rationale. Read more >

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Gender equity and inclusive benefits win over millennials at the Best Workplaces

Fortune, Advertorial (ghostwritten)

Leah Sakas still remembers being told not to run like a girl. Sakas is vice-president of central operations at Zillow, the online real estate marketplace that’s become so popular among millennials for “Zillow surfing,” that it was featured as an SNL skit parodying chatlines for the over-30 crowd. Read more >

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Why you should hire a chief freelance officer

Benefits Canada, Editorial

Overseeing a team serves up its share of challenges, from personality clashes to deadline crises. But as companies increasingly outsource work to independent contractors, there’s a new challenge emerging: managing workers they never see. Read more >

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It’s not you, it’s me: Want to boost engagement? Make sure your new tools put the employee first

Benefits Canada, Editorial

Grabbing that attention has long been a concern for employers, which have to communicate on plans, policies and procedures without overwhelming their audience. Meanwhile, as technology continues to progress at a rapid rate, changes in best practices for communication add another layer of complexity. Read more >

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Big data: TELUS’ Living Lab is a numbers game that’s coming out on top

Benefits Canada, Editorial

TELUS knew it had to make a change. Like other employers across the country, the company was struggling with increasing benefits costs that, if not held in check, would put unmanageable weight on its plan. Read more >

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Learning Foundation: Western University educates the educators — from the ground up

Benefits Canada, Editorial

At Western University in London, Ont., the students aren’t the only ones getting an education. For the past 10 years, the university has made learning top of mind for staff. Read more >

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Making sense of the CPP changes

Advisor’s Edge, Editorial

Under the current Canada Pension Plan (CPP) rules, employees and employers are not required to pay CPP contributions for employees who are working while collecting CPP. However, effective Jan. 1, 2012, if an employee is under age 65 and continues to work while receiving CPP, both the employer and employee will be required to make CPP contributions. Read more >

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Life in Balance: Ford’s wellness program puts equal weight on mind, body and soul

Benefits Canada, Editorial

Balance is the crux of Ford’s mental health program — which isn’t a mental health program in the traditional sense. Instead of focusing only on mental health, it emphasizes holistic wellness. Read more >

How to become a digital nomad—and not go broke

MoneySense, Editorial

Want to work abroad as a Canadian? Flexible work arrangements and digital nomad visas have made this easier than ever. Here’s how to make it happen. Read more >

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Should you open a joint bank account?

Greedy Rates, Editorial

You’re in love. You know the kind: capital L with heart eye emojis. You’ve met the parents. You’ve moved in. Maybe you’ve even bought a dog together. And now you’re thinking about getting a joint bank account to share your expenses as a couple. Makes sense, right? Hold on. Not so fast. Read more >

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Online payment & invoicing software for digital nomads and remote working professionals

Remoters, Editorial

For many entrepreneurs and freelancers, chasing payments from clients is one of the most frustrating aspects of their business. For remoters, that frustration is often compounded by the financial woes of having to send and receive money across oceans, in different currencies. Read more >

How Courageous Kitchen inspires marginalised youth through food

Urban Adventures, Content Marketing

Down an unassuming residential street of Bangkok, Dwight Turner and his colleagues are helping refugee youth to find their way in a country they don’t know. Read more >

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Iceland struggles to return to normal

Toronto Star, Editorial

While much of the ash cloud that disrupted flights across Europe has diminished, the air here still smells like burnt asphalt as tourists drop in. Read more >

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