Winnipeg's Finest

January 16th - Episode 7: Author, Laina Hughes

Laina is a Creative Communications student at Red River College, who has just published her first book. Like all second year students in the program, Laina was asked to come up with an idea for an Independent Professional Project (IPP). As a lover of literature and a woman who spends a lot of time at the library, Laina quickly decided the IPP was a great opportunity for her to write her first book, Wolseley Stories. Laina's lived in the Wolseley area for most of her life, and appreciates the uniqueness her neighbourhood has to offer. Over the past year she's gathered many different stories from different people who live or have lived in the Wolseley area, and has complied them, along with her own stories, into one neatly packaged book.

Laina will be having a book launch, next Thursday at 7:30pm at McNally Robinson in Grant Park Shopping Centre; a perfect time to pick up your copy of Wolseley Stories and to get it signed by the soon to be #1 best selling author.

But until then...

I introduce you to one of Winnipeg's Finest, Laina Hughes.

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Team Player

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting with a woman from the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) to discuss how best to handle sponsorships and donations for the Red Dress Gala & Fashion Show I’m organizing for next February. She was extremely helpful, and as I was telling her more about my event, she suggested I set up an event committee. This isn’t the first time someone’s brought up this idea. 

I know that planning a gala dinner and fashion show is a lot of work for one person to do, but I struggle with the idea of having an official team of helpers. 

One reason I chose to host a red dress gala for my individual professional project (IPP) is because it’s an event I’ve organized before, but never had the opportunity to see through. A university student group I used to be involved with started to plan a similar event back in 2010. Unfortunately, there were too many people involved and things weren’t getting done when they needed to be. It can also be hard when there are too many clashing personalities working together on such a big project. Because this event didn’t go smoothly, I’m a tad reluctant to work on this gala with multiple people involved. It’s hard relying on different people for different things because no matter what happens, everything will come down to me. 

Another reason for my skepticism about working with a committee is the fact that I want to get as much experience from this project as possible. I’ve learned a ton of new skills during this year of CreComm, and I’m anxious to put them all to good use so I can strengthen them at every possible opportunity. There are so many aspects of this gala event and I want to be deeply involved in all of them. 

At the end of the day I guess I want all of the work done for the gala to be my own. Not because I don’t think I can work well with others, or that I’m above needing any sort of help, but just so I can prove to others and myself that I can do this; that I have the skills and the ambition to take on a big project and carry it out successfully. Not only is the success of the event important because the proceeds are going to a great cause, or because it’s failure would mean a later graduation date than expected, but it will be my calling card for jobs that lead me into the career of my dreams. 

No matter what’s happened in the past or what can happen in the future, I know the smart thing to do is to seek out some help. It is a big task and although I feel I can handle the workload on my own, what I have to realize is that once I get a big girl job, I’ll always be working in a team. Sure there will be challenges and not everything will go according to plan, but who says I won’t come across those obstacles on my own?  Having help doesn’t mean throwing in the towel or accepting defeat; it’s what I need to do. 

So I guess you’ll be the first to know, I am now looking for volunteers to be on the red dress event committee. 

Details coming soon!

A Backyard & A Baby

Lately, every time I see a cute baby, or a toddler in the most adorable outfit, or I take a stroll down the toy section at Walmart, I think about how much I want a cute and adorable baby of my own to shower with gifts and clothes for little people. Back in my teen days I’d planned to start having kids by the time I was 25. I’m 24. No kids. 

My mom had me at a young age, and although it can be tough to raise a kid when not too long ago, you were a kid yourself, mama Jennings did a great job with me. She played music for me before I was born, read to me every night, spoiled me with mountains of Christmas gifts, taught me how to bake cookies, made crafts with me every weekend, made homemade videos with me, the works. I loved having a mother who was younger than my friends’ moms, because it made me feel closer to her, and I swear...we always had more fun, guaranteed! So I guess my longing to be a young mom came from the bond I had with my own mother. Makes sense.

You know what else I’ve been wanting lately? A brand new house with a big backyard. All my life I’ve lived in an apartment, and have never really had the full experience of living in a house. The main reason I want a house is so I can have a backyard. As I kid I would always garden with my grandpa, and it was something I learned to really enjoy. I guess my wanting for a house can also be seen as symbolic. Having a house would (hopefully) mean that I had a successful career with stable income, and someone to share my home with. 

The backyard of Natasha Koifman, Founder of NKPR INC.

(I know there's no garden...but I still love the ambiance)

I’m sure all of these things will come in due time, but as per usual, I tend to get a bit anxious about certain things. As I mentioned, I’m 24, and I know people say that’s young, but the years seem to be flying by. There are so many things I want in life, and I just hope I’m around long enough to enjoy the things I’ve worked for.