Amid bursts of hail, rain and snow, Earth Day celebrations in Waterloo Park included collecting e-waste to raise funds for the Tune Up the Playground project. The Earth Day event, organized by Friends of Waterloo Park, also featured sunflower seed planting, a park clean up and community organizations, such as the KW Library of Things, that promote the sharing and repairing of consumer goods.
While the amount raised was still to be determined, the goal of the Tune Up the Playground project is to install interactive musical instruments in Waterloo Park to promote creativity and community engagement.
My first guest Amit Mehta is the Founder and City Lead of Good Company Productions @goodcoprod. Together with a team made up of students, young professionals, and industry leaders, Amit works to create and provide unique, curated musical experiences in the Kitchener-Waterloo community. Since 2017, Amit and the team have hosted secret, invite-only popup concerts across the region, featuring unconventional venues — such as museums, living rooms, hair salons, tech offices, and more — and showcasing a mix of local and international musicians to an always attentive audience. Recently, the team has started to grow into the world of community-centric event production, hosting concerts in collaboration with local partners, putting together accessible community events, and finding ways to support more artists and creators in their own endeavors.
My second guest Erica Lauren James @ericalaurenjames is a 51 yr old proud parent of two adult children, advocate for LGBTQ2S+ communities, Pflag chapter leader, public speaker as well as a future politician who also happens to be an amazing transgender woman! Erica, a Sales Manager at Closet Couture Boutique is proud to share her personal stories of resiliency, hope and trust in public spaces in hopes to pave the way for other transgender women and the community around them towards a life of more self love and acceptance. Erica shared her struggles, the journey of acceptance while speaking candidly and openly about what it was like to transition from male to female.