Imagine my delight when the lovely Ren Tomovcik, Arts Editor of Ottawa’s coolest online events guide Ottawafocus.com, contacted me about a possible collaboration!
This get up and go girl has been on the job for just over a month, and has already kicked this comprehensive online City Guide into full gear, adding considerable value to the site by incorporating original content. Hoping to draw readers who are looking for more than just basic information, Tomovcik wants to nurture Ottawa’s arts scene, celebrate local writers, artists and photographers, and build a community bloggers – all while keeping us all up to date on what’s happening around town. “People have stuff to say” she says, “and there are amazing people you never hear about!”. Anyway, this is just my kind of thinking, and I am pretty pumped about participating.
Every week or so, an Ottawa focused girlaboutOtown post will be featured on Ottawafocus.com (tee hee). And, soon I will start contributing exclusive articles focused on interior decoration and design. Check me out here!
For those of you who may not have come across Ottawafocus.com, it began back in 2007 when a couple of techie types over at Atomic Motion, a local web development company decided to create Ottawafood.com as a weekend lark. This exhaustive web based restaurant listing quickly became a premier online destination for local dining enthusiasts looking for good information. Following on the heels of their overnight success, these same Atomic Motion dudes decided to build Ottawafocus.com, an even bigger site – this time with event listings, a museum and theatre directory and even neighbourhood guides – in addition to restaurants and bars. Well designed and easy to use, the site enables local organizers a free and easy way to expose their event to a rapidly growing audience. And, their movie listings are the best around!
Enter Ren Tomovcik. Employed primarily as a writer, Tomovcik only works on Ottawafocus.com some of the time. She is passionate about the portal’s potential though, and longs for the day when she will be managing and writing on the site full time. In the interim, Tomovcik understands the value of the experience she is gaining, and continues to create opportunities by simply doing what she loves to do. In addition to her day job, Tomovcik hosts Renegade, a bi-weekly radio program on CKCU-FM Radio 93.1 and writes content and reviews for AllGirlArcade.com, an online gaming community for girls.
So what does this amazing person you may not have heard about have to say? Here is just a bit…
What do you crave? A good cup of tea.
What is your greatest indulgence? Chocolate.
Do you collect? I tried collecting stamps. I have a ton of stamps. Really, I have more stamps than I should for someone who doesn’t know anything about stamps. I tend toward short term obsessions. I will decide to collect something, furiously go about acquiring what I need to complete the collection, and then go and sell it all on e-bay.
What are you afraid of? Failure. And making bad choices.
What is your biggest challenge? Focus. Its an ongoing challenge for me to decide what I want to do with my life. I have so many passions, and want to dip into so many things, I sometimes feel like there is just so much to jam into the little time we have!
Fiction or Non-fiction? Fiction. I read to escape. I get enough non-fiction in real life
What can you not live without? The internet. It’s maybe a symptom of our modern world, but I feel I need communication to feel in touch with the world. Too long without the internet, and I feel disconnected…
First job? A counter attendant in a jewellery store. I was 16…
What is your secret hidden talent? Parallel parking.
Describe your personal style? My current personal style is dictated by what will look the least windblown after ten minutes outside in an Ottawa snowstorm. It’s all about hats and finding waterproof footwear that isn’t too abominably ugly!
What about Ottawa? Where is the best place to see live music? Wherever there’s a good band playing!
Favourite Restaurant? Mamma Grazzi’s.
Best Ottawa breakfast? Cora’s.
Favourite place to shop? The Market.
This girlaboutOtown is pretty sure Ren Tomovcik is someone with something to say! No doubt we’ll be hearing more from her as she continues to do more of what she loves.
