Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

RAESHA SIROIS  -- 2015’s FACE OF THE FESTIVAL The Face of the Festival Does one have to be born in the West Indies to have Carnival Fever? It certainly cannot hurt! Raesha Sirois, born in St. James, Trinidad, immigrated to Canada in 1970 and grew up in Scarborough, Ontario. Although she enjoyed a Canadian environment and learned to embrace winter out on the slopes with her snowboard, Trinidadian culture was a great part of her upbringing. This included eating her mother’s Creole cooking, listening to Soca, pan and chutney music, and regular month-long trips down to Trinidad to visit relatives in the summer. Raesha played clarinet in the Toronto parang group, La Petite Musicale in the late 80s and joined Silhouettes Steel orchestra to play steel pan in 1994.  She is the only known 9-bass player in Canada to own her own set of pans and currently plays with Pan Fantasy Steel band, led by 2015 Harry Jerome award winner, Wendy Jones. A full-time dental hygienist for 22

 . In September 2011 Canada's number one "black" high-end magazine published the following article.  It has my by-line.  It was, I assume, based on presser I sent out for the Diversity Business Network's Pan Am Games project.  Saw the article when it came out, but, missed my by-line.   DREAMMAKER REALTY MOVES TO THE PAN-AM GAMES By Stephen Weir DreamMaker Realty is not your typical real estate brokerage. “We help individuals, families and organizations build new lives for themselves using real estate as an investment vehicle,” says Isaac Olowolafe, the company’s president and CEO. With such an approach, it’s no wonder Dream Maker Realty , which includes a real estate investment company that owns or manages more than 200 properties in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), is the 2011 winner of the Harry Jerome Business Award. The company also has a partnership with University of Toronto and the African Canadian Social Development Council for a not-for-profit “