So you came here because you wanted to know a little bit more about me.

First of all, I will describe myself. Most people would say that I'm a bit of a nerd. Some people call me the Maktionary because they are constantly alarmed at the amount of random knowledge that I know about the strangest things, anything from theremins to gangster rap to the Triple Bottom Line to global agricultural policies to Marcel Duchamp to slums in Brazil. I would describe myself as being incredibly resourceful, and this is a result of having two parents who immigrated to Canada with nothing and raising an entire family here. Their DIY ethic has definitely transferred over to me. Another random fact: I have perfect pitch. As a result of this, you will often see me becoming fascinated with and taking up random instruments and music.

From an educational standpoint, I did my primary and secondary schooling in Toronto, in the suburb of Etobicoke. For university, I went away to McGill University in Montreal, where I majored in marketing. Several years later, I went to the Schulich School of Business at York University and concentrated on Business & Sustainability.

Most of my experience has been in the realm of consumer packaged goods, and specifically I have worked with mainstream cleaning products, luxury cosmetics, and candy for a number of years in roles in customer business development (sales), marketing and category mangement. These jobs have developed my customer focus, analytical skills, creativity, organizational skills, and negotiation skills.

However, that is not to say that I am all business. I have done a whole slew of random jobs that round me out - I have worked at a library as a page, for a now-world famous DJ as a personal assistant, organized music and art events for youth, shovelled snow, worked as a receptionist at a sport medicine clinic, and was a design editor for a newspaper.

In my spare time, I try to volunteer as much as possible. I have volunteered at the Red Cross, Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as various environmental organizations in Toronto. I am also really into the environment. Not in that extreme patchouli oil RAH RAH RAH hippie sense (not that there is anything wrong with that), but from the constructive sense. To illustrate this, I started the website Packaging Probe to constructively reduce packaging waste for products. It uses the feedback of the businessperson, package designer, environmentalist, and consumer, to ensure all their needs are met.

I love writing. You can read some of my writing at the McGill Tribune and some stuff at my magazine, Keetologue.

I love travelling. I have really turned up the travel over the last couple of years, and some of the places I have been other than Canada and the United States include Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, China, Japan, Spain, UK (England and Scotland), France, and Morocco. I hope to make it over to Russia, India and Nunavut in the next couple of years.

I also love languages. I am of course fluent in English, but also am quite adept at French and Cantonese. I'm constantly trying to work on my Spanish. You could say that one of my goals in life is to learn all of the major colonial languages.

I recently started making my own Fimo earrings and am hoping to sell them at an upcoming craft fair. I call the venture Midbrow Designs.

If I haven't provided you with enough of a profile of myself, please feel free to email me at heatherkittymak [at] gmail[dot]com if you would like. Look me up also on facebook, kiva, twitter, and 43things.