The truth is, I have never truly worked a day in my life. Why? Because I’ve been fortunate enough to be passionate about everything I’ve done. That’s because all of it has been rooted in telling stories. This is the timeline of my career story.
Timeline
MY STORY
1993
Within a few weeks of graduating from Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, with a BA in Broadcast Journalism, I began working on-air at The Weather Network, initially, hosting an environmental news show and delivering national forecasts. The year was 1993. The technology that allowed viewers to see the weather forecast in their own city was cutting-edge and ahead of its time.
1995
I moved to one of the most unique, dynamic, busy television newsrooms in Canada, CTV Montreal, working at Pulse News. As a general assignment reporter, I covered everything: current events, politics, health, the courts, social justice, etc, in English and French. Stories I remember to this day, include: the Toope murder trial (which put the Young Offenders Act under the microscope), the dawn of the concept of 'downsizing' in the workforce, the disappearance of Jolene Riendeau (10-year-old girl who went missing; her body found 12 years later), among others.
1997
In June of this year, I became a mom for the first time. The lead-up to the birth of my first son signalled a new, secondary journey for me --- that of entrepreneur. The Liandrea Company, Liandrea Productions Inc., Liandrea.com and then whereparentstalk.com remains a passionate pursuit till today --- educating and empowering parents with tips, proven advice and helpful hints. I vividly recall carting my infant son in his car seat to make presentations to hospitals and medical professional about the need for a quality, Canadian-made resource to help parents navigate caring for a newborn and unravel the mystery that is an infant.
1999
Opportunity knocked, and I was lucky enough to be there to seize it --- taking on the role of sports reporter/anchor at CTV Montreal. From a young age, I was riveted by the psyche of the athlete --- what fuels, drives and motivates them --- while quietly marvelling at their exceptional talent, desire to be better and commitment to sacrifice for their goals. In this capacity, I covered the CFL (Montreal Alouettes), NHL (Montreal Canadiens), MLB (Montreal Expos), MLS (Montreal Impact), in addition to a host of amateur athletes, school sports, etc. Highlights included: interviewing freestyle skier Jennifer Heil as soon as she landed on Canadian soil with her Olympic Gold medal from Turin 2006, covering the defunct Montreal Expos, the Alouettes Grey Cup victory in 2002, Formula One races at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, and more.
2000
During this period, the grunt work on the parenting media production began to take shape. Liandrea Productions Inc., produced its own parenting how-to DVDs, as well as produced videos for a variety of clients, including: P&G, The Danone Institute of Canada, PTPA Media Inc., Our Kids, WeeHands Inc., and Lice Squad Canada, among others.
2004
Liandrea Productions first DVD, Bringing Baby Home, Bebe arrive a la maison (French) was released. The DVD contained how-to information and advice from medical experts including Dr. Denis Leduc, pediatrician, past-President of the Canadian Paediatric Society, on more than 120 topics in 70 minutes about caring for a newborn from birth to 6 months of age. It won two awards: Parents Choice Award and a National Association of Parenting Products Award, both in the United States. Wal-mart Canada Inc., was the first retailer to sell Bringing Baby Home. It was also available in Costco, Toys r Us, other independent retailers, and online. It is still used as a teaching tool in pre-natal classes in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia.
2006
Yummy In my Tummy or Bon dans mon bedon (French), our second DVD, was released. It features feeding, nutrition tips and advice for babies and toddlers starting from the introduction of solid foods, with tips from Louise Lambert-Lagace, internationally-renowned dietitian and author, as well Dr. Denis Leduc, pediatrician, in addition to mom-tested tricks. This 45-minute DVD tackles more than 75 topics on optimal feeding tips to help avoid childhood obesity and cultivate lifelong healthy eating habits. The DVD won a Parents' Choice Award in 2009.
2006
Not long after the release of our second DVD, came the creation and publishing of our first book, 'Yummy In My Tummy In Montreal' and then 'Yummy In My Tummy'. Filled with health information, recipes, local Montreal parenting resources and a space to make notes and jot down appointments. The book was designed to be a companion guide for the DVD of the same name. It was sold at local independent books stores in Montreal, as well as Chapters and Amazon. Yummy In My Tummy also exists in e-book format.
2007
My husband, three children and I moved to Toronto, Ontario, to be closer to family and begin a new chapter to our adventure. In an effort to balance family and work, I decided to steer my career in a different direction that of freelancer. As such, I worked as a writer, producer, host, reporter, anchor, line-up editor and more at a variety of media organizations, including: CTV, CanadaAM, CTV News Channel, GlobalTV, SunTV, SunMedia and RogersTV.
2008
Among the highlights during this period, hosting three television shows over seven years. Each program was distinctly different in subject matter and format — all of them with RogersTV Toronto. The first program was called, ‘On Patrol with Toronto Police’. This documentary-style, up-close-and-personal look inside the Toronto Police Service, its staff and operations, ran on a weekly basis.
2008
A conversation in a hockey rink with a fellow mom led to an acronym that needed to have a group behind it. so I thought. As a result, WINE was born. I founded WINE with the objective to invite like minded women to convene monthly, face-to-face, to share ideas and knowledge about career, finance, etc. WINE stands for Women’s Investment Networking and Entrepreneurial (WINE) group. It is now 10+ years old and gets better with age!
2009
During this time, I also co-hosted a weekly radio show called Parents Talk with Lianne & Andrea, which aired on the Corus Radio Network in Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. It combined parenting topics in the news with feature interviews with athlete-parents, celebrity-parents and other notable names, conveying need-to-know parenting information with experts advice and tips from parents to parents.
2010
Chronicling my daily adventures in parenting and aligning them to what’s in the headlines was the perfect combination for a closet blogger! I started blogging, almost daily, for BlogHer, at a time when blogging was just in its infancy.
2010
Rebranded Liandrea.com to WhereParentsTalk.com, an online community designed to educate and empower parents with proven advice, tested tips and food for thought on their parenting journey.
2011
Began co-hosting Parents Talk, a weekly round-table discussion with parents, featured reports on hot parenting topics plus mom-tested and kid-approved recipes. The show was aligned to content on WhereParentsTalk.com and aired on RogersTV for two seasons.
2011
During this year, we began to broaden our profile in Canada’s parenting space as columnists for ParentsCanada magazine, and video content production for ParentsCanada.com. Our column, entitled, ‘Momsense’, provided tips, tricks and mom-tested advice on a host of common questions parents have. The accompany video breathed more life into the written words.
2012
Opportunity knocked again. This time to door opened to a role in a ‘new’ industry for me --- not-for-profit. During just over two years as Communications lead at Ronald McDonald House Toronto, a home away from home for seriously ill children and their families, I had the opportunity to support the opening of the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world (at that time), oversee the production of the Annual Review and produce video and written stories about courage, resilience, tragedy, triumph, death and survival through the eyes of children and adults.
2012
Fortunate to have had the opportunity to add a new blog platform to the list this year. I became a regular blogger featured on Huffington Post Canada, discussing parenting topics and headlines with a healthy dose of personal experience.
2013
Served as host of Toronto Headlines, a weekly, live, call-in, panel discussion with four journalists on the hot topics of the week in Canada’s largest city. From politics to crime, social issues to names in the news, the show focused on debate-worthy topics with the opportunity for viewers to call in and share their perspective.
2014
Moved to an opportunity in healthcare communications at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, a global leader in cardiac and vascular care. Highlights including communications, PR and media relations support for the two largest private healthcare donations in Canadian history, in addition to conceiving, filming and editing video stories about patients, healthcare staff and donors impacted by this healthcare organization.
2015
Continued to expand my media training portfolio by partnering with Gold Media to help clients looking to learn the in and outs of media interviews and presentation skills.
2016
Invited to be a frequent contributor to NewsTalk 1010, a Toronto-based Bell Media radio station, as part of ‘Moore in the Morning’, with host John Moore and a panel of three others from various walks of life discussing the morning headlines, live.
2018
Began as a contributing writer to a new national magazine called, YouareUNLTD, created to change the conversation on aging and care in Canada.
2018
Began as a contributing host for Women's March Canada, interviewing inspiring women form across the country and from all walks of life.
2018
Moved from healthcare communications to marketing in an education setting at St. Michael's College School, a Catholic, all-boys private school in Toronto.