Jason Vitt co-founded Selkirk-based Mezzo Homes in 2016 to focus on providing affordable, yet high-quality, smaller-scale housing.

“We named our company Mezzo because it means ‘middle’ or ‘medium’, and that’s just what our Mezzo home is.”

After first exploring concepts as small as 200 to 300 square feet, Vitt and company came up with what is now their main model – a 764-square-foot home on a 48 by 60 foot lot, complete with generous storage space and amenities, such as in-floor heating and a deck, for $230,000.

“At the end of day, the home has to work for its environment,” Vitt said. “We live in Manitoba, we have four seasons, and homeowners need some space to store things.”

The Mezzo is making its mark as “tiny home” champions throughout North America and around the world continue to spark an architectural and social movement in response to growing concerns related to home affordability and environmental sustainability.

Vitt experienced the demand in Manitoba’s Interlake firsthand in spring 2018, when Mezzo Homes staged their first-ever Open House in Selkirk.

“We didn’t know what to expect. We planned to go from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a Saturday. I got there early, and we started taking people through at 9 a.m. We lost count when we went over 500 people. Three people signed up to buy that day.”

Who wants a Mezzo? It seems the answer is “all kinds of people”

“We thought it would be seniors, retirees, and possibly first-time home buyers,” he said “Then we sold a home to a 40-year-old man living on his own. Some buyers are commuters to Winnipeg, others live and work in the Interlake. We realized there weren’t limits to who might be a customer.”

Mezzo Homes recently sold its 16^th home in a Selkirk development. A second Mezzo development is underway in Gimli, with plans for 27 homes.

With his wife Amanda providing interior design services, Vitt says the duo keep in touch with Mezzo homeowners.

“That’s where we get great feedback. They’ve become our friends, really.”

It was always Hesam (Sam) Aminian’s plan to work in human health.

Back in Tehran, Iran, he studied dentistry at the National University of Iran (now Shahid Beheshti University), until shortly after the Iranian Revolution when he and his brother fled to Canada as refugees, first arriving in Toronto in July 1984.

Soon after settling in Manitoba, Aminian graduated from Red River College’s Medical Radiologic Diagnostic Technology program in 1990, and two years later, from the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program, which at the time was being taught at Health Sciences Centre (HSC). He continued his studies in ultrasound and was certified in Pediatric Echocardiography in 1993.

Aminian has since gone on to achieve an impressive near-30-year career with HSC’s Department of Pediatric Cardiology.

“[When I arrived in Canada], I thought about starting all over again from scratch in dentistry, but by then my wife and I were married, and I decided to take a shorter route to creating a career for myself,” Aminian explains.

“I looked around and one of the things that stood out to me was the Medical Radiologic program at Red River College. It was one of the main reasons we moved to Winnipeg —so I could apply and attend the course.”

The College was already a well-recognized institution in Canada by then, and the high employment rates of its graduates helped solidify Aminian’s decision to attend the program.

Throughout the program, he studied both the theoretical and practical components of the industry and completed his clinical work experience at Misericordia Health Centre (then General Hospital), where he found the training both rigorous and rewarding.

“It really was a tough program, but in retrospect, I wouldn’t wish for anything less than that. The instructors at both the College and the hospital were some of the toughest instructors I’ve come across. But through that, I found myself learning so much. The level of expectations was high, and thankfully I managed to meet them.”

Now, nearly three decades into the job, Aminian points to one particular program area that has helped him most. 

“What I will carry for the rest of my career are the patient-care courses that we took in the program. We learned how to interact with patients and people when they’re not at their best physically or emotionally. It stands out for me as something that carries over to anything I do.”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re dining out, cooking at home or ordering delivery — comfort food has a way of creating conversation and bringing people together.

That’s the mantra of Laneil Smith, co-owner of Marion Street Eatery (393 Marion St.) and manager of the Marion Hotel, who, alongside her team, has been serving up the stick-to-your-bones dishes loved by Manitobans since taking over the famed location in 2014.

“We try to make everything on the menu something that people can relate to, or they can bring out a story within their table and their dining experience,” says Smith. “Whether it’s a meatloaf, a chicken pot pie or a chili, I think people within our province have grown up with those foods and they all have a story.”

While it’s true these foods have a special place at the dinner table, Marion Street Eatery has elevated the dishes from their homely roots and become a star of the St. Boniface dining scene. Whether it’s mac and cheese sweetened with honey mustard pretzels, or a spicy chicken wrap with chili lime peanuts and sriracha, there’s enough twists to keep mouths watering and bring locals back for more.

“Our motto is ‘simple food made good,’ and we really strive for that,” says Smith. “I grew up in a home where we ate a lot of meat and potatoes — home-cooked and hearty comforts that were fairly basic, but good food. Sometimes what people are looking for is for us to take something very simple, juice that up with flavour, and make that simple product good.

“So we took some basic comfort foods — foods that you would typically have at your dining room table or your grandma’s dining room table — and knocked it up a couple notches.”

Smith’s family has owned the Marion Hotel for more than 40 years and she had her eyes on the restaurant well before taking over the space seven years ago. (Before that, it had been leased to the owners of a Polish restaurant.) Smith credits her piqued interest with a love of the space — a cozy corner of the hotel’s footprint — as well as a love of food and the relationships that come through that shared experience.

“I was certainly drawn to restaurants,” she says. “I loved the diversity of the different types of foods that you can play around with, I love being able to give people an experience through food. I think so many people connect through food and drink. I think of relationships I’ve created through my past and usually they revolve around the dinner table in some form.”

She also credits her experience at Red River College — where she graduated from the Hospitality and Tourism Management program in 2006 — with turning that passion into a backbone of fundamental skills, as well as the tool belt needed to lead in a high-pressure environment like a restaurant.

“There’s a foundation that’s learned through the College. When I was in school, it was partly about creating skills, but it also built my strength and confidence to improve and excel within the industry. You see that students have that foundation now, that base and the eagerness of wanting to learn more.”

Contest closed – thank you for entering.

Enter for your chance to win one of four tickets to this year’s Digital Marketing Day, presented virtually by the Advertising Association of Winnipeg over two half days in March.

Learn from the most relevant speakers in digital marketing and advertising from across North America over two morning sessions on Zoom. You’ll hear from a variety of experts, including RRC grads Jillian Recksiedler (Creative Communications, 2006) and Natalie Bell (Human Resource Management, 2010) who will share their experiences and best practices in the digital advertising industry.

From local brand ambassadors to seasoned consultants, each speaker will provide insight from working in the field and each session is designed to enlighten and inspire. Take your knowledge to the next level – enter to win today!

*Contest now closed. Thank you for entering this giveaway – only winners will be contacted. Please stay tuned for future contests!

Date: Feb. 17, 2021 Gabriel “Dancing Gabe” Langlois photographed at Red River College Polytechnic’s Skilled Trades and Technology Centre. Langlois is being awarded an honorary degree. Photo by Jason Halstead

Contest Closed – Thank you for entering.

To honour the incredible achievements of Gabriel Langlois, the recipient of an Honorary Diploma in Community Development, we are delighted to give away 14 copies of the biography Dancing Gabe: One Step At A Time by Daniel Perron, signed by both Gabriel and Dan. The contest is open to all RRC grads and alumni.

Thanks to a heartfelt nomination made by Gabe’s biographer, Daniel Perron, Red River College was moved to award Gabriel with an Honorary Diploma this winter to pay tribute to Gabe’s integrity, devotion to volunteering, community spirit, and uplifting positive attitude. And, while we only have 14 copies of Dancing Gabe: One Step At A Time to give away, you can also purchase copies of the eBook.

We encourage the RRC community to tune in to RRC’s 2021 Virtual Winter Convocation taking place on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. CST to help celebrate this milestone with Gabe and his family. You can learn more about Gabe’s accomplishments and his Honorary Diploma on the RED Blog.

*Contest now closed. Thank you for entering this giveaway – only winners will be contacted. Please stay tuned for future contests!

Red River College alumni Shelley Cook and Veronica Rosin are helping to promote a project Creative Communications students are working on: a donation drive for the Red River College Students’ Association (RRCSA) Food Bank. The initiative, called Meals in Motion, asks grads and members of the wider RRC community to donate money, food, and affordable meal ideas to help students stretch their grocery budgets.

When Cook was a Creative Communications student, she worked several jobs to supplement her income, while attending school full time. Juggling work and homework is a relatively normal student experience, but Cook didn’t realize how much she was suffering until an instructor reached out to see if she needed help.

“My struggle felt heavy,” Cook said, in a column for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Rosin faced a similar experience when she was a student, working multiple jobs and trying to put food on the table. And even though she knew the RRCSA Food Bank existed, for a time, the stigma of accessing the food bank held her back from getting the help she needed.

“It doesn’t need to be that hard,” said Rosin, in her Meals in Motion impact story. “This resource is there, so it doesn’t need to be that hard for you.”

The second-year Creative Communications students responsible for the Meals In Motion initiative are now reaching out to alumni and the public to help students in need, recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it many financial challenges for students.

You’re invited! Ten Thousand Coffees is hosting a panel discussion on March 5, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. CST to celebrate International Women’s Day.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #ChoosetoChallenge. Ten Thousand Coffees is on board, choosing to challenge and call out gender bias and inequity in industry, while choosing to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can help create an inclusive world and workplace.

From challenge comes change. Ten Thousand Coffees invites us all choose to challenge our workplace norms and build an environment where women can thrive. Join students and alumni across the country to hear from speakers who have already chosen to challenge the world around them.

This event brings together an illustrious group of women from major brands like RBC, adidas, and IBM to share how they #ChooseToChallenge and how everyone who joins the webinar can do the same. The event is free and open to all Red River College students and alumni. Whether you’re already a member of the Red River College Café or new to our mentoring and networking platform, you’re invited to listen in as these experts discuss how women – and everyone – can thrive in the workplace.

Sheila North says tapping into her natural talents has been the key to a successful decades-long career in communications and governance.

“I always tell students, ‘Keep in focus the natural abilities you have. Those are hints and clues of the things you’ll be good at that will utilize those gifts.’”

For North, those talents include creative writing and storytelling.

A 2006 graduate of Red River College’s Creative Communications program, North spent the first nine years of her career in television working as an award-winning journalist and correspondent for CBC and CTV, where she reported on issues including missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) and residential school survivors. She also worked as Chief Communications Officer at the Assembly for Manitoba Chiefs.

It was then that her career trajectory changed.

In September 2015, North was elected as the first female Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO). Although becoming a leader wasn’t her original plan, she felt called by her community to step up and take on the role.

She also quickly realized the skills she’d acquired as both a College student and journalist — researching, presenting, media relations, writing and analyzing — were instrumental in her role as Grand Chief.

“I did interviews almost daily as Grand Chief. I had to be able to assess questions coming in and be prepared with the best information on hand to make the most informed comments. That sometimes meant quickly reading, analyzing and understanding documents and budgets,” says North.

“I value my education and work experience because it boded well for what I have to do. Juggling different personalities at once is also something I learned. I had to be accommodating and respectful at all times.”

Following three years in MKO leadership, North spent a year helping to incorporate Indigenous perspectives and knowledge into programming at the University College of the North’s new Centre for Indigenous Community Development. There, she worked on a team to create a proposal that responded to the needs of First Nations with a perspective from the north.

If anyone knows the power of an industry relationship, it’s Robert Okabe.

As CEO of the Certified Technicians and Technologists Association of Manitoba (CTTAM), Okabe leads an organization that certifies aspiring engineering and applied science technicians and technologists, while connecting them to important resources — and to each other.

It’s a role he’s been in since 2015, and one that keeps him close to his Red River College roots.

“Most of our members are graduates of the College,” says Okabe. “So I find it a really good experience for me to interact with future graduates or current students and hopefully, in some way, be able to mentor them and make it easier for them post-graduation.”

A Civil Engineering Technology grad from 1983, Okabe recognized early on in his academic life that he wanted to work in the engineering industry. By changing the path he’d initially embarked on and choosing RRC, he helped project his younger self to where he is now.

“I went to university and took the first year of sciences and found myself at a crossroads: is it about the degrees you pick up or the skills that you develop? I was thinking that the Bachelor of Science didn’t prepare me for working out there in industry, so I made the change to go to Red River College. I could see that there was a niche that I knew I could fulfill.”

After graduation, Okabe went to work at the City of Winnipeg, where he was a supervisor of public operations for 31 years.

In 2015, he joined CTTAM — an organization that’s been around for 55 years and has worked in sidestep with RRC for much of that time. Back in the mid-1960s, when the College was still the Manitoba Institute of Technology, it was the first school in the province to graduate technologists.

Both Okabe and CTTAM have generously supported the College throughout the decades. Okabe participates in all nine of the school’s Engineering Technology Advisory Committees — which provide direction and curriculum support from those working on the ground — and in 2008, established the Robert Okabe Achievement Award for Civil Engineering Technology.

His reasoning for the support is simple, as he recognizes how important that helping hand can be in propelling students from the world of academia into a lifelong career.

Like many young Canadians in the early 2000s, Jaime Manness went west. After a stint working in an oil-field camp in Northern B.C., she came home to Manitoba.

Red River College has figured in her career path ever since.

“My sister was in the Health Care Aide program and that occupation appealed to me as well,” she says. “But as soon as I completed the program, I wanted to go further in health care.”

Admission to the College’s (then four-year) Bachelor of Nursing program required Manness to upgrade her high school credits. She’s grateful the College offered a 10-month preparatory course to do just that.

After graduating from RRC with a Nursing degree in 2009, Manness began her career as an Emergency nurse at Health Sciences Centre. Though Emergency is an intensely stressful area for a newly minted nurse, Manness says the program prepares grads to succeed.

“The program concentrates on practical knowledge,” she says. “It builds up students to feel comfortable asking questions.”

“After four years of structured learning, you’re equipped with a cautious, calm confidence. You know your limitations but also how to ask for help and find support.”

Manness counts several of her classmates as friends to this day, adding that College faculty and graduates form a valuable support network throughout a career.

In 2018, Manness returned to Red River College as a part-time instructor, adding an extra dimension to her nursing skill set.

“I had enjoyed mentoring a couple of students in Emergency years earlier but still never imagined coming back as an instructor. A friend thought I’d be a good teacher. It’s nice to develop a different area of my professional practice.”