November 2017

Returning To Rotman In A Mentoring Role

November 5, 2017 General

Yesterday I was invited at the Rotman School of Management’s Business Edge program for mentoring the current cohort during the Informational Interview BootCamp. It was my pleasure to enlighten the cohort since I’ve heavily invested in using this tool for networking within my industry and I have managed to make some awesome connections. Through the Business Edge program I also get to work with a diverse batch of internationally educated alumnae who bring their varied industry experience from all parts of the world! It’s always a pleasure to be invited back to the program as a graduate and today was one such special day. The format of the BootCamp matches individual professionals with a program graduate based on their future career interest & line of work.

The BootCamp, which is held once for every cohort at the Rotman campus, brings together a varied blend of experienced graduates from Business Edge’s fine legacy and lends a no-risk-no-obligation opportunity to practice the principles of informational interviews. This was also a great setting for me to meet my fellow graduates from past cohorts – or as I call it, networking within a diverse network. This is also that occasion when I get to mingle, meet, and to share my aspirations and career learnings one-on-one with the illustrious Rotman faculty, especially Sabina and Val. To put it all in a nutshell, yesterday was a memorable day for me!

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Mindhunter

Mindhunter Is A Lesson In Criminal Psychology

November 3, 2017 Movies

My obsession for retro is well-known, and it’s a particularly gratifying experience being in North America to observe the nuances of this geography from the 70s in a web TV series. The fashion, the architecture, the make of the classic cars, and the means of communications (obviously no mobile phones in the 70s) is a revelation of sorts & a journey back in time. It was fascinating to watch ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ in the backdrop of the 80s more specifically for its anecdotes related to the pre-PC era. Then again, the CNN series on the 60s, 70s, and the 80s which took me on a nostalgic history of North America. And a couple of days ago I binged watched ‘Mindhunter’ on Netflix, a crime psychological thriller from David Fincher and Charlize Theron.

Set in 1977-79 years the series is based on the book ‘Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit’ by authors John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker following the adventure of FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), and a seasoned agent named Bill Tench (characterized by Holt McCallany). Ford and Tench are FBI agents from the Behavioral Science Unit interviewing a bunch of serious killers (not “serial” killers) incarcerated for their gruesome crimes in an attempt to understand their attitudes which made them commit those heinous acts! The entire Season 1 was a fun nostalgic ride back into the 70s (I can’t wait for Season 2), it’s unlike any other TV series or movie you may have watched in the detective/murder mystery genres, it’s engrossing, and without question it introduces a new narrative about criminal psychology.

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A Tasty Exploration of Israeli Cuisine

November 2, 2017 Movies

For my love of discovering new tastes, I caught up with a Netflix documentary called ‘In Search Of Israeli Cuisine’ also due to my keen interest in Israeli traditions and culture. I have always believed a lot has been misinterpreted and misunderstood about the State of Israel given the geopolitical nature of the Middle East, and so apart from the military and tech industry news that I keep reading here was a documentary that presented me with a hitherto unexplored food lifestyle of Israel.

The documentary is guided by Israeli chef and restaurateur Michael Solomonov who is on a quest to find if there is indeed such a thing like ‘Israeli Cuisine’. The film follows Chef Solomonov to over 100 locations (or so I’m told) through the Israeli hinterland in search of unique culinary experiences, and on a scenic tour of Tel Aviv, Nazareth, including a place called Taverna near the Sea of Galilee for the taste of freshwater fish and crabs, and the Golan Heights to indulge in the choicest Israeli wines. It wasn’t until the the early 80s and the economic boom when Israelis traveled great lengths as tourists, experiencing the western world lifestyle and realized they needed to develop and nurture a distinct flavourful identity that is established from locally sourced ingredients only. A cuisine that is their own.

The documentary traces Israeli flavours and texture from the Jewish communities of Ashkenazi and Sephardic and outlines the uniqueness it has brought to local cuisine. Basically, the Ashkenazi Jews have their origins in Eastern Europe, and the Sephardi Jews in the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal), besides also gaining its rich taste from middle-eastern cultures such as Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. Chef Solomonov profiles home cooks, chefs, farmers, and even food writers to get to the depth of Israeli food traditions and local recipes with an elaborate history behind its source, and also goes hunting for dishes on the streets and hotels of faraway cities in Israel.

Although there were mostly non-vegetarian dishes (being a vegetarian) it left me awe inspired to learn that Israel is a historically rich land of multi-faceted ethnicities and customs whose food is not just influenced by Arabs, Christians, Druze, and Jews but also Moroccan, Turkish, Uzbek, German, Iraqi, and even French culinary traditions.