It’s the oldest neighbourhood in the city, built with the promise of whiskey. It’s a colourful story. One that informs who Gastown is today.

I began working with the Business Improvement Society in 2014. The goal, increase local traffic to shops and restaurants. To best understand Gastown, I walked the entirety of it everyday for a month and got to know the entrepreneurs who have made it home. I took a lot of pictures, searched hashtags to see what others were sharing, and began creating a storyboard that would shape the visual narrative of our rebranding effort.

In 18 months, I grew the Instagram following from 3,000 to more than 30,000 and created weekly stories about people and places to visit. New events were launched, street banners were hung and in the end, the website got a full overhaul.