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A New Website Curates The Best Sustainable Shops, Restaurants, Retreats, And Conscious Events Around The World

A New Website Curates The Best Sustainable Shops, Restaurants, Retreats, And Conscious Events Around The World

Born in Indonesia and raised in Sydney, Mel Nahas left a successful career in the music industry and launched Conscious City Guide in 2016. Since the site went live, Nahas has featured more than 6,000 events on her community-powered platform.

How did you get the idea for Conscious City Guide? At the height of the design and fashion blog era, I started a blog about conscious lifestyle called The Bharani Effect, just for fun. Every week I would email subscribers about the new interview feature, alongside a list of conscious events I had researched.

I then decided to leave my full-time career in the music industry, with a seed of an idea inspired by the conscious events I was listing in that newsletter. I put my music industry experience to work and pivoted the blog into what it is today, with the help of my co-founder Kiki Falconer.

What does Conscious City Guide offer that wasn’t already available? It unifies a fragmented market of conscious events, retreats, workshops and experiences. For example, unless you follow or subscribe to every meditation, sound bath, or regenerative agriculture school or practitioner, how do you know what’s on ? Yes, you can follow certain teachers, but where do you go to learn and more? I saw that people still needed a place that was curated for their own discovery.

What is your selection process for what gets featured on the website? It’s community powered, meaning anyone hosting a conscious event can list it on Conscious City Guide.

How has the concept evolved since you launched? And what are your plans for the future? It started as a newsletter, morphed into an events marketplace and now it’s a platform. Add to that, we now include editorial from our event-creator community, sharing their guidance and stories about their practices. The plan is to get as many people to conscious events as possible, so that we all become more connected to ourselves, each other and the planet.

What makes an event “Conscious”? We look for events offering connection, expansion and transformation to either the self, our communities, our earth—or, better yet, all three.

How has your background in music and entertainment helped and informed what you do now? Music and the music industry are definitely a muse for me. The way music inspires and moves people, it changes them. In a very literal way, we were grateful to receive support from the Live Nation Women fund.

Beyond the events and experiences, tell me about the resources you offer and how you source and create those? We introduced articles on the site recently because we found that some people didn’t know enough about a particular event to want to go experience it.

Tell me about some of the experiences, retreats and practitioners you feature that you are most excited about and why?

Amy Yeung from 4Kinship, a Diné (Navajo)-owned sustainable artwear brand that does a huge amount of fundraising and awareness-raising for its community. We produced and promoted their Voices of Siihasin concert with Jewel and Lyla June during the pandemic, as the Dinétah were one of the hardest-hit tribes. It’s inspiring the way Amy raises funds and awareness through fashion and art.

I adore Julie Piatt (Srimati). From her monthly online group meetings, retreats at sacred sites around the world, as well as her plant-based cheese line Srimu, I am grateful to play a part in producing and expanding all of these offerings.

Mercado Sagrado is a large creative and healing arts fair that also hosts smaller gatherings, which I cherish. Co-founder Mia Luciano has created a platform that shares ancient knowledge and presents it in such a thoughtful and artistic way, it speaks to an audience who might have otherwise overlooked it.

One of our original team-members, Lenea Sims, started her own community care club for creatives seeking collective liberation called Outer Work. It’s amazing because it’s collaborative, holds its members accountable. It’s membership based, but for those who want to get a taste of it, drop-in spots are available through Conscious City Guide.

Finally, one of our first creator partners, Spirit Weavers Gathering, its founder, Mea Woodruff, has just hosted the groups ninth annual gathering, and the way she honors and builds an inclusive community is something we can all learn from.

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Details on the Launch of the First Caribbean Events Website

Details on the Launch of the First Caribbean Events Website

Caribbean destinations and tourism stakeholders are joyfully welcoming the return of a multitude of buoyant cultural festivals, each focused on the distinctive music, cuisine, dance and arts attached to the panoply of regional nations.

Largely freed from bans on large outdoor gatherings driven by two years of pandemic-imposed restrictions, several countries are preparing for the resumption of events, from the Anguilla Culinary Experience to Barbados’ Crop Over, the British Virgin Islands’ Food Fete, Grenada’s Chocolate Festival, Nevis’ Mango and Food Festival, the Saint Kitts Music Festival, regattas in Carriacou and Saint Barth, Saint Lucia’s long-running Jazz and Arts Festival, plus New Year’s and Carnival celebrations in the Bahamas and Saint Lucia.

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Their return follows the launch of the first comprehensive, centralized resource for information on the region’s numerous events. Veteran Caribbean tourism and travel marketer Nerdin St. Rose first launched Caribbean Events in 2018 and has fully resumed the site as nations and suppliers resume tourism activity in the outbreak’s wake. We spoke recently with Nerdin to learn how she created a timely resource for diverse events across the region.


Caribbean tourism marketer Nerdin St. Rose
“We’re promoting the site as a place people can find easily as soon as they search for Caribbean events.” – Nerdin St. Rose. (Photo courtesy of Nerdin St. Rose)

TP: What led you to create the website?

NS: I’m so passionate about Caribbean events because my background comes from events. I worked with great event productions; I was involved with the Jazz Festival in the 1990’s so you know I love events. I’ve created a platform where people can [access] all of the events taking place in the Caribbean. We sort of want them to stop thinking only about sun sand and sea but also about the other things they can enjoy and experience.

TP: You launched your company just before the pandemic outbreak. How did you deal with the impact?

NS: Yes, you know for me like for all of us it was hard to deal with. But it gave me time to reflect as well. I kind of got my life back because when COVID happened I was in hospital undergoing major surgery.

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TP: What did you do during and in the aftermath of your treatment?

NS: I used that time to think about it what I wanted to do. Events had shut down, but by August of 2020 I was thinking ‘OK, well maybe we could start planning for events in 2021.’ It was a lot of ‘let’s wait and see.’

TP: How do you describe the site?

[The site] features all of the key Caribbean events with information, dates, descriptions and photos. We [publicize] the events through our own social channels as well, promoting the site as a place people can find easily as soon as they do a search for Caribbean events. I’ve been reaching out to the different destinations to ensure they keep us in the loop when they’re getting ready to announce events.

I’m also reaching out to some regional airlines to promote Caribbean Events [including] links on their websites. We’re looking at [event] ticketing and adding accommodation options highlighting hotels in and around events. The site is going to get better later in the year as we add more events.

TP: What are your short-term initiatives?

NS: We’re adding events now and I’m reaching out to all of the islands as they release the information, which we added to the website. I continue to do work we’re ramping up through 2022. Suppliers don’t have to pay for their events to be listed on our site; we’re sort of an aggregator. We were picking up just prior to the pandemic and actually started getting a lot more momentum and interest. We were promoting and have over 200 events on the site.

TP: It had to be difficult to deal with the dual challenges of personal health concerns and the pandemic, which impacted everyone. How has your experience affected your business outlook?

NS: Hey [those things] happened. During the pandemic, events were not happening, but we tried to keep people thinking about events although there wasn’t a whole lot of content. It’s just so good to see events coming back. It makes you feel even more positive and more encouraged and I’m excited about that.

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How Team Canada athletes fared in the 7 new Olympic events at Beijing 2022 – Team Canada – Official Olympic Team Website

Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O'Dine raise their arms on the podium

Leah Hennel/COC

While Beijing 2022 has been full of classic Winter Games events, it’s also introduced us to some brand-new additions to the Olympic program.

The inclusion of those seven events hasn’t just brought fresh excitement, it’s helped the IOC pursue its goal of gender parity. So, what has that meant for our Canadian athletes? Let’s have a look.

Mixed team ski jumping

Four ski jumpers stand on the podium with arms raised
Team Canada ski jumpers Alexandria Loutitt, Matthew Soukup, Abigail Strate and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes receive their bronze medals in the mixed team event during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Tuesday, February 08, 2022. Photo by Kevin Light/COC

You can normally pencil in Canada as a medal contender in a bunch of different events at the Olympic Winter Games. Ski jumping has never been one of them — until now.

The team of Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, Alexandria Loutitt, Matthew Soukup and Abigail Strate shocked the world with a bronze medal in this event, Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in ski jumping. It’s the sort of result that could very well help push the sport forward in this country.

Short track mixed team relay

Florence Brunelle and Kim Boutin skate around the track
Florence Brunelle, Kim Boutin, Steven Dubois and Pascal Dion compete in the Mixed Team Relay during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Saturday, February 05, 2022. Photo by Leah Hennel/COC

Now, if you want to talk about “pencil Canada in for some medals” sports, short track speed skating fits the bill. And things were going pretty well for the Canadian team (Courtney Sarault, Florence Brunelle, Kim Boutin, Steven Dubois, Pascal Dion and Jordan Pierre-Gilles) in this new event, with a second-place finish in their quarterfinal heat and first place in their semifinal heat.

But in the four-team final, Canada was penalized for a push and would officially end the competition in sixth place. A few members of the team did enjoy individual success, though: Dubois won silver in the men’s 1500m and bronze in the 500m, while Boutin claimed bronze in the women’s 500m. And oh yeah, let’s not forget that amazing gold medal in the men’s 5000m relay.

See? We told you to pencil Canada in for some short track hardware.

Mixed team snowboard cross

Grondin and O'Dine hug at the finish line
Team Canada snowboarders Eliot Grondin and Meryeta Odine celebrate after winning bronze in the mixed teams snowboard cross event during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Saturday, February 12, 2022. Photo by Leah Hennel/COC

Snowboard cross is one of the most exciting disciplines on the Olympic program. So of course the mixed team version of the event had it’s share of drama. Meryeta O’Dine found herself embroiled in a gnarly accident when a competitor landed on her head during the final.

But in one of the gutsiest showings of these Games, O’Dine pulled herself to her feet and made her way down the rest of the course to secure an historic bronze medal for herself and teammate Eliot Grondin.

Mixed team aerials

Three Canadian aerialists happily hug as they hear their scores
Team Canada freestyle skiers Marion Thenault, Miha Fontaine and Lewis Irving win bronze in mixed team ariels during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Thursday, February 10, 2022. Photo by Kevin Light/COC

In yet another new mixed team event, the Canadian trio of Lewis Irving, Marion Thénault and Miha Fontaine won bronze, the first Olympic medal in all of their respective careers.

While the achievement is historic in its own right, there’s even more history with this trio: Fontaine’s father competed in three official Olympic Games in aerials and was a silver medallist when it was still a demonstration sport, while Irving’s father is a Paralympic alpine skier.

Women’s monobob

Front shot of Christine de Bruin driving bobsled into finish area
Team Canada’s Christine de Bruin wins bronze in the women’s monobob event during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Monday, February 14, 2022. Photo by Mark Blinch/COC

Men have long had two bobsleigh events and now women do too with the addition of the monobob. Two Canadians — Christine de Bruin and Cynthia Appiah — came into the event’s Olympic debut with pedigree and expectations after having had good success this season.

De Bruin was consistent through the four runs and grabbed the bronze medal. Appiah did her best to recover from a tricky first run and would finish eighth.

Men’s freestyle skiing big air

Evan Mceachran of Canada competes in the men's freestyle skiing big air
Evan Mceachran of Canada competes during the men’s freestyle skiing big air qualification round of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The big air event in freestyle skiing was added to the Olympic program on both the men’s and women’s sides in Beijing, with a number of Canadians aiming to make their marks.

Evan McEachran reached the final and was able to put up a massive 93.00 score on his first run, the second highest score of any run on the day. But he went down on his subsequent two runs, and would finish ninth in his second Olympic appearance.

Édouard Therriault was painfully close to reaching the final, finishing just two points shy of the qualification zone. Max Moffatt and Teal Harle also competed, but did not get past the qualification round.

Women’s freestyle skiing big air

Team Canada freestyle skier Megan Oldham competes in the women’s big air qualification round
Team Canada freestyle skier Megan Oldham competes in the women’s big air qualification round during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Monday, February 07, 2022. Photo by Leah Hennel/COC *MANDATORY CREDIT*

A pair of youngsters carried Canada’s hopes into the women’s big air final: 20-year-old Megan Oldham and 17-year-old Olivia Asselin.

Both put in solid performances, with all three of Oldham’s runs being worth 85 points or more, and Asselin laying down an 85.50 in her third run. Oldham would wind up just shy of the podium, in fourth place, while Asselin’s eighth-place result leaves plenty of optimism about what’s to come.