Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Erin Isfeld, Manager of Corporate Communications at Edmonton International Airport

Transcript

A Coffee with Erin Isfeld, Manager of Corporate Communications at Edmonton International Airport · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

• 0:00
  Hi everyone, I'm Erin Isfeld, and you are listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
• 0:23
  Jennifer?
• 0:24
  Cam, do you have Olympic hangover?
• 0:27
  Do I have Olympic hangover?
• 0:28
  Well, I gotta tell ya, I was a little sad on Sunday.
• 0:31
  I know.
• 0:32
  But you know what, I've gotten over it a little bit, just because you know what, we really are, we're a great team.
• 0:37
  Canada's great.
• 0:38
  They are great.
• 0:39
  They're amazing.
• 0:39
  Absolutely.
• 0:40
  And so, you know what, they played their hearts out, and they did amazing, and you know what, next time.
• 0:45
  You know what, proud of all our Canadian athletes.
• 0:47
  Ah, so proud of them.
• 0:48
  Amazing players, amazing.
• 0:50
  You know, it really was a great game.
• 0:51
  When you get up at five in the morning to watch a hockey game, and then it was that kind of game, it makes it worth getting up at five in the morning.
• 0:58
  That's right.
• 0:59
  Yeah, but I did have a nap after that.
• 1:01
  But anyway, it was great.
• 1:02
  Anyway, welcome to the podcast, everybody, Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam, and we are coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson.
• 1:13
  That's right.
• 1:14
  And because we are in the coffee shop, that means if you hear a little bit of noise in the background, coffee machines whirring, people talking, kids, and there are kids here today.
• 1:23
  So you may hear the kids.
• 1:24
  That's right.
• 1:25
  It's always lively in here when the kids are here. Sure is! I gotta say, I'm really excited when the kids are here.
• 1:30
  And so you know what?
• 1:31
  It's just a great place to be.
• 1:33
  And we want you to feel like you're sitting here in the coffee shop with us and enjoying a cup of coffee.
• 1:38
  If you've never been to the Wall Coffee Roasters, you need to come check it out because it's awesome.
• 1:43
  You do.
• 1:44
  And try out their new spring drinks.
• 1:46
  They have new spring drinks.
• 1:47
  Do you remember what they are?
• 1:48
  I don't remember what they are.
• 1:50
  Yes, the Strawberry Mocha and the Strawberry Matcha.
• 1:53
  Strawberry Mocha and Strawberry Matcha.
• 1:55
  I have not tried either.
• 1:56
  I haven't either.
• 1:57
  I got to be honest.
• 1:58
  Strawberry is not a big...
• 2:00
  I'm not in the big strawberry camp.
• 2:01
  But somebody is.
• 2:02
  Somebody is.
• 2:03
  So if you love strawberry, whether it's Mocha or Matcha, I don't really know what a Matcha is.
• 2:08
  So I can't tell you.
• 2:09
  You should try that out.
• 2:10
  And we also need to tell you that Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam is brought to you by none other than...
• 2:16
  Wing Snob Canada, Cam, where the wings are fresh, never frozen.
• 2:20
  That's right.
• 2:20
  Sixteen flavors, four rubs.
• 2:23
  Unbelievable wings.
• 2:24
  If you've never tried it, you need to try them.
• 2:26
  They are amazing.
• 2:27
  Ten locations in Edmonton, one in Calgary and a brand new one in Grande Prairie.
• 2:32
  I heard.
• 2:32
  They just opened that.
• 2:33
  I know.
• 2:34
  Way to go, Mike.
• 2:35
  Good job on the Wing Snob.
• 2:36
  They got the greatest parmesan fries.
• 2:38
  They got cornbread.
• 2:38
  They got all kinds of stuff.
• 2:40
  If you've never tried it out, tonight is the night for a Wing Snob night.
• 2:45
  So check them out at www.wingsnob.ca.
• 2:49
  Best wings you'll ever have.
• 2:50
  And we also need to tell you about our friends at Mprint.
• 2:54
  Sign and Print Solutions right here in Acheson.
• 2:56
  They are the preferred printer of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
• 2:59
  That's right.
• 3:00
  And they do amazing work.
• 3:02
  I mean, they really do.
• 3:03
  Don and Jan are amazing people.
• 3:05
  They'll do your business cards.
• 3:07
  They'll do your brochures.
• 3:08
  They'll do your pamphlets.
• 3:09
  They will even wrap your vehicle.
• 3:12
  They will.
• 3:12
  Which is cool.
• 3:13
  They did our great mugs.
• 3:14
  They did our mugs.
• 3:16
  They did my water bottle, which I love.
• 3:18
  It's awesome.
• 3:19
  They do it all.
• 3:20
  So hey, listening, if you need to get something printed, whatever it is, and you don't even need to live in Acheson or in Edmonton, just call them.
• 3:28
  Just get a hold of them.
• 3:29
  Tell them what you want.
• 3:30
  They'll ship it to you anywhere.
• 3:31
  That's right.
• 3:32
  So check them out at www.mprint.ca.
• 3:36
  That's right.
• 3:36
  So check them out.
• 3:37
  They're awesome people.
• 3:38
  Again, thank you for listening today.
• 3:40
  I'm so excited about today's show.
• 3:42
  This is awesome.
• 3:42
  We have a great guest with us and I can hardly wait.
• 3:45
  So Jennifer, let's get started.
• 3:47
  Okay, let's kick it off.
• 3:48
  Our guest today is Erin Isfeld, who's the Corporate Communication Manager at Edmonton International Airport.
• 3:55
  So welcome, Erin.
• 3:57
  Erin, good to have you.
• 3:58
  Thanks for having me, you guys.
• 4:00
  This is fantastic.
• 4:01
  It's so great to have you here.
• 4:02
  And some of you are probably thinking, I know that name.
• 4:06
  I know that name.
• 4:07
  I know that name because you were...
• 4:12
  Well, for years, you probably remember me from CTV.
• 4:15
  It's been a couple of years removed now for me, but I mean, still in the grocery store, I still get the tap on the shoulder.
• 4:22
  Hi, where do I know you from?
• 4:25
  Or even now, because I am at the airport, people will come up to me and say, what story are you working on here today?
• 4:31
  And I say, well, no, I work here.
• 4:34
  And they say to me, no, no, no, no, you're on the news.
• 4:38
  I think people will just always know you as that person on TV.
• 4:42
  And that's okay.
• 4:43
  And that's good, yeah.
• 4:44
  That's okay, because for many, many years, almost two decades here.
• 4:48
  That's a long time.
• 4:49
  It was a long time, but it went by very quickly and enjoyed every moment.
• 4:55
  Awesome.
• 4:55
  Okay, let's take it back to the very beginning.
• 4:58
  Yeah, we always go back to the beginning, the start.
• 5:00
  We need to know where it all began.
• 5:02
  Yes, where you were born and where did you grow up?
• 5:05
  Okay, so I've been in Edmonton for 20 years now.
• 5:09
  I love this city, love this province, love where I'm at.
• 5:13
  But my heart really is and my roots are in Manitoba.
• 5:16
  Manitoba.
• 5:17
  Very small town, Manitoba.
• 5:19
  So, McDonald Manitoba, and we're talking two streets, Centre Street and Main Street.
• 5:25
  Yeah, did they have a traffic light?
• 5:26
  Nope.
• 5:27
  Okay, then you know, well, I was going to say two streets, then you know it's a small town.
• 5:30
  No, you know, the train tracks went right by my parents' house.
• 5:34
  The grain elevator was right there.
• 5:36
  I think when I was really, really young, there was a gas station, but then that kind of went away.
• 5:42
  And it really is a very small village.
• 5:45
  How far would that be from Winnipeg?
• 5:47
  Right, so about an hour, 15 minutes west and then north.
• 5:52
  So right on the on the yellow head.
• 5:54
  Okay.
• 5:55
  When you kind of get off the Trans Canada, get on the yellow head and there it is.
• 5:57
  Right, right there.
• 5:58
  Right off the highway.
• 6:00
  Tremendous place to grow up.
• 6:01
  Yeah.
• 6:02
  Surrounded by people who absolutely loved you.
• 6:05
  Yeah.
• 6:05
  Many of them are your family members.
• 6:08
  There was a lot of my family members.
• 6:09
  You're related to everybody in town.
• 6:11
  You really are.
• 6:12
  Yeah.
• 6:12
  And I mean, it was, I grew up in a time where you woke up in the morning, you threw on your clothes, you ran out the door.
• 6:18
  Yeah.
• 6:18
  And then you came home for supper.
• 6:20
  Yeah.
• 6:21
  And there's something beautiful about that, that just doesn't exist anymore.
• 6:25
  I know it doesn't exist anymore.
• 6:26
  Those were great days.
• 6:28
  You could just go ride your bike wherever, and you don't have to worry.
• 6:31
  And parents weren't worried.
• 6:32
  No, they weren't worried.
• 6:33
  You were just with your friends.
• 6:35
  And everybody looked out for everybody's kids.
• 6:38
  100 percent.
• 6:38
  I love that.
• 6:39
  And this community, and I think this is where I really first got that feeling of giving back to your community and loving your community and loving each other.
• 6:48
  You know, people would just make your lunch for you, and no problem, they call your mom and say, don't worry, they're here for lunch.
• 6:54
  They're going to go back out to the ball field or whatever.
• 6:57
  Those were the good old days.
• 6:59
  And I look at my kids now.
• 7:01
  I have a son who's 14 and a daughter who's 12.
• 7:03
  And I kind of wish that for them a little bit.
• 7:06
  I know.
• 7:07
  Isn't that the truth?
• 7:08
  And right now, I can see a lot of our listeners in a certain age category.
• 7:12
  They're all nodding and going, yeah, those were the days.
• 7:15
  But those were the days.
• 7:17
  They were the days.
• 7:17
  And I remember we would have like the street parties.
• 7:21
  Yeah.
• 7:22
  The dances in the summer right outside of the community hall.
• 7:26
  I was very strong in 4-H.
• 7:29
  4-H is really probably what solidified my love for public speaking, certainly my love for giving back to community.
• 7:37
  What was your animal?
• 7:38
  Yes.
• 7:39
  You know what?
• 7:39
  I wasn't in animal 4-H, believe it or not.
• 7:42
  I was in sewing and foods and leadership, those are things.
• 7:48
  I picked up the garbage on the highway, you know, the highway.
• 7:50
  Yes, that's right.
• 7:52
  They still do that.
• 7:53
  Yeah, they still do.
• 7:54
  Yeah.
• 7:55
  I mean, that really was pivotal in creating who I am and really foundational to the kind of individual that I grew up to be.
• 8:04
  I think being involved with so many different organizations and charities and boards and all of those things, it was because of 4-H.
• 8:13
  Was your school, tell me about it.
• 8:14
  Yeah, I know.
• 8:16
  Was it a big school, a little school?
• 8:18
  Was it K-12?
• 8:19
  K-12 school, yeah.
• 8:21
  So, I mean, we got bused in on the yellow school bus into the big city of Portage-le-Prairie, which is about 15,000.
• 8:29
  Yeah.
• 8:29
  So, that was definitely home to me too when people would ask where I was from, because I did all my schooling there, played all my sports there, really did any of those extracurriculars in that space, but I mean, very small, right?
• 8:44
  My school was K to 9, and then I went to high school after that, went to the same high school as my grandmother did and my mom and- Don't you love that?
• 8:51
  That's awesome.
• 8:52
  Yeah, yeah.
• 8:53
  I remember walking into my high school with my mom for the first time as we did a bit of a tour, and she took me right to her locker.
• 9:01
  This was my locker.
• 9:02
  This is where me and so and so and so got into trouble when we did this.
• 9:07
  And I think back to that now, and I don't know if I could walk into my high school and do the same thing as my kids.
• 9:15
  But for her, that was a really important moment for her, knowing that her mother went there and that her daughter was going to that school.
• 9:20
  Well, a sense of a little bit of pride there, a little bit of, you know, just that genealogy of carrying on the family name.
• 9:26
  That's kind of cool.
• 9:27
  I also had some of her same teachers, which was really interesting.
• 9:31
  That is always interesting, isn't it?
• 9:32
  Did they ever say to you, I knew your mother?
• 9:34
  Yeah, and then they would stop and they'd be like, I'm not going to tell you a story.
• 9:37
  Yeah, that's right.
• 9:38
  That's it.
• 9:38
  I'm going to stop right there.
• 9:39
  I love it.
• 9:40
  That's awesome.
• 9:40
  So as you're going through high school, did you know what you wanted to do after, or were you one of those kids that thought, you know, I'm not really sure what direction I want to go?
• 9:50
  I was very, very, very rare that at nine years old, I wrote this down.
• 9:56
  And I think that's when I started public speaking in 4-H, and I loved the stage.
• 10:02
  I loved seeing the audience look back and engage.
• 10:06
  And I loved information.
• 10:07
  I was extremely curious.
• 10:09
  And it was why?
• 10:10
  Why?
• 10:11
  I'm also an only child, which you might want to delve into too, because that probably speaks volumes.
• 10:16
  Totally relate, 100%.
• 10:17
  We're unique people.
• 10:19
  We are.
• 10:20
  We're a unique class.
• 10:21
  I think that when I was there on that stage and I understood that people wanted to listen or they wanted to have that conversation with me, I was like, I need to do something with this.
• 10:34
  I also, again, living in a small town, had three channels on television.
• 10:40
  CBC, CTV was there, and then sometimes Global would come in if you held the antenna right.
• 10:48
  And so I immersed myself really in television and I learned everything from the news.
• 10:55
  And my parents weren't big news watchers.
• 10:56
  Typically, I'll talk to other journalists and they'll say, oh yeah, we traveled all over the place.
• 11:01
  My parents, they knew so much.
• 11:04
  My parents really weren't like that.
• 11:06
  You just watched the news.
• 11:07
  I watched so I could learn.
• 11:09
  I could understand the world.
• 11:11
  I knew about issues really early on in life.
• 11:14
  And I think because I had a lot of adult conversations as an only child, I kind of was a little bit before myself.
• 11:20
  So yeah, at nine years old, I probably could have looked you in the eye and said, I will be a journalist.
• 11:25
  Really?
• 11:25
  Wow.
• 11:26
  No, that's incredible, really.
• 11:28
  Because at nine years old, I mean, we all went through those phases.
• 11:31
  We wanted to be a fireman and a policeman and a nurse.
• 11:33
  A marine biologist.
• 11:34
  A marine biologist, yeah.
• 11:35
  All those things.
• 11:36
  But you knew you wanted to be a journalist.
• 11:38
  TV journalist?
• 11:40
  TV journalist.
• 11:41
  Specifically TV.
• 11:42
  And Diana Swain, who's still with CBC, she was our six o'clock anchor at CBC in Winnipeg.
• 11:49
  And I remember watching her and practicing like her in front of the mirror.
• 11:54
  I love that.
• 11:55
  And emulating her because I just, she was so inspiring to me.
• 12:01
  And she actually was a news anchor with her dad earlier on in her career, which was a very cool thing to do too.
• 12:09
  So I always wanted to do broadcasting.
• 12:12
  Telling stories with a visual medium was always my forte.
• 12:17
  And your parents were good with this?
• 12:21
  My parents supported me in absolutely everything.
• 12:23
  That's great.
• 12:24
  That's really great.
• 12:25
  Never in my life did they ever say, I don't think that's what you should do.
• 12:29
  Even when I was making big time mistakes as a teenager.
• 12:32
  And my mom and I have these conversations and I'll say, mom, you never stopped me.
• 12:37
  Yeah.
• 12:37
  And she said, no, I knew you were going to go down this path.
• 12:40
  See, that's great right there.
• 12:42
  But you needed to make that decision for yourself.
• 12:45
  And you needed to learn the lesson for yourself.
• 12:48
  So I parent a lot in that way as well.
• 12:50
  No, but that's fantastic because that's the truth, isn't it?
• 12:54
  We're all going to make mistakes and you can't stop our kids from making mistakes.
• 12:58
  But when our parents are supportive in those mistakes, that's fantastic.
• 13:03
  It really is.
• 13:03
  That's fantastic because it just builds character in us.
• 13:06
  Okay, so you graduated high school, you're going to be an announcer, a journalist.
• 13:13
  Where did you go?
• 13:14
  Well, so interestingly enough, I applied to Ryerson University in Toronto.
• 13:19
  That was the, and still is, the pinnacle of broadcast journalism in the country.
• 13:24
  It's now called Toronto Metropolitan University.
• 13:26
  It's been renamed.
• 13:27
  Oh, okay.
• 13:27
  Yeah.
• 13:29
  Applied to get in and heard right away, you're probably not going to get in.
• 13:34
  It was so competitive to get in.
• 13:38
  I often set out to do things in life and often accomplish them.
• 13:42
  That was just like I just had a very strong drive.
• 13:45
  Yeah.
• 13:46
  So when I didn't get accepted, that was a real setback for me.
• 13:50
  Yeah.
• 13:51
  Probably the first major setback that I had.
• 13:52
  I mean, I've had many.
• 13:54
  I had many since then.
• 13:56
  But probably the first major setback.
• 13:57
  So I had to really reassess, is this something that I still want to do?
• 14:02
  Yeah.
• 14:03
  It was.
• 14:04
  I was so fortunate because there was a local television station in Portage-le-Prairie that had a rural license.
• 14:11
  So it was the full shebang, the anchor desk, the anchors were there, and there was a bureau in Winnipeg.
• 14:17
  I was so lucky and I remember walking in there at 15 years old, 16 years old.
• 14:22
  I want to work here.
• 14:24
  They looked at me a little bit like, okay, what do you have as far as a background?
• 14:30
  Yeah.
• 14:32
  A lot of volunteering, did a lot of things with school, involved in a lot of school sports.
• 14:37
  I really had to bang down the door and say, let me in the door.
• 14:40
  I love that story.
• 14:41
  Let me in the door.
• 14:42
  That's fantastic.
• 14:44
  And so they did.
• 14:47
  I was so fortunate that they believed in me. So your 15?
• 14:49
  Yeah. Super young.
• 14:49
  You're working at the TV station.
• 14:50
  Working at the television station.
• 14:53
  It was little jobs at first, obviously, but I got to see the world that I wanted to be in.
• 14:59
  I was really immersed in that space and I asked so many questions and I was probably that young kid that people wanted to, okay Erin, I got to do some work now.
• 15:10
  But I was so interested.
• 15:12
  It was so fascinating to me and I didn't care what job it was.
• 15:15
  When I think about it now, doing every single job behind the scenes prepared me to be a much better journalist and have a much better understanding of how the whole process and the whole system needs to work.
• 15:28
  You know what?
• 15:28
  Kudos to them because I don't think you can find that nowadays.
• 15:32
  If a 15-year-old walked into a news station now, it would be very different.
• 15:36
  You got to be an intern with credentials and all kinds of stuff.
• 15:40
  Even then, I think it's very hard to get.
• 15:41
  So the fact that they mentored you and you took the time to do that is amazing.
• 15:45
  That is incredible.
• 15:46
  It was great.
• 15:47
  And that really was how I then got into Ryerson again.
• 15:52
  So back up that a little bit.
• 15:54
  So I did end up going to the University of Winnipeg and I did a political science and English degree first and then did a second degree in journalism eventually going on to Ryerson.
• 16:04
  Wow.
• 16:06
  That's incredible.
• 16:06
  So you're a political scientist and a journalist.
• 16:10
  Well, I know about politics.
• 16:11
  You know what?
• 16:12
  I'm sure that has served you well.
• 16:13
  Yes.
• 16:14
  It has served me for sure.
• 16:15
  In my journalism career.
• 16:15
  Oh, absolutely.
• 16:16
  A hundred percent.
• 16:17
  That's pretty cool.
• 16:18
  Okay.
• 16:19
  So you went to Ryerson.
• 16:20
  And then what was your first job after Ryerson?
• 16:23
  So interestingly enough, in between my years at Ryerson, I would come back and work at the television station that I started at.
• 16:29
  It was called MTN at that time, which then progressed into A Channel, which then is now City TV.
• 16:36
  Okay.
• 16:37
  Just to give you a bit of context to that.
• 16:39
  And so I'd already built a lot of those relationships.
• 16:43
  And so I actually came back and reported in the summers when I was still doing my degree.
• 16:49
  So I was super fortunate that they again took that chance on me.
• 16:54
  And I'm, you know, I'm very young.
• 16:55
  I'm still in my like early 20s here, tackling some really important issues and really learning along the way.
• 17:03
  And probably, you know, I can remember being, sitting in court and having that deer in the headlights.
• 17:10
  What's actually happening here?
• 17:11
  And not fully understanding that if I got this wrong, that would really be detrimental to so many people or to the entire trial that I was covering.
• 17:22
  So, I mean, in hindsight now, I think back, oh, jeez, like, I don't know if I should have been trusted with that.
• 17:27
  But those days were different, too.
• 17:28
  You had to be right on.
• 17:30
  Now you can have fake news and get away with it and whatever.
• 17:33
  That's a whole other story, isn't it?
• 17:35
  Yeah, it's a whole lot.
• 17:36
  But you had to be right on.
• 17:38
  You did.
• 17:38
  Because everybody was fact checking you, that's for sure.
• 17:40
  And everybody watched the news religiously.
• 17:42
  Yeah, everybody watched.
• 17:43
  The news was the news in those days.
• 17:45
  Yes.
• 17:45
  It was really important.
• 17:47
  Yeah.
• 17:47
  And I mean, it's still very important, but there's so many sources.
• 17:50
  But I can remember growing up, we had to be home in time for the news.
• 17:54
  Now, I have to be home in time for the football game.
• 17:57
  Then it was, my mom, we had to be home in time for the news.
• 18:02
  That was very important.
• 18:03
  But it was the key source of information.
• 18:04
  It was.
• 18:04
  There were so many.
• 18:06
  It really was.
• 18:06
  And not just urban, but rural.
• 18:09
  That is how they got their news.
• 18:10
  Everybody got their news that way.
• 18:11
  It absolutely was.
• 18:12
  And it was scheduled watching.
• 18:14
  And people would talk about what they saw.
• 18:18
  And I mean, the connection with those news anchors and those reporters, it was wonderful.
• 18:25
  Because they depended on you.
• 18:27
  Your audience depended on you.
• 18:28
  And I mean, they still do.
• 18:30
  They absolutely still do.
• 18:31
  And there is still such an important role that journalists, local journalists, play in forming what the community understands.
• 18:42
  But at that time, it really was a massive responsibility.
• 18:46
  Yeah.
• 18:47
  Yeah.
• 18:47
  Well, you're right.
• 18:48
  Still is.
• 18:49
  Still is a huge responsibility.
• 18:50
  Unfortunately, it's taken some unique turns.
• 18:53
  But nonetheless, still a very important responsibility.
• 18:55
  Okay.
• 18:56
  So you graduated Ryerson.
• 18:59
  And I was fortunate enough to get a job back at my television station that I started at.
• 19:05
  Okay.
• 19:06
  Which was wonderful.
• 19:07
  So and there was a few bumps along the way.
• 19:11
  They were transitioning, like I said, from MTN to A Channel.
• 19:14
  So this was probably the second piece in my life that was a little bit hard to deal with is I was there, got the station through the summer.
• 19:26
  There was just a few of us working there because they were doing this massive transition.
• 19:29
  Bringing in people from all over the country to launch a new station.
• 19:33
  Right.
• 19:34
  So foundational in that, but then understood that it wasn't going to be me moving forward.
• 19:41
  Right.
• 19:41
  And that was hard to take.
• 19:42
  Sure.
• 19:43
  And so we, the folks who got that station through that summer had to sort of take a back seat.
• 19:48
  Yeah.
• 19:49
  Yeah.
• 19:50
  But again, those those pieces in my life now when I reflect back on made me who I am today.
• 19:56
  Learning experiences.
• 19:57
  Showed me the resilience that I have.
• 19:59
  Right.
• 20:00
  And made me understand that I was meant to go through those pieces.
• 20:04
  And so I stayed, but I went from like a reporter and an anchor down to a writer.
• 20:10
  Right.
• 20:10
  Which is humbling.
• 20:11
  Of course.
• 20:12
  Yeah.
• 20:12
  Right.
• 20:12
  Yeah.
• 20:12
  Sure.
• 20:13
  But also in that perspective, I was just freshly out of school.
• 20:16
  So I had to remember that.
• 20:17
  But I think because I had worked in that business for so long, and you feel like you have those relationships, that something would be afforded to you.
• 20:25
  Sure.
• 20:25
  But that's not always the case.
• 20:27
  Right.
• 20:27
  And so those twists and turns in your life, you use them or you don't.
• 20:31
  Yeah.
• 20:31
  At the time, they're painful.
• 20:33
  They're hard.
• 20:34
  Yeah.
• 20:35
  They're humbling.
• 20:35
  They really are.
• 20:36
  But like you say, you come through them and you go, wow.
• 20:38
  Okay.
• 20:38
  Yeah.
• 20:39
  Builds character.
• 20:40
  Like you say, resilience.
• 20:41
  I love that.
• 20:42
  Builds resilience.
• 20:43
  And again, probably made you a stronger journalist at the end.
• 20:47
  It did because you had to find your fight.
• 20:49
  Right.
• 20:50
  And that's really what I had to do in that moment.
• 20:53
  And I sat back and I took that opportunity to become a better writer.
• 20:57
  Right.
• 20:57
  To become a better producer, to understand those roles a little bit more.
• 21:02
  And then eventually ended up becoming a reporter and an anchor with that station.
• 21:06
  So I was there for six years in total.
• 21:09
  Yeah.
• 21:10
  And again, it was a family and we were all very young.
• 21:14
  Yeah.
• 21:14
  Which now I think back to in some of the crazy antics that we got involved with together.
• 21:21
  Because really, you're trusting sometimes your life with those people that you're covering those stories with.
• 21:30
  You get put into situations and not comparing to like a first responder, but we're at those scenes a lot of the time.
• 21:37
  And so sometimes you're facing different things, whether it be like let's just say wildfire season, flooding season, those types of dangerous situations that you're there to cover, and you have to be there in order for everybody else to understand, to have a context of around what's going on.
• 21:57
  So we trusted those people we worked with immensely.
• 22:01
  So we partied with them, we worked with alongside them.
• 22:04
  They become your family.
• 22:05
  Well, yeah, you're a team.
• 22:07
  You're a team.
• 22:08
  Yeah, it was.
• 22:09
  And I think the bonds that were created at that moment.
• 22:13
  Yeah.
• 22:13
  I'm still extremely close with so many of those people.
• 22:16
  So six years.
• 22:17
  Then what happened?
• 22:18
  And then who came a knocking?
• 22:20
  Yeah.
• 22:21
  So someone who has been extremely instrumental in my life came knocking.
• 22:26
  Steve Hogle.
• 22:26
  Oh, come on.
• 22:28
  Big name in this neck of the woods, for sure.
• 22:32
  Yeah, he he was actually the the news director here at it was CFRN at the time.
• 22:38
  And he gave me a call, just a really cold call and said, I got into this news director office and I'm going through a bunch of old boxes and I found this VHS tape.
• 22:48
  Like so back in the day.
• 22:49
  Yeah, VHS.
• 22:50
  That's how we would.
• 22:51
  Of course.
• 22:52
  That was our application.
• 22:53
  Send out your VHS.
• 22:54
  Send your VHS tape with clips of all of your work.
• 22:57
  And he said, I found this and I took, I took a little watch and I'm really impressed by what I, what I saw and I said, okay, great.
• 23:04
  He said, I'm going to fly out and I'm going to meet you.
• 23:07
  Okay, okay.
• 23:09
  Really quick meeting and basically it was, can you be in Edmonton in two weeks?
• 23:14
  Wow, two weeks.
• 23:15
  That's awesome.
• 23:17
  And I was like, yes.
• 23:19
  Yeah.
• 23:20
  And then I was like, I just bought a house.
• 23:22
  My very first house.
• 23:23
  I just got a dog.
• 23:25
  I did like all of those things that you think you're settling.
• 23:27
  Of course.
• 23:29
  But I should have known better in this field that you, you're never really quite home.
• 23:35
  And so I said, I said, yes.
• 23:37
  I mean, I had a relationship at the time that I just looked at him and I said, I'm going to Edmonton.
• 23:41
  Going to Edmonton.
• 23:42
  And here's what's going to happen.
• 23:44
  I love that.
• 23:45
  I'm out of here.
• 23:46
  I'm going to Edmonton.
• 23:46
  It was just something that drew me to the city.
• 23:50
  And now that I've been here for two decades, like, it's pretty real.
• 23:54
  And I would dare to say CFRN was an anchor station here.
• 23:59
  Like, all my life growing up in Edmonton, it was CFRN.
• 24:02
  That's what it was.
• 24:03
  I was on Popcorn Playhouse.
• 24:05
  So, like, it was that.
• 24:07
  It was the anchor station.
• 24:09
  It was the station.
• 24:10
  And people have that family foundational feel to CFRN and obviously now CTV.
• 24:17
  But it really was such an incredible move for me.
• 24:21
  And I think at the time, because in order to get ahead in this industry, you kind of needed to jump around.
• 24:27
  This station and then you get a better job over here and then move.
• 24:31
  And so I think I had it in my head that I would come to Edmonton for a couple of years, get a few more pieces of experience under my belt and then go on somewhere else.
• 24:42
  But this city has a way of wrapping its arms around you.
• 24:46
  Crazy, isn't it?
• 24:47
  And getting into your blood and saying, no, no, no, this is where you belong.
• 24:50
  This is where you're going to stay.
• 24:52
  And that's how I've felt ever since.
• 24:54
  Yeah, no, you come where you grow up here, you leave, but somehow you come back.
• 24:59
  It's a great place.
• 24:59
  Edmonton is a great place.
• 25:00
  Edmonton is an incredible place.
• 25:02
  And I think it's just the people.
• 25:04
  I think we have to work harder for what we get.
• 25:07
  I feel like the resilience piece, we've talked about that a little bit, is certainly here as well.
• 25:14
  And I mean, when you have all of that energy working together, it speaks volumes and you see that on a world stage.
• 25:20
  Well, and again, for our listeners, if you're not in Edmonton, Edmonton is for many years, it was known as the city of champions.
• 25:28
  We had five Stanley Cups, we had Grey Cups coming out of our ears in the CFL.
• 25:34
  I mean, even though it was kind of, I'm not going to say a remote city, but a Northern city, it's a great city.
• 25:40
  It's an incredible city.
• 25:42
  And really having true advantages here, just by our location too.
• 25:46
  And I'm seeing that a lot in the work that I'm doing with the airport now.
• 25:50
  And understanding why it's so critical, that Northern piece, that access to the North.
• 25:58
  Yeah.
• 25:59
  It's monumental.
• 26:00
  Yeah.
• 26:00
  And Edmontonians are, I mean, this is a statistic I love.
• 26:05
  I don't think it's true anymore.
• 26:07
  But did you know there was a time when Edmontonians ate out more per capita than anybody in the world?
• 26:15
  I've heard that.
• 26:16
  And that's why all of those chains came here.
• 26:19
  Because we ate out.
• 26:20
  That's right.
• 26:22
  McDonald's, I mean, and that was being an Edmontonian is, I don't know if it's because it's so cold in the winter, you have nothing else to do.
• 26:29
  So you go to a restaurant or whatever it was.
• 26:31
  But to me, that's just kind of how we were and how we are.
• 26:34
  And I love that about Edmonton.
• 26:35
  It's just, it's amazing.
• 26:36
  I think we still see that.
• 26:38
  We still see that ability for people to say, let's go out and do something.
• 26:41
  Let's go do it.
• 26:42
  And hopefully we're seeing our downtown reap some of those benefits again of people starting to get back into that and supporting those businesses.
• 26:49
  I remember when they decided, they announced they were going to build the world's biggest shopping mall here in Edmonton.
• 26:56
  Of all places, Edmonton.
• 26:58
  And we built the world's biggest mall with water parks and all kinds of stuff in Edmonton.
• 27:05
  But it's on the map in a lot of respects.
• 27:07
  It's a great place.
• 27:08
  Yeah.
• 27:09
  Cool.
• 27:09
  Okay.
• 27:10
  So you're at CFRN, you're doing your thing.
• 27:13
  Yeah.
• 27:14
  And I mean, given so many great opportunities within that space, certainly from Steve Hogle and then after that Glenn Kubish was another one of my news directors that those two gentlemen, I think, have been the biggest father figures in my life, besides my own dad.
• 27:35
  They have still been with me through thick and thin throughout my entire career and even now we still have such a great relationship.
• 27:43
  So both of them looking at me and having that strong belief in me as well to be able to go off and do whatever I set out to do.
• 27:52
  And I think that was so important and it was at a moment where we were really starting to see female journalists rise.
• 28:01
  And I think it goes without saying for many years that the quintessential male anchor was sitting on the desk.
• 28:07
  Yeah.
• 28:08
  And that's just the way it was.
• 28:09
  That's the way it was.
• 28:10
  Yeah.
• 28:11
  And so we were starting to see that happen where the national newscasts, we had two women on those desks, right?
• 28:20
  And so I kind of came in at a time where it wasn't a massive fight for me to get there, which I mean, it was work.
• 28:29
  Yeah.
• 28:29
  Don't get me wrong.
• 28:30
  Yeah.
• 28:31
  But I didn't have a lot of doors closed in my face along the way.
• 28:35
  There were some, for sure there were some, where I again, got on my butt a little bit and then had to get myself back up.
• 28:42
  But I had such strong support from my leadership that was able to anchor the 5 o'clock news at CTV.
• 28:51
  I filled in for Carrie Doll when she was on mat leave on the 6 o'clock and then eventually ended up anchoring the 6 o'clock with Daryl.
• 28:58
  Yeah.
• 28:58
  And that's it, right?
• 28:59
  The 6 o'clock.
• 29:00
  That's the one to be in.
• 29:01
  That's the pivotal, right?
• 29:02
  You've made it.
• 29:03
  6 o'clock is the TV dinner news.
• 29:05
  That's the best one.
• 29:06
  Yeah.
• 29:07
  And I mean, I think for me, it all really came back to, yes, this was sort of the escalation of where you wanted your career to be.
• 29:15
  But even when I got to that space, storytelling for me and reporting for me was the pinnacle.
• 29:24
  Yeah.
• 29:24
  I still yearn to be in the spaces.
• 29:29
  I wanted to go to where the news was.
• 29:31
  I wanted to talk to the people.
• 29:33
  I wanted to understand.
• 29:34
  I wanted to ask those questions.
• 29:37
  And so for me, I would try to bring that in to the anchor desk as much as I possibly could and have those conversations in the field with the people that are going.
• 29:47
  Well, you used the key word there, storytelling.
• 29:50
  Storytelling.
• 29:50
  And actually, that leads perfectly.
• 29:53
  She's segueing so perfectly into my next question.
• 29:56
  I know.
• 29:56
  I think she's done this before.
• 29:57
  Yeah.
• 29:57
  Okay.
• 29:58
  Yeah.
• 29:59
  Erin, you did this for so many years in that storytelling aspect.
• 30:05
  Share with us perhaps maybe one of the most challenging stories that you had to cover during this time in Edmonton, or one that's really, one that really maybe hit you harder than others.
• 30:17
  So many, many have, and I think back to many of them, but for me, sometimes separating personal life from professional life was very difficult.
• 30:28
  My husband's a first responder.
• 30:30
  He's a police officer.
• 30:31
  And so, as you know, if you've been in Edmonton for many years, we've had several on-duty officers killed in the line of duty.
• 30:41
  And so, those moments always hit me a little harder.
• 30:44
  And I would always see my colleagues look at me like, how is she going to do this?
• 30:50
  She's here, she's working, but she's also in that space of being a police officer's wife.
• 30:57
  And there's an interesting thing that journalists do, where we kind of cut ourselves in half.
• 31:02
  And we set aside like our heart a little bit and really work with our brain.
• 31:10
  And really get through things.
• 31:11
  But I think probably the most difficult moment for me was we were in the middle of our 5 o'clock broadcast.
• 31:20
  And this is when an officer in St.
• 31:24
  Albert had been shot at the casino.
• 31:28
  And he was in the hospital so we weren't sure really how he was doing.
• 31:33
  And so we interrupted the middle of our broadcast for a live press conference out of St.
• 31:38
  Albert.
• 31:39
  And his wife came up to the podium and at that time she shared that he had passed away.
• 31:45
  And so it's real and it's in the moment and I'm digesting, I'm trying to process.
• 31:54
  And I think as a journalist it's really hard because you have to be calm and you have to have a presence about you in that space.
• 32:04
  But also I'm thinking about her.
• 32:06
  I'm thinking about for sure what would that be like for me.
• 32:11
  And I remember the press conference ended and it came back to me and I was just real.
• 32:19
  And I just had to be very transparent, not about my own story certainly, I didn't share that, but just about how everybody in the community must be feeling right now.
• 32:29
  So I think that that certainly was one of the toughest moments for me.
• 32:34
  Yeah and just walking through that, I mean it's amazing and you do how you process that is so, and yet at the same time so many people actually are depending on you.
• 32:44
  Right.
• 32:45
  Because they want to know the story.
• 32:46
  What's happening.
• 32:47
  And so they're depending on you to tell that story.
• 32:50
  And here you are having to sort of on the job process a number of things that's happening and how you do that and that's tough.
• 32:59
  And sometimes when you're sitting there by yourself, sometimes you're by yourself.
• 33:05
  A lot of the times I would have a co-anchor at different times in my career.
• 33:09
  And it was wonderful to be able to allow yourself to take a little bit of a breath while someone else spoke.
• 33:15
  And there was many times, I think about the Fort McMurray fires where having someone beside you was to work off of was incredibly helpful in that moment.
• 33:29
  Certainly because those stories, you're a human being.
• 33:34
  And you can't sometimes separate yourself.
• 33:37
  I think about what just happened in Tumbler Ridge.
• 33:39
  And while I'm no longer a journalist, those kids are my kids' age.
• 33:44
  And so I think about if I had to talk about that, if I had to be there, like you can't separate yourself and you shouldn't.
• 33:50
  And I think that's where the danger lies is when you separate yourself too much.
• 33:55
  And I'll fast forward a little bit to when I kind of decided to leave journalism.
• 34:03
  And I think it was a moment where I was too comfortable in my role.
• 34:08
  And so again, this was the two officers who were killed in the line of duty.
• 34:14
  And I then was leading the coverage of the procession and the memorial.
• 34:22
  And I was able to sit there for five hours and talk through that with as much grace as I could.
• 34:31
  And then afterwards, I didn't feel it.
• 34:35
  And that was a real strong moment for me to really take stock of.
• 34:40
  Yeah.
• 34:42
  Am I not feeling about this enough?
• 34:44
  Yeah.
• 34:45
  Yeah, we could talk about that for a long time.
• 34:50
  I feel what you felt.
• 34:52
  Yeah.
• 34:53
  That's a whole other story.
• 34:54
  But yeah, you become insular.
• 34:56
  And you have to be very careful at that point.
• 34:59
  Not only for what you're doing, but for yourself.
• 35:02
  Because that's where it can become very...
• 35:05
  That's always not a great place to be at.
• 35:08
  No, and we had come out of COVID and that was a really hard period where we had to share news.
• 35:16
  We had to talk about deaths every day.
• 35:18
  Every day.
• 35:20
  And they became a number, which I didn't love.
• 35:23
  And so that was really something that was wearing on me.
• 35:27
  We were giving people, here's the advice of things to do when we, none of us had been through that before too.
• 35:33
  So that, that I wore heavy as well.
• 35:37
  The convoys were difficult.
• 35:40
  And that was where journalism, where it turned on us.
• 35:44
  That's where the public turned on us a bit.
• 35:45
  That's right.
• 35:46
  And that unfairly so, in my opinion, unfairly so, because you were doing your job, doing what you needed to do, but the public wanted to make more of it.
• 35:54
  And they expected you to do more and be on one side of it all.
• 35:58
  And that's unfair because journalists are supposed to take sides now.
• 36:01
  No, they're not.
• 36:02
  And they wanted you to take a side.
• 36:04
  And because you didn't, then now you're a part of them.
• 36:07
  You're a part of the problem, the enemy, whatever you want to call it.
• 36:11
  And yeah, and that's the unfortunate part, I feel, of where journalism has gone today.
• 36:16
  I agree.
• 36:17
  Is that somehow we expect journalists to take a side and have an opinion.
• 36:21
  And they're like, I'm not really supposed to have an opinion.
• 36:25
  Some fall into that trap and have an opinion, but it's a tough world.
• 36:28
  And that's the influence, I think, of many things.
• 36:31
  But certainly what we're seeing south of the border and how media outlets there do, I'll just say it, they do take a...
• 36:39
  Sure they do.
• 36:40
  It's very clear, right?
• 36:41
  They've taken, yeah, they've drawn their lines in the sand.
• 36:43
  Here's where I'm at.
• 36:44
  This is what we are.
• 36:45
  And I think that's why Canadians have to really understand that news outlets in Canada are desperately trying to maintain that sense of neutrality.
• 36:57
  They just need to be realists.
• 37:00
  I mean, I think too, many people don't understand that the investment into media isn't there anymore.
• 37:07
  Yeah.
• 37:08
  And so there's these big expectations where these poor journalists are covering up to five stories a day.
• 37:13
  We're seeing that now.
• 37:15
  But it's changed so much in the light of social media and how that all plays out now.
• 37:20
  And, you know, it used to be TV, radio, newspaper were the sources of news.
• 37:25
  And now, you can get news in a million places.
• 37:29
  And the problem is, you don't know if it's accurate or not.
• 37:32
  That's exactly right.
• 37:33
  And there's a million opinions.
• 37:35
  It's being served to you.
• 37:36
  Yes.
• 37:37
  And the algorithms and, you know, a whole other topic, obviously.
• 37:41
  But I mean, that is dangerous.
• 37:44
  Yes.
• 37:45
  When we don't even want to have conversations with one another because this is how I feel.
• 37:50
  And nobody's listening to how the other person feels or their perspective.
• 37:55
  And I think we've lost that.
• 37:56
  We sure have.
• 37:57
  And I feel bad because I wish, I hope for our kids or grandkids, whomever, we kind of come back to that.
• 38:05
  We have to learn to talk.
• 38:06
  We have to learn to just respect each other's opinion and still be friends, even though we don't agree.
• 38:12
  We're still friends.
• 38:13
  Let's go have a drink.
• 38:14
  Let's go.
• 38:15
  Let's go do something together.
• 38:17
  We're getting away from that too much.
• 38:19
  It's a sad state.
• 38:20
  All right.
• 38:20
  Anyway, that's a whole other podcast and we could spend hours on that.
• 38:25
  I appreciate your insight on that.
• 38:27
  But you said you were coming to end and now what?
• 38:30
  What did you want to do?
• 38:31
  Yeah.
• 38:32
  You're retiring.
• 38:34
  Oh no, not that word.
• 38:36
  No.
• 38:37
  I mean from the news.
• 38:39
  You're retiring, not retiring.
• 38:41
  I mean, it was a hard decision to make.
• 38:44
  Yeah, I bet.
• 38:45
  There was a lot of conversations I had with my family, obviously, and my kids were getting to be an age where my son was entering junior high, and I wasn't there for a lot of what they needed me to be there for.
• 38:59
  I was there for many people at work, but I certainly wasn't there for my family.
• 39:06
  I had to really have a great conversation with myself to say, what do you want to be to your kids?
• 39:14
  At the end of the day, what means the most to you?
• 39:18
  I'd be getting home at 8 o'clock at night.
• 39:20
  My husband, God bless him, had got the kids from school and fed them, and got them to all their activities, and was coaching them, and they had, well, I loved it, these great connections with dad, but I was coming out on the weekend.
• 39:35
  I would spend time with them in the morning, but they both went to school.
• 39:40
  I pride myself on making them the best breakfast in the morning, having all these conversations.
• 39:44
  That wasn't the time.
• 39:45
  They don't want to have those conversations.
• 39:49
  It was something that we all came together as a family, and I remember my kids, and this is a touching part for me because they said, but mom, you love it so much.
• 39:59
  Are you sure?
• 40:01
  But this is you, right?
• 40:03
  And I said, yeah, but I'm not defined by that.
• 40:07
  This is my number one job, being your mom, being a decent wife.
• 40:11
  I'm still working on that part, but.
• 40:14
  So, let me ask you this.
• 40:17
  As you were transitioning and making that decision, at the core of it, at the very core of it, what was it that was not holding you back, but what was it you were gonna miss the most?
• 40:28
  What was it that you struggled with?
• 40:31
  Some of the other stuff, yeah, I can leave that, I can move on, but at that, I'm asking a real personal question there, but at that core of it, what was it?
• 40:39
  At the core of it, and I still feel it, Cam, when something huge happens, I wanted to be the person to share that.
• 40:49
  I wanted to be the person that people trusted with that information.
• 40:53
  I wanted to be there.
• 40:56
  There was that curiosity as a kid came back, just I needed to ask the questions.
• 41:01
  I wanted to know.
• 41:02
  And it still bugs me.
• 41:04
  It still bugs me.
• 41:05
  Trust me.
• 41:07
  Do you sit there on breaking news and go, I want that to be me.
• 41:10
  Well, my poor team, I'm sure they're like, all she talks about is current affairs and things going on in the world.
• 41:18
  That never leaves you.
• 41:19
  That never, ever leaves you.
• 41:22
  That piece, I will always be a journalist.
• 41:25
  However, I needed to find something that would be sustainable for my family, and that would allow me to still tell stories, which is exactly what I'm doing for the airport, but also be a community connector.
• 41:39
  And that's really what I needed.
• 41:42
  And I was searching for that.
• 41:44
  And so when this opportunity at the airport came up, I remember always, as a journalist, going to the airport and telling those stories, and being like, what a cool place.
• 41:54
  What a really interesting, innovative place this is.
• 41:57
  And they're doing some really fascinating stuff.
• 42:00
  And they were always really open to telling their story.
• 42:02
  And that mattered to me.
• 42:03
  I didn't want to leave my job and go somewhere that was insulated, and like, no, we don't speak out, we don't talk, we're not transparent.
• 42:11
  That's not what I wanted it to be.
• 42:14
  And so this opportunity landed for me.
• 42:17
  No pun intended.
• 42:20
  Here come the airport jokes.
• 42:21
  All right, here we go, we're about to take off folks.
• 42:23
  Yeah, there we go.
• 42:25
  And it's been a wonderful ride. Zero regrets.
• 42:29
  So you do what at the airport?
• 42:30
  Yes, tell us about your role now at the airport.
• 42:33
  I work in corporate communications, and really it's about our overall brand presence and our reputation, understanding, and doing some issues management pieces, doing media relations, still telling our story, working in our social media department, our website, like all of those things, all of those platforms that we have to put ourselves on the world stage.
• 42:56
  But more importantly, I think, is working at the ground level of all of our business.
• 43:01
  And so what I really loved is the openness that I've had from all of the executives, from all of our subject matter experts that pull me in and want to know my opinion on how we put this forward or what do you think the risk is here.
• 43:17
  And so in order for me to still use that critical thinking that was so important as a journalist, I now have sort of transitioned that into the business space, that corporate space.
• 43:28
  And I'm able to have those great conversations and to sort of steer our business in a way that I think is really important.
• 43:36
  Well, and that's, I mean, airports in any community are massive.
• 43:40
  They're, it's important.
• 43:41
  They're so important to me, especially here in Edmonton, because we are, people don't know this, and I could be wrong, so fact check me on this one.
• 43:48
  But we are one of the busiest in terms of cargo and that sort of thing in and out of Edmonton because of our northern connections and all that kind of stuff.
• 43:59
  And it's a very busy, busy airport.
• 44:02
  It is, and it's going to get even busier because we've broken ground on the International Cargo Hub.
• 44:07
  So we're going to see big, big things come through here.
• 44:10
  We've heard a lot of conversation about defense and the investment from the federal government.
• 44:15
  That is going to be crucial and critical.
• 44:17
  And you're going to see a lot of our airport really moving into that direction.
• 44:25
  But at the end of the day, we're still about connections too.
• 44:27
  We're still about people getting to where they want to go.
• 44:30
  And so we continue to sort of forge those relationships with airlines to be able to bring some of those nonstop destinations here to Edmonton so that people can get on a plane and just get to where they're going.
• 44:42
  Absolutely.
• 44:42
  And I want to give a shout out because I don't know when was the last time you flew domestically, but the domestic area is amazing.
• 44:52
  Yeah, it goes pretty quick.
• 44:54
  And it's beautiful.
• 44:55
  Yeah, last summer.
• 44:56
  It really is a serene kind of experience.
• 44:58
  Unlike, I won't name another airport.
• 45:02
  But you could if you liked it.
• 45:03
  I went to that other. Toronto.
• 45:05
  That's where I went in the summer to that one.
• 45:08
  And so, yeah, no, you're right.
• 45:11
  It's amazing.
• 45:11
  I mean, I did get stopped because of my gel.
• 45:13
  That's not your issue.
• 45:14
  But that, I just like, come on, people, I need the gel.
• 45:18
  But anyway, he let me go because he's a really nice guy.
• 45:20
  Oh, I shouldn't have said that.
• 45:21
  Maybe you get him in trouble.
• 45:22
  But anyway, the point, folks, don't call Erin if your bags got lost.
• 45:27
  That's not her job.
• 45:29
  Or if your flight is delayed, no, no.
• 45:31
  No, it's not, don't call her.
• 45:33
  She's not, but it's important because you are the spokesperson for an organization, for an enterprise, for an airport that is so crucial and so key in so many ways.
• 45:44
  And it really is.
• 45:44
  It really is.
• 45:45
  And as far as a regional connector, that's really what it all comes down to.
• 45:50
  We are the Edmonton International Airport, but we look at all of those regions around Edmonton and those people that we serve.
• 45:57
  And when you think about it, you know, it's upwards of like 2 million plus, right?
• 46:01
  When you think about the north, like all of that.
• 46:06
  It's an incredible amount of people, then passengers that we're negotiating and bringing through our airport.
• 46:13
  And so, you know, to your point about the feeling when you walk into the airport, that's really important to us.
• 46:19
  That feel and that ability to get through things efficiently and smoothly and to really enjoy it.
• 46:25
  Yeah, well, that's it.
• 46:28
  That's the thing.
• 46:29
  And then flying has changed.
• 46:31
  The whole travel thing has changed.
• 46:33
  And I'm excited to see that.
• 46:36
  And listen, I've been to a lot of airports in my day, a lot.
• 46:39
  And all around the world.
• 46:41
  And YVR, sorry, YVR, I lived in Vancouver.
• 46:45
  YEG is just it's becoming a good airport.
• 46:48
  It really is.
• 46:49
  It's a homey airport, but it's growing and it's bigger.
• 46:53
  And the people are nice and it's easy to get around.
• 46:56
  I love to hear that.
• 46:57
  That's the main one.
• 46:58
  It's easy to get around.
• 46:59
  Because there are sure some airports that are just, you know, you're flying in.
• 47:02
  I've had to do the sprint from one end to the other.
• 47:05
  And by the time I get there, they're using the defibrillator on me.
• 47:08
  I mean, ridiculous.
• 47:09
  We don't want that.
• 47:10
  No.
• 47:10
  We never, ever want that.
• 47:11
  No, trust me.
• 47:11
  No, but so yeah, so I think it, and it's great for Edmonton.
• 47:15
  And it's because we have a lot of international people coming here.
• 47:19
  We sure do.
• 47:19
  And we, the flights are increasing.
• 47:21
  Direct flights are increasing.
• 47:23
  I was kind of mentioning, somebody knew, they asked me, who's your guest today?
• 47:26
  And I told them, could you ask her to see if we could get more direct flights to more cities?
• 47:32
  Working on it.
• 47:32
  Yeah. More flights to more places.
• 47:33
  So I said, well, I'll bring that up whether on the air or off the air, but I'll bring that up.
• 47:38
  But I think you're doing a fabulous job.
• 47:39
  I really do.
• 47:40
  I think the airport's doing a, I'm proud of our airport.
• 47:43
  I love to hear that.
• 47:45
  And certainly that's what we want the traveling public to always say to us.
• 47:49
  And I think people, they see the airport, they travel through the airport.
• 47:53
  And I think what people don't realize is that we have the largest landmass to around our airport.
• 47:58
  So I know people will say, oh, we have to go all the way out there.
• 48:02
  But that's an advantage for us.
• 48:04
  The investment that we have going on in and around our airport, on our airport lands is incredible.
• 48:11
  And that's truly where the economic prosperity is coming from.
• 48:13
  But today is a whole lot different because you leave the city and it doesn't actually feel like you leave the city anymore.
• 48:19
  When I was a kid going to the airport, it was like an overnight excursion.
• 48:24
  It was like, pack the bag, you know, it's going to be packed.
• 48:26
  We needed lunch because it's a long trip.
• 48:28
  Now it's not that far.
• 48:30
  It's not.
• 48:31
  And it's all just in, like you say, perspective.
• 48:35
  But we are going to see some big things in the next, certainly five to 10 years, or like lots of capital projects that we're really strongly investing in because of the diversity of our airport and what we're able to do there.
• 48:48
  Right.
• 48:49
  Well, this has just been...
• 48:51
  I love it.
• 48:51
  I know.
• 48:52
  Yep.
• 48:52
  Erin, you've been such a great guest.
• 48:54
  Yeah, you have.
• 48:55
  This is so great.
• 48:56
  Yeah.
• 48:57
  It's like we're just having coffee.
• 48:59
  Fly to Edmonton just to check out the airport.
• 49:01
  Yes, please do.
• 49:02
  And ask for Erin.
• 49:03
  I know, but we have one final question that we ask each and every single guest.
• 49:07
  Yep, always.
• 49:08
  Erin, share with us the best piece of advice you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you carry with you to this day.
• 49:17
  So I think this really crosses over, personal to professional.
• 49:21
  And it actually came from my mom at a very young age.
• 49:25
  And again, we've been talking about my parents and my upbringing so much, and that really has been foundational for me.
• 49:31
  But I do remember her saying to me once, the worst risk you can take is never taking one at all.
• 49:37
  Yeah, that's good.
• 49:39
  It is good.
• 49:40
  That's good.
• 49:41
  And I think about it all the time.
• 49:44
  And again, going back to her letting me take those chances and understanding, and probably having a pretty good idea that I wouldn't veer too far off.
• 49:53
  But if you don't take those risks in life, you don't know what you're missing.
• 49:58
  No risk, no gain.
• 49:59
  It's true.
• 49:59
  That's the truth.
• 50:01
  If you're just going to stay comfortable, you know what?
• 50:04
  You're missing out.
• 50:05
  Not for me. No, me neither.
• 50:05
  You're missing out, right?
• 50:07
  So, wow, fantastic.
• 50:08
  This has been great.
• 50:09
  This is really, really great.
• 50:12
  If you are listening to us in the Edmonton area, I hope it brought back a ton of great memories of watching the 6 o'clock news and if you're traveling out of YVR or into YVR.
• 50:24
  Not YVR.
• 50:25
  Oh, sorry.
• 50:26
  Y-E-G.
• 50:27
  Sorry.
• 50:27
  I lived in Vancouver for 30 years.
• 50:29
  So, Y-E-G was on the- We don't want to give YVR a shout out.
• 50:31
  No, we don't.
• 50:31
  Oh, they're a very nice airport.
• 50:34
  They're the one where you have to walk for nine miles.
• 50:36
  No offense to them, but you got to walk for nine miles.
• 50:39
  And for some reason, I think they knew, oh, Cam's on the plane.
• 50:43
  We'll park at the furthest gate away so that he has to- Anyway, that's a whole other podcast.
• 50:48
  But Y-E-G, great airport.
• 50:49
  Fly into it.
• 50:50
  It's great, great people.
• 50:52
  And this has been great.
• 50:53
  Thanks, everybody, for listening.
• 50:55
  Thanks, Erin, so much.
• 50:57
  Remember, everybody, Wing Snob.
• 50:59
  Check it out.
• 51:01
  Hockey starts again tomorrow night.
• 51:03
  I think- Yeah, it's Wednesday.
• 51:05
  Wednesday night, yeah.
• 51:06
  And Oilers are in Anaheim.
• 51:08
  I don't, do they still have the- We don't want to promote the- Oh, no, I'm not supposed to say that anymore.
• 51:13
  I'm not supposed to promote the Wing Snob Hockey Special because I don't think they have it anymore.
• 51:18
  Sorry, Mike.
• 51:19
  Anyway- They're going to ask for it now.
• 51:20
  Yeah, I know.
• 51:21
  But anyway, go to Wing Snob, get wings.
• 51:23
  It's awesome.
• 51:23
  Go to Mprint, get printed.
• 51:25
  All your printing needs.
• 51:26
  All your printing needs.
• 51:27
  And hey, listen, tell everybody about the podcast.
• 51:30
  Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your coworkers, tell your enemies.
• 51:34
  And if you don't have any friends, make one just so you can tell them about the podcast.
• 51:39
  And we want you to subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
• 51:44
  And you won't miss a new episode.
• 51:45
  You'll never miss an episode.
• 51:46
  But most of all, we want to say thank you for listening.
• 51:49
  We appreciate our listeners so much and we appreciate all of you.
• 51:52
  And live from the Wall Coffee Roasters.
• 51:55
  See you next week, everybody.
• 51:56
  See you next week.