V proud of my aunt Joelle, who works her ass off as a small business owner of a local independent coffee shop in Leslieville:
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She's dealt with a rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood, a flashy coffee chain opening up shop across the street, and the death of her business partner, all in the span of three years. But she never wavers.
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She always treats her employees fairly, is an active voice in the neighbourhood, and is one of the funniest and most genuine people you’ll meet.
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Over the past week, she planned and executed this hilariously tongue-in-cheek social campaign to get Ryan Gosling to visit her shop during TIFF. On paper, it was a maybe little ridiculous and maybe little cheesy and definitely wasn’t supposed to work.
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But lo and behold, her story gets picked up by blogTO, CityTV and the fucking CBC. All of a sudden, her super-low-budget grassroots campaign has legs. People love it - and, I suspect it’s also due in large part to Joelle’s charisma.
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She’s always been “the cool aunt” to me, and now others get to see her for who she is - and they love her, too.
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So sure enough, Ryan Gosling actually ends up visiting her shop today. In her words, “he just showed up and told me he saw the whole campaign, I told him next time he comes for dinner and a playdate.”
Oh, and I also asked her how he smelled, and she said, “really good!”
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This is all a little crazy - feeling proud for someone because a famous person came to see them - but I still can’t help that I’m beaming, even as I type this out.
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Joelle deserved this, she finally scored one for the little guy, and she proved that success isn’t always something that’s measured tangibly.
#RyanNeedsGrinder
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