Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:06 Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host, Elliot, Pierre, sorry. We're a little bit late. Uh, it is my birthday. Woo, woo, woo. And uh, we had a guest come and drop off some balloons. So big shout out to Tammy from supplement King. Thank you for the balloons. Also, I have another gift from our guests today, which actually made my day. I'll show that to you later on, but we're going to start the show off how we start every show off with a little bit of gratitude. I want to thank everybody that's tuned in today. It really does mean the world to me. Um, it blows me away every day. How many people tune in? I know that you could do a million other things with your time. So it warms my heart that you're spending with us
Speaker 1 00:00:50 On that note. Tanner hit him with the intro. Oh, she caught near listen to the next <inaudible>
Speaker 0 00:01:03 All right. And we're back. Okay. So it's the birthday episode. So I'm really excited to have, uh, the guests that we have for my birthday coming in. And she brought a really special, amazing gift that I'll show you later on for me. But as you know, I don't introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than myself. So on that note, can you please introduce yourself to everybody at home? Tell them who you are and what you're about.
Speaker 2 00:01:24 Oh my goodness. Where do I even start? Well, hi, I'm Paige. Nice to meet you all. I'm a realtor in Fort McMurray and a million other things that I do on the side, I guess, where I don't even know where to start a member of the animal rescue board, um, founder of the Fort McMurray girl gang. Um, just volunteer Xtrordinair, I guess.
Speaker 0 00:01:46 There you go. So yeah, I know we've met a few times once or twice, but I have tons of questions for you. Cause I feel every time we get together, it's at like a function or something, so it's pretty superficial and quick. Yep. So I got loads of questions for you today, page first off, um, because I'm not a girl. I keep hearing about this girl gang though. And so can you please explain to me what the girl gang is all about? Because obviously I'm not a part of it.
Speaker 2 00:02:13 Sure. I would love to, but first what happens in the girl gang stays in the girls. So I can't share too much about what happens inside, but essentially it's just a Facebook group. I decided to create it because there wasn't really a space for me online on Facebook. Um, there's a lot of mom groups, a lot of everything goes groups, but as a woman, if I wanted to ask for advice from local ladies, there wasn't really a space for that. So, um, I got the idea from another friend in the States who created one. And so I decided to go for it. Uh, it blew up a lot quicker than I thought it was going to, but it's a private space where women can come connect, be supportive, um, share stories or look for advice. And it's been crazy, but a really fun experience and uh, just the place to supportive and uplifting. Please spread the positivity.
Speaker 0 00:03:02 Very nice. I love that. Yeah, I've heard like, uh, um, like I said, not a part of it, but the one thing that I've heard about it constantly is the positive out specs are out set of it. In regards to you guys have been able to raise like a serious amount of cash for different organizations, bring attention to stuff. And that's how it came on my radar. Like Facebook didn't recommend it. I just was talking to people and I'm like, Oh yeah, the girl gang raised X amount of dollars in like a day. So how does that work? How does that look? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:03:29 So the most recent thing we did was the Valentine's day for the seniors. Um, so we got in touch with literally anywhere a senior would be living in extended care or those senior home type situations. Um, we found out how many there were, and we put a call out to the girl gang after getting some pricing for roses, vases and cards, which, um, Safeway downtown gave us at cost. The dollar store in Timberly gave us at cost. Um, caribou flowers gave us free greenery and the visas at costs so collaboratively. And then we said, this is how much money we'll need. You can eat transfer. And we got the money within 18 hours and it was like 800 bucks. So the girl gang came together, put that together for us. And we were able to give a Rose and a handwritten card to every single senior in Fort McMurray and extended living or in a senior's home. That was super special. They were very surprised, but it was just nice to brighten their day and let them know they weren't forgotten about, you know, that's so cool. Yeah. So doing, coming together to do things like that is what we're all about.
Speaker 0 00:04:28 Yeah. So to be a part of the girl guiding, I guess criteria number one is you need to be a female.
Speaker 2 00:04:33 Well, you know, associate as a woman, I guess. Right.
Speaker 0 00:04:36 Very politically correct. Nice. 2021. And uh, is it just for Fort McMurray or there's people outside of the community?
Speaker 2 00:04:44 Just for McMurry. I mean, there have been some people that have moved away since we're not out to track where you're located. So you were informed McMurray when you joined then you're grandfathered in, but well, we try to keep it local and there's about 10,500 members in it right now.
Speaker 0 00:04:58 Wow. That's amazing. That's cool. And it's only been in play for August. Okay. So geez. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 00:05:06 Active members. Yeah. So it's fun. And it's been, it's really cool to go on there and just scroll and see what women are up to.
Speaker 0 00:05:12 There you go. Cool. Good for you for like creating something. I think that's the kind of world we live in is if you want something, you can create it. Like not opportunities there. Right. So you wanted a place that you could have a chat and yeah.
Speaker 2 00:05:25 Girly things, you know, girl talk where the guys can't be like, eh, you know, you know how men can be.
Speaker 0 00:05:31 Yeah. We're horrible. I know. Okay. Yeah. So that's your side, one of your side things. The other side thing I want to talk about, cause uh, I follow your Instagram stories. You're like a spokesperson for certain brands or something, or you love to represent like the things you love. Some of it, I see that. It's just things you love. Some of it. Sometimes you have codes stuff. So the, these people reach out to you. How does that?
Speaker 2 00:05:59 Yeah. So I'm like, it's called like affiliate marketing. So I'm part of this program and it's big in the States. It's slowly creeping its way into Canada where, um, I can post a photo on my Instagram feed. People can screenshot it and it's automatically uploaded into an app and they can shop direct links to my, my product. So like whether I buy it up here or in Edmonton, you can shop it online or choose where you want to shop from, but you can see exactly where it is. And that can be like my outfit. It can be a home goods, it can be literally anything. So yeah. And then if people shop it through my link, I just get paid a tiny little commission. But, um, a lot of it is just kind of going back into my family and supporting my sister who does most of that. For me, if I'm being honest, it's just a little side fun thing that we started together and she does the whole thing for me. So
Speaker 0 00:06:48 It's awesome. Yeah. You're extremely innovative online. And we've spoken about this before, but like you really do try new things and in the space that I think everybody lives in now, it gets kind of repetitive, but you're always like doing different things on these different platforms. So I've been noticing that I'm like, this is cool. I got to ask her about that for sure.
Speaker 2 00:07:08 Yeah. It's not something we see often up here in Fort McMurray, let alone in Canada, but I think it's going to become the norm. The more people are living online and that's unfortunate. I still try to support local as much as I can, but you know, a lot of it is shopping online now. And so just making that more accessible, I guess, for people, I used to get questions all the time, like, Hey, where'd you get that sweater? Or where's your couch from, you know, that kind of stuff. So now it's just all in an app and you can just
Speaker 0 00:07:33 Cool. Yeah. You're going to have to show me that app before he leaves today. Yeah. Okay. Maybe. Well, I wear the same boring thing every day other from today. Cause it was my birthday, so I just wore whatever shirt I wanted. Yeah. I wore my birthday suit. I woke up in it anyways. Good one. Tanner zing, zing. All right. So, uh, let's talk about what you do for your main job though. You are a real estate agent. So let's talk about that a bit.
Speaker 2 00:07:59 Yeah. Well, I mean, what do you want to know? It's it's been busy, real. Estate's good up here, which is nice to see.
Speaker 0 00:08:04 Yeah. How did you get involved in this career? That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2 00:08:09 Um, good question. I think when I was living in Ontario, maybe when I was like end of high school, I was helping my grandma's sell her house. I must've been 16. And I just like fell in love with the process marketing at making the flyers, trying to put them up in the stores and stuff to help her sell it. Um, and then when I met my husband in Calgary, he was like, I don't want to be commuting anymore. I want you to come up to Fort Mac. If you do, I'll support whatever venture you want to go down. And so at the time I was managing a dental office, I quit my job, moved to Fort McMurray, to be with him and became a realtor. And that was in 2017. So I kind of just jumped in, gave it all I got, um, we instantly became more involved in like youth sports up here just to try to get to know our community and get know, I don't know what Fort McMurray was all about. And here I am now I'm a realtor. It's been three, four years now almost.
Speaker 0 00:09:02 I honestly would have thought you were here longer just based on the impression on the market that you've had. I honestly thought it was much, much longer than
Speaker 2 00:09:12 Yeah. People are always surprised by that. But no, I moved up here. We met during the fire evacuation. That's when we started dating and I came up in February, 2017. Got my license in June. That, that same year. And just, yeah, I was out there knocking on doors, handing out little treat bags with my business cards. I was doing everything I could, but uh, yeah, no, here we are. I'm loving it. I love this community so much because of how they've received me and it's just been fun. So now I'm just trying to give back as much as I can really do a lot. I try
Speaker 0 00:09:42 Like good for you though. Like what impact you've made in the last three slash four years.
Speaker 2 00:09:48 Yeah. It's been fun. How long have you lived up here?
Speaker 0 00:09:50 Well, for the people at home, I'm born and raised in Fort McMurray. Yeah. So same as Tanner. Yeah. We're born and raised in 1983. That means I'm 38 today. I'm an old man. Um, yeah, I was born in hospital Hill down Fort McMurray.
Speaker 2 00:10:04 You know, you don't meet a lot of people born and raised here,
Speaker 0 00:10:08 Keep saying Botana and me we've interviewed a lot of them. Have you interview more people that were born here than not? Yeah, really? Yeah. Yeah. We're like w we, people like to think we're unicorns, but I tell this story I used to be before starting the company, I used to be a recruiter. I was in human resources. Right. And I'd interview individuals. And they would S I would tell them like, uh, born and raised in Fort McMurray. But the interview had started off with them telling me that they'd had lived in Fort McMurray for about 10 years and that they had children between the ages of like three and 10. And I'd be like, Oh, interesting. And then I tell them I'm born and raised in Fort McMurray. And they'd look at me like a Marsh. Oh my God. I've never met anybody for Fort McMurray before.
Speaker 0 00:10:48 And I'm like, really? And I just pause and he'd be like, yeah, I'm like, you don't know anybody else. And I'm like, no, I'm like, how long have you been here? And they'd say, 10 years, how old are your kids? And it'd be like three and six, boom. Oh my God. My kids are born and raised in Fort McMurray. And I would laugh. I'm like, yeah. So it's one of those things. It was where people kind of take it for granted. But like, yeah, it's, it goes in cycles. People like yourself move, um, for love in most cases. And they come here and they start fruits and then they have a kid or children, and then they have a family. Right. And so it's more people than you would think.
Speaker 2 00:11:24 I find maybe is it because people leave and come back. Do you think that that's a big thing?
Speaker 0 00:11:29 Yeah. That's a huge component. And what I'm finding now in regards to people leaving and coming back is my parents' generation. Um, I think back in the day, it was not even a thought in regards to like you come here, even if you stayed for 10, 15 years, um, you were going back home, you were not retiring in Fort McMurray, but just like your girl gang found out in February, there's a lot of seniors here now, which was not always the case. So what's happening now that I've seen in the community is individuals who moved here in like the seventies and eighties. Um, like my parents and even like the nineties, they had a family here. And so their kids, obviously with the opportunities that are informed with Marie, um, started families, have grandchildren. And I find like a lot of grandparents were just like, um, it's costing me too much money to fly back and forth.
Speaker 0 00:12:15 I don't want to miss my family. And realistically, when it comes to retirement, you can retire somewhere warmer. Potentially. If you want to say nicer, I disagree. Um, but if you don't have any family, friends or connections, it's boring being there. So I find that like, most of those old schoolers, like my parents, um, they decided to stay cause like, where else would you go? Right. So, but yeah, definitely myself included. Um, once I graduated from high school, I took a year at Kiana college. Then I went and took school somewhere else and I came back. So yeah, there are, I think here people are coming back. Yeah. They come back. Yeah. Not everybody, but I think a lot of people come back. The opportunity is awesome.
Speaker 2 00:12:56 You go out somewhere else and you realize that. I think, you know, we live pretty good here. I'm I don't know. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. There's so much opportunity here.
Speaker 0 00:13:06 You can do whatever you want here. I say that constantly. If I wanted to be a firefighter today, I could go and be, I could, I could become it if I wanted, like you have the opportunities are there. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I am pulling any 160 pound man out of a fire. Sorry. I think so. And you have to be actually brave, which I am not. Oh, I'm not running into a fire. Not a chance to get on camera every day. See, I guess bravery is in the eye of the beholder. Yeah. I'm terrified of like fires and danger, but yeah, this easy. Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 3 00:13:40 You can't die from being in front of a camera, so
Speaker 0 00:13:44 Yeah, that's true. That's exactly it. Now on that note with Tanner's voice, we have a segment called the Mac city minute. It's Tanner segment. He's going to ask you five questions. Good luck. Answer them. I never know what they are. So Eric. All right, Tanner, you're up
Speaker 3 00:13:59 Question. Number one. How has creating a space for women on social media changed your outlook on social media?
Speaker 2 00:14:07 Great question. Um, there have definitely been times where it's not been super fun. I think you have to be very mindful of what you're putting out there on social media is the number one thing. And all I can say is be a good person because the world needs it right now.
Speaker 3 00:14:22 Question number two. How has selling real estate affected how you see Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:14:28 Um, I've got to meet a lot of really incredible people. So it's made me fall in love with it more just because I've gotten to know the community through meeting buyers and sellers.
Speaker 3 00:14:37 Question number three. What is something the girl gang has taught you about men?
Speaker 2 00:14:44 That is a great question. That they are super nosy and interested in what we have to say. That's for sure.
Speaker 3 00:14:52 Question number four. What is your favorite product or company you represent?
Speaker 2 00:14:57 Favorite product or company? Oh my goodness. That I represent. Oh gosh, I have no idea. Let me think about that one for a little bit.
Speaker 3 00:15:06 All right. And the next question is what is something about Fort McMurray that you haven't experienced elsewhere?
Speaker 2 00:15:14 The community, the, the closeness and connect, like the connections people make without really knowing each other. I mean, this community is so quick to step up and help each other. I have lived all over Canada and I haven't seen that anywhere else. So
Speaker 3 00:15:29 Those have been your five questions. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:15:31 I thought that that whole product thing. I mean, I don't know. There's I don't really represent any one product in particular. I kind of just put a shout out to all of them and we could talk about these cookies for instance,
Speaker 0 00:15:42 Let's talk about the cookies. Okay. So Paige brought me some really cool cookies. Check these out.
Speaker 1 00:15:49 Are you getting those on camera here? I'll put it close up.
Speaker 2 00:16:00 You did such a good job on those. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 00:16:08 Awesome. So, yeah, he's been amazing. So
Speaker 0 00:16:11 These things are amazing. So please tell the people at home who made these awesome cookies. No evermore cookie. She's lovely.
Speaker 2 00:16:17 Um, if you follow her on Instagram, you've seen some of her artwork. She is, she does this by hand. I mean, she's absolutely amazing. I met her when Alyssa and I did our real estate open house series. Uh, the women in business pop-up shops where we had, um, local business entrepreneurs, females do a little pop-up shop in our open house. And so she came and did one of those. And I mean, she has quite the following her cookie sellouts so fast. So I had to put in an order special for you.
Speaker 0 00:16:44 They're awesome. She nailed it too, either from like in the city where it has like the larger I and T. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. So thank you for the present. I really do love it. And she killed
Speaker 2 00:16:56 It. I hope they taste good, but I am sure they will.
Speaker 0 00:16:58 Well, I don't want to eat them. That's the thing. They're, they're true. Art. I don't know how long they're going to be preserved for, but I'm going to put them on one on the set somewhere. We get a frame for it. I think so. I think so. That would be cool. That's a good idea. That's we're good. We're to Tanner, put that on the list of things to do. We're getting a frame for the cookies. Send you a link. I'll make sure to tell. There we go. Thank you. Yeah. We're we're boys. We're all good. Have that kind of stuff. Just like Tammy was saying with the mirrors. Like we didn't think about getting mirrors for like three weeks.
Speaker 2 00:17:25 Is he another such a boy thing? Yeah. I mean, you have people coming to be on your show and no mirrors just to make sure we look okay. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:32 I don't think it's a boy thing. I think me and Ellie are just real confident in how we look. There we go.
Speaker 0 00:17:38 I was just like, look at your phone. Oh yeah. You look good. Get on the show. Just come on. Yeah. So there's one topic that we were talking about when I was telling you to come on the show and I loved how you fun of me about it. So we're going to talk about it now. It's uh, I, I think by looking at you, people would not assume, but you like rap music. Yes, I do. And, uh, I was talking about like, when we talked about it earlier on the show, I don't think it's come on yet with Mr. Rory about top five favorite rappers, and then you get a sixth man award. So I don't want to hear your top five or can you rattle off the top five? Most people struggle with
Speaker 2 00:18:14 I've thought about it and I've got to give it out to my favorites. I mean, Kanye old Kanye, we've got M and M um, J Cole. I've always been a fan of Macklemore and I'd probably throw a little bit of love to little Wayne because that was my twenties.
Speaker 0 00:18:30 Wow. Okay. And six, nine, you got a bonus.
Speaker 2 00:18:34 Oh, the six one. That's going to be hard. Um, I don't know. Uh, sorry.
Speaker 0 00:18:43 I'll let you think about it. I'll tell you mine. So you, you threw down some awesome, uh, rappers there in regards to, it just shows like when you listen to rap versus when I listened to rap. Yeah. So first and foremost on my own and everybody else doesn't go in any particular order, but number one for me is Snoop Dogg. Amazing love Snoop seen him twice, once in Cancun and once here in Fort Mac. Yeah. So Snoop number one. Um, now no particular order on the rest of them. Uh, Jay Z, Jay Z, for sure. Um, number three, for me, underrated rapper, I think most underrated rappers method, man, nothing, men people know method, man from the Wu Tang clan, which is an awesome rap group as well, but method on a solo album basis and on hooks, uh, maze. Yeah. Method, man got to give it up to a Tupac Shakur. Yes. I love to love Tupac and cliche, but biggie smalls as well. There are other rappers that I could go that are great, but those are my five, but then I told you who my sixth man was and you lie. Like you paused. So for everybody at home, and I know I'm going to get beat up in the comments for this. I love will Smith. I love no Smith as a rapper
Speaker 2 00:20:01 With him too, especially to look at. But I mean,
Speaker 0 00:20:05 Yeah, your response is hilarious, but I said, will Smith, you like who? And you just pause them. Like everybody knows will Smith. And I started in like, Oh, it's a rapper, fresh Prince. Yeah. The fresh Prince of Bel air.
Speaker 2 00:20:18 I mean, I guess so, but I just don't associate him with being a rapper.
Speaker 0 00:20:23 Okay. Well, I'll have to throw down, I'm going to have to give you some wills, Smiths tracks to listen to. And you'll, you're going to go on Instagram and be like, we'll, I'm sorry. You're a great rapper announcement. Yeah. I don't think her parents will understand though. I don't think her parents will understand. Nice. I don't know if you get to see, she doesn't get it. She doesn't know tattered killing it. All right. So, uh, that's 20 minutes. We went over 20 minutes probably. Yeah. It's quick. So thank you for having me. Thank you for coming. I hope you come back again. I know. Thank you for coming for the gift. Um, the whole point of the 20 minute episode is that you can come back again and again, so anytime you're doing anything, I'm your girl gang needs some help you just come back and put on a show and talk to the people of Fort McMurray and the world Fort Macquarie, wood, Buffalo, and the world. That's a new thing. Fort McMurray, wood Buffalo. I'm trying my best.
Speaker 2 00:21:15 I know I'm trying to, I've been saying it a lot too. Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:21:18 There you go. So before I let you go, um, everybody gets a shameless plug at the end. Please tell everybody at home who you are, what they can do. Your plug is your real estate agent, girl, gang, everything you do.
Speaker 2 00:21:29 Um, okay. Well, I mean real estate, that's just a no brainer. Obviously FM HomeStart CA for more info, but I would really like to plug the animal rescue what? Buffalo animal rescue. Um, we can always use donations, fosters, um, and food, anything like that. So you can check us out at the word Buffalo animal rescue on our website or on Facebook.
Speaker 0 00:21:47 There we go. Awesome. All right. Well, everybody at home, thank you very much for tuning in today. Once again, it means the world to me that you even tune in any day, but the fact that you tuned in on my birthday makes it even more special. So on that note, thank you very much. Have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 00:22:05 Hey, <inaudible> talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
