Alumni stories for Toronto Metropolitan University
Storytelling campaign shot for Toronto Metropolitan University
Locations: Shot across Toronto, Canada
Interviews and Documentary Photography by Sid Naidu (2016-2017) ©
My story started at Jane & Sheppard, in the Toronto housing community. I was the youngest in my family, the only one in my family to be accepted into university, the only family member to complete university.
But I started here with multiple passions, a desire to help people and a very huge love for dance and movement. The expectations once you graduate from university are that you finish and get a job in the field of your study.
Well, I said no, I’m going do it my way. I knew that I wouldn’t be happy doing anything other than what I loved so I created my career in dance & fitness.
I dared to be different.
– Shakera Martin, Occupational Health & Safety 2012
"Anything is achievable, you just have to put in the work. My internship was supposed to be a limited amount of time but I worked really hard so they would offer me a job after. I talked to one of the supervisors and he told me they really liked my work and attitude but unfortunately they didn't have any openings.
I remember saying to him, that's OK, I'll still come in tomorrow. So I came in the next day. I came in for two or three months while still in my final year of school. I had to do my practicum, study for other classes, work a part-time job to pay rent but I was still going in nine to five to show my dedication and how much I wanted to be there.
Finally, when an opening came up and they saw how I'd been coming in loyally, without asking for anything, they wanted me to take that opportunity. I took it and I hustled.
It's almost like getting that opening didn't make me slow down, it made me work even harder. Now I'm a director of a show that gets picked up by CBC and Apple Music. It wasn't easy but it was achievable because I put in the work."
- Alex Narvaez, RTA 2010
I’m a visible Muslim. So, my hijab sometimes speaks for me before I can even say anything. Through my involvement people weren’t always used to seeing someone like me at the table, which had me questioning, ‘Do I deserve to be here?’
I learned it did matter because every conversation I had was an opportunity to represent the leadership that was reflective of our community. Over here I found my voice and my confidence.
Be unapologetic with yourself. Whatever identity you relate to, just be that...unapologetically.
- Atifa Rasoul, Accounting and Finance 2008, former alumni representative on the Board of Governors
It's so funny how an entrepreneur is such a buzzword nowadays. I never went to school for it. I didn't "fall into it.
I've just always been on my hustle to build businesses and ventures.
I started young and have gotten to the point where I'm running 3 companies with some of my favourite people. It's a challenge to balance but God knows I wouldn't have it any other way.
- Kareem Rahaman, Business Management '09
"I’ll never forget the day I arrived on campus, I looked around and I told myself, you’re going to become a leader here. Ryerson reminded me of who I am. I’m a woman of influence, that my voice matters, that I can be myself and that I can be comfortable in my own skin."
- Naomi Cowan, RTA '10, MA Digital Media '15
Give me a story and I'll find four interesting ways to tell it. That's always been my thing. I like telling stories in whatever way they can be told, as loudly, as honestly, and as creatively as possible. Stories of people of colour.
Stories of people who come here and lose their money and put their relationships on the line and risk their relationship with their kids; they're basically bringing into the world superheroes. They create kids who are complex, who are as brave as they are afraid, as willing as they are hesitant.
We're such colourful and complex beings and I want the stories of these people to be at the forefront of media. I want films about people who live in subsidized neighbourhoods and who do incredible work.
I don't think these stories are being told enough and it could be that there aren't enough of us going to university. But I want to bring that magic to the screen.
- Marwa Siam, Journalism 2014 / Masters in Media Production 2015
I felt really happy about the type of people that I met in university, some of whom I'm still really good friends with now. I'm able to carry those relationships into adulthood.
That, for me, is an accomplishment. I think relationships and keeping in touch with the people who make you better are important.
If I can come back and somehow affect the current students in a positive way then I'm all for it, because so many people helped me when I was at Ryerson and I want to have that same sort of positive impact on the people there now.
- Carli Yim, RTA 2012
Life is going to be uncomfortable and you’re going to have uncomfortable situations but I think that’s where your growth starts. It keeps things interesting, it keeps you curious, and it keeps you gaining knowledge because you’re always asking why.
One lesson I learned throughout my university life is to trust your gut. If your gut tells you to really do something because you have that passion, and you have that desire and you have that will and that empowerment to do it, then just do it!
Be open. Embrace the change; it’s going to be uncomfortable but know that you’re not alone in it.
– Salisha Randel, Sociology 2009
You know, I haven't figured everything out. I think as a human being you never really figure everything out. Everything just happens in the way you experience things and it helps to determine how you navigate through life.
I really feel that life is just a stage and it's about how you play your part. My mother once told me, that an old person that sits down sees farther than the youth that's standing up.
I learned we need to have conversations with our elders because elders possess knowledge that can be carried on from generation to generation. We don't know everything and we need to be humbled by that.
- Femi Lawson, Criminology 2010
It’s different here. It's on the cusp of what's new and what's innovative, it's young, it's kind of the underdog but in a good way.
I feel like a lot of the people who come here are the same; they are the people that want to build something, the people that want to try something new.
That's why I'm so passionate about giving back to this family and institution, that's why I volunteer my time here. Don't focus on the money, don't focus on the title or position, focus on how you are going to take this seed that you've been given and plant it somewhere in the world for good. That's the spirit of this campus."
- Rhiannon Traill, Arts & Contemporary Studies 2008, RUAA Liaison to the Board of Governors
"A pivotal moment in my academic career occurred at a meeting I had with a learning strategist. I had until then ignored or rejected the thought of having a learning disability. During the meeting with this strategist. However, he challenged me to think of my LD, not as a learning disability but as a different ability.
I took these words to heart and applied the strategies he shared with a positive conviction. The results from that shift in thinking were incredible. In that very semester, I remember receiving straight A's for the first time in my academic career.
That one conversation transformed my outlook on life and as a result my view of my own capabilities."
- Kwesi Johnson, Child and Youth Care 2009, Ryerson University Alumni Association board member.
“Ever since I was a young child, at age 2 to be exact, I valued education. I would set up all of my toys and teach them what I learned in preschool.
This started my life-long love of learning and teaching. Thirty years later, the love of learning and teaching that was sparked in that 2-year-old child is still alive.”
- Akeisha Lari, Social Work 2007 "
