The best way to spend 104 days of summer

Anyone else watching the new season of Phineas and Ferb? No? Just me?

Something to do every night! And all such diverse activities! It’s annoying when being active for my mental health actually ends up making my mental health better. So here’s another round-up of personal recommendations - some for moving your body, and some for flexing your brain.

I know people are always looking for fun activities to pre-book when they have time as well so I’ll have a special highlight on a new Canadian company at the end which I only discovered recently.

Here’s the events for this week:

🧠 Monday, July 14th (today!!): Data & Drafts: API + AI Mixer, ($0, but donations welcome) this is a crossover event run by both APIs & IPAs and Data Drinks, both organizations which I know and love for tech events. It will start with 2 lecture/keynotes and then move into networking for the second half of the event. I’m especially excited to hear from Karla Congson, CEO of Agentiiv, an AI consultancy and even if you’re a newbie into tech, this event will be a warm and welcoming experience for you.

🫁 Tuesday, July 15th: Toronto Beer Run Club, ($0) I know I mentioned this one last week but it runs every Tuesday and the meeting point for this Tuesday is a bit more accessible for people who live downtown! And I just love the concept of being active, being social, AND supporting a local business at the end of it. It’s a big win for mental health and community in my opinion.

🦩 Wednesday, July 16th: Bachata with Soul2Sole, ($0) A beginner bachata class on the harbourfront!!! How could you go wrong? It says tickets are not for sale anymore but I think if you contact the space you can find out how to get in last minute, totally worth it and will be so fun to dance outside!

🧶Thursday, July 17th: The Art of Crochet & Jazz, ($27.96 - supplies included!) Ever wanted to listen to jazz and teach yourself how to crochet? Or if you already know how to crochet - meet others who share your passion? The answer for me is absolutely YES. This sounds so fun and I would recommend it to any skill level. Had this one on my radar for months, so excited they added some new dates recently.

👛 Thursday, July 17th: Toronto Toast Member Meetup, ($0 with membership) Ok yes, I’m promo-ing my own workplace again but if you know me at all, you know how passionate I am about spaces built for women in tech and how much I love my job. If you want to try out the 2-week trial for the Toast membership you can come to this event for free to learn more about what we actually offer. :) This is actually a special one because we’re doing some practice on ‘pitching ourselves’ as an essential skill for networking events. 10/10 would obviously recommend.

✨ Friday, July 18th: Friday Salsa Bachata Fusion (Toronto Dance Fridays), ($15) Two hours of dance lessons, salsa AND bachata, a live DJ, and then social dancing with people of all skill levels! I actually went to this event last Friday and had a BLAST. I’m not sure how many people know this but there is a huge underground latin dance community in Toronto and this is one of the best spots for it. It happens every Friday and you simply drop in and pay at the door. The lessons are fun and easy to follow (I am NOT an experienced dancer and could follow at least 80% of the time haha). It’s a great way to get moving.

And now for a couple honourable mentions this week:

TasteTheCity: The aforementioned company which plans walking tasting tours around your city! Operates in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria for now, and seems like SO much fun. Also Canadian & women-owned so a bit plus on my end! Going to try this out personally in the next couple of weeks because it looks SO fun.

Tech Lady Drinks: There’s no website but on August 9th, Kate Grant is again hosting one of my favourite Toronto Tech networking series! All you have to do is sign up with the form I’ve linked to be added to the mailing list but this is one you should absolutely mark in your calendars ahead of time because it is so fun and attracts so many amazing people. It will be at Waterworks Food Hall at 6pm on the 9th and if you don’t get the email, just show up! You can also message me for the event invite forward!

Hope that some of these events pique your interest! I love mixing up the types of events I go to throughout the week to use different parts of my brain, but also to meet different types of people and challenge my expectations of myself.

You never know who you’re going to meet! Just last week at some events I went to I met a woman from Colombia at the Toast Tech Girl Walk, and then met a software developer at the salsa event!

I know a lot of my newsletter is tech networking based - but developing real relationships with people and actually making friends without expectations is going to end up being the best thing for your support community long term. Only socializing when you need a job makes everything feel more artificial and can be exhausting for yourself on top of that.

And if you are looking for a job, don’t only do strictly tech events! Variety is the spice of life and extending those ‘weak ties’ (casual ties and acquaintances) in all types of spaces is going to increase your chances of potential opportunities arising. (Google weak ties if you haven’t heard about them before, a life changing revelation for myself personally).

Have a great week and see you next Monday!