Edmonton Sizzling 20 Under 30 – Event Moment

As some of my readers may know, last year I started doing some freelance photography for a local newspaper called Edmontonians which was a monthly publication that focused on businesses and events in Edmonton. I photographed several events for them including the first ever Refinery Night at the Art Gallery of Alberta and some features for the annual Women in Business issue. When Sarah and I returned from Italy in May, I was disappointed to learn that the publisher of Edmontonians had decided to shut down the publication as print media continues to struggle with increasing costs and decreased advertising revenue. There is that old saying however that says when one door closes, another one opens and for Edmontonians, the man opening the door was the president of Cedar Publishing, Mr. Moe Najmeddine.

As a former Sizzling 20 Under 30 award recipient who was featured in the Edmontonians in 2003, Mr. Najmeddine contacted the former publisher and offered to resurrect Edmontonians and publish it as a quarterly magazine. Most fittingly, the first issue to be published under his leadership was the Sizzling 20 Under 30 for 2010. This annual feature, profiles 20 of the most successful up-and-comers under the age of 30 in Edmonton. These Sizzlers, as they are known, are young men and women working hard to make a positive impact in the community and make Edmonton a better place to live by their contributions to the city. I had the opportunity to photograph several of the Sizzlers for their profiles and hear some of their stories. These Sizzlers ranged from young business owners, to a PhD student working with cancer patients, to wedding planners, teachers, and the current Miss Edmonton. It was a hectic schedule trying to photograph all of them in a short time span at a variety of locations but in the end I think we had some fun and wound up with some great images.

Here are a few of the Sizzlers who I photographed for this event:

Jennifer Bergman is a very successful wedding planner in the city and the owner of Jennifer Bergman Weddings.

Landon Croome is the President and Co-founder of Phantom Screens and Solaris Products.

Amanda Lusk is the owner of Master & Master Real Estate and offers free weekend classes to learn more about real estate investment.

Gregory Bott is a Masters student at the University of Alberta and an Owner/Operator of Original Joe’s Restaurant and Bar in Sherwood Park, Alberta.

Ziyah Karmali is a teacher, model, journalist, volunteer, and the current Miss Edmonton.

Keith Bruinsma is the owner and President of Yellowhead Waterjet.

In addition to photographing some of the Sizzlers, I also photographed a couple of the contributors to the magazine. Christina Emberley is recent graduate from the Journalism program at Grant MacEwan and interviewed all 20 of the Sizzlers for their profiles in the magazine.

Nejolla Korris is a columnist for the Edmontonians and is an international expert in the area of interviewing skils and lie detection and has worked with several police agencies and the F.B.I. Ms. Korris is also the honorary Consul for Lithuania.

On October 13th, a reception was held at Lexus of Edmonton to announce the Sizzling 20 Under 30 and present them with their awards and I was also there to photograph the event. Here are a few photographs from the event.

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