Former Calgary resident Trisha Shanks has lived in Nakusp for more than four years though many may not realize. Her first job in the area was at the hotel reception for the Kuskanax Lodge (now the K2 Rotor Lodge), as it was known in 2010. In 2013, she participated in the Community Futures Self Employment Program which resulted in her running the Nakusp Vegibox for a year. This is where she began her relationship with the Arrow Lakes News as a columnist, writing “The Veggie Patch” about local seasonal produce to promote the seasonal vegetable boxes available through her business.
“Working in a hotel, you meet a lot of visitors but fairly few locals,” Shanks says of her low profile.
Shanks was born in Toronto, but grew up in Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. As a young adult, she came west seeking greener pastures, feeling the future was just too uncertain on the east coast. Calgary became home for most of her adult life, where she worked for Telus in customer relations, interfacing with the media on behalf of the executive management. She eventually started to feel something was missing, so quit her job, bought a plane ticket and a backpack and flew to London, England for a nine month trek across Europe.
Starting in 2000, she renewed her never-before-used passport and proceeded over the next three years to visit more than 13 countries, and some of them, like Australia, twice. She learned a lot about herself during those years staying in hostels, on a sailboat, in a monastery and couch surfing via the internet.
“I realized that I didn’t want to go back to corporate life in a cubicle working nine to five and counting the days until my next vacation. I wanted to find a balance between work and leisure that gave me flexibility and freedom, because my years spent travelling were the best I had ever felt about myself, the world and other people.”
Back in Canada, she found the work-life balance in self-employment as a dog trainer. Being a small business owner, she developed many new skillsets out of necessity: networking, photography, marketing, website design, and blogging, finding herself on the cutting edge of social media. Shanks grew with the times as more and more people stopped calling from her ad in the Yellow Pages and started emailing her on the web.
After several years of this, she became tired of the fast-paced, increasingly expensive city life. Trisha was introduced to Nakusp via the purchase of a Nova Scotia Duck Toller puppy from Til Niquidet, owner of Pikkinokka Kennels. The two became friends and Trisha began to spend long weekends here as a respite from Calgary’s lineups and traffic jams. When the city just got too much, Nakusp was an easy choice.
“I didn’t know where I would live with four dogs, or where I would work, but I threw caution to the wind and things eventually fell into place. The slower pace of life has been such a welcome change, and I can still travel from here.”
Although she doesn’t have a formal education in journalism or work experience as a writer, she has always been keen on languages and writing so taking on the role of a reporter seemed like a natural fit. Luckily Operations Manager Jennifer Cowan saw her potential too.
“I spell conversations out in my head as people are speaking. I was always the kid getting high marks in English and French in school and picked up Italian in about three months while travelling there. I feel like I can write; my big challenge is to find the news and make it into a story by deadline. I am sinking my teeth into journalistic style, and have a really strong desire to tell the stories of the people in our communities. I want people to open the paper and read about things they care about and people they know. This community is strong and diverse and charming. It is my pleasure to be in a position to write about it.”
Trisha is the Arrow Lakes News’ lead reporter, in a part-time capacity. This way, she can still give the time and attention to her kennel of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers at home in Summit Lake.
“Somehow four dogs grew to seven and we occasionally have puppies, so part time work suits me perfectly.”
If you see Trisha around town, feel free to say hello or tell her about any story ideas you might have. As she gets to understand what people care about and want to read about, she is open to suggestions and constructive criticism. As they say, “it takes a village.”
