by Josh Marchesini
In our next installment, we interviewed Tiffany Lai late last month in Cafe Melbourne, an intimate cafe in the heart in Plateau-Mont-Royal. She talks to us about working as a Copywriter, her recent collaboration with Le Chateau, and the best restos in Montréal.
Josh: Can you describe your background in social media and how you developed an interest in food and fashion. Tiffany: I think I’ve always been intrigued by social media because it was a way for me to express myself… as an output for art. I’ve had Twitter for a while now, but Twitter wasn’t really my thing because I’m more of a visual person. I didn’t like Facebook because I felt I was giving too much personal information, so when Instagram came around, I felt like that was a really good medium as to how I could be creative with my photos and it’s one of the platforms where I have more control of. Also, with Youtube, that too also helped me discover the artsy side of things. J: Just by looking at your Instagram, you have a deep interest in food and coffee. How would you compare Montreal’s food scene to other cities that you’ve visited in the past? T: I would say that Montreal has diversity in terms of food but we’re still quite slow compared to Toronto or New York. The good thing about Montreal compared to Toronto is that you can pretty much get anywhere by metro, bus or even walking I find. But Toronto is so spread out that sometimes hard for me to get to places. New York is great obviously ‘cause the food scene is top notch and everything is condensed. The only problem with New York is that anywhere that’s super popular, you’d have to wait a minimum of 30 minutes. In Montreal, yeah, you have to wait but it’s not as long [of a wait time] as Toronto or New York. I think Montreal is a more chill version of New York. J: Some people consider Instagram to be a frivolous platform where people only post selfies and pictures of their pets. What would you say to people who undermine Instagram and the power they can have using that platform? T: I think all types of social media are just social media. Some people take it more seriously than others. Personally, I take some aspects of social media very seriously. In terms of Instagram, I’m all about aesthetics. I like things that are very pretty. If you look through my feed, everything is super bright, colourful, lots of white palettes but at the end of the day, it’s just social media. Social media can be very powerful, yes, if you know how to use it as a tool, then you can do great things with it. If people want to post a selfie or pictures of their dogs too, that’s totally fine too because they’re having fun. As long as you’re having fun, that’s what is important. J: What would you say is your favorite aspect of social media? Is there anything you don’t like? T: Ever since I began working for this start-up, a marketing company that specializes in social media, it’s been hard to find the fun in social media. You’re dealing with it every single day, posting for your clients, creating [content] for your client and you have to follow their vision and what they want in the posts. For myself, my favourite thing on Instagram is having that control. Instagram is a lot easier to deal with than Youtube. I love YouTube but it’s hard to be consistent, posting videos every single week because I make videos about coffee shops and food places in Montreal. I’m not only following my schedule, but the schedules of others: the owners and my sister (co-founder of Garlic Milk) and it becomes difficult for me to really get what YouTube really has to offer. Instagram is just so easy in the sense that, I understand now how it works. J: So it’s more about having that creative control that you have within Instagram. T: Yeah, exactly. J: You were recently featured on Le Chateau’s blog with your best friend (@KatieCung) for their #LoveBirds campaign. Tell me about that experience and what happened behind-the-scenes. T: Le Chateau reached out to us through email and asked if we would like to collaborate on a series that they were doing for Valentine’s Day. They invited us into their store and pick out an entire outfit that we liked, head-to-toe. Our good friend James, helped us take photos, as well as Katie’s boyfriend Vitto. It was really a great experience because you get to be with your best friend, you get to shoot with your best friend and we’re both really into social media. We’re both into Instagram and Katie is more of a blogger. I don’t consider myself a blogger, more of a YouTuber. I think there’s a huge difference but we both just love fashion so much. It was funny because at the end, we ended up picking the same top, the same coat and the same pair of boots, but in different colours. It was a great experience because I love fashion. I think fashion is another way for people to express themselves. I think people undermine the fashion industry because they always say, “Oh, it’s just consumerism. You just go to a store and buy something.” But really, there’s a lot of steps and processes that happen before the customer even sees the product. There’s several people behind the creation of that one item of clothing. J: Given your experience in the media industry, others struggle to find a good skillset to enter the industry. Is there some advice you can give to people who want to work in the same industry as you? T: For Instagram, I follow a lot of people who have similar feeds as I do, but I never try to imitate them. I have some fashion icons that I follow to see what they’re wearing but I never try to imitate their outfit. For me, it’s a way to get inspiration. There’s also a lot of YouTubers that I watch, I like their videos, the music they use but I never copy something that they’ve done. You take that inspiration and create something that speaks to you on a personal level and that’s more original. People like original content and on Instagram, people like posts that are more approachable. J: I see what you’re saying. Like you said before, I think there’s a distinction of imitation and what you like to do, which is more about emulation. T: Yes! J: SynesthASIA takes pride in creating your own voice through fashion. If you could describe your style in a few words, what would it be? T: I think my style is very minimal but once in awhile, I’ll surprise myself. I think another word that could describe it is sporadic. So minimal, sporadic… I try to buy a lot of clothes that are on sale. I’m always going to H&M, Zara, Aritzia, COS. Not because that I don’t believe in buying at retail prices but if I can save a few bucks, I can use that money to buy something else to expand my wardrobe. J: Are there any fashion brands or trends that have caught your eye recently? T: I’ve been wanting to look at Raf Simons’ new collection at Calvin Klein because he recently left Dior. So I’m really excited to check that out but I haven’t had the time. J: All the Fashion Weeks are happening this month, I believe. T: I think Milan is having their Fashion Week right now. I think one trend that I haven’t tried yet… I don’t want to say that’s died down but it’s the corset trend. I’m curious to see how that can work with my style. Personally, I want to incorporate more pink into my wardrobe. I have nothing pink, at all! I think the closest thing I have is a floral blouse, but it only has specks of pink on it. Oh, and gym wear as streetwear. The other day, I found an Adidas olive sweatsuit. I really liked it and I think I could see myself wearing it. Maybe on the way to the airport or casually running for errands. J: What is your favorite cafe in Montreal? T: I have to say Cafe Melbourne because we’re sitting here right now. J: Well, besides Cafe Melbourne of course. T: You know what, I don’t really have a favourite cafe. It really depends on what area I’m in, what vibe I’m looking for and if I’m hungry or not because not all cafes serve food. It also depends on if I have access to a car because some coffee shops are really far away. For matcha, definitely go to Leaves Cafe. I like their cafe because they have [cruelty-free] products. Cafe Melbourne is good because they have a pop-up brunch on the weekends and the vibe is super lively. Cafe Ferlucci, it’s close to my area in Little Italy. If I’m just looking to chill, do some work and not have to travel too far. Ferlucci would be my go-to.
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J: What would you say is your favourite brunch spot in Montreal? Barista [in the background]: Cafe Melbourne! T: Yes, Cafe Melbourne! I feel like… the Montreal brunch scene has died down in recently. If I wanted to bring some friends from out of town and they’ve never had brunch here before, I’d definitely pick either Lawrence or Arts Cafe. If they’ve already had brunch here before, I’d bring them here to Melbourne’s pop-up brunch. J: Tell me what advice, in terms of places to eat, you would give to folks visiting Montreal for the first time? T: In the summertime, I’d always try the ice cream at Kem Coba, have a bagel at Fairmount or St. Viateur and then go to Dinette Triple Crown and have their picnic-style meal. In the winter time, I think you can get away with a cafe crawl. Most of the cafes can be hard to get to but certain areas have a saturation of coffee shops. Regardless, Montreal has so much to offer. That’s one of the main reasons I started my YouTube channel. I wanted to show how much Montreal has to offer in terms of coffee shops, lifestyle, the food scene. J: Finally, what is the one item of clothing you can’t leave your house without? T: One item? Well... if someone kidnapped me and I could only take one item, I would say a good pair of jeans. A good pair of jeans that will fit you no matter what. You can watch their latest video on Cafe Melbourne here.
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