Toronto Life – December 2018

photographs: mulroney, reisman by

getty images;

matheson by

daniel ehrenworth;

lafayette courtesy of georgian partners

72 toronto life December 2018

Jessica

mulroney

Style advisor

when she ascended the steps of Windsor Castle for the wedding of

her bosom buddy, Meghan Markle, the world took to their keyboards

asking the same thing: “Who is Jessica Mulroney?” Pippa 2.0 a.k.a. the

Royal BFF a.k.a. style advisor to the stars became a thing on a global

scale. Today, the combo of sizable reach (260,000 Insta-followers),

charmed lifestyle and high-wattage connections are catnip for adver-

tisers who’ll happily pony up for her Midas touch, and brands like

Smythe and Sentaler have benefitted hugely from her endorsements.

FRIendS In hIgh PlaCeS: Shania Twain and Olympic skater Tessa Virtue.

15

years ago, heather reisman proved her-

self a counter-revolutionary by declaring print

undead. This fall, she doubled down on that bet

by taking her cultural department store concept—

books plus covetable products plus chill vibes—

to the U.S., with a 30,000-square-foot store at the

Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey. Her “Heather’s

Picks” can make an author’s career. up next:

Deciding whether to buy Barnes & Noble, the

struggling American book chain. It’s got baggage,

but it’s also her main competition in the U.S.

lafayette’s firm had made big-time invest-

ments in success stories like the takeout app

Ritual, accounting software FreshBooks, educa-

tion platform Top Hat and retail behemoth

Shopify. This past August, Georgian raised

$714 million, the largest independent VC round

in Canadian history—cash that banks and other

investors have entrusted to Georgian to pour into

auspicious start-ups and, in turn, further propel

Toronto into tech superstardom. International

VCs venerate Georgian’s approach to AI and

data, which is good news for the city: they’ll take

LaFayette’s word on which companies are worth

investing in, driving more dollars into the coun-

try. side gigs: He sits on the board of Canada

Learning Code, an educational organization that

recently received $8 million as part of the federal

government’s CanCode initiative.

17

Heather Reisman

CEO, IndIgO

18

Justin LaFayette

ManagIng PartnEr,

gEOrgIan PartnErs

the multifaceted matheson has

emerged as the most popular name in

Toronto food. He’s more famous than our most

decorated chefs, better-travelled than most dia-

mond elite frequent flyers and more lovable than,

well, anyone. His two shows on Vice, Dead Set on Life

and It’s Suppertime!, do big business, and the former

snagged him two Canadian Screen Award nomina-

tions in March. His newest endeavour—author—

is solid gold, too. Since hitting shelves in October,

Matty Matheson: A Cookbook, has been named an

NYT bestseller, and he’s on a global promotional

tour. His rave-worthy pizza joint, Maker, just

opened a second location in North Toronto.

up next: His as-yet-unnamed new restaurant opens

in mid-2019, and a clothing line is in the works.

m a t t y

matheson

The fif 16 Reality TV star

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