Toronto Life – December 2018

photographs: evans, philips, josephson by

getty images;

mengesha by

daniel malarasi;

diiorio by

nathan cyprys

88 toronto life December 2018

josephson, the sprightly co-founder of design

studio Partisans, is trying to change Toronto’s

rep for architectural beigeness. His firm is behind

the sublime Hearn revitalization and the delight-

ful Hobbit hole that is Grant van Gameren’s Bar

Raval. This year, Partisans co-authored the Ama-

zon HQ2 proposal that landed Toronto a spot on

Jeff Bezos’s 20-city short list, designed another

stunning van Gameren restaurant called Quetzal,

revitalized Ontario Place and won an American

Architecture Prize for a wishbone-inspired ferry

terminal proposal in Seoul. up next: A handful

of dazzling private residential commissions scat-

tered across southern Ontario.

44

Alex Josephson

Co-founder,

Partisans

diiorio is toronto’s boldest crypto

tycoon. Six years ago, he went all in on Bitcoin

when it cost just $9.73 apiece (today it’s at $8,379),

and made off with millions. He used his earn-

ings to help Vitalik Buterin found Bitcoin’s big-

gest rival, Ethereum (current market cap:

$27.4 billion) and create his own company,

Decentral, an incubator for blockchain projects.

His latest project is Jaxx, which, with more than

1.2 million downloads, is one of the world’s most

popular cryptocurrency wallets. up next: Set-

tling into his new home, the three-storey pent-

house in the former Trump Tower, which he just

bought for $28 million.

they say you can’t plan

an internet outbreak, but

when Drake wants his music

videos to be seen millions of

times over, he goes to Karena

Evans. Together, in 2018, they

pulled off a creative hat trick

with “God’s Plan,” the insta-

classic Degrassi reunion video

for “I’m Upset,” and “Nice

For What,” starring Rashida

Jones, Issa Rae and Tracee Ellis Ross. Evans was the first

woman ever to win the Prism Prize’s prestigious Lipsett

Award honouring unique approaches to the craft. friends in

high places: Her mentor is Director X.

40

karena evans

Director

The fif

T

y Mos

T

i

nfluen

T

ial 2018

soulpepper’s new leaf

starts with artistic director

Weyni Mengesha, who is

moving home from L.A. to

take the gig, and adding

some diversity atop the

Toronto theatre scene. She

has directed many iconic

productions (Kim’s Conve-

nience, ’da Kink in My Hair)

and won the best production

Dora for last year’s A Father

Comes Home From the Wars

(Parts 1, 2 and 3). friends in

high places: Measha Brueggergosman, d’bi.young anitafrika,

Trey Anthony, Charles Officer and Ngozi Paul.

42

weyni mengesha

artistic director, soulpepper

r o d

PhiLL i P s

Minister of the

environment

doug ford stormed into Queen’s Park waging war against the federal

climate change plan, and Phillips, his environment minister, is his first line of

offence. Phillips has held top positions at Postmedia, CivicAction and the

OLG. In his new role, he’s responsible for scrapping Ontario’s cap-and-trade

system, and will spend up to $30 million fighting the feds over it. If the

carbon tax is a high-profile issue in the 2019 federal election, it’ll be due in

part to Phillips, who’s appeared on CTV and Metro Morning to preach the

anti-carbon tax gospel. friends in high places: Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey,

TIFF’s Cameron Bailey, TD exec Tim Hockey, former mayor Mel Lastman.

41

43

Anthony Diiorio

Ceo, deCentral

INFLUENTIALS_SEND.indd 88 18-10-31 12:47 PM