I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada in the 60’s. The last time my Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, I was 2 years old. Like a true Leafs fan, it’s the first thing I mention in my bio.

My parents came to this wonderful country from Greece with five dollars and a dream. 

They worked tirelessly and raised three daughters. I am the youngest.

As a result of our limited finances I was often left alone with the TV and Radio as my babysitter. 

It was the 60’s and the remote control had not been invented yet - but I sat close to that TV and spun that 

dial round and round - completely in love with every channel and always searching for a great TV show. 

I was four.

At 6 years old I was interviewing people with my trusty toilet paper roll as my microphone.

By the time I hit high school I knew I had to get into Ryerson’s Radio & Television Arts program in Canada, because at the time it was the only place offering a degree in this very specialized and rapidly evolving form of communication - TV.

I got in, loved it to bits and graduated in 1987.

My first job was “Office Junior” at the CBC Program Distribution building at 22 Front Street.

The duties were simple: keep track of film cans and shuttle them through the various departments

in the building. The people there were fantastic and I learned so much, I loved it.

My next job was also with the CBC as the “News Room Receptionist” for the Network’s flagship news program “The Journal” - which was hosted by the brilliant Barbara Frum and Bill Cameron.

Both are now in heaven. I look up and say ‘thank you’ as I type this.

Let’s have a discussion about that experience because typing words to describe it does not do it justice. I’ll brushstroke here and say my gosh, what a fantastic 2nd job to have. It was so hard, with approximately 150 

of our country’s absolute TOP journalists with no voicemail, email, internet, cel phones etc etc - go back in time as you read this, it was a very different time.

For the first week I cried everyday when I got home. I answered the phone and took messages - hundreds upon hundreds a day. Some were personal, some were show savers - all were done exceptionally well - because my motto then, and still is now:

‘put 200% into everything - no matter what the job, just do your very very best to be the best’

I have to stop. I always catch myself trying to write this and it goes in so many directions - writing someone else’s bio is easier, that’s for sure .. but,

Putting 200% into that Newsroom Receptionist job at the ripe old age of 22 was a GOOD idea, because it led to a dream job.

One of the CBC News producers went off to another CBC department to produce the coolest music show in the world, called “Wired” - originating from London, England, with a New York insert - we were brought in to do a Canadian insert - how dreamy.

My job was Production Coordinator/Music Researcher - pinch me ok. I HAD to go to as many music shows 

as possible and report back to my Producer. I HAD to listen to as many music CDs as possible and really 

be on ball about EVERYTHING that was going on in the music industry - and to boot, my telephone 

extension was 6969 - all the phone calls came to me because everyone remembered my number, 

too funny eh ..

This led to a nice ‘music specialist’ thing with me - which lasted years until the Universe pulled me, literally pulled me to my ‘duty’ when I started working with YTV - Canada’s youth network. All of a sudden that little 

4 year old kid was really and truly inside that magic box with the magic dial -- 

all of a sudden I knew EXACTLY how my viewer felt - to be there alone, in front of that TV

Gosh you know, I drop to my knees and say thank you for this career I’ve had and am having. 

Everything I did in Kids TV went straight to air. I never had to check anything - I was completely trusted with the signal - and in many ways - - live to air, live to tape, field shooting, scripts, edits, fragmented programming, half hour shows, game shows, magazine style, just about every format for every demo from pre-school and up -- and whatever it was, I got to be the last stop on the Kids TV signal in Canada - they trusted me, they trusted my instinct, judgement and artistic ability with their signal and with their kids as well, an honour I cherish

in addition to drawing on my own experience, I called every Mom I knew, especially the single

ones, and picked their brains constantly - and I built my own focus groups of kids and moms who continually fed me with invaluable information .. and still do ... to be continued. Cheers, Sia