Alumni artists draw views at awards reception

Christina Essue (Retail Management, 2006)

Director, Brand & Innovation Strategy, Sklar Wilton & Associates

Christina is an Artist & Brand Strategist with both national and global experience from in-house and agency roles leading international teams to bring products to market in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and South America.

She also creates artwork for private and commercial clients in the retail, hospitality and entertainment industry across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. 

Her art has been featured on the MOMA San Francisco blog and Christina is represented by PI Creative Art, Partial Gallery, and Metropolitan Gallery in Austin, Texas.

Rina Kazavchinski (Marketing Managment, 2012) 

Senior Paid Media Manager, Central Station Toronto

Rina is a seasoned digital marketing professional who has worked in Toronto's marketing and advertising community for over a decade.  

Rina has honed her artistic skills as a successful Canadian abstract artist and digital illustrator specializing in vibrant abstract pieces and digital illustrations. Using bold texture and special palette knife techniques, she is mostly inspired by nature and mental health. She also specializes in body-positive illustrations highlighting the human form.

Rina has exhibited her work at several in-person and online Art shows, and has sold over two hundred original paintings and hundreds of digital illustrations. You can find her at the One of a Kind Show (external link, opens in new window)  next month. 

Mitul Shah (BTM, 2019) 

UX Developer, Composer

Mitul is a photographer specializing in cityscapes and architecture. He’s worked alongside with companies such as Uber, Delta Hotels and Shopify. Mitul picked up photography while a Business Technology Management student at Ted Rogers, being in the heart of the city everyday had a strong influence on his work. Outside of photography, Mitul is a UI Engineer at early stage startup Composer. 

Ruth Susi (BTM, 2018) 

Web Designer, Ada

Ruth Victoria Susi, the artist behind Rvictorias, is a versatile visual artist well known in her use of magic realism, painting realistic scenes with magical elements. In 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, Ruth left her job of two years at a consulting company and took a leap of faith to pursue her passion full time. 

Starting from traditional paintings of landscapes to learning digital illustrations, Ruth’s first big creative project was to illustrate a children’s story book called “Betty’s Adventures”, which is now scheduled to be published in 2023. Diversifying her skills in digital art, Ruth also made use of the skills she learned in school to showcase her art by designing her very own website. Falling deeper into design, the artist started to add branding, graphic and web design to her services. In 2021, the artist was in charge of designing a travel guide for an island in the Philippines called Siargao. 

Shaina Hardie (Marketing Management, 2012)

Marketing Manager, IBEW Construction Council of Ontario

Shaina Hardie is an abstract artist based out of Toronto, Ontario. Her medium of choice is acrylic, and her style showcases a fusion of Cubism and Impressionism: a collision of color and angular lines create movement and intrigue from various vantage points.

Shaina’s passion for business and marketing has served her well in her second career as an artist. Shaina has showcased her work at various galleries throughout Toronto, including Arta Gallery in the Distillery District. She has also served as the Artist in Residence for the Studio Paint Bar in Port Credit. Shaina is currently represented by Kefi Art Gallery in Toronto, ON.

Shea Coughlan (4th year, Entrepreneurship & Strategy)

Artist, Mack House Inc. & KicksByShea

Shea is a multidisciplinary artist, craftsman & student-athlete at the Ted Rogers School. Along being a veteran member of the TMU Dance Pak, he actively uses his art as a method of stress relief to help emphasize his passion for quality, resulting in extremely clean & durable work. 

Throughout his 5 years in the sneaker industry, Shea has had the opportunity to collaborate with several well-known brands & companies such as Disney, Nike, MLSE, TD Bank along with several others. Constantly striving to try new things, Shea not only customizes sneakers but creates them from the sole up.