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Hi All

I just wanted to share my immigrant story here and was hoping it can be useful to someone.

I moved to Canada 5 years ago alone from Russia with literally few hundred dollars in my pocket. Right now it sounds crazy (even to me!) and I probably would not do it again.  Life was quite hard but those were fun times: i was sharing a basement with 2 girls from Brazil and there were times when the three of us could not pay our electricity bill. We bought a car from someone for $700 which didn't have a power steering and for some reason it was so hard to turn the wheel that it would take the 2 of us to move the damn thing haha.. At the time i was a grad student on a full scholarship ( i was also Teaching assistant and cleaned bars & apartments part time).

As time passed things got better and i finally got my first good job (as a management consultant). At the time the paycheck felt like a million dollars. i worked for that company for 4 years and learned a lot, met amazing people (some them became my friends for life).

But something was still missing.  I left that stable and well-paying job few months ago to launch my own startup called Kinza . Its an airbnb of food. I remembered my old times when i just moved to Canada and didn't really know anyone or had any friends. All I wished at the time was to invite someone over for a dinner and talk to them:)  I am a tech geek and i love Internet 2.0 but i noticed that tech makes people more and more lonely. Kinza was my attempt to bring back good old conversation. Connect people from different backgrounds and countries over a dining table.

So the reason i named that topic "Do immigrants take or create jobs?" is because i feel that immigrants are much braver and that boldness actually creates jobs and drives local economies. Be proud of yourself if you call yourself an immigrant!

Also please reach out to me if you need any help with your resumes or connections or if you wanna book a Kinza dinner with me or if you find yourself in a situation similar to where i was 5 years ago - hold on there! i feel your pain!
would love to connect!!!

Kate