Mikala Taylor

Mikala Taylor is a writer/editor/interactive producer, and was the former associate editor of Suite101.com from 2007-2008, where she managed 800+ international contributing writers. She is currently a Manager of Online Content for Tourism British Columbia and a freelance music writer and photographer.

Mikala grew up in Toronto and has a BA in Magazine Journalism. She spent several years as a freelance writer and editor for various publications including Exclaim!, Chatelaine, Marketing Magazine, Canadian Business, the Globe and Mail, Poz and is proud to have had at least a few of her words published in renowned music magazine, NME. She is the recipient of a 1999 Kenneth R. Wilson national business writing award.

Her relentless pursuit of adventure, love of traveling and fixation on all things music eventually took her to study in Copenhagen, (straight As in competitive beer drinking and high-cheekbone appreciation!) then on to London, England in 2000.

In England she was a columnist and editor for a trendy, London-based dating website, which was followed by a stint as deputy editor of the UK's second-largest student website/community where she covered the UK music scene extensively. She has interviewed bands including Green Day, Oasis, Blur, The Verve, Manic Street Preachers, White Lies, Flaming Lips, Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, The Charlatans, Duran Duran, Nigel Kennedy, The Hives, Pavement, Lou Barlow/Sebadoh, Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing, Eagles of Death Metal, Hot Chip, Louis XIV and many, many more.

In 2003, she became Assistant Producer of Interactive at LIVINGtv, one of the UK's top 10 television channels, now owned by Virgin Media. There, she co-produced the interactive element of programs such as Most Haunted, Most Haunted Live, Britain and America's Next Top Model, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy UK and the music festival Party in the Park. She also appeared on-air on Most Haunted Live and MH Live: Access All Areas as its interactive presenter. In 2007-2008, she was also an international reporter for "Imagine", the creative and content development division for UK television channel ITV.

Fed up with London's shoddy quality of living and increasing stresses, she packed up her iPod and English husband, and moved west to Vancouver. As Editor-in-Chief for hellobc.com, she spends the better part of her day job pottering about the astoundingly beautiful province of British Columbia in tiny float and propeller planes, and writing and editing Lonely Planet-style travel information.

When not glued to her computer, Mikala is a music junkie and attends as many live gigs and club dates as humanly possible. She’s also an obsessive foodie, passionate traveller and collector of designer/urban vinyl toys and artwork. Her current plans involve writing a novel based on her experiences as a music writer, though she really needs to get away from the computer more and get outside.