I sat down one day during this past year and wrote a short essay called "Wishes for a Near-Future Me" and it was such a powerful, cathartic exercise.

I've added this essay to my Etsy shop to better connect with you and inspire you to contemplate the ideal version of YOUR life and strive towards it. All proceeds go to my women's health initiative called Alba A New Dawn. 

Version française

This is a raw, personal, heartfelt post - I hope you can read it to the end. 

Many – in fact, most – of you don’t know that for eighteen years, I have been a sufferer of severe endometriosis and other related health conditions - experiences that have changed me and my life forever.

Although I’m a writer at heart and have written about almost everything, this is something I’ve never put into words until now, not even in my own journals, and something I certainly did not imagine doing so publicly. But after nearly twenty years of this complex story, and after seeing so many other women struggling in similar ways, it is time now.

Unexpectedly and in almost one sitting, I have written my first real book – cover to cover – complete with things I’ve never written for a book, like a preface, an author’s note and acknowledgments. In it, a raw, candid, descriptive account of my personal journey - one that will surely resonate with many women and men around the world.

Why? And why now?

This March, I will be launching an inspiring new initiative called Alba – a new dawn.  The website will showcase – through photographs, words and products designed for the cause – women entrepreneurs who have been affected by endometriosis, female cancers, chronic pain and infertility.

My goal with Alba is to help us shift the dialogue on women’s health and achieve a brighter dawn with more pro-active, holistic, systematic approaches for all, as well as to raise funding for research.

​I have chosen to launch it in March in time for endometriosis awareness month and for Women's Day (March 8th).

The e-book is now available for pre-order through my Etsy shop.

By pre-ordering today, you will receive it in your inbox on its release date, March 8th. All proceeds from the book will go to starting up and maintaining the Alba project, which in turn will help many women find their voices and will collect funds for research on female cancers and endometriosis. Needless to say, you'd be donating to an important cause. 

Whether you have been directly touched by the challenges of endometriosis and related health conditions (such as chronic pain, female cancers and infertility) or whether you are curious to learn more about this misunderstood and complex illness from the outside in, the poignant and brutally honest passages in "It's Time." are intended to educate, empower, inspire and heal. 

Please follow @alba.a.new.dawn on Instagram and share this post as widely as possible, as we prepare for the launch of the initiative and the e-book!

If this resonates with you and you would like to find out about opportunities to become a member, affiliate or sponsor, please send me an e-mail to [email protected] and I’ll walk you through how the initiative will work. All opportunities will also be detailed on the website when it is launched in two weeks.

This post, and this whole mission, comes from the most vulnerable, rawest part of me. I’m taking a deep breath and hoping you’ll join me on this journey. 

From my heart to yours,
Kristina

In preparation for the Etsy Fait au Québec show - coming up this weekend in multiple Canadian cities including Montreal –  I thought it would be a nice occasion to finally create some greeting cards out of my photography, since clients frequently ask me about cards. As a writer, I would love to actually write messages inside these cards, but in order to first test out the images and the product itself, I decided it might be wise if these first limited edition greeting cards were blank, creating the opportunity for your words to take center stage.
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That being said, I still wanted to do something special and meaningful with these cards, to celebrate the act of giving and receiving, of making time to say what we feel, of communicating the old-fashioned way, and the simple act of treasuring our loved-ones.

In light of this, I have decided to launch an initiative called “Cards for a cause” and to donate proceeds from my card sales to a cause I hold dear.

My wholehearted goal is for this to become a tradition (with a different cause every year), so I will need your support in making this happen!

Partly because September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and partly because it is a cause that is meaningful to me, I have chosen to donate to Ovarian Cancer Canada. 

Ovarian Cancer is considered the deadliest women’s cancer, largely because it is not easily detected in its early stages. The symptoms are easily confounded with other diseases and often detection is only confirmed once the disease has begun to spread. Additional research is needed to improve screening methods in order for ovarian cancer to be detected reliably and early on. There are different kinds of ovarian cancer and several risk factors, including family history of female cancers. Ovarian Cancer Canada has been working hard in recent campaigns to increase awareness of the disease and to educate women to become familiar with signs and symptoms, with the hope of increasing the likelihood for early detection.

I will launch my new greeting cards this weekend at the Etsy Fait au Québec Montreal market, held at the Technopole Angus on Saturday (10am to 6pm) and Sunday (10am-5pm). If any cards are still in stock after the event, I will add them to my Etsy shop and you will be able to purchase them online.

They are impressively vibrant, square, 6x6 inches in size (including a white border) and blank inside for your heart’s message. They feature many of the popular images from the Veni Etiam Photography collection, as well as some images that are not part of the collection, such as colorful Montreal or international scenes, foodscapes and daily details. If you really fall in love with these cards and don’t want to give them away, you could also keep them and frame them. Each card with its envelope costs $6 or 3 cards (of your choice) for $15. 

I hope that you will stop by the market this weekend or, if you’re not in Montreal, that you’ll keep your eye out on my Etsy shop next week.

Together we can make a difference. It truly starts with a big heart and a small step.

Thank you for supporting Cards for a cause. Please share this post (or those on my Facebook and Instagram channels) to raise awareness for this initiative and for ovarian cancer.

With much love and appreciation,
​Kristina