Unique skills could become a second career
From puppeteer to drone flyer, courses are ready to train you in off-the-radar professions
Flying drones. Bringing puppets to life. Creating vampires. If these sound more exciting than your day job, you’re not alone.
Continuing education is a gateway to unique skills and knowledge — offering cutting-edge courses, hidden gems and stepping-stones to “it factor” jobs.
Case in point, Talia Reingold, who completed a comprehensive makeup artist certificate at George Brown College in 2009, is currently working in the makeup department for the TV series American Gothic, filming in Toronto. Her set experience includes Heroes Reborn and Beauty & the Beast, but she’s done it all — from band promos to commercials to turning actors into vampires. Her days can start as early as 5 a.m. with four back-to-back people in the makeup chair.
“This industry allows me to be really creative,” Reingold says. She first felt that spark in the classroom, learning modern techniques such as high-definition TV makeup and prosthetics.
Makeup effects instructor Carlos Henriques, who also runs The Butcher Shop (makeup effects) studio, always looks forward to practical examinations, in which every student must transform a model into a character they’ve invented or recreated.
“There was one student who . . . decided to make it look as though the model was created out of scrap metal by using metallic paint techniques,” he says. “It looked beautiful and was very, very original.”
Heather Kent’s students are puppets on a string — or at least some of their “charges” are. Her Humber College puppetry course attracts students from across Canada and even internationally. The14-day, intensive certificate attracts those looking to incorporate puppeteering into their own practice — whether teachers, visual and performing artists, dancers or directors.
“They aren’t coming to become puppeteers like you would become a banker,” she explains. “But amazing things happen when you throw those kinds of people in a room.”
Yifei Zhao, from Humber’s drone program, teaches people to fly. Well, to fly machines anyway. Her courses include a class on UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) for filmmaking and image capture. Most of her students — from emergency responders to industry inspectors — are professionals looking to add a new skill to their roster.
“This is new technology so a lot of people are interested,” she says, adding drones can be effective tools in everything from search and rescue to real estate.
Property appraiser Stephen Sweeting took Zhao’s image capture course last June, building upon previous drone pilot classes. He credits her “filmmaking style” approach for giving him a new set of eyes in the sky. He has since created DroneVue Imaging, a fledgling side business.
While some courses are groundbreaking, others are timeless. Just ask David Dunkley, the official milliner of the Queen’s Plate horse race, and the milliner to the Hudson’s Bay wedding department.
Dunkley was a public policy grad who quickly became disillusioned with that world, so he put on a different hat and entered George Brown’s millinery program. After graduating in 2005, he sold his headwear in St. Lawrence Market before starting his own company. He helps judge a George Brown student competition at the race each year.
Dunkley was taught even the most extravagant hat needs to be “touched by a light hand” and structurally balanced: “A hat maker’s job is to make everything look light and simple.”
When it comes to online courses, both supply and demand are growing at Humber’s School of Social and Community Service, says director Kim Pavan. Among her school’s standout classroom offerings: a certificate in criminal intelligence analysis, which teaches intelligence gathering and data analysis; and a certificate in managing in the violence-- against-women sector, geared toward professional development in that crucial non-profit sector.
Many of Pavan’s students want to transition from the private sector to jobs that can “change people’s lives” — from police to social work. “They want to have that feeling, every day, that they’ve done something to help someone have a better life.”
Whether improving others’ lives or their own, GTA students have access to a wide, eclectic range of courses — from 3D printing and robotics at Ryerson University, to courses in midwifery and Broadway musicals at the University of Toronto. Have green a thumb? Enjoy George Brown’s edible gardening in the city. Enjoy Chardonnay? Try Humber’s exploring the world of wines and spirits. Most students would drink to that.
There are no “old hat” courses in continuing education — even if you’re learning to make hats: “Each crown tells a different story,” Dunkley explains of his trade. “And there’s always a new story to tell.”