Plus, the most influential Torontonians of 2024
Japanese-born Ayami Sato is known as the best woman pitcher in the world, throwing at the lightning speed of 129 kilometres per hour and winning six world championships for her home country in the process. Now, she’s making history as the first woman to play professionally in Canada, joining the men’s Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club—which, yes, shares a name with a certain hockey team. Here, through her translator and partner Mayo Hirano, Sato talks about joining an all-men team, her goal of inspiring young girls in Canada, and her love of Toronto’s beer and doughnuts. For all of our city coverage, visit torontolife.com or subscribe to our print edition. |
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| At No. 12 on our list of this year’s most influential Torontonians: Aidan Gomez. With Cohere, which he co-founded in 2019, Gomez is making generative AI models to tackle a variety of tasks for companies (chatbots, copywriting) in a bid to transform the way they operate. Unlike many of his cohort, Gomez is optimistic about our robot future—he dismisses AI doomerism as “absurd.” And it’s contributed to the company’s success: Cohere is backed by Nvidia, earned a $5-billion valuation and is now one of the biggest rivals to industry leader OpenAI. |
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| In 2018, Andrea Werhun turned her experiences as an escort and dancer into a memoir called Modern Whore. Four years later, the book led to a gig consulting on Sean Baker’s film Anora, about the misadventures of a young sex worker in New York (Mikey Madison). We spoke to her about the tips she gave Madison, sex worker representation and why there’s still so much stigma around the profession. |
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What to see, do, hear and read this month |
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| A weekend with the in-laws can be either a relaxing getaway or a recipe for calamity. Weike Wang’s new novel, Rental House, skews toward the latter. The book follows college sweethearts Keru and Nate, whose relationship has overcome their differences—Keru’s parents are strict Chinese immigrants; Nate’s white, rural working-class family is more than a little xenophobic. When the couple invites both of their families on vacation in New England, they’re faced with a series of crises. With sharp wit and insight, Wang’s novel explores the complications of modern kinship. Out now |
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| In the latest issue: the tech titans, political heavyweights, culture crusaders, business big guns and everyone else who matters now. Plus, the stars of the Toronto Sceptres, a Q&A with the legendary Vince Carter, the ultimate holiday gift guide and more. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today. |
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