About qathet Living
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We acknowledge that we live and work in the traditional territory of the Tla’amin Nation.
qathet Living celebrates the people and stories of the city of Powell River and the rest of the qathet region. Published monthly, we are the only independent publication serving the qathet Regional District and we feel it is our responsibility to share the stories of our people and what it’s like to live on the upper Sunshine Coast. We hope to inspire locals and guests to connect more deeply with our region through our writing and photography. In addition to the area’s most-comprehensive events section, qathet Living also tries to combine stories that touch on different people and topics important to our community by providing balanced perspectives that will hopefully plant seeds for further conversations.
Distribution
qathet Living is a free-distribution publication that is distributed monthly throughout the qathet Regional District. We are on the three ferries that service this region, local grocery stores, the Visitor’s Information Centre, major retailers, Town Centre mall and more than 150 other locations throughout the community. We’re also available at three locations on Texada Island.
Demographics
qathet Living is suitable for readers of any age. Whether you’re a student or a senior citizen, we believe you’ll connect with something in Powell River Living. Instead of focussing on age, we focus on community and lifestyle and the stories we dive into reflect this.
Why
qathet Living was created to fill a void in the community. Isabelle wanted a publication that focussed on what is positive about the region, one that would take a deep dive into the lives of the wonderfully interesting people who live here and share their stories with others. She wanted a publication that brought together a month’s worth of community information at one time so that readers could discover what events were happening, what concerts were planned and what festivals were running. “I was tired of the sensationalism in newspapers and the ‘if it bleeds it leads’ mentality,” she said. “I wanted a publication that celebrated human successes.”
We love people, people love us
In November 2006, Powell River Living was named the New Business of the Year at the Horizon Business Awards and was a finalist for Best New Magazine at the Western Magazine Awards the same year. In 2008, the magazine was runner up for Small Business of the Year at the Horizon Business Awards and in 2009 Powell River Living was runner-up for the Home-Based Business of the year. In 2018, Powell River Living won first place for Small Business of the Year at the Powell River Chamber of Commerce’s business awards. The magazine was renamed qathet Living in July 2021.
qathet Living is a member of the Magazine Association of BC, the Powell River Chamber of Commerce, Powell River Women in Business, and Tourism Powell River.
Isabelle Southcott
Publisher & Editor
After working as a journalist for several years in Nova Scotia, Isabelle followed some of her family to the west coast. She worked for The Powell River News and The Powell River Peak before launching Powell River Living magazine out of her basement in 2006.
Since 1993, Isabelle has won 16 national and provincial journalism awards including the Ma Murray community newspaper award. In the early days of the magazine, Isabelle was kept busy as a single mum growing the magazine and her two children side by side. Today, her boys are fine young men and like the magazine, they don’t need her quite as much as they once did. She now spends her free time spoiling her fur babies, two Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers, Hunter Pumpkin and Jigs.
The year after launching Powell River Living, Isabelle cofounded Powell River Women in Business, a non-profit networking and educational group designed to help women who own, operate or work in a business in Powell River. She’s been president and a member of the board of this wonderful organization since its inception and has enjoyed meeting so many new people because of it.
isabelle at prliving.ca
Sean Percy
Associate Publisher & Advertising Sales Manager
Sean Percy is qathet Living Magazine’s associate publisher and advertising sales manager. Sean has been involved in the community newspaper industry since 1990, first with The Powell River News and then as managing editor with the Hay River Hub. He’s won several photography and journalism awards over the years. Sean’s knowledge of the publishing industry, excellent writing and photography skills combined with his graphic design skills have made him a key piece to the qathet Living team since 2008. Born and raised here, he is married with two kids.
sean at prliving.ca
Pieta Woolley
Editor & Graphics
Pieta Woolley is a history nerd and mom-of-two. She brings her newsroom experience at The Georgia Straight, The Tyee, the Hay River Hub, plus years freelance writing and media communications consulting, to her position at qathet Living.
In addition to planning and executing new and interesting projects for qathet Living, she brings her considerable writing skills to bear, as you’ll see in the pages of the monthly magazine. She also puts her design skills to work in both magazine layout and ad creation.
pieta at prliving.ca
Suzanne (Suzi) Wiebe
Sales & Marketing
Suzi moved to Powell River from Revelstoke with her husband, who is a Sergeant with the RCMP. She has experience in advertising and marketing, including time with newspapers and radio, and can help you craft the perfect advertising message.
suzi at prliving.ca
Alena Devlin
Accounts / Office Manager
Alena runs our front office and accounts receivable. She also runs a small business and a blog Mommy Needs a Time Out, in addition to caring for a family and volunteer work. Prior to working for qathet Living, she was an administrative assistant at Investors Group.
office at prliving.ca
