Liz Bell
Model agent

“When I immigrated to Canada from South Africa in 1981, and really kind of settled my roots, my first job was as a waitress at Bridges restaurant on Granville Island. I spent a lot of time there and developed some really close relationships with the people I worked with, some of whom I’m still in contact with today, so that big yellow building will always be a familiar and special landmark to me.

“But, gosh, there are so many things that I love about Vancouver - namely the people who’ve been in the [fashion] industry forever; the creative teams who do an amazing job and are innovative and constantly excited about the work they do.

“Vancouver is an amazing city where you can be five minutes outside the city and find yourself in nature. Often I’ll take my dog for a walk in the North Shore and be on my Blackberry to New York and they’re all stressed out and I’m in the trees enjoying myself! I love the contrast in the city of thriving business and being in nature.

“I do wish Vancouverites would be a lot more passionate about things and not so complacent. I always compare the weather to the people; the weather is so low-key so the people are low-key. South Africa is full of thunder and lightening and the people there are like that, whereas here, for example, on New Year’s Eve we were sitting at home watching the fireworks in Seattle on TV and we switched the broadcast to show what was happening here and they showed the police on their horses doing patrols.

“I wish Vancouver would be more fun. My pet peeve is the overregulation in Vancouver that kyboshes any kind of fun and deters from making things easy for people.”

Three things I love

- The freshest seafood on the planet, especially the oysters at Finest at Sea
- The drive home into the sunset over Howe Sound Ð Sea-to-Sky Highway, here we come!
- Foggy morning walks with my dog at Ambleside Doggy Park.

Liz Bell, the founder of Lizbell Agency, has spent the last 27 years working in the fashion industry, first as a model, now an agent. She lives in Lions Bay with her husband, Canadian artist David Burns, and their four children.