British Columbia·THIS IS VANCOUVER ISLAND

How Vancouver Island creatives balance quality of life with isolation frustration

Vancouver Island is a beautiful place to live, work, and create — but getting off the island can be an exercise in frustration. Two people who work in creative industries talk about the pros and cons of Island life.

Business owners discuss if inspiring landscapes outweigh costs of getting products and people off the island

Two women walk in a fashion show. They are wearing red outfits decorated in black Coast Salish design.
Sisters Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Good run Ay Lelum: The Good House of Design on Vancouver Island, where they design Coast Salish fashion. (Submitted by Ay Lelum)

It's not uncommon for people in the Vancouver Island region to dabble in painting or photography or poetry, because they just can't help being inspired by the gorgeous surroundings.

But for people working in creative industries on the Island, the complications of doing business can sometimes disrupt the peace that comes with the ocean and forests. 

LISTEN: The business of making art on the Island

For one thing, it's expensive to get goods off the Island. 

For another thing, getting people off the Island — to go to meetings or trade shows, for example — can be both expensive and time consuming. 

Headshot of a south Asian ban with a tidy greying beard. He is wearing a black tshirt, blacktoque, and glasses with black frames.
Victoria-based Faisal Sethi is the founder, CEO and creative director of game company Frosty Pop. (Submitted by Faisal Sethi)

But creators and business owners Aunalee Boyd-Good and Faisal Sethi say in the end, the quality of life on the Island makes it worth the trouble of basing their businesses here. 

They walk through the pros and cons with host Kathryn Marlow, in this episode of the CBC podcast This is Vancouver Island

As an islander, you may dabble in painting, or photography, or poetry, because you just can’t help but be inspired by our gorgeous surroundings. But what happens when you’re in a creative industry on the island, making stuff here to sell elsewhere? Does island living create an added layer of complication? Aunalee Boyd-Good, co-director and designer with Ay Lelum: The Good House of Design in Nanaimo, and Victoria-based Faisal Sethi, founder, CEO and creative director of game company Frosty Pop, weigh in.

Boyd-Good is co-director and designer with Ay Lelum: The Good House of Design in Nanaimo, along with her sister Sophia Good.

Faisal Sethi is founder, CEO and creative director of the game company Frosty Pop. He lives in Victoria.

A purple banner with the words "this is Vancouver Island"
This is Vancouver Island is a new podcast from CBC Victoria. (CBC )

Islanders — this is a podcast for you. Life on Vancouver Island isn't all sunset strolls and forest bathing — it can be frustrating, isolating and expensive. We're going to talk about the good, the bad and everything in between. Hosted by Kathryn Marlow, every Tuesday.

Got a question? You can reach us at thisisvi@cbc.ca.


Tune into This is Vancouver Island every Tuesday on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.