Linda Hoang (Brown) 💛

👋🏻 Hi everyone, it’s Lindork!! 💖✨ With the new year comes to a new intro post. 🥰 If you’re new here, hello! If you’ve been part of my little corner of the Internet for a while, THANK YOU and hello again. 💛 💛 WHO AM I? I’m a full-time blogger / content creator, non-profit & community organizer, social media strategist and marketer with a journalism background based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton) Alberta📍 Canada. I started my own business in 2019 after a decade+ of doing content on the side of my news and marketing career. I’m also a fur mom 🐶🐱🐱🐱 & mom to a #MiracleBaby. It took my Realtor husband @mikethyking and I nearly a decade of Unexplained Infertility before our baby Benjimin arrived. I’m always up for adventure, noodles & bubble tea! 💛 WHAT DO I POST ABOUT? What I’m eating, where I’m travelling & things I’m doing (#ExploreEdmonton #ExploreAlberta), relatable life & snippets of entrepreneur + parent life. Comedy and call-outs. I do use my platform to raise awareness for social issues and I will call out racists, sexists, homophobes, anti-vaxxers, climate crisis deniers, genocide-supporters and generally shitty people. If that’s you, no need to hang around here. ✌🏻 Values & integrity are big for me! 💛 WHY BE HERE? I’m incredibly grateful to be a source for many on ideas for fun things to do, cool places to visit, amazing food to eat, arts to experience, local businesses to support, and ways to bring joy to life through the year! 🙏🏻 This account reflects who I am and what I care about. Some days that’s food. Some days that’s acts of resistance against the patriarchy. Some days it’s travel. Some days it’s anti-racism education. It’s all me! 💛 JOIN MY COMMUNITY! Read my blog, find me on Facebook, subscribe to my email newsletter #LindorksLists for recommendations on Things to Do, Eat and Know Each Week. 🥰 Participate in my events & projects: @YEGCatFest @ChinatownChowDownYEG @StopRaceBasedHate @ChungTa.CungNhau & more! Say hi if you see me around & reach out to see how we can work together this year. 💕 THANK YOU so much for being here! 🙏🏻 #yeg

💖 An absolute honour to receive the inaugural 2024 Edmonton’s Best Tourism Influencer Award. ✨ THANK YOU Edmonton Tourism Judges for seeing in me a deep passion and commitment to showcasing Edmonton to locals and tourists alike. 🥹 Congratulations to all winners and finalists. What a joy to be among and celebrate your tourism success, leadership and innovation. Thank you to Alberta artist @nicoletremblayblownglass for creating the stunning award itself. 🏆 And thank YOU if you’ve ever eaten, visited or done something because of my posts. 💛 I’ve been creating content to highlight food, art, and experiences as a hobby long before it turned into a career. I’ve seen firsthand the power social media has in connecting and uplifting community and I feel so fortunate I get to spotlight the amazing people and places that make Edmonton so special as my job. A big thank you to my amazing, supportive and patient (lol) Instagram Husband @mikethyking along with the best friends who often come along for the ride with me—for fun but also as my unofficial photo and video crew. 😉🤳📸🎥 Here’s an excerpt from the #EdmontonTourismAwards: “Linda Hoang, known as “lindork” online, is an important figure in Edmonton’s tourism scene. Linda’s curated guides and weekly listings embody her commitment to showcasing Edmonton’s vibrant culture and local businesses. Linda’s dedication to highlighting minority and women-owned businesses further enriches her narrative, offering a comprehensive view of the city’s diverse tourism landscape. Given her extensive contributions to Edmonton’s tourism industry, Linda Hoang exemplifies the essence of a leading tourism influencer. Her strategic, ethical, and passionate promotion of Edmonton enhances the city’s tourism appeal and fosters a deeper appreciation and understanding of its unique character and offerings.” 🥹 I think back 15+ years ago (aging myself lol) when posting photos of food wasn’t yet widely accepted, you’d hear the criticism, “who cares about your lunch. That isn’t important.” And I think we can all agree today that people do in fact care about what you’re eating so, please continue to post your food proudly!! 😅 THANK YOU! 💗

Soooo… Mike and I are pregnant. 🤯🤰🏻 Naturally. Somehow. After nearly a decade trying to conceive, with an Unexplained Infertility diagnosis, three failed IUIs, one failed IVF, one failed adoption, one endometriosis surgery, and countless other failed efforts to get pregnant, we are somehow pregnant. After truly coming to terms with the fact that we would likely never have human kids of our own (we have our fur kids of course), after getting to a place where we felt we could truly be happy without kids, we are somehow pregnant. Statistically it takes most couples less than a year to conceive naturally. It took us almost 10 years. We don’t know this happened. But here we are. Here we go. Mike gets to be a dad. I get to be a mom. Our kid will get to grow up with our fur kids, Thor Loki, Olive and Artie, after all (with just a bit of an age gap lol). The last blog update I shared about our infertility said we had truly come to terms with kids not being in our lives and that we were truly fine—happy even—with that conclusion, and if our frozen embryo IVF in Barbados didn’t work this fall, we would be okay. We meant it. But this miracle baby (I’m self-describing it as such lol) is coming Spring 2023. ✨ And we are so happy and hopeful. If you’ve been following our pregnancy journey over these many years, if you’ve sent kind words, if your heart broke with ours over and over as we tried but failed so many times, if you shared our story to help comfort those in your life dealing with infertility, or to educate those in your life about infertility—I’ve said it before but I want to say it again, thank you for your kindness, thank you for keeping us in your thoughts, thank you for helping spread awareness about and eliminate stigma around infertility. If you’re dealing with infertility yourself, I understand this news probably sucks. We get it. Truly. Please mute or unfollow if pregnancy posts are too much, I’ve certainly done it. 💖 I truly hope you get your baby too. I shared more about this on my blog! We are so curious, excited, hopeful for the days ahead. We are so looking forward to this next chapter! Finally. #MikeAndLindork

GIVEAWAY! 🐾 Every pet deserves a full bowl of food. 🥹 A full bowl isn’t just food, it’s comfort, stability, and helps keep pets with the people who love them. And this need is sadly growing, wirh too many people being forced to choose between feeding themselves or their pet. ❤️‍🩹 Parachutes for Pets’ Food Bank and You Thrifty Animal have partnered with Lenny McDavid (yes, that McDavid! 🏒) for the #NoEmptyBowls campaign. 🐕 This NEW merch collection turns that idea of no empty bowls into real impact, with proceeds directly supporting Parachutes for Pets’ Pet Food Bank @parachutesforpetsyeg and Safekeeping Program, helping provide essential food and supplies to families facing financial hardship, housing instability, or crisis. Merch is available for purchase in store at You Thrifty Animal (8108 Coronet Road) and online at YouThriftyAnimalYEG.com WIN A NO EMPTY BOWLS PRIZE PACK! 🥳 I’ve partnered with @ytaedmonton & @parachutesforpetsyeg to GIVE AWAY a #NoEmptyBowls hoodie and pet bandana, plus pack of goodies from the thrift store including toys, treats, collar, leash (mostly new, donated items). TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN: 🐾 Follow @parachutesforpetsyeg + @ytaedmonton + @lindork 🐾 Leave a comment telling us your pets’ name(s)! (or a name of a pet you know) 🐾 Bonus entry if you share this post to your Story letting folks know about this Lenny McDavid merch giveaway & fundraiser. Tag me @lindork & @parachutesforpetsyeg @ytaedmonton . That’s it! I’ll randomly select a winner from all entries received by May 17. In the meantime, be sure to pop into You Thrifty Animal in Edmonton or online, and browse the human and pet merch items (and other items for sale!) to support this important initiative and the work that Parachute for Pets’ Food Bank is doing to support animals and their people in need. 🙏🏻 My fur babies @imnittythekitty , Olive and Loki love their new bandanas. (Matriarch Thor 🐱 couldn’t be bothered lol). #ParachuteForPets_Partner #yeg #yegpets

Happy Mother’s Day to @lindork the bestest mom Benjimin could ever ask for!!! 📸: @vickizhouphoto @princesspeaboutique

Happy Mother’s Day to our Vietnamese moms. Our mẹ. Our má. The ones who ask without fail, if we have “Ăn chưa?” (eaten yet). 🍚 The ones who muttered “Ham chơi” (you’re addicted to playing / you go out too much). 😎 The ones who tell us to stand straighter, sit taller, look better. 🥲😅 The ones who took the biggest risk of their life 🌊 to ensure their children could grow up with the best opportunities in theirs. 🥹 The ones who love us and teach us the best way they know how. 🧡 Thank you. We love you. Cảm ơn mẹ, chúng con thuong mẹ rất nhiều. Happy Mother’s Day. #vietnamesemoms

🐝 Looking forward to the @edmontonstingers season kicking off this weekend!!! 🏀 Benjimin loves Stingers games. And the players are so nice!

EXHIBIT NOW OPEN! 🥹🥳🧡 Drop into Where We Came From (and where we go from here): A Vietnamese Art & Heritage Exhibit this Asian Heritage Month. Soft open Friday, May 8 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or check out upcoming FREE drop-in gallery hours. Open to EVERYONE! You do not have to be Vietnamese to experience these community stories, history and heritage. Plenty of reflection & impact, and relatable themes for everyone. 🙏🏻 VIETNAMESE ART & HERITAGE EXHIBIT 📍: Bowladrome Gallery (basement level) ArtsHub Creative Studios @artshabitatyeg 10131 97 St. Downtown Edmonton (Boyle Street / South Chinatown) Co-curated by @lindork & @aspoonfordad , with portrait exhibit by @dawngraves , stories & reflections by community members, @dr.aldango altar, and more! DROP-IN HOURS Fri, May 8 • 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mon, May 11 • 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sun, May 17 • 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fri, May 22 • 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tues, May 26 • 11:30 a.m to 3 p.m. Wed, May 27 • 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sat, May 30 • 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tues, June 2 • 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri, June 5 • 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sat, June 6 • 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. SPECIAL EVENTS Opening Reception (May 9) Stories & Reflection Speaker Series (May 17) Lunch & Listen (May 26) Viet Archives Closing Workshop (June 6) Tap the link in our bio to learn more. Where We Came From (and where we go from here): A Vietnamese Art & Heritage Exhibit features community stories and reflections, portraits, art installations, immersive vignettes, and more cultural and heritage pieces designed to help both Vietnamese-Edmontonians and the broader public better understand and reflect on the Vietnamese-Edmonton story. Through themes of migration, identity, family, resilience, and belonging, the exhibit invites visitors to connect with lived experiences that are deeply personal, while widely relatable across communities. 🌊 THANK YOU to supporters Boyle Street Community League, @yegheritage , @edmontondtwn and @edmontoncommunityfoundation . 🙏🏻 THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS! including major set-up support from @mikethyking (Mike Brown Realty). #yeg #yegarts #yegheritage #exploreedmonton Vietnamese As

exhibit loading… 🧡 Join us for our soft opening Friday, May 8 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Or snag a final spot at our Saturday, May 9 Opening Reception from 6-9 p.m. 🙏🏻 🌊 📍: Bowladrome Gallery (basement level) ArtsHub Creative Studios @artshabitatyeg 10131 97 St. Downtown Edmonton (Boyle Street / South Chinatown) DROP-IN EXHIBIT HOURS Friday, May 8 • 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, May 11 • 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, May 17 • 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 22 • 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 26 • 11:30 a.m to 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 • 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 30 • 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 2 • 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, June 5 • 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 6 • 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. SPECIAL EVENTS Opening Reception (May 9) Stories & Reflection Speaker Series (May 17) Lunch & Listen (May 26) Vietnamese Archives Closing Workshop (June 6) Tap the link in our bio to learn more about this special exhibit. 🥹 Where We Came From (and where we go from here): A Vietnamese Art & Heritage Exhibit features community stories and reflections, portraits, art installations, immersive vignettes, and more cultural and heritage pieces designed to help both Vietnamese-Edmontonians and the broader public better understand and reflect on the Vietnamese-Edmonton story. Through themes of migration, identity, family, resilience, and belonging, the exhibit invites visitors to connect with lived experiences that are deeply personal, while also widely relatable across communities. 🌊 THANK YOU to exhibit supporters Boyle Street Community League, @yegheritage , @edmontondtwn and @edmontoncommunityfoundation . 🙏🏻 #yeg #yegarts #yegheritage #exploreedmonton Vietnamese Asian heritage month exhibit

GIVEAWAY! 🎉 I’m back working to help bring the second annual FascinAsian Film Festival - Edmonton to life, alongside an amazing volunteer organizing team. 🫶🏻 Ahead of the upcoming May 12-16 festival, I’m GIVING AWAY a pair of tickets to ANY @FascinAsianEdmonton film 🎥 of your choice! There’s 5 feature films and four short film programs (15 short films total). The winner can also choose from one of three, NEW weekday LUNCH + SHORT FILM programs featuring Japanese Bento lunch from @mssmedmonton , Chinese Take-out lunch from Fortune Cookie, or Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwich lunch from @banhmididdy . 🤤💛 FascinAsian Edmonton celebrates and spotlights Pan-Asian culture, perspectives and stories on the big screen. 🎞️🙏🏻 While this is the second year in Edmonton, the fest runs in Winnipeg and Calgary too. I’m proud to be part of the organizing team (and support their national marketing efforts too). I’ll also be co-hosting the Opening Reception & Ceremony on May 12 with @nathanipyeg . There are great local, Canadian, and international films in the line-up, and each program includes post-screening Q&As with filmmakers, like the May 15 program I’ll be moderating on behalf of @chungta.cungnhau . This year’s festival venues include @landmarkcinemas @eccmall , @themetrocinema and @yourAGA ! While the stories, cast, or filmmakers are Pan-Asian (and wow—is that representation on the big screen incredibly meaningful when you’re sitting in that theatre! 🥹), the films and festival are really for everyone. ENTER TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE FESTIVAL! To enter: 1. Follow @fascinasianedmonton + me @lindork 2. Leave a comment telling me what film or program you’d like to check out! (swipe through to see the list of feature films and list of short film programs) * Bonus entry if you share this post to your Stories that @FascinAsianEdmonton returns May 12-16 (& tag me!) I’ll select a winner from all entries received by May 9. Be sure to visit fascinasian.ca for the full festival schedule to browse films & get tickets! 🎟️ 📸: Beautiful team photos by @jaydla @intertwinedstudios.ca / not sold on the shirt knot lol #yeg #exploreedmonton things to do in edmonton

Can’t fully express the love I have for our new family portrait by Mabel @ilovethemoon ! 🥹💛 We won this custom portrait at the Levantine Lane fundraiser last fall organized by @shantellejammaz and @prints_and_peonies , which raised $13,000 to support families devastated by Israhell’s ongoing genocide in Palestine. 😩🇵🇸 Mabel’s art work was one of the prizes drawn for donations at the event, but I’ve long-admired her watercolour works! 🫶🏻 This piece is extra special because I asked if we could still include in it our sweet boy Artie 🐕, who left us way too soon and I realized, as I was writing this post, that he died exactly a year ago this month. 😭😭😭😭😭 When Benjimin saw the portrait, he started naming all the animals, and took a few extra seconds thinking before he named Artie. We still mention him quite a bit and thank goodness for countless photos, but it devastates me that our boys weren’t able to grow up together. 💔❤️‍🩹 This will be quite a cherished piece. Mabel mentioned she has a Mother’s Day sale on if you use the code ILOVEYOUMOM (15% off on all watercolour portrait orders) on orders by May 10.  💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

SAVE 10% OFF YOUR Steve and Dan’s Fresh BC Fruit CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) fruit & veg subscription box! Tap the link in my bio to use my code FRUITDORK 🍎🫐🍓🍒🍑 for 10% off when you sign up!! #SteveAndDansFreshBCFruit_Partner The boxes 📦 are a subscription to a variety of locally-grown, quality fruits and vegetables that you pick up each week. I’ve been signed up for a Steve and Dan’s @FreshBCFruit subscription box for the last few summers and it’s always the highlight of the week popping into one of their 10 pick-up locations to grab the week’s bounty. This season @mikethyking ’s grandma is staying with us, and with a growing toddler, I know the weekly fruits and vegetables are going to go fast and be extra appreciated. 😋 ORDER FULL SEASON, HALF SEASON (early or late), BI-WEEKLY, FAMILY or INDIVIDUAL/COUPLE BOXES - PAYMENT PLANS AVAILABLE. (so many options!) The box itself usually includes 90% fruit/berries and 10% specialty vegetables. You get more products for less money than if you were to buy the same quantity each week on its own (and it’s way more convenient as a one-stop pick-up). SIGN UP BY JUNE 15 🗓️ AND GET 10% OFF WITH MY CODE: FRUITDORK!! #yeg #yegfood #freshbcfruit