Lia Rinaldo
Managing Director, Devour! The Food Film Fest
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With a 30-year career in the film industry and a passion for food culture, Lia Rinaldo knew she’d found a perfect combination in Devour! The Food Film Fest. Starting in the movie business as a bright-eyed teenager, she honed her skills at Wormwoods Dog & Monkey Cinema, and later brought her considerable knowhow to the Atlantic Film Festival. Her interest in the culinary industry and enviable communication skills led her to a second career as a freelance food and travel writer for Eat North, Curated Magazine, Occasions Magazine, North American Traveller amongst other publications. A member of the Travel Media Association of Canada and the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association, Lia also provides culinary marketing, social media, PR and fundraising consulting services throughout Nova Scotia.
Lia has been recognized for her exceptional contributions to the promotion of culture and the culinary arts. She has been honoured with the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia Crystal Tourism Award of Excellence Ambassador Award, the Taste of Nova Scotia Gary MacDonald Culinary Ambassador Award, Canadian Treasures Award for Innovation in Hospitality by The George Brown Centre for Culinary Arts (all shared with her business partner, Michael Howell), the Progress Women of Excellence Award in Arts & Culture and has twice been named to the Chronicle Herald Arts & Life Honour Roll. Lia currently serves on the national jury for Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants.
Fueled by her love for food and film, Lia, as Managing Director, has utilized her talent for festival coordination to help make Devour! the largest film festival in the world dedicated to all things culinary. The flagship festival takes place annually in October in Nova Scotia and has expanded to include 17+ major satellite events throughout the year across Canada and around the world.
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What are you most proud of professionally? And who or why?
Devour! The Food Film Fest is my greatest achievement to date. I, along with my business partner and friend Michael Howell, took our combined wealth of event and festival management, food and film expertise and applied it to building a unique, destination event. Devour!, after ten years, is now the world’s largest food film festival. 2019 was an outstanding year for Devour!. While the brand grew on the global stage with 17+ satellite events across Canada and around the world, our flagship festival flourished at home in Nova Scotia. We welcomed a record 14,000+ attendees to the ninth edition of Devour! in Wolfville, Windsor, Kentville and across Kings and Hants counties. We produced more than 100 unique events over our expanded week-long festival. We have attracted some pretty amazing talent over the years – Anthony Bourdain, Jacques Pépin, Lidia Bastianich and many, many more.
Over the last decade, we have grown exponentially from a regional, weekend-long event with 1,000 attendees run by a small but committed crew of volunteers to a week-long, globally-recognized, signature event for Nova Scotia with an economic impact of $1.9 million and over 100+ official event partners. Devour! is now run by a dedicated team of staff & volunteers with box office attendance & revenues, media impact & awareness, community & economic impact and a list of sponsorships, donors & partners that continue to track ever upwards. Since 2013 alone, Devour has welcomed almost 70,000 attendees to its events and experienced five-fold growth in gate revenue.
This is truly an unprecedented time. We were poised for an epic 10th anniversary year and our largest festival to date, we have had to take a step back and plan on how we will re-emerge and present the best possible version of Devour! in a safe, new way. While many festivals and events in the short term have had to cancel, postpone, or pivot entirely, we have four months lead time, so we can plan for a couple of different scenarios for what we are now referring to as Devour! 9.5, a hybrid festival. We are postponing the celebratory aspects of our 10th anniversary to October 2021.
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What’s your vision for Atlantic Canada in 10 years? What’s our biggest opportunity now?
A true cultural and culinary global destination.
What was your greatest stage of growth? What made it a shift for you?
Since I stepped out of my comfort zone of a decades-long film career to take a risk on building a niche food film festival in a rural part of Nova Scotia, it’s been literally growth and change ALL the time. I held a role at my previous job at the Atlantic Film Festival that supported teams of people handling every aspect of the event – from fundraising and sponsorship to marketing and communications to event operations to programming content. But I didn’t actually physically DO every aspect. At Devour!, there are just two of us filling every role year-round and then we’re joined by a small, but mighty team who return year over year to help us mount the flagship event in Nova Scotia. I never thought I could fundraise, for instance, but somehow found my voice to sell something I fervently believed in. I have moved in circles with and hosted some of the world’s top chefs and personalities – from Anthony Bourdain to Jacques Pépin to Lidia Bastianich – but then have often found myself moving tables and serving at some of our events, and quite happily, I might add. We took big risks in the beginning, and continue to, we’re nimble and adapt quickly to react to opportunities, and sometimes too fast for those around us who sometimes fear change and growth. I used to be concerned with optics and how people perceived our apparent success. You know, the naysayers, that whole ‘crab in the bucket’ mentality. Seven years in, it’s not about a salary and benefits packages, but the quality of life, the travel, and the richness of the relationships is bar none. When you do what you love, the rest will follow. I believe this with the whole of my heart.
What’s your favourite or most read book or podcast? Now or at each of your greatest stages of growth?
To be honest, I’m predominantly a movie and TV person. I read the occasional novel and listen to the odd podcast from time to time. But when you spend so much time watching films for a living, and we look at hundreds of food-related titles for Devour! per year, it’s my natural default to have that as a pastime as well. I’m likely binge-watching something on Netflix as I type this that I’m a little embarrassed to admit I’m actually watching. Really. Don’t ask me.
What’s your deepest learning from this past year? How did/will you apply it?
This was hands down one of my most challenging and rewarding years all wrapped up into one, both personally and professionally. After years of doggedly building this festival, I’m trying to give myself a bit of space. I’m drawing a bit of a line between work and life, reconnecting with friends and re-focusing on myself. Devour! finally turned a corner this year – the brand is strong, it’s global in scale, we are in the positive and I’m excited by what lies ahead for it now that I have the room to objectively look at it. Many months of isolation during a global pandemic certainly helped to move this thinking along, or rather, sealed its fate.
Who’s inspired you, directly or indirectly? How have they inspired you?
I’m inspired by many people and things. Travel is a big one (and can’t wait to travel again some day). I’m practically giddy every time I pack my suitcase – and even though I mostly, and quite happily I might add, travel for Devour! – it takes us to some really interesting places and I make time in each destination for people, cuisine, music and local culture. It’s inspiring to bring a little piece of that back home every time. I am inspired by the hard-working industries I’m surrounded by – both food and film – these are not easy businesses to be in (especially during a global pandemic) and I am impressed by the hard-working souls I’ve come to know within; especially those who approach things with a sense of humour.
What would you have done differently?
I wouldn’t change a single moment or turn on this path…mistakes and all. After all, I wouldn’t find myself where I am right at this moment.
What motivated you to make the choices you’ve made?
We recently went through a process with our board, partners, staff and key stakeholders to build a five-year strategic plan for Devour!. We identified a set of values to measure ourselves against at every touchpoint – Connection, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity & Originality. When I look at them, I feel they are ones I’m personally striving for myself as well.
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Food & travel writer, photographer, cheese lover, impassioned Irish-Italian, prankster & friend in wine.