THE WORKS
My published content.
COMING SOON: All published works (updated) from 2018/19.
5 TIPS FOR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS
September 19, 2018
Written for Olivia Jones on her blog: livyourlife.ca
TESSA TAKES CHARGE: NEW DIRECTION FOR LOCAL WRITER, TESSA SMITH
February 7, 2018
Dear readers:
As I take you have noticed, my byline has been absent in recent publications. But fear not! I have simply been brainstorming and communicating with my people on how to reshape this column to accentuate my writing while complementing my storytelling skills. So I am here to announce: I have redesigned.
TESSA SMITH IS: RAW
June, 2017
Raw
So you sit down and try to write about one of the coolest people on the whole planet. She is definitely the coolest person you know personally. No big deal, right? I mean, Tessa May Smith is only an incredible poet; nationally multi-published columnist; a gorgeous model who has strutted for major fashion shows like FAT and RAW; an ambassador to The Terry Fox Foundation and Sick Kids Hospital; is the subject of the acclaimed Erin Harris documentary ‘Being Tessa’; all in addition to being brilliant (an honours graduate who earned a scholarship to Trent University). She is incredibly funny, eternally kind and completely stunning. Oh yeah, and she is a warrior woman who has choke slammed cancer’s ass. Twice.
SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT WORRIES ABOUT BALANCING PRIORITIES: PETERBOROUGH ADVICE
September 6, 2017
Dear Tessa,
As the school year approaches, I'm unsure of how I'm going to keep my grades. I'm going into university with a scholarship that I have to maintain to financially be able to stay in school. It gets hard to deal with when I have a full-time job on the side, as well as a long-distance relationship that I'm trying to make work.
PREGNANCY DECISION WILL TAKE MENTAL TOLL EITHER WAY
August 24, 2017
Dear Tessa,
I've seen a few teenage guys writing into your column, which has given me the courage to write in myself.
I'm 18, and my girlfriend just told me she's pregnant. She's 17, only a few months younger than me. We are always very careful, this just happened to be a time where protection didn't work.
FRIENDS ARE FOCUSED ON DRINKING, DRUGS, PARTIES: ADVICE FOR YOUTH IN PETERBOROUGH AND AREA
August 9, 2017
Dear Tessa,
All of my friends have been drinking and using drugs every weekend this summer. We have had some fun but our outings are planned around drugs and partying. I'm afraid if I don't get out now something bad could happen, but I also don't want to lose my friends ... What can I do?
Thanks so much,
FriendsVSFoes
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE EVERYONE
July 25, 2017
Dear Tessa,
Your advice for others has been clear and to the point. I hope you can help me too.
I’m a 17-year-old guy and I could really use some clear advice to help me get through a situation with my girlfriend.
OLD FRIEND THREATENS TO REVEAL DEEP SECRETS
July 12, 2017
Dear Tessa,
I was wondering if you could maybe give some advice on a boy I've been having trouble with recently...
FRIENDS' PROBLEMS AREÂ TOO MUCH FOR SOMEONE ALREADY OVERWHELMED
June 28, 2017
Dear Tessa,
Hi, how are you? I wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed reading your articles; they're really interesting!
I wanted to ask you what you think of my situation. Like a lot of people, I have my own personal "stuff" happening and some days that "stuff" is too overwhelming. I tend to close up within myself in order to deal and move through my day.
CBC RADIO ONE, ONTARIO MORNING INTERVIEW WITH TESSA SMITH
June 15, 2017
Go to the 35 minute mark, and listen as Tessa Smith makes her debut in radio, talking exclusively about her advice column #TessaTakesCharge #DearTessa
SHE IS OFF TO UNIVERSITY... BUT DOES SHE LEAVE HER BOYFRIEND BEHIND?
June 14, 2017
Dear Tessa,
My boyfriend and I have been fighting a lot about our future relationship. I'm going off to university next year (out of town) and he's staying for his 13th year. He wants to stay together, but I feel that my first year at university should be without any ties to high school, you know? I don't want to leave him completely because we've been together for two years, but I don't think long distance will work. Any advice on how to talk to him?
Thank you!
Anonymous
HOW TO DIVIDE THE WORKLOAD
May 31, 2017
Hi Tessa,
I have a lot on my plate recently (school, work, home, friends, etc.)... Do you have any advice on how to divide that workload? What do you do to de-stress?
Signed,
Anonymous
COOL SHOULDN'T MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO ALCOHOL
May 3, 2017
Hi Tessa,
A lot of my friends have been getting involved with alcohol and other substances at parties, and I don't want to.
STAYING CONNECTED WITH SUMMER CAMP FRIENDS
May 17, 2017
Hi Tessa,
So I know that summer is still pretty far away, but I'm going to ask this anyway"¦ I work at a camp all summer every year and I get pretty close with the other staff. Every year we have all said that we would try our best to write and stay in touch but after the first couple of weeks they seem to give up and/or forget. I really love these people but for some reason we never stay connected (even being connected through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: PETERBOROUGH RESTORE SPEAKS UP ABOUT ONGOING PROBLEMS
May 18, 2017
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ROMANCE PROBLEM: BALLROOM DANCE PARTNER JUST WANTS TO BE FRIENDS
March 7, 2017
Hi Tessa,
My situation is a bit of a weird one. I'm taking ballroom dancing lessons with a guy who has become one of my best friends, and I'm starting to develop a massive crush on him. The problem is that we're doing these dancing lessons "as friends" and when I asked him out for a coffee date he turned me down and said that he thinks of me only as a friend.
PETERBOROUGH-AREA FRIEND FEARS FAMILY WON'T ACCEPT TRANSGENDEREDÂ TEEN
April 4, 2017
Dear Tessa,
One of my closest friends recently came out to me that he's transgender (female to male). All of his friends and I fully support him, but he tells me how scared he is to come out to his super religious, transphobic, anti-LGBT family. (He was afraid to ask, so I'm asking for him.)
TERRY FOX AMBASSADOR DELIVERS HER MESSAGE OF HOPE
January 3, 2017
Throughout the months of September and October, I travelled around Ontario visiting elementary and secondary schools as the official Terry Fox Poster Girl and Ambassador for 2016.
I MADE THE CHOICE TO BE STRONGER THAN MY CANCER
May 7, 2016
I have had cancer two times in my life. I am seventeen.
But I have done so much more than what all my medical records say I have lived through.
I have done so much more than what cancer wanted to do to me, which was end my life altogether. More than once.
CHASING TERRY FOX'S DREAM
July 16, 2016
Running on one leg is like a tedious game of hopscotch; you have to keep throwing the rock to the next space in order to move forward, despite how difficult that may be.
WALK A MILE IN HER SHOES: SUPPORT FROM BEHIND THE SCENES // 2017
April 11, 2017
Watch my debut as an official broadcast journalist!