John Paul Payne
John Paul comes all the way from Carlow, Ireland and now calls Vancouver home. As a teenager, he spent his summers working as an intern for the Youth Services. His passion for charity and human rights didn’t go unnoticed and he was invited to attend the European Youth Summit in Budapest, Hungary and presented many issues Irelands LGBT youth faced at the time. This helped him receive a Presidents Award at the time.
Discovering a love for artistry, and exploring that, John Paul soon found himself pushing boundaries to become a makeup artist as he was the only male in the colleges history at the time. He has went on to work on TV shows, movies and even London Fashion Week.
Travel has been a huge part of John Paul’s adult life, from skiing in Switzerland to surfing in Sydney. Landing in a new unknown city is what he is known for amongst friends.
Reporting on many events from backstage at Vancouver Fashion Week to covering the equality referendum results in Dublin, LGBT rights and promoting a positive image of the community is one of his strongest passions.