Justin was born in Ottawa and grew up in Parkwood Hills, Nepean.
He comes from a family with military and diplomatic backgrounds, exposing him to well-travelled relatives from a young age. He has always been creative with few limits, whether visually, musically, or with the written word. His chief passion is research and interpretation of the world and being able to convey it to a general audience, taking things apart and understanding where they came from, how and why. Distilling from the theory, getting back to basics of what is meant or implied, and perceiving where people come from to create a mutual understanding is a significant tenet to his approach to journalism.
Justin has college diplomas in Professional Writing and in Photography from Algonquin College, and he has worked as a writing coach at Carleton where he has developed an approach of 'seeing' his clients to cultivate a negotiating, suggestions-based, relationship-rich approach to tutoring.
In his spare time, he enjoys reading, shooting/documenting using film photography, and learning from others. He also participates in a weekly social language exchange to practice French and meet others from different cultural groups.