I am required by law and professionalism to go by Natasha Feuchuk. However, for the purposes of literally everything, call me Tasha if you know me, or Drunk off Heart Condition if you don’t. When using one of these appellations and getting my attention, know that you call forth a literary creature, persistent medical anomaly and opinionated former theatre kid. I use my powers of typing at 60+ WPM to write on my blog, draft my Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-styled memoir, and loudly remind others on the internet of my existence. Thank you for your assistance in this endeavour, may my memory live long.
My friends had lost their jobs and were desperate for some way to get back onto the job market, so I started offering my services to help them get back on their feet. I’ve always been able to trace a path of helping others through my paid and volunteer efforts. I’m driven by helping others succeed or advance themselves in practical ways as well as less evident ways. My most recent career has been in qualitative research on the health outcomes of sex workers in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver as part of the AESHA Project. I spent a wonderful four years interviewing cohort members and was hired on the basis of having shared life experiences with them. You can find my name associated with various papers published on the subject. I find deep satisfaction in knowing I’ve done what I can to assist others with my varied skillset, during that portion of my career most directly, but in my other jobs as well. Not only am I a capable writer and editor, but I have experience in video and sound editing, public speaking, modelling, inventory management, web design, content creation, on top of other miscellaneous skills picked up throughout my career.
A lifelong learner, I’ve attended college at Langara and graduated the Writer’s Studio program at Simon Fraser University in June 2025. I graduated from Burnsview Secondary School with a Double Dogwood, indicating I went through the French Immersion program in British Columbia. I still use my French to indulge in Francophone music and read French books from time to time.
Outside of my working life, I’ve always dabbled in creative pursuits. I began with writing and branched out into performance art and the grandmotherly art of cross stitching while listening to music or an audiobook. I play piano as well and find happiness at many sets of keys. I have a deep fondness for typewriters and their modern counterparts, mechanical keyboards. I’m often found in front of a keyboard, noisily slamming away, it’s just a matter of if I’m singing along or if I’m doing it to write. I love attending metal concerts where I regularly wear myself out by screaming along and shoving my way through the pit for a night. One of my favourite volunteer experiences of my life was volunteering at Sabaton Open Air, a metal festival hosted in Sweden, where I got to learn some basic Swedish and meet metal fans from all over Europe and the rest of the world. Music is a big part of my life and a great motivator for me. As an example, my first solo international trip I ever planned and executed by myself was a jaunt down to Seattle to attend both Sabaton and The Hu’s concerts.
Finally, my life is also coloured by my experience as a half Filipino, genderfluid person with a lifelong disability, namely my heart condition, Truncus Arteriosus Type 2. For more information on this disorder, I refer you to my explanation video. In short, it’s not curable, only repairable, you can’t contract it, so don’t worry. I’m currently waiting on surgery 3 out of an as-yet-to-be-determined number. For more details on that, I have a follow up video as well as blog posts that you can find linked at the top of the page. This disorder has complicated my life but has also given me opportunities I could never have dreamed of otherwise. The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted my wish at 17 years old to be in a Friday night production of Wicked in New York on Broadway, which would’ve never happened had I not had a life-threatening condition in childhood. I am eternally grateful to the foundation and have since stopped being a spokesperson for them formally but will continue to encourage others to donate to them and other charities that have helped me in my lifetime, like the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Children’s Heart Network. Fun fact, I started fundraising for the Children’s Heart Network at 9 years old after heart surgery! My experiences as a third-culture child, having started my life in Saudi Arabia, have influenced my perception of the world and made me appreciate the variety in the cultures we surround ourselves with. Experiencing life as a genderfluid person has also influenced my view of the world and how the self can be just as changing as the tides, yet in some senses remain as steadfast as a rock on the shore.