VancityWild | Canadian Family Adventure & Lifestyle

About VancityWild

Hi! We’re Brie, Reuben, Oliver and Daisy and together we make up VancityWild! We’re a west coast family living in Victoria BC, but our story really begins up in the mountains of Vancouver’s North Shore. 

 

Back in 2015 when it was just Brie and Reub, we were both employed in the tech industry in Vancouver. Bonded by our passion for technology and the outdoors, we spent most of our free time exploring the trails of the North Shore and capturing our adventures on our iPhones. We were inspired! We weren’t hard core hikers or campers, but it occurred to us that Vancouver was full of people just like us – we thrived on the energy of big city life, but had a zest for adventure and often craved an escape to nature. We had the unique opportunity to show how exploring the mountains and trails in our own backyard could feel accessible to others from Vancouver and beyond, so why not share photos and details of our adventures on Instagram? 

Thus, VancityWild was born! What was meant to be a small account sharing with friends, family and a few locals quickly grew due to the power of hashtags and social media. Before long we had amassed a small following and we began to explore and share more around the lower mainland. VancityWild became more than just an account, we became a community of like minded individuals all looking to bring a little adventure into our lives and inspiring one another to spend more time outdoors.

 

For almost a decade we’ve shared stories of our lives as a couple through VancityWild. From dating, to our mountaintop engagement, to our Hawaiian wedding and now – two kiddos later – VancityWild has evolved along with us. What started as an outdoor account sharing iPhone photos has developed into a brand for travel, home, lifestyle, family life, fashion, and so much more. We’ve since transitioned into full-time content creators and photographers and have worked with incredible brands from around the world. VancityWild has brought us around British Columbia, across Canada, through US National Parks, to Hawaii, Mexico and Europe, and that’s just the beginning! Our amazing, dino-loving son Oliver was born in 2018 and we quickly learned how to travel as a family, an entirely new and rewarding experience. In 2020 we moved our little family of three to Vancouver Island, and here we found our perfect slice of west coast paradise. In late 2022 we welcomed our newest addition, sweet Daisy June, and completed our VancityWild family. And now, here we are, wondering where VancityWild could possibly take us next! Thank you for learning a little bit about us, we’re so happy you’re here. Happy adventuring!

tofino 08 19 2023 family trip 7 original scaled - About Us

Who we are

We make up a pretty unique family, get to know us a bit!

Reuben Wurtz 2 - About Us

Hi, Reub here! I’m a self-proclaimed surfer dad and craft beer aficionado. I was born and raised in the prairies, (I’m from just outside Edmonton, AB), but as I grew older, the world was calling my name. As soon as I finished high-school I left to travel the world! Thailand, Australia, India and Peru are just a few of the countries I've been able to visit over the years. Upon returning from my travels I finished up my post secondary business diploma at Grant MacEwan University before moving to Vancouver in 2011 to work in tech support. I’ve called the west coast my home ever since! I love surfing, skateboarding, pop punk, coffee, baking sourdough, travelling, and hiking. With Brie, Ollie, and Daisy by my side the adventures continue on. Whether it's making pizza at home on a Friday evening at home or hiking to a waterfall with a child strapped to my back, I am here for it all.

Born: Edmonton

Favorite meal: Pizza

Favourite Activity: Surfing

Heritage: Dutch/German

Specialty: Photography/Web Design

August 04 2020 7794 1 - About Us

Hi! I'm Brie and I'm a mama of two, a content creator, and an island girl through and through. Born and raised in Victoria BC, I moved to Montreal after high school to attend McGill University before spending 15 years in my beloved Vancouver. Now that we've settled as a family in Victoria, I've realized that Vancouver Island was always calling me home! Before we became full-time with VancityWild I worked in the tech world for over a decade, and have a passion for technology and the outdoors. I love travel, art, photography, fashion, reading, hiking and home interior design. I play piano, (casually!) love French Impressionism, (the musee l'orangerie and the musee d'orsay in Paris are my favourites), and my favourite place to visit is Italy. I love shopping and supporting local. I'm a proud Asian-Canadian and am very passionate about celebrating my Chinese heritage. In my opinion, there is literally nothing better than travelling somewhere new with Reub, Ollie and Daisy. Where will we go next?!

Born: Victoria

Favorite meal: Sandwiches

Favourite Activity: Reading

Heritage: Chinese/British

Specialty: Writing

IMG 3484 2 scaled - About Us

Hi, my name's Oliver, (but I go by Ollie!) and I'm 5 years old. I was born in Vancouver, BC, but my family and I moved to Victoria when I was 2! I love dinosaurs more than anything else in the whole wide world, (my favourite dino is the T. rex), and I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up. My favourite colour is purple, my favourite food is ANY sweet treat, and I love visiting new cabins and adventuring with my mom, dad, and little sister. I love travelling to Hawaii but I've been lots of places around the world and I can't wait to explore more!

Born: Vancouver

Favorite meal: Any treat

Favourite Activity: Playing with dinos

Specialty: Acting

tofino 08 19 2023 family trip 53 original 1 scaled - About Us

Hi! I'm Daisy June, and I'm the newest (and tied for cutest) addition to the VancityWild team. I was born in October 2022 in Victoria, BC (in the same hospital as my mom!) and my favourite pastimes are sleeping, eating, and smiling at my brother. I'm already excited to start traveling and adventuring with my family!

Born: Victoria

Favorite meal: Blueberries & Cheerios

Favourite Activity: Snuggling

Specialty: Sleeping

Looking to work with us?

We’d love to learn more about how we can collaborate with you. Click the link below to explore a partnership with VancityWild.

VancityWild FAQ

Back in April of 2015, Reuben was sitting on the toilet in our one bedroom, one bath apartment in Fairview in Vancouver. I heard a voice call out from the bathroom - “Hey…since we go hiking all the time, we should make an Instagram page with all of our outdoor photos!” I thought it was a cool idea, so I said, “cool, I’ll make the account, what should we call it?” “I dunno…WildVancity?” Safe to say WildVancity didn’t have the right ring to it, thus VancityWild was born! Wish we had a better origin story than Reub sitting on the toilet, but here we are. Because we were so passionate about getting outside and taking photos with our iPhones at the time, our goal was to share images that showed fellow Vancouverites how accessible nature could be from our city, no matter how “outdoorsy” you were. Our photos were made for anyone and everyone, we hoped people could picture themselves in our images and feel inspired to get outside and explore. On April 12, 2015 we posted our first image, so I guess that counts as our first official day! We spent every day off finding new trails, refining our photography skills, (and graduating to a professional camera in addition to our iPhones), and climbing mountains. We couldn’t believe what happened next - thousands of like-minded followers joined us, asked questions, shared experiences, and VancityWild turned into something that we never, ever anticipated. Fast forward: we’ve since gotten married, travelled the world, turned VancityWild into a full-time business, and added 2 little team members to our family. VancityWild has grown to become a beautiful community that shares the journey of our family, from wilderness wandering to city exploring and building a home life for our kiddos. We’re so happy you’re here with us!

We got paid in February of 2016 (almost a year after we started) to shoot some video content for a backpack brand. We were thrilled, and had no idea this would end up being a full-time business for us! So thankful for this experience.

VancityWild is a lifestyle brand. We create photography and video content for other brands and tourism boards. We make a living through brand partnerships and collaborations, affiliate links, marketing, and licensing photography.

There are too many to list! Two trips that really stand out include the three week vanlife road trip we took in spring of 2019 from Las Vegas, Nevada, through California, Oregon, and Washington back up to Vancouver when Ollie was 9 months old. (Sooo many amazing sights and memories along the way!) Our trip to Italy in the fall of 2019 when Ollie was 13 months old also holds a special place in our hearts - we would travel back to Italy in a heartbeat. 

If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know we LOVE Hawaii! We were married on Oahu, but as a family, we love to travel to Maui. It’s such a great place for a family vacation. Italy is another favourite for us - we love Cinque Terre, Sicily, and the Amalfi Coast. That said, we are also super passionate about travelling in our own province; we may be biased, but we think BC boasts some of the most spectacular locations in the entire world.

We met at work when we both worked for a large tech company! You can read about how we met and about our mountaintop engagement here!

This is probably one of our most asked questions. The answer is, yes! We’ve both been full-time with VancityWild since 2018. Before that, we worked part-time in tech.

We spent over a decade living in Vancouver and relocated to Victoria in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic. Vancouver Island life suits us well!

It certainly didn’t happen overnight! At first, content creation started as a dedicated passion. While it was a fun hobby, we both had full-time jobs in tech and put in tons of (unpaid) work to VancityWild on the side. Once we built up a presence, we started establishing relationships with brands and learning how to collaborate on marketing campaigns. After a LOT of hard work, we were eventually able to become part-time in our other jobs, and began expanding into partnerships with tourism boards to allow for more travel and photography opportunities. By 2018, our experience with social media and our brand partnerships grew to a point where we felt stretched thin with our secondary jobs, and we were able to make VancityWild our full-time gig. 

As VancityWild is a full-time photography and content creator job for us, a lot of our travel is for work. Prior to this, we have funded some of our travel with accompanying photography or marketing jobs. Before VancityWild was our full-time business, we were very careful with our money and made travelling a priority - we lived in a tiny, no-frills one bedroom apartment and saved all of our money for travel. That said - some of the trips we go on are solely just for us, (although we often still bring you along!), and we plan for travel just like anyone else: watching for flight deals, saving up for accommodations, and budgeting for food and activities.