Born and raised in sunny South Africa, Colleen Thompson is an award-winning writer & photographer with over 1,000 bylines. She is based between Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Wilmington, North Carolina.

​

Colleen currently writes, edits, photographs, plans, sources, and develops content for several US and Canadian print magazines, newspapers, digital publications, and clients. She is also Editor in Chief of Cape Fear Living Magazine.

​

A 2019 Folio Award recipient for editorial excellence for her story "Strength & Perseverance: The Shackleford Banks Wild Horses" and a judge for the 2020 - 2022 Eddie & Ozzie Publishing Awards.

​

In August 2020, she published her first book, "Monkey Weddings & Summer Sapphires."

​

She was recently inducted as a Dame and member of Les Dames D'Escoffier - North Carolina Chapter.

​

Completing a degree in Theatre Arts, she started her career in publishing, working for the politically charged Tribute Magazine in the turbulent days of apartheid in Johannesburg, South Africa.

 

Learning from some of the most passionate and influential South African journalists and photographers, who risked everything to tell a story, she developed a love of writing.

​

She was a features writer for several consumer lifestyle publications before becoming editor and eventually publisher of the largest-selling pop-culture publication in South Africa, Top Forty Magazine. 

​

For over a decade, she interviewed 150+ international bands and musicians, from The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson to Depeche Mode and Coldplay.

​

She returned to university in 2004 to earn a degree in Environmental Science, enabling her to combine her love of writing with her love of oceans and coastal landscapes.

​

All the while sipping wine and completing her wine sommelier qualifications, reaching the level of Cape Wine Master.

​

In 2006 she relocated to Canada and joined the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia. As part of the Coastal Division, she researched and published The Gulf of Maine in Context and The Scotian Shelf in Context for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Gulf of Maine Council, respectively.

​

In 2016 with a passionate belief in social upliftment and environmental stewardship, she co-founded cause marketing advertising agency General Public Inc. The roster of clients includes The Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Project, ISANS, Canadian Cancer Society, Doctors Nova Scotia, Ronald McDonald House, and Innovacorp. She continues her role here as Editorial Director.

​

A love of cooking, food, and wine always formed a backdrop to much of her life, but she found its proper place living in Nova Scotia. The wild coastlines, the abundance of wild edibles, and the connection to the sea have all been a source of endless inspiration. 

​​

Following the sun and warm ocean waters, she discovered Wilmington, North Carolina. The ancient live oak trees, draped in Spanish moss, have permanently captured her heart. The Port City, with its history and folklore intimately tied to the Cape Fear River, the complex Southern foodways, and the familiar smells of her childhood like, jasmine, honeysuckle, and gardenias, keep her coming back.

​

She splits her time between Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Wilmington, NC, USA.

​

​

​

​