About

Tweets by DiannaHEnglish

The Backyard Projects

The Backyard Projects is a local travel blog. Our goal is to treat our home as an adventure, intentionally build community, and never take our own backyard for granted. Let’s go exploring.

The “You Are Here“ mural is by Toronto artist Andrew Horne. Please visit more of his work.

Dianna H. English, Author

Dianna H. English moved to Canada in February 2019 to live with her wonderful partner, Aaron. He had spent many years living in the downtown core, and suggested they try to find a place on the east side of Toronto. Now they live at Coxwell & Gerrard, and love every minute of it.

Before moving to Toronto, Dianna spent ten years in the U.S. government, starting as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania and learning early on the importance of making yourself at home anywhere you go. The best advice she got before leaving for Tanzania came from her Uncle Peach Taylor, who was one of the first Peace Corps Country Directors in the 1960s. “Work hard, learn the language, you’ll have the best years of your life.”

After Peace Corps, Dianna served with the U.S. Department of State at Embassies in South Sudan and DRC, while based in Washington, DC. During this time, she learned the value of finding adventure and things to love as part of ordinary every day life, wherever she’s living. Work hard, learn the language, have the best years of your life.

Dianna also worked at the National Security Council in the Obama-Biden White House and at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She volunteered with a refugee resettlement agency in New Haven, Connecticut and as an Emergency Room Crisis Counselor for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center. She currently volunteers as the Chair of the Board for the Toronto Chapter of Democrats Abroad, supporting U.S. citizens living in Toronto to exercise their most fundamental political rights.

Dianna holds a B.S. in International Studies and Social Policy from Northwestern University, and earned her M.A. in International Relations from Yale University. She is currently pursuing a certificate in Strategic Public Relations from University of Toronto. She speaks Swahili, and is in a decades long battle to try and learn French.

Dianna enjoys hiking, talking about movies, cheering for the Washington Nationals and Toronto Raptors, being a regular at as many places as she can manage, and playing tennis.