There was no cottaging or backyard barbequing with friends for Natasha Koifman on Labour Day weekend; there never is.
The president and founder of philanthropic-minded publicity company NKPR was actually labouring, creating the seating chart and writing her remarks for this Saturday’s volunteer-led Artists for Peace & Justice (APJ) Gala, an invite-only fundraising dinner and auction for Haiti, which raises about $1 million from about 130 extraordinarily generous people annually during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
“I appreciate how generous our community is because if you think about Haiti, it’s not necessarily top of mind for most people. There’s so much need in the world right now,” Koifman tells Now Toronto. “And so, I’m always so appreciative how people really show up and they want to give back in a meaningful way. I don’t take that for granted at all.”
Past attendees have included George Clooney, Ben Stiller and Nelly Furtado and since the inaugural event in 2009, the annual gala has raised a staggering $36 million, providing education to young people in the politically unstable and impoverished country.
Koifman was also going through the list of actors, directors and musicians confirmed for IT House, the four-day drop-in hub held annually during TIFF, this year at the Lifetime and DiamondCorp’s Q Tower presentation centre.
Ryan Reynolds, Ethan Hawke, Glenn Close, Amanda Seyfried, Scarlett Johanssen, Daniel Craig, Mila Kunis, Charli xcx and the cast of KPOP Demonhunters are expected to swing by to check out the brand activations, snuggle puppies available for adoption from Project Paws (all nine found forever homes last year), and take part in People magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Shutterstock’s photo portrait studio and on-the-spot interviews. If puppies weren’t a big enough incentive to go, for every celebrity that comes by, NKPR makes a donation to APJ.
Natasha Koifman snuggles one of the puppies that was available for adoption from Project Paws at 2024 IT House, Koifman with actor John Cusack (Courtesy: NKPR)
“I’m just going through everything and making sure that we’re all set because once the week hits you’re in it, you’re on that treadmill and it’s go, go, go,” Koifman says.
Her staff is busy, busy, busy. There is also a media event tomorrow (Sept. 4) at LANO,, the café and wine bar on the main floor of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, for former Toronto Blue Jay José Bautista’s specialty coffee Bella Aldea. The eco-friendly Dominican Republic-grown brand supports family farms and sustainable farming practices in his homeland, and, of course, Toronto loves the beloved bat-flipper.
“I’ve been drinking it actually for the last two-and-a-half months and it’s so good,” Koifman says. After the event, the coffee will be available at LANO.
TIFF is celebrating its 50th anniversary (Sept. 4-14) and Koifman has worked the festival for at least half of that, originally at Liberty Group for a spell, hosting parties for the major studios and doing their PR, then starting NKPR almost 24 years ago. This film-frenzy, 10-day stretch at the end of summer, filled with world premieres and the gathering of Hollywood’s biggest stars promoting their latest projects, puts the spotlight on Toronto like nothing else.
“I’m excited about how the city transforms. You feel it,” Koifman says, whose client is also the Bloor-Yorkville BIA, where parties put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Golden Globes, and British Academy Film Awards are happening this year, she reveals.
“I’ve said this before, if you plant yourself at One [Hotel], and watch the cars, you’re guaranteed to see celebrities because they’re all going to be going from the Four Seasons to the Hyatt, and Yorkville Avenue will be the course that they take.”
She’s already feeling the buzz and the festival hasn’t started yet.
“As soon as you get into your car and get into the streets, Toronto feels different. There’s this energy in the city, this anticipation of hospitality, in the restaurants, across the city,” she says. “It’s a great feeling, after everything that we’ve gone through. There was COVID and then there was the writers’ strike, so now it’s just great to see. It’s the 50th anniversary of TIFF and it brings so much to the city.”
Anyone familiar with Koifman — whose first name will adorn a Lanterra Developments condominium breaking ground later this year — cuts an elegant figure, always dressed head-to-toe in black, a little rock ‘n’ roll for someone not in the music business. A warm, attentive personality, Koifman has risen to the top of her field with kindness and a philanthropic business focus.
Natasha Koifman with Canadian actor Hayden Christensen. (Courtesy: NKPR)
NKPR is a busy public relations and digital marketing agency year-round, working on everything from the expansion of high-end Lebanese restaurant Laylak to the launch of the home collection Atriana Living, but for the opening days of the film festival Koifman is the “it” mission maven herself and her TIFF-adjacent events become brand-and-charity-central.
“Philanthropy is a big part of what we do,” Koifman says. “It’s always been part of who we are. I’m an immigrant. I was born in Kiev. I was quite little when we moved here, around four or five [years old], but what I do remember is we moved to a new country and we had so much support. Our first or second night, strangers would come out and bring us clothes, bring us food. You don’t forget that.
“And so, if I look back and look forward and look at where I am right now, I think that had a lot to do with why I do what I do and why the agency does what it does. I think we’re put on this Earth to serve others and if you’re in a position to be able to do that, then we should.”
While the APJ Gala is exclusive and private, the public can support the charity by donating via the website.
“The funds go directly to fund school programs,” Koifman says. “There’s so much need to fund the schools, to fund teacher salaries. You can sponsor a classroom. A hundred per cent of what gets donated actually goes back because we’re all volunteers. We don’t have any hidden costs. I’m a volunteer, the board, a hundred per cent volunteers. We don’t have an executive director.”
After the 2010 earthquake, APJ built Haiti’s first free junior high and high school from 2011-2012. Koifman says they’ve had 10 graduating classes since, giving 32,000 students an education. “Going to school is a privilege there. After Grade six —12 years old — unless you can pay for your education, you’re done.”
“We used to have 3,000 kids in our school. Now, about 1,200 of them can’t get to school because it’s so violent and so dangerous right now. Food is also scarce. So, we’ve been investing in an agriculture project at the school, so kids could learn how to grow their own food.”
Outside of the APJ Gala and IT House, Koifman does expect to catch a couple of films. She’s looking forward to seeing the opening night film, John Candy: I Like Me, calling it “way overdue” and Couture, starring Angelina Jolie. “That will be special,” she says.
While she is immune from getting star-struck by now, she admits, “Angelina is someone that I would be excited about, partially because of her film work, but mostly because of her humanity and her work philanthropically, being a global ambassador for so many global causes.
“But, also, last year, during the film festival, we honoured [famed zoologist and primatologist] Jane Goodall at Artists for Peace and Justice. She’s not an actor, but she’s someone that just being close to her, you think, ‘Wow, what she does is so important to the world, and to all of us, that you can’t help but feel I have to do my part.’ You want to be better in her presence.”