Kristin Johnston remembered by her friend Measha Brueggergosman

Kristin Johnston was a determined entrepreneur and loving friend who brought "radiance"into every room, remembers her friend Measha Brueggergosman.

The Canadian opera singer met Johnston when she heard abouther plans to open a Bikram yogastudio in Halifax.Brueggergosman saidJohnston would care for her young children so she could teach yoga and she became one of her dearest friends.

"She created an environment in her studio that made everyone feel welcome," Brueggergosmansaid.

"She always had time for me. She always had time for everyone, it seemed."

Johnston was found dead in her Purcells Cove home on Saturday morning. Police say she was the victim of ahomicide.

But that's not how Brueggergosmanwants people to remember Johnston.

"She wouldn't want to be thought of as a victim, she wouldn't want to be thought of as helpless. I know that she touched many lives for the better."

Originally from Montreal, Johnston started practicing at her family's studio there and moved east five years ago to start her own business, Bikram Yoga, after falling in love with Nova Scotia.

Over the years it proved challenging to keep the studio running but Brueggergosman says Johnston was a "tireless worker" committed to her business, despite financial challenges.

After BikramYogaclosed earlier this year, the two friendsspoke aboutthe future and what Johnston would do next.Brueggergosman says they discussedtravelling together and she encouraged her friend to stay true to herself and her standards.

"Like a lot of women her age, she was forging a life for herself and doing it with aplomb and better than everyone else. She was dedicated to her goals. And even though her first business may not have worked out, she was moving on to something that would."

Through it all, Brueggergosman says Johnston remained committed to her adopted home.

"As difficult as it is to live in a place you love and have your [business] not succeed, she remained very much in love with her friends here and the community that she made here."

Last year Johnston bought her home in Purcells Cove. Rarely far from her adopted dog, Charley, Brueggergosman says her friend adored music, entertaining and dancing.

Her warmth and love for life drew in a circle of artistic and creative people, Brueggergosman said.

"She created community wherever she went," she said. "She congregated people at the yoga studio, she always found a way to keep the party going."

Brueggergosmansays her death has left a gap in their lives.

"It will be filled promise and with the radiance that Kristin entered every room with," she said.

Halifax police have said a man who lived at Johnston's home is a "person of interest" in the case. He is in hospital for treatment of what they describe assignificant injuries.

Brueggergosman says she is focused onher friend's life, not her death.

"I won't talk about him. I won't give him any airtime but to say I'll be praying for his family because it will be a difficult road ahead for them."