Innovation Research, Strategy & Education
My passion for startups and innovation dates back to my childhood, when I worked summers for my uncle Rob, who took a gamble on a new technology to found Sim Video out of his basement with a single camera. Over the next few decades Rob treated me to a behind-the-scenes account of growing Sim Video into Sim International, with over 500 employees on three continents, providing camera, lighting, grip, post production, studios and technical support for film and television, from experimenting with James Cameron in the early days of digital cinema to servicing high-end productions like GAME OF THRONES.
In the late 2000s, when making the BEYOND THE PELOTON (BTP) series about Cervélo Cycle’s new Tour de France-winning TestTeam and the company’s inspiring story, I reported directly to pioneering co-founder Gerard Vroomen, who also shared what it’s like to grow a tech-centered startup into a world-class brand.
In 2010 I co-founded my own tech startup Legitmix, and I used my New York hip-hop connections to put together a team of music industry vanguards, including leading PR agent Kathryn Frazier of Biz3 (best known for helping break Bieber and current work with the Weeknd) and legendary music journalist and ego trip co-founder Sacha Jenkins to release test projects with music industry leaders like like Diplo, El-p, Danny Brown, Dave Nada and Pusha-T. While we didn’t find product market fit due to the rise of streaming platforms like Spotify, our tech solution to the sample clearance problem enabled us to raise 8 figure financing, secure investor pitches with Scooter Braun and Carlos Slim Jr. and capture the imagination of Billboard, Pitchfork, Complex, Bloomberg, The Village Voice, The Toronto Star, The Chicago Reader, Quartz, the MIT Technology Review, and Time Out New York who called Legitmix one of the “coolest startups in NYC.”
I continued to pursue my passion for emerging technology during my four years at leading digital studio Jam3, co-creating innovative stories and experiences about innovation for clients like Success Academy, Google ZOO, the CBC, Snoop Dogg, Mozilla and Microsoft, as well as Webby, Canadian Screen Award, D&AD and Cannes Lion-winning interactive documentaries SONS OF GALLIPOLI, CHANGE GOUT and NUCLEAR DISSENT. Not to mention telling Jam3’s innovation story from BEAR 71 onwards through case study videos, explainers and mini-docs that helped the company win plenty of awards and new business.
More recent work in the innovation space includes a 2020 founders’ education series for startup launchpad MaRS, brand storytelling for Detroit-based cannabis startup Common Citizen, and carbon-neutral vodka distillery and DRAGONS DEN winner Vodkow, founded by my Legitmix co-founder Omid McDonald. Together with leading cultural strategist Doug Cameron, founder of DCX.NYC Ad Age Agency of the Year, I’m currently supporting Omid on his initiative to build a $50 million facility to transform the bulk of Michigan’s dairy waste into aviation fuel with a fraction of the carbon emissions of conventional fuel, which caught the attention of the Biden administration.
In 2023 I combined my documentary skills and UX knowledge on my fifth Microsoft campaign, about user stories in the US, the UK, Netherlands and Ghana. That same year, I joined fandom startup Biom.studio to provide culture, tech and market research and strategy in support of the company’s founders, two former Jam3 colleagues and head of digital gaming studio ZeMind, builders of the Biom platform, which provides an elegant solution to web3’s UX/UI problem. I also serve on Biom’s advisory board and provide guidance on fundraising.
Concurrently with Biom, I provide strategy and production for premier ZeMind client work, like an app for the Unit9-produced 2023 launch of Meta’s Quest 3 VR headset with the WALKING DEAD franchise and a case study video that helped a human trafficking awareness VR game receive 2024 Webby and Canadian Screen Award nods.
My passion for culture and innovation, travel and work in over 40 countries as a documentary filmmaker, experience in the news rooms of Canada’s premier current affairs programs W5 and The National and continuously building on a rigorous philosophy education all contribute to my ever-evolving research and strategy methodology. All of which came together for a Seneca Polytechnic class I started teaching in 2020, about the future of non-fiction storytelling, transmedia and co-creation at the nexus of emerging technologies like Generative AI, Unreal Engine and (proto-metaverse) XR and spatial computing, complementing film and media theory, the philosophy of technology with behind-the-scenes praxis from former colleagues with whom I co-created award-winning interactive documentaries with at Jam3.
I shared my hybrid transdisciplinary approach in an article about my insights on Natural Intelligence learned while field producing OUR LIVING WORLD. This Netflix’s 2024 Cate Blanchett-narrated nature series about the “living network that connects everything on Earth,” was shot in 24 countries over 3 years and hit the Netflix “Top 10” in nearly 50 countries. I now include nature (or rather co-creating with Natural Intelligence) alongside any discussions of tech, innovation, storytelling and culture.
Get an overview of my work with Cervélo on this dedicated page, an extensive playlists and summaries on my blog, and the behind the scenes story, also on my blog.
Here are just a few related videos:
MaRS intro: https://vimeo.com/851065295 (series on request)
Common Citizen videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10593422
Legitmix explainers: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10638674
SUCCESS ACADEMY i-doc: https://vimeo.com/311803178
CHANGE GOUT i-doc: https://vimeo.com/855513375
NUCLEAR DISSENT i-doc: https://vimeo.com/812845714
SONS OF GALLIPOLI i-doc: https://vimeo.com/282126932