| I recently read a that going for 50 coffees with people you've never met is the entrepreneurs equivalent to the that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I get the idea, 50 coffees is far easier than practicing something for ten years, and while I'm far from lazy I've decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over the next 50 weeks I'm going to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I'm going to use this as an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also using it as a platform to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. |
Meet Rudy Buttignol. President and CEO of BC's public educational broadcaster, . For almost 20 years Rudy worked as a writer, director and producer and has been the recipient of 9 Gemini Awards. He was the founding chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada, is the director of the board of the 麻豆传媒映画International Film Festival, he sits on many other boards and councils related to filmmaking and it is no wonder how he got to where he is. A large part of it is that Rudy works his ass off.
We met for coffee at The Knowledge Network offices out in Burnaby and discussed their (robust) digital offerings and their future plans to stream even more programming. I've got a bit of a keen interest in Knowledge Kids as our youngest blogger, (my son) 3 year old , watches from time to time. The mandate with their kids programming is to deliver it commercial-free (which is the same for all of their programming) and to only broadcast programs that promote literacy and numeracy. You can't beat that.
As I sat there with Rudy in his office I have to admit that my eyes kept drifting to his feet. While he's an executive and he's dressed mostly for that role and acts wholly in it, on his feet are a dope pair of black and white Nikes. And I don't mean running shoes you could buy at the mall, I mean tier 1 basketball shoes that you might only purchase at an exclusive sneaker boutique like Livestock in Gastown. I had a lot of questions about Rudy's career and his work with the network so I didn't get around to asking him if he's got a big collection of sneakers in his closet but perhaps I'll do a followup on his shoes in the future.
I don't know that anybody's ever published that they think The Knowledge Network and it's president are both "dope", but I feel quite strongly that they are. Learn more about Rudy then turn on your TV or dig into streaming Knowledge programming .
