Browsing “50 Coffees Series”

54 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneur’s equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I got the idea, 50 coffees was far easier than practicing something for ten years, so after completing that challenge I decided to make a major commitment and publish 500 over the next few years. In this series I introduce you to interesting Vancouverites, many of whom I had never met before. It’s an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also being a platform through which I to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. COFFEE #54 Name: James Keller Occupation: Journalist Beverage: Soy latte

Meet James Keller. Journalist, skilled bocci player and my neighbour in The Village on False Creek. Since 2005 James has been employed by The Canadian Press and, by extension, almost every major newspaper in the country. In the past few weeks he’s had stories featured on the front pages of the Vancouver Sun as well as the Globe and Mail, and that’s just his recent local hits.

James and I live in the same building and we often cross paths in our lobby. Before this 500 Coffees occasion we had really only ever talked over Twitter and exchanged the odd Hello in real life. We went for coffee nearby at Urban Fare and I learned that he’s originally from Calgary, and that he went to school in Halifax. I asked him how the Canadian Press works and he told me that essentially it’s like a subscription service for Canadian newspapers and other media companies. They pay a flat rate to be able to access the stories that the CP produces each and every day, so that they don’t have to employ as many of their own journalists, especially in places where they might not have boots on the ground (a Calgary paper wanting a Vancouver story, for instance). Media entities that subscribe to their service also have the option to go in and take pieces from an article instead of publishing the entire thing. So when you see something that says “With files from the Canadian Press” it could mean that James or one of his coworkers wrote the original piece, and the paper you’re reading added or subtracted some stuff from it and then published it. Often times you don’t see the journalists name as they’re not obliged to print it, but I see James’ name in a lot of papers.

We talked a bit about the differences between what he does as a schooled professional journalist and what I do as a hack. Being an online publisher since 1996 (fun fact: I started and sold the first online skateboarding magazine way back when) one of the accusations that I am still sometimes faced with is “You’re not a journalist!”. And it’s entirely true. I’m far from a journalist; I’m a storyteller, a lifestyle writer, and I’m free to weave my biases and my leanings and my opinions into my stories however I see fit. I’m free to run sponsored features about the Olympic Village or take people I like out for coffee and only tell you about how great I think they are. So when I’m accused of not being a journalist I just shrug and let people know that I’ve never aspired to be one, nor do I claim to be one. I absolutely love the work of journalists, I am a news fiend and in fact I’ve featured a few of them in this coffee series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). But to say that I am ever simply reporting the facts from a journalistic point of view, the way that James does, would be an outright lie. In fact, I imagine there’s more than one Vancouver journalist who would consider me a “shill”, which I actually get a bit of a kick out of.

But enough about me. I asked James if he would send me links to a few of the pieces he’s particularly proud of, and he sent these over:

- Recent projects renew debate about gentrification in the Downtown Eastside
- Restricted from giving interviews, Pickton proposes bizarre ruse to media
- iPhone app allows First Nations speakers to chat in their native tongue
- Health officials, advocates call on Abbotsford to end needle exchange ban

Follow James on Twitter at @JDKVCR and see more of his work at jameskeller.ca

And stay tuned for 446 more Coffees!

53 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneur’s equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I got the idea, 50 coffees was far easier than practicing something for ten years, so after completing that challenge I decided to make a major commitment and publish 500 over the next few years. In this series I introduce you to interesting Vancouverites, many of whom I had never met before. It’s an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also being a platform through which I to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. COFFEE #53 Name: Kelly Deck Occupation: Interior Designer Beverage: Americano

Meet Kelly Deck. Founder and president of Kelly Deck Design, former HGTV series host, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, Kelly is currently one of the most influential figures in the world of West Coast design.

We sat down at Caffe Artigiano at Pender and Thurlow near the V.I.A. office where I started the conversation with a question I find myself asking often: what exactly is it that you do? I learned that as the head of her full-service interior design firm, Kelly works with a passionate and skilled team on designing homes for clients. For the most part they work on high end, single family homes and when I asked if they do high end condos, the answer was no. It’s not that they wouldn’t but something to do with the amount of square footage is why they find themselves working pretty much exclusively on standalone houses. The projects that she’s really gung-ho about are the ones where they can get in early, even before a home is built, and are able to collaborate on it from the ground up as opposed to coming in and adding to something that already exists.

In my former life I worked as a creative director and designer of shoes, skateboards and too many t-shirt designs and I still sometimes daydream about what it might be like to work on a project where a project ends up being a bit more permanent than a consumer product that gets thrown away a few years after it’s bought. I’m fascinated by the work of architects, interior designers, and anyone involved in the design of our buildings and our cities, so I found it hard not to ask a lot of really dumb questions. But we’re both the president of our own companies, and so we had a lot of common ground there to talk about. We exchanged stories and Kelly had some great wisdom to share with me about leadership and the idea that even when you name is on the front door, in order to be successful you need to be able to let go, delegate and trust your team.

Before we went for coffee – in fact before we had ever met – Kelly invited me to be a part of a fantastic and creative charity project she’s launching that doesn’t have anything to do with her work. A passion project, as it were. It’s called The Love Umbrella Project and I’m one of 13 community-minded folks who will be collaborating with photographers to produce an image that will illustrate how love illuminates Vancouver and its communities. The photos will be auctioned off at an event on Valentine’s Day and all of the proceeds will be given to Leave Out Violence. Read below for the full scoop…

THE OFFICIAL WORD:

The Love Umbrella Project is an art-based media campaign and photo exhibition, sponsored by The Vancouver Foundation to share stories about how love illuminates Vancouver and its communities.

All proceeds will go to Leave Out Violence (LOVE), a Vancouver community organization devoted to youth anti-violence programs.

Learn more at theloveumbrellaproject.com and stay tuned for 447 more Coffees!

52 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneur’s equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I got the idea, 50 coffees was far easier than practicing something for ten years, so after completing that challenge I decided to make a major commitment and publish 500 over the next few years. In this series I introduce you to interesting Vancouverites, many of whom I had never met before. It’s an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also being a platform through which I to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. COFFEE #52 Name: Chad Brealey Occupation: Organizer Beverage: Americano

Meet Chad Brealey. National Organizer at the Canadian Freshwater Alliance, Dad Blogger at the Yummy Mummy Club, the founder of Salt, Fresh & Field Media, the co-founder of the Haig-Brown Institute and the former Director of Development & Communications at the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

We sat down at Caffe Artigiano at Pender and Thurlow near the V.I.A. office and the first thing I asked him was about his current work with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance and exactly what it is that he’s doing. It’s some high level stuff that I still don’t completely understand but it involves developing an initiative that’s “working to unite, train and engage a diverse community to protect and restore all of Canada’s waters ensuring they are clean and accessible”. Basically protecting the water that keeps us alive… and keeps the fish alive!

Through our conversation I came to understand that Chad is a father, a fisherman and a conservationist, which are three of the things that I fancy myself as, and there are some interesting parallels running in our lives; Not only does he know who one of my greatest (and obscure to the average person) heroes is (Roderick Haig-Brown), but he co-founded a society in the man’s name. Our coffee went long and we really could have talked about fishing and the outdoors all afternoon if we both didn’t have prior engagements, so it didn’t take me long to figure out that we needed to be more than one-time coffee acquaintances, we needed to be friends. Don’t tell any of my vegetarian pals (and acquaintances) but I’m going to shadow Chad on a duck hunting trip in the near future, sortof like the camera did in the teaser below that he produced for a TV show concept. My family eats meat, I went on many a hunting trip as a child and I’m interested in once again getting closer to where my food comes from. I mean I live right above the Urban Fare in the Village… but you know what I mean.

Stay tuned for 448 more Coffees!

A little over 50 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneur’s equivalent to the theory 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 decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over 50 weeks I decided to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I had never met before, to go for coffee. I used 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. COFFEE #51 Name: Judy Graves Occupation: Advocate for the Homeless Beverage: Coffee

Meet Judy Graves. First described to me by a friend as “the Mother Theresa of Vancouver”, she’s been working in the Downtown Eastside since 1979 and is the recent recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal as well as two honourary doctorate degrees for her work in helping the homeless.

Judy is one of the least likely characters you might find working for the City of Vancouver (or any City, for that matter) partly because her job seems so abstract at first glance. On her official CoV business card (which she gave to me as we sat down in her office at Woodward’s after grabbing coffee from JJ Bean downstairs) her title is “Advocate for the Homeless”, and after answering many of my questions about what it is exactly that she does day-to-day (it’s complicated but simple: she’s an advocate for the homeless) we got into one of the most enlightening conversations I’ve had in a long time. Homelessness in Vancouver is a complex issue of which I don’t know a whole lot about and I walked into our meeting not knowing what we were going to discuss aside from hoping for a crash course in social housing and learning the difference between a Downtown Eastside SRO and the social housing that my neighbours In the Village live in. I walked out with a greater knowledge of, and compassion for, people who live on the streets, and the work that needs to be done in order to help solve street homelessness.

Judy and Babs

I’ve kept these coffee features short and sweet as I’ve treated them as brief introductions to these folks whom I’m meeting with, but this introduction to Judy is a bit different. This marks a slight turn for V.I.A.. Where we once had a more black and white approach to editorial where we wouldn’t really tackle heavy issues because the subjects themselves (homelessness, in this case) weren’t inherently something to be celebrated (not easily describable as “Awesome”), you may have noticed we’ve switched that up lately and are publishing more and more features about people coming up with positive solutions in and for our city. That is really Awesome.

In the coming weeks I’m going to take you inside some homeless shelters and hopefully demystify what it means when our Mayor says that 4 new temporary winter shelters are opening this season. I’m going to show you where those shelters are and you’ll probably be surprised to learn that they’re right under your nose, in your neighbourhood, and they’re not something to be scared of.

Learn more about Judy in THIS piece from Vancouver Magazine, and stay tuned for those upcoming features on the shelters.

AND stay tuned for 449 more Coffees!

A little over 50 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneur’s equivalent to the theory 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 decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over 50 weeks I decided to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I had never met before, to go for coffee. I used 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. COFFEE #50 Name: Mike Magee Occupation: Chief of Staff Beverage: Soy latte

So today’s the big day; the final coffee in my series of 50! Over the past year I’ve met with CEOs, doctors, journalists, urbanists, authors, musicians, city planners, entrepreneurs, marketing folks, an MLA, a former mayor and even a senator in what was by far the best networking project I’ve ever initiated. I made new friends and allies, heard many interesting stories about people’s inspirations and their work, and I now feel 50 times more connected to this city than I was before I started. I also got to check out new places I wouldn’t normally go for coffee at, and see more of the city.

For this extra special 50th feature I figured it would be fitting to have someone who over the past few years has consistently been featured close to the top of Vancouver Magazine’s Vancouver Power 50 list. Mike Magee is the City of Vancouver’s Chief of Staff and is #9 on the list this year, right between City Manager Penny Ballem and real estate marketer and art collector Bob Rennie. We didn’t delve too far into what his average workday looks like and I don’t expect the average reader of our site knows exactly what a Chief of Staff does, so I’d like to quote Frances Bula from an article she wrote about Mike a couple of years back. In it she says that the “bosses” of Chiefs of Staff (in this case, our Mayor Gregor Robertson) are “hindered by a time-sucking toll of meetings and ceremonial duties” and that “the chiefs are key to the essential task of politics — turning the platform into reality — while emptying the fire extinguisher on unexpected eruptions.”. I imagine that’s pretty much what Mike does.

We met at The Edge just off Cambie and talked about our mutual love of fishing, about Mayor Gregor’s upcoming Creative Mornings talk as well as the future of the creative sectors in our city. I haven’t treated these 50 Coffees meetings like interviews and let you know all of the juicy details of what we discussed and I’ll make no exception today. However I will tell you that Mike has an incredibly funny story about his first encounter with a black bear in the wilderness of BC just outside of Tofino, and if you ever have coffee with him you should ask him about it.

So that’s it! Now that I’ve completed these 50 Coffees I’m going to kick my feet up, retreat back into my office and smoke cigars for the next 50 weeks. I kid, of course. I’ve decided to continue this series until we get to 500 Coffees! I said that 50 was a breeze so I figure that 500 might prove to be an actual challenge. I’ve got 450 more Coffees to go, friends. Come along for the ride over the next 8 years or so and see where they take me.

Stay tuned for 450 more Coffees!

49.5 weeks ago I read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneur’s equivalent to the theory 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 decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over 50 weeks I’m inviting 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I’m using 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. COFFEE #49.5 Name: Clint Mahlman Occupation: Senior Vice President & COO Beverage: Dark roast coffee from Terra Breads

Meet Clint Mahlman. Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of London Drugs, as well as a “Family Member Since 1984″ as it says on his name tag. The fact that the start date of every single employee is noted on their name tag – from the Senior VP all the way down to the folks stocking the shelves – shows how their internal brand of “infectious enthusiasm and big ideas” keeps people excited about working there. It’s worn as a badge of honour and I see no better model of what makes this local company so awesome than Clint. I made my way to this conclusion after he gave me a TOUR of the London Drugs in the Village and we sat in the public square to chat. It was weeks ago when the store was just about to open, so we talked about how this location differed from others, their green initiatives like their signature “Bring Back the Pack” program and more. He let me in on the factoid that their very first location opened only a few blocks away back in 1945, where one of the viaducts is currently standing. As a bit of a self taught hack, I’m always curious how people make their way into the positions they hold, so I asked Clint what company he was the VP of before he went to work for London Drugs. His answer was that he actually started his career at the company, as a stock boy back in 1984, and that he had worked his way up to the position he’s at! I’m not about to call this man whom I hugely respect a “hack” (though I am proud to self identify as one) but he is a true testament to the value of hard work and dedication, and also of how awesome this born-and-raised Vancouver company is.

One of the things Clint’s passionate about in his work on London Drugs’ sustainable initiatives which he oversees. Our “Greenest Neighbourhood in North America” was practically built for companies like his whose waste reduction and diversion initiatives are second to none. This location achieves 95% waste diversion from landfills and since 2007 the company has recycled more than 147,000 pounds of Styrofoam. Below are some more numbers. Whoa.

Click the image below of London Drugs’ first location (as mentioned, blocks from the Village!) to check out a history lesson on London Drugs’ site which explains how and why they got into photographic equipment and so much more. In it is much inspiration about this truly awesome born-and-raised in Vancouver company, and I was honoured to have coffee with their Senior VP who is doing great things for our city and our planet!

Stay tuned for perhaps just one more 50 Coffees!