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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_02: Hello, this is Robert Smido with Canada's podcast.
[00:08] SPEAKER_02: We're retouching the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in Vancouver,
[00:12] SPEAKER_02: British Columbia.
[00:13] SPEAKER_02: Today, our guest is Rhea DeVoy-Elips.
[00:16] SPEAKER_02: Rhea is a public relations executive with three decades of global experience across diverse industries.
[00:22] SPEAKER_02: She spent 20 years with global PR giant Edelman public relations,
[00:26] SPEAKER_02: working across major Asian markets, advising major corporations like ING, Samsung and Starbucks,
[00:33] SPEAKER_02: as well as running the Edelman Vancouver office and leading accounts such as CanFor, Colleers,
[00:39] SPEAKER_02: and the Vancouver Authority.
[00:42] SPEAKER_02: Rhea, recently started her own consultancy, winter, code,
[00:46] SPEAKER_02: medications, or new firm just completed the successful merger campaign for two Alberta-based credit unions
[00:53] SPEAKER_02: dating the way for the creation of Canada's largest Reddit union.
[00:58] SPEAKER_02: Rhea, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[01:00] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for taking the time today to share your entrepreneurial journey with all our listeners.
[01:06] SPEAKER_01: Hi, Robert. It's so nice to be here.
[01:08] SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate you reaching out and the opportunity to chat with you.
[01:13] SPEAKER_02: I hope I got your last name right.
[01:14] SPEAKER_02: Did I get the tonight? Did that one right?
[01:16] SPEAKER_02: I know it's a month full.
[01:18] SPEAKER_01: Try spelling that out in Asia for 15 years.
[01:20] SPEAKER_01: It sounds good. Rhea, do waffles.
[01:24] SPEAKER_02: Do waffles? Okay, a little bit of French in there.
[01:26] SPEAKER_02: I know.
[01:26] SPEAKER_02: Got it.
[01:27] SPEAKER_02: Okay, tell us a little bit more about yourself and your current business.
[01:31] SPEAKER_02: I know you're located in the kind of the Coinc-Grey area of Anker Group,
[01:34] SPEAKER_02: is that right?
[01:35] SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
[01:36] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: So I originally from Vancouver and then went to school here and did an undergrad at UBC
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: and then sort of set off in a lot of different areas,
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: lived in the United States, worked for the Canadian Embassy in Washington during the
[01:53] SPEAKER_01: Furtains time of NAFTA,
[01:55] SPEAKER_01: and then went back to school in Europe.
[01:57] SPEAKER_01: So lived in France and Paris went to the Sorbonne and moved to England to do a master's
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: in postmodernism, highly relevant at the University of London.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: And so it was great because it had even the opportunity to live abroad and
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: experience living in different cities, setting up life in a new culture.
[02:19] SPEAKER_01: And following my masters, I thought, you know, what do you necessarily do with a master's in postmodernism?
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: Well, you meet a young man and end up moving to Jakarta in Dineshia as you do.
[02:34] SPEAKER_01: And I lived at a start in a journey in Asia for about 15 years where I worked in public relations
[02:41] SPEAKER_01: both in-house and then joining Edelman and working throughout their network in Asia.
[02:49] SPEAKER_01: Having children experiencing a lot of different places there and then eventually moving back
[02:54] SPEAKER_01: here to Vancouver, still with Edelman.
[02:56] SPEAKER_01: We made an acquisition here during the Olympics and so I ended up running their Vancouver office
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: most recently. So it's been a bit of a very journey. Yeah.
[03:06] SPEAKER_02: Good. You've traveled a lot. You've worked in major corporations.
[03:10] SPEAKER_02: How is that kind of, as far as helped you work and become an entrepreneur? How have you taken
[03:16] SPEAKER_02: the skills you've learned in a corporate environment, international travel, working with international
[03:20] SPEAKER_02: clients and now you're embarking upon yourself on your own company? How does that help enrich your
[03:26] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneurial experience and what does that bring to the table for your clients?
[03:30] SPEAKER_01: So I didn't necessarily realize it at the time, but all those experiences
[03:36] SPEAKER_01: accumutively have kind of prepared me for this moment of a pretty big leap of faith to start
[03:42] SPEAKER_01: my own company. And I felt that it has provided me with a really strong basis. I have great experience
[03:53] SPEAKER_01: working with a variety of companies and I'm very thankful to Edelman for the
[03:59] SPEAKER_01: the training that they provided me with all those years working for them. The discipline,
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: the understanding of how to approach communications, how to pitch for new business.
[04:11] SPEAKER_01: When I was running the Vancouver office, I was fully accountable for my budget, building
[04:18] SPEAKER_01: business, hiring people. Unfortunately, sometimes letting people go, which is extremely difficult,
[04:23] SPEAKER_01: but just managing the business. Richard Edelman is the CEO, his father founded the company. It's
[04:29] SPEAKER_01: the largest privately held public relations agency and I really respect his entrepreneurial spirit.
[04:37] SPEAKER_01: So each office is tasked with running it as almost a small business. So all those years really
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: prepared me for this moment where I was thinking, how do I build business? How do I launch a company?
[04:49] SPEAKER_01: What is my long-term plan? And how does it all fit together? So I think it really taught me
[04:57] SPEAKER_01: a little bit about business and has prepared me for embarking on my own. So it didn't really feel like
[05:05] SPEAKER_01: a very daunting task because I had been through that a lot with the Vancouver office,
[05:09] SPEAKER_01: especially during a very challenging time of COVID. I also live through to Asian financial crises.
[05:16] SPEAKER_01: So I've been through a lot of ups and downs in the economy where companies contract off
[05:22] SPEAKER_01: in public relations and communications is the first budget to be cut. So I'm well-versed in
[05:27] SPEAKER_01: losing business, trying to find business in a challenging environment, expanding business.
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: So I've been through a lot of different cycles that I think have well prepared me for starting my own
[05:37] SPEAKER_02: very small shop. Okay, you're in the communications business. Okay, one is one piece of knowledge,
[05:44] SPEAKER_02: information about your industry. A common person may not know about me, but some insight into your
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: industry, maybe something that not become a knowledge. That's a tough question. I don't think there's
[05:59] SPEAKER_01: any golden secret to public relations. I think sometimes PR gets a bad rap as spin doctors.
[06:07] SPEAKER_01: I haven't worked for companies that try to deceive the public with communications, although
[06:15] SPEAKER_01: it's often portrayed that way in the media and in movies and books. It's not really like that.
[06:22] SPEAKER_01: I think the biggest challenge for communications is getting a message out because now we're just
[06:29] SPEAKER_01: inundated with so much content coming from so many different sources 24-7. So the biggest
[06:36] SPEAKER_01: challenge is how do you make what you're saying relevant to the people you want to reach? How do
[06:46] SPEAKER_01: I think the biggest key to success in that area is making it relevant for people and whether
[06:55] SPEAKER_01: that's a creative concept that can bring your message to life and make it some kind of emotional
[07:02] SPEAKER_01: connection with your audiences is very important because people are scrolling, people are listening
[07:08] SPEAKER_01: to you while doing something else. They're multitasking. It's such a crowded environment.
[07:14] SPEAKER_01: So the ability to kind of break through is very difficult, but you really need to think about
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: what you're trying to achieve and the problem you're trying to solve and then somehow bring it to
[07:24] SPEAKER_01: life for the audiences that you need to reach. There's no one size fits all for communication
[07:30] SPEAKER_01: and stats for sure and every set there is different every task and there's just so many different
[07:35] SPEAKER_01: channels to use and I think entrepreneurs even when they're launching. It's an extremely exciting
[07:42] SPEAKER_01: time but you need to think about how you do it, what channels you're engaging, how well prepared you are
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: and I think that's really the key to success for all those years launching companies,
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: products, ideas, new CEOs, new boards, whatever it was we were doing. We always had to think about
[08:02] SPEAKER_01: the most important step is launching it into the public realm and how you do that and you have
[08:08] SPEAKER_01: to be extremely well prepared for that because you only get one shot to do it properly.
[08:13] SPEAKER_02: Okay, what's your code just launched? What's the long-term vision of your company? Do you see the
[08:18] SPEAKER_02: company expanded into other areas? I know you're doing work in Alberta, but are you looking to
[08:24] SPEAKER_02: expand outside of Canada and get clients internationally? Oh absolutely. I think one of the great
[08:31] SPEAKER_01: outcomes of a terrible time in the world with COVID was that we all learned to be flexible and
[08:37] SPEAKER_01: work remotely. So I kind of laughed because we had these clients, two fantastic credit unions based
[08:44] SPEAKER_01: in Alberta. I met with them three to four times a week often many times a day for almost seven
[08:52] SPEAKER_01: months and I've not met any of them in person. So I think that really speaks to the efficiency of
[08:58] SPEAKER_01: remote working, the teamwork, the dynamic of being able to pull people into meetings when you need
[09:04] SPEAKER_01: them, not having to get on an airplane and fly somewhere and incur the cost of travel and the
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: expense and kind of the headache at times quite frankly. So it really worked exceptionally well
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: to have us all remote and to be able to connect when we needed to be. It is a little surreal not to
[09:23] SPEAKER_01: have ever met our clients in person, but I think the outcome is what matters and we got them both to
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: a yes vote. So kind of the proofs and the outcome. It's a very unique dynamic. So that speaks to
[09:36] SPEAKER_01: the ability to be able to work for clients wherever they are in the world and I think what we're
[09:41] SPEAKER_01: offering to clients is sort of the direct access to a very small but highly experienced team.
[09:49] SPEAKER_01: We don't have the overhead that larger agencies have to incur and we're just, you know,
[09:58] SPEAKER_01: nimble and be able to meet those, you know, the needs of clients anywhere and time zone
[10:03] SPEAKER_02: into, you know, it doesn't really matter. Okay, good. Let's talk a little bit about British Columbia
[10:08] SPEAKER_02: and doing business where you are. We're both from Vancouver so we can speak with this experience here.
[10:13] SPEAKER_02: What are the biggest benefits for you being an entrepreneur in British Columbia? Give me some of the
[10:18] SPEAKER_02: good things about work in there and give me some of the challenges that you had overcome over the year.
[10:24] SPEAKER_01: I think businesses here have a very unique approach to consulting, not probably not just
[10:31] SPEAKER_01: communications, other services as well. They're very hesitant to lock into long-term established
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: contracts with agencies and my biggest competitor, ironically, when I was running an agency,
[10:46] SPEAKER_01: was a freelancer. And so that's a very unique characteristic of British Columbia companies.
[10:55] SPEAKER_01: So they, for me now, it provides an amazing opportunity because I'm the type of profile of
[11:01] SPEAKER_01: engagement that they like direct access to experience consultants without having to lock into
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: a retainer agreement. So that's great. The problem is that there are not a lot of companies that are
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: based in Vancouver. There's, you know, Telus, Quadriel, Lulele-Lemon. You know, there are a few,
[11:22] SPEAKER_01: but not many, versus, you know, Toronto offices with headquarter companies, with larger budgets
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: who hold often the decision-making on communications. So that's a bit of a challenge and you have to be
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: flexible and think about how you can approach different companies and maybe smaller mandates,
[11:40] SPEAKER_01: shorter projects, you know, just be flexible on the approach to it, but it is a very different
[11:46] SPEAKER_01: landscape than it is in Toronto. And even in Alberta, you know, there are a lot of resource-based
[11:51] SPEAKER_01: companies in Alberta with headquarter offices there. But here's, it's very different. You know,
[11:58] SPEAKER_01: people move here for the fantastic lifestyle. It's a gorgeous city. It has so much to offer,
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: but there are not a lot of headquarter companies here.
[12:07] SPEAKER_02: Okay, just to segue from that answer, we're going to complete. We get a lot of immigration
[12:12] SPEAKER_02: in Canada and in British Columbia. If someone wants to move here, and they're listening, say,
[12:17] SPEAKER_02: from a different country, what kind of advice would you give them and say, here's what to expect,
[12:22] SPEAKER_02: here's what you'd be looking at. Here's some good advice from someone who is from British.
[12:28] SPEAKER_00: I think it, for you mean an entrepreneur coming here to set up a business?
[12:33] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah. If you were coming here, imagine yourself coming here for the very first time,
[12:37] SPEAKER_02: knowing what you know now, what would you do differently, or what would you kind of advise
[12:41] SPEAKER_02: someone who's kind of said, hey, here's a down-down coffee, I just landed here. I want to start a
[12:46] SPEAKER_01: business. What would you recommend? Well, I would hope that even before they arrive, they kind of do
[12:52] SPEAKER_01: their homework. It's not an easy city to break into. Like, it's a, it's a great setting,
[12:58] SPEAKER_01: but it's challenging. It's a very high cost of living, which people don't necessarily expect here.
[13:04] SPEAKER_01: Salaries aren't particularly as high here as they are in maybe other parts of Canada or other cities,
[13:09] SPEAKER_01: for example, in the US. And I think networking here can be somewhat challenging. So I've heard that,
[13:17] SPEAKER_01: you know, repeatedly over the years, not only professionally and socially, it's it's it's
[13:27] SPEAKER_01: here and planning to set up a company to try and start networking now. There's so many online
[13:33] SPEAKER_01: forums and clubs you can join and become members of in advance. Research kind of the areas that you
[13:40] SPEAKER_01: would want to target the demographics, your competitors. I think your competitors provide an
[13:46] SPEAKER_01: enormous amount of insight to the business. Who are they working for? What kind of projects are they
[13:51] SPEAKER_01: posting? What are the opportunities in the market? I think LinkedIn is a wealth of information to
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: and it's a great way to connect with colleagues, competitors, companies. You can see who's hiring,
[14:03] SPEAKER_01: who's firing, who's got budget, who doesn't. Trends in the market. So I think it's all a matter of
[14:09] SPEAKER_01: really opening yourself to making connections. Once you're here, I think, you know, we have a lot of
[14:16] SPEAKER_01: different areas of the lower mainland. And I think it depends on the type of business that you're
[14:21] SPEAKER_01: setting up. So you'd want to think about, you know, what area of the city makes the most sense for
[14:26] SPEAKER_01: me? I know that a lot of people who first moved to Vancouver moved downtown. Rentals downtown are
[14:32] SPEAKER_01: very transient, very expensive. High cost of living is that the smartest move for somebody who's
[14:38] SPEAKER_01: just arriving here? Do they want to move into a smaller community and make some, you know, true
[14:44] SPEAKER_01: connections to get a business off the ground? Or do they want to be in the heart of the city where
[14:48] SPEAKER_01: they're targeting big business who might be, you know, sponsors or clients of the business that
[14:53] SPEAKER_01: you're launching? So there's so much at play, but I think preparation is really important and
[14:58] SPEAKER_01: getting to know the city and the different areas and figuring out what organizations you can join so
[15:05] SPEAKER_01: you can network. You know, the board of trade in each organization is very active and they offer a
[15:11] SPEAKER_01: lot of opportunity for networking and they're trying to bring back a lot of in-person networking as
[15:16] SPEAKER_01: you know, so that's key as well for making connections in a new city. And those are the types of
[15:21] SPEAKER_01: places for entrepreneurs that I would highly suggest starting and just getting to out and meeting
[15:26] SPEAKER_01: people. I mean, that's where connections are truly made is networking and going to events and
[15:31] SPEAKER_01: launches and figuring out, you know, who's active and who's hiring and who's got budget to support
[15:37] SPEAKER_02: your business. Okay, let's talk a little bit about your morning routine. Entrepreneurs are very active
[15:42] SPEAKER_02: people, very disciplined people. Health is important obviously because they are, they never really
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: do get a day off. What's your morning routine like? Are you are you pretty strict with that?
[15:55] SPEAKER_02: Health wise, exercise wise, eating right? Is that a major thing? I mean, I think everyone has great
[16:00] SPEAKER_01: intentions, right? But life gets in the way. I'm a working mom. I've got teenage kids,
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: which means that pretty well no two days are the same. My husband travels a lot, you know,
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: we've got dogs. There's always people coming and going in the house. So, you know, I think I try
[16:18] SPEAKER_01: to be flexible and not too regimented so that if I don't get up and get to my Peloton bike at 7am,
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: it's okay. I can revisit it later on in the day. Absolutely huge supporter of daily exercise.
[16:32] SPEAKER_01: I have two black labs. I live near a forest. I try to get in there at least once a day with them.
[16:37] SPEAKER_01: I find that incredibly relaxing. It's just it's a beautiful thing to do and I really enjoy my time
[16:44] SPEAKER_01: there with my dogs. Exercise, I try to work out. I also find that now that I have a bike at home,
[16:52] SPEAKER_01: I can do a lot of different classes. There's so many apps. I think that trying to at least get one
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: exercise in per day is usually my goal. It doesn't always happen, but that's my goal. So, I think
[17:04] SPEAKER_01: that's a big part of it. You know, we're up and at it early because kids are going to school. Dogs
[17:09] SPEAKER_01: need to go out. My dogs remind me that it's time for breakfast every morning. So, there's a
[17:14] SPEAKER_01: lot going on, but just try to remain flexible. Life is busy. And then at the end of the day,
[17:20] SPEAKER_01: I am now finding that for me, as I get older, falling asleep is more challenging. You know,
[17:24] SPEAKER_01: you worry about your kids or you listen to the news cycle. There's just so much happening.
[17:29] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, recently I've tried to start some meditations before bed, which has been fantastic
[17:36] SPEAKER_01: for me. I somebody equated it to driving a car at 75 miles an hour and then just trying to lie down
[17:42] SPEAKER_01: and go to sleep immediately. It just doesn't work. So, you need that sort of transition to calm your
[17:46] SPEAKER_01: mind. And I'm finding that really helpful now because as I said, the news cycle is pretty disturbing.
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: There's lots happening in life and you just sort of need to unwind and clear your mind so you can
[17:57] SPEAKER_02: get some sleep. Okay. Another thing is entrepreneurs are avid readers. And I see you have, right,
[18:02] SPEAKER_02: a selection of books. Can you recommend any entrepreneurial business books that you've read that
[18:10] SPEAKER_00: have helped you on your entrepreneur journey? Yeah. I mean, I really try to, I'm a big believer in
[18:20] SPEAKER_01: consuming news in very many formats. So, I read. I recently read The Rockefeller Habits that
[18:27] SPEAKER_01: a girlfriend online who's a CEO recommended and it was fantastic. And you can take, you know,
[18:33] SPEAKER_01: just a few pointers from each of these books I find very useful. I think as an entrepreneur,
[18:38] SPEAKER_01: the number one key is being aware of current events in the news cycle because everything is so
[18:46] SPEAKER_01: interconnected. You need to understand what's happening in the world so that it affects the economy,
[18:50] SPEAKER_01: which will ultimately affect your business as well as the local nuances. So in the morning, I always
[18:55] SPEAKER_01: have, you know, the CBC radio. I always play that my local Vancouver show. So I understand kind of
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: what's going on in the city, what's happening around town. I listen to a variety of podcasts. You
[19:08] SPEAKER_01: Scott Galloway, fantastic insight into kind of the tech world and all that's happening. I listen to
[19:15] SPEAKER_01: The New York Times, the daily podcast. I find that very insightful. I do audio books because
[19:22] SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of soccer, carpool duties in the evening. So I listen to a lot of, I know,
[19:27] SPEAKER_01: audible. I love that. And just try to find, you know, different sources of information. I still
[19:33] SPEAKER_01: subscribe to a newspaper that comes to my home every morning, probably not too many of us left.
[19:39] SPEAKER_01: Old-school newspaper readers, but I just find consuming information from a lot of different sources.
[19:44] SPEAKER_01: It's a really healthy way to find a balanced approach of what's going on in the world so that you
[19:49] SPEAKER_01: don't sort of enter that echo chamber where you're just validating your own thoughts through
[19:53] SPEAKER_01: your own channels that are being fed to you on, you know, your social media. So I think that's
[19:58] SPEAKER_01: really important to have a variety of sources. I mean, I think even what happened this week earlier
[20:04] SPEAKER_01: with OpenAI, I think that was a really interesting news story and how it just exemplified a complete
[20:14] SPEAKER_01: communication failure by that board who was totally out of touch with their, you know, employees
[20:19] SPEAKER_01: who are willing to leave. You know, he had 700 employees who are willing to sign a petition to
[20:24] SPEAKER_01: follow San Altman who must be an incredibly engaging and dynamic leader at his very young age.
[20:30] SPEAKER_01: And then for the, you know, the CEO of Microsoft to swoop in and just say, you know, we'll start a
[20:35] SPEAKER_01: business. Like it just, it was such a rich, dynamic, corporate event week. And I think we could all
[20:44] SPEAKER_01: learn something from that because I think if, if, if leaders don't understand or have or not
[20:49] SPEAKER_01: engaged with their employee base, whether you have a thousand or whether you have three, your,
[20:55] SPEAKER_01: your business is not going to be successful. I've spent a lot of time in employing engagement.
[20:59] SPEAKER_01: It's a big passion of mine. And I think people really overlook the value and the importance of
[21:04] SPEAKER_01: their employees as their most important asset. So even if, as I said, even if you have only a few of
[21:10] SPEAKER_01: them, your company will only be as successful as the degree to which they are engaged and motivated
[21:16] SPEAKER_02: in wanting to make for the success of the company. Okay, let's get to know you a little bit more.
[21:21] SPEAKER_02: If you weren't dealing with what you do now, what would you like to do for a profession?
[21:26] SPEAKER_00: For a profession. Oh, wow. Well, like if I could do anything, anything. If you were in the communications
[21:33] SPEAKER_02: business, yeah, completely something different, what would it be? Oh, I wish I could sing. I,
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: you know, like I look at a great singers, you know, and that would be a real passion for me. But I
[21:45] SPEAKER_01: kept no singing ability whatsoever. But that would be a dream if I could be a singer.
[21:50] SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you just like to sing it home and sing to a record?
[21:55] SPEAKER_01: Yes, much to the children of my kids who just don't enjoy those moments. I'm sure.
[22:01] SPEAKER_02: What, what two words would you use to describe yourself?
[22:07] SPEAKER_00: Where's it? I might say I am very persistent and I'm extremely
[22:17] SPEAKER_00: caring. I think those would be two words that describe me. Okay, what keeps you up at night? Anything?
[22:26] SPEAKER_02: I mean, now that you've kind of gone from corporate life to on your own, Winter Code is out there now.
[22:32] SPEAKER_02: Do you find yourself thinking more about, you know, not shutting it off at night? Do you find that?
[22:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I always find that interesting question. I think life keeps me up at night. Like,
[22:43] SPEAKER_01: you know, they say you're only as happy as you're most unhappy child. So when you have children,
[22:47] SPEAKER_01: I think you have a whole new degree of concern about where they're going in the world, especially
[22:52] SPEAKER_01: with the way the economy is, you know, geopolitical instabilities. Like there's just so much
[22:57] SPEAKER_01: happening all the time. Is there one thing that keeps me up at night? Does the future of Winter
[23:02] SPEAKER_01: Code or any of those things? Not specifically, I think it's more about just where things are at and
[23:09] SPEAKER_01: how my kids are doing. I might have a big client event, you know, happening the next day, the night
[23:16] SPEAKER_01: before the Yes vote, you know, thinking, okay, have we done all that we can to get this across the line?
[23:21] SPEAKER_01: You know, life just happens. And I think that's what keeps me up at night. And, and thinking about,
[23:26] SPEAKER_01: did I get everything done? What's tomorrow bringing? There's just always so much going on. And so I do
[23:31] SPEAKER_01: often lie in bed at night thinking about a lot of different things. But there's not one specific
[23:38] SPEAKER_01: thing that recurs fortunately every night. But it's just, you know, general life concerns make,
[23:44] SPEAKER_01: you know, make it difficult to sleep sometimes, for sure. Okay, you've got an extensive career.
[23:50] SPEAKER_02: You've worked internationally. You've worked in Canada and abroad and highly educated.
[23:55] SPEAKER_02: You've met a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs, founders, business executives. Is there a
[24:00] SPEAKER_02: common trait that you've noticed amongst all these individuals that maybe stands out that you go,
[24:06] SPEAKER_02: whether it's an entrepreneur who's a client or individual like yourself? Would you say there's a
[24:11] SPEAKER_02: common trait or a personality trait or a certain way they deal with things or, or anything that kind
[24:18] SPEAKER_02: of a thread that you've noticed in your career. Imagine there's a ton of, you know, all the people
[24:25] SPEAKER_02: you've worked with on high level owners that you could say, yeah, you know what kind of think of it?
[24:30] SPEAKER_02: There is this one trait that I've recognized with a lot of them. Maybe there isn't. I don't know.
[24:34] SPEAKER_01: Is there, but I think there are few, you know, the most inspirational leaders that I have met and
[24:40] SPEAKER_01: worked for in my life have been generally very happy and positive people. And I think they are
[24:49] SPEAKER_01: living what they want to be doing at that moment in their life. They're engaged, they're driven
[24:56] SPEAKER_01: and they're visionary. And I'll, you know, the most exciting project that I think ever worked on was
[25:04] SPEAKER_01: one of the first in Indonesia, where I worked for a visionary, brilliant genius by the name of Adi-Adi-Wosso,
[25:11] SPEAKER_01: and he had this vision for Indonesia that he wanted to bring satellite handphone to leftony to
[25:18] SPEAKER_01: his country, because it's, as you can imagine, with the collection of islands, it's just so difficult
[25:24] SPEAKER_01: to get telecommunications. Yet there's a lot of shipping and a lot of mining and there's so much
[25:28] SPEAKER_01: going on in that country. So this goes back, you know, 30 years. There wasn't much in that space in
[25:36] SPEAKER_01: that part of the world. And he, from this, he has, you know, from the base of Jakarta made connections
[25:43] SPEAKER_01: with Lockheed Martin Hughes, Towsat, Canada, the Russian space agency. We partnered with
[25:50] SPEAKER_01: different organizations within each of the Asian countries within that footprint. And we launched
[25:56] SPEAKER_01: the first satellite handphone project for Asia. The most exciting moment of my professional career was
[26:03] SPEAKER_01: flying to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and standing on the mound with the Russian space
[26:09] SPEAKER_01: agency and with representatives from Lockheed Martin from the US, launching this, you know,
[26:15] SPEAKER_01: $500 million rocket spaceship into, you know, on the horizon. And the rocket that went off just
[26:24] SPEAKER_01: before us was for a serious exam. They were launching their satellites for their satellite radio
[26:32] SPEAKER_01: program before us and their rocket, their, it exploded. So there was such tension on that mound.
[26:38] SPEAKER_01: And the insurance companies there with $100 million insurance policy. And there was Adi Wosso,
[26:43] SPEAKER_01: and he had this vision. And he, there it was coming to life for him. We had a successful launch.
[26:49] SPEAKER_01: We launched this handphone project, Erickson from Sweden, it made this handset. And he was just
[26:56] SPEAKER_01: overwhelmed with happiness and the teamwork that he brought together to make that happen was
[27:01] SPEAKER_01: inspirational. And I think he's always stood out as quite a just a charismatic leader who had great
[27:11] SPEAKER_01: vision and was able to bring a lot of diverse partners together, geographically, culturally,
[27:19] SPEAKER_01: philosophically to achieve something amazing for his country and for the region. So that was a very
[27:25] SPEAKER_01: exciting project, highly memorable. And it really showed me that, you know, that kind of vision and
[27:32] SPEAKER_01: dream can happen through collaboration. And he was the master at collaboration.
[27:37] SPEAKER_02: Okay. Is there any advice that you've received from entrepreneurs, business owners,
[27:42] SPEAKER_02: long your way that you could pass on to entrepreneurs? Okay.
[27:46] SPEAKER_00: No, I think, I think you have to be so flexible because nothing will ever go according to plan.
[27:52] SPEAKER_01: When I moved to Asia, everything was very stable when I was doing all my planning. As soon as I got
[27:59] SPEAKER_01: there, the Asian financial crisis had in Indonesia, it was the single largest, most significant
[28:06] SPEAKER_01: collapse of a currency ever. And they overthrew Suharto. And there were rides in the street. So I was
[28:14] SPEAKER_01: thinking, this is really, along way from home, this is not at all what I planned. And when I was
[28:20] SPEAKER_01: interviewing for that job, communications role, they said, you know, this is kind of Indonesia's like
[28:26] SPEAKER_01: a burning house right now. Everybody is running out. And you, you're this one foreigner that's
[28:30] SPEAKER_01: running in. Why are you here? And I'm like, well, I am all the way here. This is not the experience
[28:35] SPEAKER_01: I thought it was going to be. But I'm sure it will be a very interesting one. And it was, it was
[28:40] SPEAKER_01: fabulous. It was life changing. And I just think you have to be flexible and you have to open
[28:45] SPEAKER_01: yourself up to different opportunities because the original plan will never be the one that
[28:52] SPEAKER_01: unfolds. And that's okay because it'll end up in a different place. And maybe that's the way it
[28:57] SPEAKER_01: was meant to be. Maybe it wasn't. But as long as you give it your best and sort of adapt to the
[29:02] SPEAKER_02: situation, I think the outcome will be better. Yeah. Okay, Rhea, how can our listeners get all of you?
[29:09] SPEAKER_02: Is there anything you'd like to add before you use? They can find us at our website,
[29:15] SPEAKER_01: wintercove.com, all our contacts and channels through LinkedIn and Instagram are there.
[29:22] SPEAKER_01: You know, I just, I really thank you for the opportunity to chat about it. I know that there are a
[29:26] SPEAKER_01: lot of entrepreneurs in British Columbia. I'd love to chat with anybody if they, if anything,
[29:30] SPEAKER_01: I've said is kind of sparked your interest or if you wanted to talk through any more ideas or,
[29:36] SPEAKER_01: it's all about making connections. And I'd love to hear from anybody who's starting out or who's
[29:41] SPEAKER_01: been doing this for a while and can offer me some great advice about how I might make my
[29:45] SPEAKER_02: company stronger going forward. Excellent. Okay. Well, Rhea, thank you for coming on the show. I've
[29:50] SPEAKER_02: learned a lot about you and I'm sure our listeners have us about. Thanks, Robert. Really great to
[29:55] SPEAKER_01: meet you and thank you so much for taking the time with me. Great. Okay. We'll see you next time.
