Creative Entrepreneurs: Peter Hansen

I recently reconnected with my close friend and business colleague Peter Hansen. Over the past several years, Peter has been closely involved with Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton, AB Canada. Having served as the institution’s Chair, Digital Media Design, since 2002, then as Chair Digital Media and IT, since 2009, earlier this year he returned to his private consultancy, Plasmechanica Media Design. I peppered him with some questions about his experiences with NAIT, which he kindly anwers below.

Read more

Jeremy Hollister – Zink Magazine “The Color Issue”

Talented agency owner/creative director… and photographer, artist, curator, and mover Jeremy Hollister of We Are Plus recently photographed these images for February’s Color Issue for Zink Magazine, and launched www.jeremyhollister.com.

The 2010 (Women’s) Effect: The 100th Annual International Women’s Day

I am joining with legions of others around the world today to honor women for all they are and all they do as the greatest and most powerful force on Planet Earth. Mine will not be a lengthy tribute, but I do want to point up some of the amazing resources I’ve found that are providing different perspectives on the achievements of women, and some of the biggest challenges faced by many of them. Read more

The power of dreams…

At an early age, I decided I was going to be a writer. Somewhere along the way, I also took a strong interest in filmmaking, and being very ambitious, by the time I was 20 years old, I developed a clear vision of myself as novelist and filmmaker. While I have made great strides on achieving those dreams over the years, I must admit that I have a long way to go in seeing them through; nonetheless, those dreams have driven me into situations that I never would have imagined, and while I’ve not yet fully accomplished those missions, I feel very fortunate to have progressed as far as I have.

By pursuing the opportunies that have come my way over the years and applying my talents, my writing achievements and my reputation for success have opened many doors. One of them opened in the early 90s when a young Orlando filmmaker named Bill Waxler decided he wanted to produce and direct a 16mm short film based on something I’d written. Delving into my past experiences, I wrote a script for a dramatic short which I entitled “Bumper Crop,” and in that story Read more

Tommy Ewasko, Imagemaker Extraordinaire…

Read more

Lessons on professionalism, persistence and “Endurance” from artist Theresa Ortolani

Two years ago, I attended a publishing workshop hosted by Kiki Bauer, senior designer for powerHouse Books, at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. Six of us attended, each eager to discuss our very specific idea for a brilliantly conceived, beautiful and riveting coffee-table book like those famously published by powerHouse. Theresa, Lori, Brad, Debra, John-Michael and I all presented our pet projects to Kiki on that day, and I’ll bet the rest of our classmates are as proud as I am to see that Theresa has persevered in seeing hers through, and getting it into print: “Endurance” published by powerHouse Books, is now available for purchase. In fact, the official launch party is happening at powerHouse Arena on Thurs., Dec. 3. More information on Theresa Ortolani, “Endurance” and this very cool upcoming event follow below. Read more

Earth Island Institute asks tomorrow’s leaders, “What would Dave do?”

Earth Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards in 2000 to honor their founder and legendary environmental activist, David R. Brower and to call forth a new generation of leaders. This award manifests the Earth Island Institute’s abiding commitment to growing environmental leadership. The annual Brower Youth Awards honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Read more

Amazing grace, and a really nice guy…

A very nice and cool friend of mine named Michael Vitti surprisingly passed away this year at the age of 46. He was the passionate founder and leader of the Moving Pictures Collective (Mopictive), the New York City Final Cut Pro User Group. Very soon after Michael’s death, Mopictive announced a new scholarship fund to promote Michael’s love for educating people in the field of digital videography, editing and storytelling. The Michael Vitti Digital Storytellers Memorial Scholarship Fund celebrates Michael’s life and his spirit. If you knew Michael or are interested in reading about his legacy, his family is keeping an online guestbook at this address.

Business ventures of your dreams…

I remember being 12 years old and being very impressed by a young guy I met, Tommy Ewasko, who at that time (1978) was well on his way to becoming a professional photographer. Tommy was the first professional creative person I ever crossed paths with, and after getting to know him a bit better, I began to see the world in a different way. Last month, my successful English entrepreneurial comrade Rob Ford of Favourite Website Awards (TheFWA.com) shared a story with his friends on Facebook where he was included in a 10steps.sg feature by Johnson Koh entitled “Interviews of Ten Accomplished Founders.” If you have not visited TheFWA.com before, I can easily imagine you having a kind of epiphany when you do, and there are other domains within Rob’s empire which are equally inspirational, including FWATheater.com and FWAPhoto.com.

To me, because his business model is original, creative, seemingly very fun, and largely self-guided, Rob represents the kind of successful entrepreneur that one only dreams of becoming. Do please read the “Interviews” article linked above to learn more about the origins of Rob’s business, and those of the other talented young gentlemen listed below. There’s enough inspiration here to change many people’s perceptions of the very nature of business… and represent new approaches to how resourceful individuals can build their own unique success stories independently.
. BuySellAds – Todd Garland
. Envato – Colliss Ta’eed
. Good Tutorials – Zach Holman
. Abduzeedo – Fabio Sasso
. Tutorial9 – David Leggett
. DeviantArt – Angelo-Sotira
. iStockPhoto – Bruce LivingStone
. Pixel2Life – Dan Richard
. SmashingMagazine – Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz

At age 23, self-styled creative agency ATTIK keeps making “Noise”

Read more