HowNow

Today on HowNow, we recap season one. We get into some of our favourite interviews, talk takeaways and how the world has changed both in our own lives and in the greater world since we started on this journey. This season, HowNow has charted on iTunes and had over 1000 downloads in 22 countries spanning every continent. We've gained a lot from this experience and hope that you have too. We wanted to conclude this season with some of our own thoughts. Until next season, keep adapting!

Today on HowNow we are talking to Christoph Benfey who is the founder of Low Key Studios, an award winning full service production and film studio. Christoph is located in Hamilton, Canada where he moved 10 years ago to work as a carpenter on projects with Core Urban Inc. This is where Steve Kulakowsky introduced him to the arts scene. Since then he has been instrumental in various films such as 2018’s Chesterfield and has done commercial work for clients like BMW, Toyota and Canon. Most recently he has launched a new project called Evil Empire, which sees the conversion of a 122 year-old Hamilton landmark into a new space housing local filmmakers, content creators, and production companies.

Today on HowNow we’re talking to Maja Kasperczak. Back in February 2020, Maja was forced to move back to her native Poland from Canada. Since then she has had little time to readjust being thrown by the effects of a global pandemic and Poland’s largest protests since the fall of communism. We discuss the concept of 'home'. Maja had spent a few years living in Canada and had to return to Poland when her visa expired, only two months before the world shut down. She found herself living back home with her family in Warsaw after years of living independently abroad. Back in Poland, Maja has tried to kindle her own version of the open, welcoming Canadian culture she first found when she was a newcomer.

In this episode of HowNow it was our pleasure to talk with Jeff Neven, Director of the affordable housing charity Indwell and co-founder of New Hope Community Bikes. Jeff was inspired by reading the works of civil rights leader John Perkins, such as “Beyond Charity” and others. He talks us through Perkins’ concept of breaking the cycle of poverty through sharing our networks, and how that concept led to a renewed understanding of his personal and Indwell’s professional mandate of “hope and homes for all’.

Today on HowNow we’re chatting with Sue Carr. Sue is the current Executive Director of the social enterprise restaurant called 541 Eatery and Exchange. She is also a reluctant pastor at the Meeting Place: a messy church for non-churchy people. In addition to being a mother and grandma, she has a varied history in healthcare, with an undergrad in pharmacology and a masters in theology. Coming to Canada in 1984 from the UK, she has worked as a hospital Chaplain for Hamilton Health Sciences, Mission Services and Stonechurch Family Practice.

In this episode of HowNow, we talk with freelance journalist, Michael Rancic. Michael’s work focuses around emerging, experimental and DIY Canadian musicians. His fascination with the low-level social mobilization that happens in DIY communities led naturally to co-founding the multi-stakeholder cooperative, New Feeling Coop. The cooperative’s membership is made up of Canadian music writers and community members, and publishes a monthly selection of writing and criticism. We caught Michael for a chat back in November, when they were very much in development stages.

We’re talking to music fan, cycling safety advocate and once and future ad man Tom Flood. Tom uses storytelling techniques of the car industry to provide effective counter-messaging to the automotive industry’s relentless onslaught. His series of short films use these techniques to wake people up to the need for road safety for all road users, and especially those who don’t have a giant metal box around them. Tom is the founder, content creator and strategist at Revélo Creative.

We talk to Andrew Hibma the Executive Director at New Hope Community Bikes. Andrew has found a sense of community and purpose through the formation of Hamilton's first not-for-profit bike shop. As the Executive Director, the organization has refurbished over 5000 bikes, saving them from the landfill, they’ve taught safe cycling skills to 5000+ students in Hamilton and helped launch a shipping container bike program in Pikangikum, a first nations community 2000km north of Toronto.

We talk with Jason Grishkoff about his journey from Google employee to building a successful music tech startup. We discuss his history in gaming as a professional Counter-Strike player. We talk about the early blog world and the formation of Indie Shuffle and losing 100k in the fallout of an advertising deal. How the emergence of Google and Facebook ironically lead to his demise and where he was able to adapt at ever turn. Delving deeper we unveil the inspiration for his current music submissions platform, SubmitHub and dig into his passion for coding.

We talk tech with Stephen van der Heijden of Offerzen. Since his first job at a small tech start-up, Stephen has gained experience across Africa, primarily in building marketplace businesses. Currently, as the VP of Growth at OfferZen, his main focus is on continuously impacting the global software community. We talk about his experience working in startups, his thoughts on the rising role and responsibility of software engineering in our society and his move to Amsterdam. Finally we delve into how we can organize ourselves to build a better future.