Another 5 Questions with Mark Reale

I hope you’re not expecting an interview with the 55 year old lead guitarist for Riot.

THIS Mark Reale is one of the co-founders of both BNOTIONS and The Yorkville Media Centre here in Toronto, Canada.  He is best described as a teacher, entrepreneur, actor, technical wizard, digital visionary and a HUGE mark for 1980s wrestling.  

What motivates you to do what you do on a daily basis?

The motivation is straightforward:

I’ve recognized how it feels to be in a job that is unfulfilling, stifles creativity, has little prospect for growth, and has disregard for personal development.

The digital media and communications industry is on fire right now. It’s the Wild West out here.

It is thoroughly enjoyable to be facing the challenge of pushing technology forward and encouraging people to get involved in the Digital Media industry on a daily basis.

Ever since we kicked off the Yorkville Media Centre (http://yorkvillemediacentre.com) back in late ’08, we recognized that there is a lot of folks looking to explore this industry, and we love helping positive folks plant their feet in these parts. It’s always the people who look at these technologies with fresh eyes that come with the freshest ideas, and it’s definitely a BNOTIONS thing to help facilitate this process.

We are also big supporters of the Entrepreneurial state of mind – #LeanCoffeeTO is a little something that we sparked off with the help of Satish Kanwar (@skanwar) over at Jet Cooper.  At this point, we are 11 weeks old and gaining momentum. Being surrounded by positive folks looking to grind out their own projects and support the community is a beautiful thing.

8am Thursday mornings is the time. The place: anywhere in downtown TO is candidate. There is no better way to kick off the day.

Do you have any success start-up tips for people wanting to create a name for themselves in your industry?

Yes indeed:

1. work your ass off

2. be memorable

3. each one, teach one

4. be relentlessly honest

In your opinion why is Toronto a hotbed for cool tech start-ups?

To answer this question, we need to take a look at what makes Toronto unique vs. other geographies:

1. Toronto has been known to be the multicultural capital of the world

2. Toronto is repping Canada which has been known as a nation which pushes technology and communication forward

3. Karim Kanji is here.

What’s your favourite tech toy and social media site and why?

My favorite tech toy right now is my HTC Desire running Android. We are fresh off the #AndroidTO conference over here, and now more than ever, there is a real excitement toward what is lurking around the corner.

Having had the opportunity to bang heads with some of the folks involved with Android community – Simon Chang (@changsimon), Matthew Patience (@MatthewPatience) and Greg Carron (@pixeladdikt) from MobiCartel and Puleen Patel (@puleen), it is pretty simple to see how and why Android has been developing such positive momentum.

Who would you say is one of Toronto’s tech stars and why?

I feel blessed to be surrounded by stars.

I look to my left: I see Alkarim Nasser (@alkarim).

I look to my right: there’s Aaron Ritchie (@vsmantis).

I look across from me:  BOOM – there’s Logan Aube (@lowgain), Jeremy Wright (@jeremywright), Jonathan Laba (@J_Lab), Aaron Alfred (@aaronalfred).

On Saturday afternoons, at the YMC we are joined by Julia Stowell (@InteropQueen) from Microsoft who has been helping us get our videos popping for the YMC, and we’ve been relying on the folks from #TheBizMedia who are shooting and editing the footage.

I wanna spread some attention over to one particular individual that I think folks really need to keep an eye on.

James Hughes (@JHUZE) is legendary. He is a superior Web Developer, Project Manager, Videographer, and an individual who is gonna really be shaking things up in years to come. An entertainer by heart, he has the rare diligence to take on monumental tasks and see things through to completion.

James is the technical backbone of our Wednesday evening Harth Nights, and helps everything go smoothly in our daily routine at BNOTIONS.

It is an honor and a privilege to be in the company of these folks.

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