 Welcome to Thursday Tea. My name is Leanne Calderwood and I'm a LinkedIn and personal branding trainer out of Kelowna, BC, Canada. Now Thursday Tea is finally, finally coming back after a very long hiatus. Life started to get busy and so I had to take a break from bringing you some of the best and brightest brands in the hospitality industry. But it wasn't too long ago I thought, you know, I need to start taking my own advice when it comes to creating content. And so now I'm happy to bring these personalities back to you and show you some of the decisions that people are making to elevate their brand to create impact and influence with their ideal community. Now if you're interested in how I come about with my content creation, I am hosting a content creation workshop on April 20th. It's a two hour workshop and in those two hours you will create a sustainable content strategy so that when you go to sit down to craft your content, whatever that might be, a LinkedIn post, a blog, even a podcast or a live video show like this, you are set up for success each and every time. And so that's what I've done to bring back Thursday Tea with you. And to start the rebound of Thursday Tea, there is no other than the person that I'm bringing to you today. So yeah, I sat with this person about a year ago at Teta-Tet in Ottawa and we started talking about how he came to his role over at his organization. And it wasn't that standard canned response. It was something that fascinated me to the core. And so I'm excited for you to hear his story. And so without further ado, I would love to introduce to you my good friend, Ted Robinson with Tourism Kingston. Ted, thank you so much for sharing your story with us here today. Hi, Leigh Ann. Thank you. This is great. I'm so excited about this. I haven't done anything like this before so this is exciting. Well that's okay. You don't have to do anything. So I'm going to be monitoring the chat if any questions come in. Because this is the first one back, let's be perfectly honest, Ted. I don't think we're going to have a lot of people throwing us a whole bunch of questions. But the beauty of doing these things is, and if I can put my content hat on for a second, is it gives both you and I an opportunity to use this content in our content moving forward. So there's a lot of good things that will hopefully come out of this conversation, including some sound bites that you can use in your personal branding content. And that's what I want to talk about first, Ted. You've been with Tourism Kingston for a while now and if you could take us back to that conversation that you and I had last April about how you came around to this amazing role at Tourism Kingston, I would love for you to share your branding story with us. Sure. It was actually almost exactly a year ago right now because it was the first week of April. And we were in Ottawa for Destination Direct and we had 15 minutes together. My director was there, Allison. And I remember you asking me the question and I just sort of started in because I'd only been with Tourism Kingston at that point for what I started in November and that was April. So it was not even six months. And I was brand new to the job and honestly didn't really know what I was doing at that point other than talking to people. But I, for a long time, I've been a believer in, I call it the universe. Other people call it, you know, your gut, your instinct, whatever it is, but I've always tried to follow what my instinct was telling me, where the universe was guiding me. And I've only lived in this area in this part of Ontario for not quite five years. I moved here in October of 2018 and I didn't have a job and I didn't know anybody. It was just, I took a flyer. I knew that this is where I wanted to be. And my background, I'd worked for longer than I care to think about, 28 years actually in the wine and spirit trade. And I kind of had a brand there. I didn't really know about personal branding until I started talking to you. And sort of in retrospect, I guess my brand was, I was that wine guy, or more to the point that Aussie wine guy. I'm not Australian, but I worked for Australian companies primarily. And that was my brand. But it really wasn't about me, it was about what I did. And so I came to understand, you know, this part of Ontario through a fundraising event that I do, I ride my bike every year from Toronto to Montreal to fundraiser for three different aid service organizations. And I just fell in love with this part of the world. And so in 2018, I decided it was time to take a flyer. I wanted to leave Toronto and I came here. And I, my timing couldn't have been worse, actually, as it turned out with COVID right around the corner. But I knew when I got here that the way that I was going to find some work to do was through volunteering and through getting involved in community activities and community events. So I applied for a short term gig as the festival director for Kingston Pride as a member of the queer community. I thought, well, this is, this is fantastic. This is somewhere where I can, I can do some work that is really meaningful to me. And it was a paid position. And so that helped a bit. And it also just exposed me to a whole bunch of organizations and allowed me to meet people who I was confident were going to allow me to move to the next level, whatever that was, and I didn't know. And, and I also volunteered with the local HIV aid service organization that I fundraise for through my bike rally. Ended up on the board of directors there. And I'm now actually the board chair at that organization. And, and those two things together put me in front of the folks here at Tourism Kingston. I was, I was asked by our executive director and our director of marketing and comms to join the volunteer marketing committee. And that was fantastic because that's a committee of about 20 people from all different sectors of the tourism industry here in Kingston. And we're a very tourism driven city. And lo and behold, a little bit, just about a year later, I started talking to them about coming to work here and ended up as the first business events person with Tourism Kingston, trying to bring meetings and conferences to town. So that's, that's kind of the quick and dirty. Well, and you know, but what I love about this story, because I've now heard it a few times is it's just not the typical response, right? And you've talked a lot about the things that brought you to this position. And it was through your passion and through your volunteerism. And I think there's a misnomer out there that personal branding is all about creating content and people lose sight of the fact that you don't actually don't even need to be a content creator to have impact and influence with your personal brand. And so I think the volunteer piece and tapping into your passions is the perfect way to tapping into your personal brand and seeing who you impact and influence with it. Now, with you, you were able to impact and influence people to the point of giving you a job and putting that job offer in front of you, which is amazing, like that's such an incredibly rewarding thing to experience. And the flip side of that is what it's allowed me to do here in my work at Tourism Kingston is I've been able to help us as an organization. I'm certainly not solely responsible for it, but I think I've added some value in that we're developing a reputation as far as our equity, diversity and inclusion work. And that's allowing us to, for example, Tourism Kingston is now a rainbow registered organization with the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which is a fantastic organization that supports business in the queer community. And as a result of all of that, they will be hosting their first ever event outside of Toronto in Kingston this June. So we're bringing, you know, that's kind of the flip side of what I just talked about a minute ago. It's now coming back around from the other angle. Well, and that's how it should work, right? It is we should be able to exercise our strengths, especially when we're passionate about something. And in your case, it's passionate passion for your community and for creating awareness and inclusivity, etc. And when you can align that with your organizational goals, man, that's a powerful one to punch, right? Because now not only is it Ted, but it's also the voice of Tourism Kingston. And so when people talk to me about branding and they're like, yeah, well, we've got our organizational brand and I don't want to do anything, you know, in conflict with the brand, it's a legitimate question and it's a legitimate concern. But what if there was incredible alignment? Like, what if you can find that thing that puts both Ted and Kingston on a stage for something that creates like real impact, you know, in the community? And you guys have done that. And we continue to do it, you know, like I'm constantly seeing ways that all of the things that I love are intersecting with the work that I love and creating some benefit in the community at large, like this organization where I'm in the board chair, it's called Trellis and we're up the local HIV AIDS service service organization in Kingston. We also operate what's called the integrated care hub, which is a which is a low barrier access facility to support people who are unhoused, people who are substance users, marginalized people in our community. And I've been able to bring that together with my work at Tourism Kingston, the support that TK gives the the passions that I have. And it results in things like a fundraiser we did in Confederation Park, the main the main park in downtown Kingston, right by the water, where we did a drag show last last August on our break night on this bike rally that I do. And we had five drag performers on a stage in the park on a Tuesday evening, we attracted about 850 people to the event, including families, tons of kids, and we raised almost four thousand dollars that went directly to Trellis, and that was sponsored by Tourism Kingston, as part of everything that we do here. That is so brilliant and so powerful. And I'm just like, and I know I've heard that story before, but it like, how many more things of Ted can we now kind of slam into these activities that you got are creating and you have such a supportive organization, which I think is key to anyone who is trying to create a brand as an entrepreneur, entrepreneur being someone who stands for what they believe in as well, but they work within an organization and your organization has such an incredible value system that it's allowed you to operate as an entrepreneur very successfully. And I love that. So true. And, and, you know, we're well, last year at the, at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada awards, Tourism Kingston was recognized as employer of the year. And I, for one, was like, yeah, absolutely. Tourism Kingston should be employer of the year because of how the organization supports, in my case, you know, what I do outside of work. And it just, it just makes me want to be here even that much more. So it does all work together. I love it. You know, I do want to bring you back to a point that you said at the beginning of our show here. Oh, I do want to mention Vicki's comment about Tourism Kingston is killing it on the creative and, and you guys are, and, and I think they found the perfect talent fit with you, the wine guy. We need to do, we do need to talk about that more, Vicki Zappa, like, how do the three of us get together and go wine drinking? Thanks, Vicki. I love that. I love that. That's great. Let's do that, Vicks. You mentioned something at the beginning of our time together, that number one, thank you, because you said that you didn't realize you had a personal brand until you met me. But let's focus on the first part of that statement. You didn't realize you had a personal brand. What, what does that mean? Or at least what was that transition? Like how did, what made you realize that what you were doing was a brand? As soon as I realized that entering into conversations with people that I, they came on side, not like, it was the whole package of things that was getting people inside when I started talking to them about who I am and what I do. You know, all too often, I go to an event and I really, somebody will say to me, what do you do? And, and what they're asking me is what do I do for work? And, and I purposely lead with the things that I do that aren't work. Because that's, that's like the biggest part of, you know, work is important. And, but it's not the totality of who I am or what I do. And I think it just, it just crystallized in my conversations with you that this wasn't who I am and how I come across to people is not specifically because I work at Tourism Kingston or I volunteer at Trellis or I ride my bike to, to Montreal or when I can't ride my bike to Montreal, I do distance swimming to support the organization. Like those, those things are each individual, but when you bundle that all together, then that's something bigger than each of those individual parts, you know, if I'm making sense with that. Absolutely you are. That's, that's, that's what I was hoping that you would say, because I think when people start to get intentional about their brand, they think about how they're going to put and you use the word, how they're going to put the package together and there is some intentionality around that. But the package for you and I hope for, for others who are doing it with their brands, it's very authentic. You're not bringing anything in that doesn't resonate Ted Robinson, right? Like that is who you are true to the core. And, you know, when people decide what they want to include in the brand, they can decide things that they can shelve for a while, but they shouldn't be bringing anything in that's not real and not authentic to who it is they are. And the example I had for my own world is for a long, long, long time I shelved the fact that I'm a raging introvert and because I'm, because of the industry we're in Ted, you know, like it wasn't easy being an introvert in an industry that literally brings people together. Like I couldn't be, you know, more of a dichotomy with the work that I do, but I shelved it because I needed to be the extrovert like the meetings industry needed everyone to be. And it was, you know, at a time in my brand it's like no this isn't working again. Like I can't pretend to be an extrovert even in my brand and so I had to pull that off the shelf and start to talk openly about being an introvert and you may decide, Ted, at some point to do the same thing, that there's a time and a season for some of the things that make up who you are. But when you're replacing those things make sure you're replacing it with something that's still as authentic and genuine to who it is that you are. And it could be new passions that pop up in your world. Who knows, you might be a gardener. You might become a Kingston gardener and then it'll be like Ted the gardener. And so that'll be a lot of fun to watch, by the way. Before I get there I have to become a weed puller because I have a gardener with a disaster. So Ted the weed puller and the wine guy, the wine guy and weed puller. We're set, we're set for a summer vacation for sure. So Ted, tell me a little bit about tourism or rather the challenges that you may have seen when you were building a brand. And I know that yours was very organic. It wasn't something that you intentionally set out to do. And I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I was very intentional about my footwork. But has your brand came about and even in conversations, especially around diversity, were there challenges that you were running into or obstacles that you had to overcome? Well, initially there were internal challenges because I'm of a certain age, you know, when I grew up I didn't talk about being gay. That was, you know, that was something you kept to yourself. And it took me a long time to feel comfortable speaking as a openly as I'm speaking to you and everybody who's watching and listening right now. That didn't come easily. I didn't come out until I was 31 years old. And, you know, so that was probably the single biggest part of it because that's a key part of everything that I built. Like that's what all of this grew out of was me connecting with that, with my community. And I didn't connect with my community until it was 2008. And I'll quickly tell you the story. That was my former partner. I call him my husband. His name is David. And he lives in Montreal now. But when he and I split up in 2008, we resolved to stay friends and we resolved to stay best friends. And about four months after he had moved out of the home that we shared together, he was training for this bike rally event that I do. And he got hit by a van. And he suffered a really, really horrible injury. He broke his femur and he suffered a significant brain injury. And I made a commitment to him because I knew that he wasn't going to be able to do the ride. And he's never done it since. But I made a commitment that at least we could complete his fundraising for the event and he would have that accomplishment. And that was my introduction to sort of the broader queer community in Toronto. But specifically to the world of supporting people living with HIV. And everything else has grown out of that. That's how I came to be here. So that connection with community getting over that obstacle that I had here and here for all those years was the key element that allowed me to just get on with it. And that allowed me to authentically build something. You know, what I love about what you just said is it wasn't even an external obstacle. It was something that you had here and you had here. And I have to wonder and I suffered the exact same thing. And I have to wonder how many of us it's we're our own worst enemies when it comes to projecting who we are authentically. And whether it's fear of judgment or friends and families and what they think of us. We all have that. And so it's really hard for us to break out of it. But and then you did and then look at all the opportunities and you're right. Looking back, if that didn't happen then that went to happen and so on and so forth. And here you are. And that's why I led with saying that I've learned over time to trust my instinct and go with I call it the universe. I'm not a I spent too many years being taught by Christian brothers at a Catholic boys school to call it faith. But I just I follow the universe. An energy there. And if I can tap into that and if I open my heart and I open my mind to it, it's going to take me where I'm supposed to go. Yeah. And I have this. I actually have my own definition of faith that I believe in that is not religious at all. And it actually came from a from a guy who ever tell her who who was the father of the hydrogen bomb. You don't get much more anti-religion and creating something like that. Yeah. But his definition of faith is brilliant because what he said is when you come to the end of all the light that you know and you're staring off into the darkness of the unknown. One of two things will happen when you take that leap into the darkness. You will either find something solid on which to stand or you will be taught how to fly. Wow. And I think of that every day when I start to get uncertain about things. And it just helps me to tap into that confidence that I've built and that understanding that if I listen, I'll get I'll get led where I'm supposed to go. Wow. I needed to hear that today. Thank you. It's been one of those weeks where I've been in the darkness. So thank you for bringing that light into my into my week. Oh my gosh. That's I hope everyone else heard that. Maybe I should type that one in the comments for people to revisit later on. Thank you. I appreciate that. So so Ted, now we're kind of here and we're in 2023. We're starting to do some in-person networking again, which has been amazing. But how has that changed your brand as well? Or has it? Maybe it hasn't at all. You know what? It's it's allowed me it's allowed me to meet people like you which has led me to be able to have conversations like this where I'm not sure how many people are tuned in right now, but but it is our own little form of broadcasting. So I guess if anything, that those in-person activities and meeting people like Lynn Chasson, who I know is on there. I saw a comment from Lynn earlier and some of my colleagues, I know Lexi's here, but it's allowed me to tell my story and just talk about what I'm doing here and who we are as an organization. So if anything, it's helped things grow and create awareness about who we are and I guess who I am. I'm I'm I'm a bit of a ham. I love to have a microphone in my hand and be in front of a group of people, but I'm I'm fairly modest that I like you. I'm actually an introvert. I really yeah, there was a session. Yeah, there was a session at one of the conferences that that happened in the last year. And I can't remember the presenter, but she she we did a test. There was 20 questions. And depending on how you answered them, like zero was an extreme extrovert and 20 was an extreme introvert. And I scored 17. You are an introvert. I am. I am. Except like most introverts, if I have a purpose and if I'm if I'm holding a microphone, I'm in my happy place because I'm in control, right? I'm talking about what I want to talk about. Amen. Amen. So so it wasn't then my session that you went to because I'm starting to do sessions on introversion, extroversion. I don't have a fancy scale, but now I'm thinking I should create one. The misnomer that people have about introverts, like public speaking, which words are actually quite thinking. Oh, my broadcast is cutting it. Yeah, a little bit. It's a little bit of a hiccup. You're back. Yeah, that's interesting. Well, anyway. OK, so it's maybe it's on my end, but I've got my hardwire in, but that is the misnomer about introverts is that we don't like public speaking or we don't like being in front of the camera or we don't like holding a microphone. And that's not an introverted extroverted definer at all. That's quite actually independent of both personality types. There's a lot of extroverts that would never get in front of the camera, right? So, you know, you can't you can't really do that. So so I'm glad. Well, and you do bring an interesting point, you know, being on this show today. I mean, it's not a big show, but it is a show nonetheless. And that's a branding opportunity, right? Like that's something that you could potentially put out for other opportunities to say, hey, I did a LinkedIn live with Leanne, can I do one with you as well? And that kind of builds your brand going forward, which does bring me to my next question, Ted. What do you see for your brand here in 2023? You know, I guess I'm what I'm what I'm working on is and part of it is because Kingston is a small community, you know, we're a city with a reputation that's way bigger than our population. People are surprised sometimes when I tell them, well, a city of, we're only 135,000 people, but Kingston is so well known across the country. And in some cases, across borders, but we are small. So what I'm trying to do is integrate the different components of the work that I do here to create greater community in Kingston, greater understanding amongst the different groups I work with, essentially to support the work that I do at Trellis. I really have a place like helping to support marginalized communities and people who don't have the advantages that I have lived my life with. That's a big part of what I do. And I feel really, really confident that I'm going to be able to make a difference in this community by doing that. And I keep my focus very local because I know that's where I can make, I know I can make a difference. I, you know, I, grand ambitions can be great, but sometimes they don't lead to grand results. So if I keep my ambitions reasonable, I know I can achieve results. Look at you dropping all of the truth bombs today. Like that is so true, so true. Very timely for me this week. So thank you. Thank you for that. Ted, is there anything else that you'd like to share with me or with the community watching about what you see for your brand or even encouragement for people who are embarking on creating a personal brand and just aren't sure of the next step? Authenticity is, it's what I've learned from you is that in building a personal brand, it has to come from a place of authenticity. You can't invent it. It has to be the essence of who you are. And you've helped me, like that's reinforced for me what I knew intuitively. I just never had anybody else say it to me. So I've learned that from you and it's key because if it's not part of who you are, if it's not in your DNA, people will know. People will know. And I see that in, you know, in sort of in brands of things that we buy and in the brands that people create about themselves. If it's not real, it's not going to work. So true. They get found out very, very quickly and then, yeah, and then it all falls apart. I heard it once said once, it's not fake it till you make it. It's you face it until you ace it. And for personal branding, I think that's a that's a very powerful quote because it's authentic and you are putting yourself out there. You're facing it even in its raw and unfiltered format. And then you just get better at it. You just keep getting better and you keep tweaking things here and there, pulling things off the shelf, putting things back on the shelf. But it's never fake. It's always you're facing it and you're trying new challenges. I can't thank you enough for doing this challenge with me today. My very first back in action LinkedIn live video. So thank you, Ted, for being my first guest. This was so long overdue. I'm so glad that we had the chance to have this conversation. Ted, where can people get a hold of you if they want to talk about Kingston? They can. I'm getting much better about responding to messages on LinkedIn. I've never been a really big user of social media. So I'm starting to use LinkedIn a lot more and absolutely by email. It's pretty easy. It's Ted at TourismKingston.com. And I just have to say this because I believe it, but it's also where I work. But this city is amazing and I would love to talk to anybody about it and ideally show them this really fantastic part of the world. I'm looking out the window at one of the beautiful buildings here and the Magnolia tree that I think is going to be in bloom pretty soon. And I can't wait to talk to people about it. We live in a blessed part of the world. Well, I know I'm one of those people that needs to talk to you and we will do that offline, Ted, I'm sure. Again, thank you for spending your time with me. Thank you for sharing your story. Friends, if you need to get a hold of Ted, it is Ted at TourismKingston.com. Or find Ted and I on LinkedIn and send us a quick direct message about this show or about anyone that you would like to see on a future edition of The LinkedIn Live. Thank you again, Ted. I'm wishing you an incredible restful, hopefully Easter weekend, whatever your rest looks like. And thanks again for sharing your story. Thank you. Thanks for joining us all for everyone. Have a great weekend. Bye for now.