Kimothy is
an award winning journalist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and Ottawa local. She
has it all, a career she is passionate about, a family she loves, and a voice
to inspire women of all generations. We had the opportunity to chat with
Kimothy and as her some questions. Here’s what she had to say:
You
worked for 25 years as a journalist for CTV. In fact, your news broadcast was
one of the most successful local weekend newscasts in our generation. What
kinds of challenges did you have to overcome to achieve such success?
“Most
of my early challenges were sparked because I was too young and inexperienced to
truly know how to build effective teams. At 24, I was one of the youngest
anchor/producers in the entire network. I just figured if you had enough people
you could get the job done. I didn’t know anything about supervising
individuals, or getting the right people into the right positions. Most very talented people have really visible
strengths. But, they are pretty good at hiding their weaknesses. So, as a
supervisor or mentor, it takes some real work to understand the specific skills
of each individual. You need to allow that person to feel safe in order to help
feed their real passion and allow them to thrive on your team. It also helps if
you buy them ice cream periodically.
I
dismiss entirely the attitude that you can’t work with people you care about.
In fact, I work ONLY with people I care about in my own business. I also
authentically care about my clients and I feel bonded to my partners and associates.
I need to trust people in order to partner
with them. I need to trust they will do their best for me, and in turn I will
do my best for them. Generally I find people work a heck of a lot harder for
you if you’re kind to them. “
Talk about your biggest failure and how has
it shaped your success?
“I
was generally an A to B+ student at the Carleton University School of Journalism.
Then, I failed (less than a B-) second year television. Yes, television!
Ironically, it is the profession that provided my financial security for 25
years including 2 documentaries since leaving CTV. My professor
said that perhaps I should find another “calling”. While I ended up getting an A on my supplement
exam it always stayed with me that your life can change direction because
someone else has decided you’re not very good at something. So….I decided not to listen to all of those people.
Many people didn’t think I could do it. Despite having three jobs I got into
the prestigious program as, perhaps, the very last person on the list. And in
the end only 75 people graduated of the more than 300 people who entered. I was
one of those who graduated. I wasn’t smarter than all of the scholarship kids
or those who studied night and day. What I did have was perseverance and
resilience. I did not give up. You could
argue I was just stubborn. My parents would not argue against you.
When
I left television in 2014 I applied that exact formula to my new company,
Ottawa Media Group, with my business partner Eric Collard and 21 associates. We
do consulting on everything from media relations/production to event management
and fundraising. People seemed to think I just read out loud for a living. They
didn’t know I ran the newsroom two days a week or that I knew about management
and strategy. Now we have dozens of prominent clients and many worthwhile
causes. We are proving that if you want to be good in business you need to do
good things in your community. “
What advice would you give to your younger
self?
“I
wish I had not wasted as many days, weeks, months, years and decades worrying
about how I looked. Most of the time I was one of the 91 per cent of women who,
according to a recent documentary, hate their bodies. What an unbelievable waste
of time. My body has taken me up 12
mountains, including Mt. Kilimanjaro. It helped me start triathlons at 40 years
old. I took me to Hera Mission’s Asembo
Bay in Kenya to work on a community centre, named after my charity Amazing
People. And, it helped me twice build schools in Nicaragua for SchoolBOX. My
body made a baby human who is now 19 years old. “
Dear Younger Self: Someone else’s version
of perfection is a ridiculous waste of time. I can assure you that you are not
perfect, so why bother pretending that you are.
If
you have daughters or young women in your life, what changes would you like to
see in today’s society before they enter the working world?
“I
dream of a day that your gender, your race, your religion and who you love are
not considered factors, whatsoever, in your ability to do a job. I want my two daughters
to look at Fortune 500 companies, where the vast majority of CEOs are men, and
know that that’s just not good enough. I want them to feel entitled to the job
if they are the most qualified and to not feel they need to “ask” for equality.
I want them to know that their gender has absolutely no bearing on their
ability to achieve their goals. I want them to understand that if Canada has not
achieved full equality yet we have not yet earned the right to hold ourselves
up as examples to other countries of how things should be done. I just don’t
think we are there yet.”
Are
there any words of wisdom that you would like to impart on today’s millennials?
“Slow down! Your time on this Earth is
not just about your career while living on this planet. It’s about your LIFE. And
it is usually shorter than you would like. I have friends and family members
who have been handed surprising and devastating health challenges. You cannot take
for granted that there will be time to live out your dreams somewhere down the
road, so move up your “must dos” on the priority list. That said, I don’t recommend driving an RV
over the Alps….I tried it. It’s very frightening. You need to find the balance between moving
forward to celebrate humanity and enjoying the precise moment you are in.”
Do you have a passion project you’re
currently working on? Tell us a little about it.
I
am Chair of an incredible group called “Amazing People”. We host fun events to
honour amazing people in Ottawa and we have raised more than $200,000 for three
organizations, SchoolBOX, Hera Mission and Project North. In October we are
announcing a major new event in partnership with Ottawa Race Weekend 2017. So far, our charity group Amazing People has
built several schools in Nicaragua and a community centre in Kenya, and now
we’re also going to be helping aboriginal, Metis and Inuit children.
We are also helping amazing people in a number of other ways. For example, right now we’re supporting the boy known as Ottawa’s Butterfly Child Jonathan Pitre. He has the worst disease anyone has ever heard of… his skin doesn’t stay on his body. It’s as fragile as a butterfly’s wings. His mom really needs some financial assistance to help pay for living expenses in the United States during his stem cell transplant. It is his last hope. So, we’ve started a fundraiser!
Kimothy
will be joining us on August 25th at 6pm as WiL presents
Thirsty
Thursdays at the Heart & Crown.
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