Welcome to Zanepost!
Here’s some information about myself and this project.
I wish I could say I was a specialist in something, but my DNA seems to favour a wide variety of interests. I’m curious about a lot of things, not just one thing, which is probably why I started my career as a journalist. I find the world interesting on many levels.
I was born in Italy and grew up in South Africa and in the United States. In 1974 our family immigrated to Canada. However, throughout my life I’ve remained in touch with relatives in Italy and I continue to follow developments there.
As a child in Africa, I used to enjoy reading the English magazine Look and Learn. It was a non-fiction publication designed for young people in a time before the internet. Filled with stories from history to science, from sports to philosophy, it was simply written and beautifully illustrated. I also enjoyed the World Book Encyclopedia for its approachable style. Some day I hope to connect with younger readers in a similar way. You may notice that my posts tend to lean that way. I’m still young at heart.
Professionally, I worked for over thirty years in Canada at Rogers Sports & Media, most of those in a management capacity.
I began as a TV reporter, working on local stories, and then became a producer and newsroom manager at OMNI Television. Our team produced daily news programs and weekly magazine shows in more than 20 languages for Canadians and newcomers of diverse cultural origins. During my time there I became a company director. I managed newsrooms in different cities and learned how to support groups of people of very different backgrounds.
Our service grew from a family-run TV station and community newspaper on Toronto’s Lake Shore Boulevard West, founded by Dan Iannuzzi. In the 1980s, Canadian business mogul Ted Rogers saw something valuable in this multicultural TV station and bought it. Through investment and smart management it grew to become a group of stations with production facilities in Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. We employed many talented immigrants and local graduates. I am proud to have been there from the early days of private ownership and to have been a part of that growth with Rogers.
In 2009 I became the general manager for both CityTV Vancouver and OMNI BC. This was the period in which our talented South Asian team began broadcasting National Hockey League games in the Punjabi language, after an initial experimental period on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
As a manager I continued to grow. I served on multiple boards in industry organizations and not-for-profits. (Currently I’m the Chair of the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society Foundation and the President of The Dante Alighieri Society of BC, which promotes the Italian language and culture.) In 2007 I received the distinguished service award from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) for my years of service with that organization.
In my time, I’ve experienced downsizing, upsizing, technological change, regulatory change, cultural change, performance management challenges, and also some truly memorable mentorship and individual coaching. There is no doubt that I could have done a lot of things better, but on-the-job experience was second to none. I learned a lot.
I offer my experience to others in my role as performance coach. When the opportunity arises, I work one-on-one with people who want to perform better in their jobs.
But at other times my heart has always been in creative editorial projects. I enjoy reading the work of others and sharing short reflections and observations about the world.
I hope you like variety, too!
-Renato
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