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Season 2, Episode #9: Influencing the future - Leveraging the creator economy for positive change

In this episode, Russell sits down with Shahrzad Rafati, Founder & CEO of Broadband TV Corp. (BBTV).

Illustration of a wave form “If you look at the creator economy as a whole, you're looking at a $104 billion economy. In Canada, we have about $13 billion, as far as total scope of digital video, and tens of thousands of content creators. The ability to be able to actually empower local creators to have a global audience is really important. If you think about it, when you look at digital platforms, 90% of the watch time for Canadian content, for example, on YouTube happens outside of Canada. So this really is a great showcase of how you actually expose Canadian talent and Canadian culture to the rest of the world.” - Shahrzad Rafati

In this episode, Russell sits down with Shahrzad Rafati, Founder & CEO of Broadband TV Corp. (BBTV). BBTV is a media-tech company that is advancing the world by helping creators succeed. With over 35 million pieces of content in its purview, BBTV is the second-largest video property worldwide for unique viewers, following only Google. Russell and Shahrzad discuss the upsurge of the creator economy and how BBTV is empowering subject matter experts to create valuable content and develop strong partnerships.

With influencer marketing driving an increasing percentage of online business, and more children dreaming of becoming YouTubers than astronauts, it’s abundantly clear that leveraging video content is the way of the future. In this episode, Russell sits down with Shahrzad Rafati, Founder & CEO of Broadband TV Corp. (BBTV). BBTV is a media-tech company that is advancing the world by helping creators succeed. With over 35 million pieces of content in its purview, BBTV is the second-largest video property worldwide for unique viewers, following only Google. Russell and Shahrzad discuss the upsurge of the creator economy and how BBTV is empowering subject matter experts to create valuable content and develop strong partnerships. Video content is changing the way we live, learn and shop online.

After this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why it’s time for Canadian businesses to embrace collaborating with subject matter expert content creators.
  • What BBTV is doing to enable under-represented Canadian voices to reach a global audience.
  • How BBTV’s quadruple bottom line business model enables a higher-performing organization.
  • How Canada’s multicultural atmosphere fosters powerful leaders.
  • The future of content – how advancements in AI are transforming the content landscape.
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Biography

Shahrzad Rafati
Founder, Chairperson and CEO
BBTV

A progressive entrepreneur and active investor, Shahrzad is the Chairperson and CEO of BBTV Holdings (BBTV), a global media and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to building an incredibly successful company that has experienced phenomenal growth, Shahrzad has built a quadruple bottom line business that measures success not only on financial performance but also on people, social, and environmental KPIs. BBTV proudly has a 0% pay gap between male-identifying and female-identifying employees and has a gender-balanced workforce comprising over 40%+ female-identifying employees and managers.

Shahrzad actively pursues ways to encourage social change, championing equality in all forms. She is passionate about job creation, climate change, education, and advancing opportunities for women and girls. In 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed her to represent Canada on G20 EMPOWER, an international private sector alliance spanning G20 countries with the mandate to advance women's representation in leadership.

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