Up Close & Personal with Award-Winning TV host/producer Christine Blanchette | RR246

Janice Porter: 00:00:00

Hello, everyone and welcome to this week's

Janice Porter: 00:00:03

episode of relationships rule. I am so excited about my guest

Janice Porter: 00:00:07

today Christine Blanchette. And she is here in Vancouver with

Janice Porter: 00:00:12

me. And here we are on Zoom, of course. But welcome to the show.

Janice Porter: 00:00:16

First of all, Christine,

Christine Blanchette: 00:00:18

Janice, thanks so much for having me

Christine Blanchette: 00:00:20

today.

Janice Porter: 00:00:21

Oh, my pleasure. Christine is, I think, a dynamo

Janice Porter: 00:00:26

with all of the things that she does. And I'm going to let her

Janice Porter: 00:00:29

give you a little bit more detail. But for the minute I'm

Janice Porter: 00:00:32

going to say, when I first met Christine, I knew her to be a

Janice Porter: 00:00:37

producer, I think and so I see on the screen, it says Christine

Janice Porter: 00:00:41

Blanchette productions, so that for sure, she also is a running

Janice Porter: 00:00:46

enthusiast a past marathon, like guru as well as I think you've

Janice Porter: 00:00:52

run eight marathons I think is what I what I read somewhere. Is

Janice Porter: 00:00:55

that correct? Yes, yes. I love the Boston Marathon, right?

Janice Porter: 00:01:00

Yeah. Yes. And I,

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:02

I have to say, if it wasn't for my love of

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:05

running, I wouldn't be here having this conversation with

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:09

you. Because it led to creating my own show. However, it takes a

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:14

team and also a plan a business plan, how to get following your

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:19

passion to leading a show or launching your own show called

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:24

run with it, which started in 2013. Yeah, 15 years to get off

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:28

the ground. But, you know, as I said, it takes a team and a plan

Christine Blanchette: 00:01:33

a proposal, which got accepted, because I went, but it took

Janice Porter: 00:01:36

to stop there for a second because I wanted to

Janice Porter: 00:01:39

just just talk about that in the fact that yes, as you said, you

Janice Porter: 00:01:44

turned your passion for running and everything fitness into a

Janice Porter: 00:01:48

career. Right? You though before that? I think you were writing?

Janice Porter: 00:01:53

Were you at a sale. You were into sales. You were into

Janice Porter: 00:01:55

writing, you did some broadcasting I think back then

Janice Porter: 00:01:59

I'm not sure. But But were you? What was your primary position

Janice Porter: 00:02:05

before this started? Was it writing? Or was it sales?

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:09

Yeah, thanks for asking. Well, it was

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:12

a little both, because what happened was, I did go to BCIT,

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:17

to study. And I did work for CBC TV news temporarily, like a

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:21

contract worker, I should say. But it was in sales. So is in

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:25

sales as a sales support proofing ads, or the Richmond

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:29

news to Delta Optimus. Oh, okay. Yes, and then post media. But

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:35

then I created my own column, or I asked to create my own column

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:39

as to call them runners mine in 2000. And by the Richmond news,

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:45

so that always had an interest in the media. And, and sales and

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:50

writing. I mean, I've always had so much so many interests in in,

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:55

which propelled me to create a show because I didn't know how

Christine Blanchette: 00:02:59

to market. I didn't know how to build relationships, if I didn't

Christine Blanchette: 00:03:02

have a plan, if it just streamlined if you will, you

Christine Blanchette: 00:03:07

know, all those skills are transferable.

Janice Porter: 00:03:10

They are but what I noticed is that, you know,

Janice Porter: 00:03:12

something you just said about you, you know, you you are

Janice Porter: 00:03:15

always fascinated by the media, and so forth. But you also, from

Janice Porter: 00:03:21

what I can tell, were very entrepreneurial, because right

Janice Porter: 00:03:25

from the beginning, because you said you went to the Richmond

Janice Porter: 00:03:30

post, or whatever it was called, and pitched a column that you

Janice Porter: 00:03:34

wanted to do, like, you have to be you were you were trying you

Janice Porter: 00:03:38

were marketing yourself before you realize you were marketing

Janice Porter: 00:03:41

yourself. Right.

Christine Blanchette: 00:03:42

Absolutely. What a great point. I mean, I

Christine Blanchette: 00:03:46

never even thought of it that.

Janice Porter: 00:03:50

And then what I sensed after that is when in

Janice Porter: 00:03:54

2013. When you there's there must have been a pivot reason

Janice Porter: 00:03:59

why this, this happened when you decided that you wanted to do

Janice Porter: 00:04:03

your own show, and maybe you can elaborate on on that. But what

Janice Porter: 00:04:08

you did from what I understand is you picked up the phone or

Janice Porter: 00:04:12

you wrote, you found a contact or relationship that you had to

Janice Porter: 00:04:17

see if you could make this happen. Is that correct? That is

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:21

correct. And what happened was in 2008,

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:27

with the recession, yes. I mean, I loved sales, I loved what I

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:33

was doing. And I was writing for the column. And one day and I

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:37

thought, Oh, my goodness, what am I going to do with my, what

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:39

I'm going to do with myself? I was, I was on deadline, the

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:43

epiphany went up, you know, create my own TV show,

Janice Porter: 00:04:47

just like that. Yeah.

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:49

It's sort of led me down down there, but

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:51

also, Doug Lucas, who I approach from the past from Rogers TV,

Christine Blanchette: 00:04:57

who I was also, I have some of the brightest A broadcast

Christine Blanchette: 00:05:00

background. I approached him, he said, Send me a proposal. So I

Christine Blanchette: 00:05:04

did. And he accepted it. And we went from there. But I had, I

Christine Blanchette: 00:05:08

mean, I guess things happen for a reason. And that's absolutely,

Janice Porter: 00:05:12

absolutely. But it also didn't happen in a

Janice Porter: 00:05:14

vacuum, you connected with a past connection, and made that

Janice Porter: 00:05:20

happen. And, you know, I, I talk about this. So often, when I'm

Janice Porter: 00:05:24

teaching my clients how to use LinkedIn, you know, that it's

Janice Porter: 00:05:29

about the people, you know, it's not about always looking for new

Janice Porter: 00:05:32

people, you have to nurture those relationships you already

Janice Porter: 00:05:35

have, so that if you need to pick up the phone, if you need

Janice Porter: 00:05:39

to connect somebody with the right person you have that I was

Janice Porter: 00:05:45

gonna say Rolodex, but you know what I mean? That that contact

Janice Porter: 00:05:49

list, right, that can help you. So to me, that was really

Janice Porter: 00:05:53

crucial that you were able to do that and brave enough to do it

Janice Porter: 00:05:56

as well. I

Christine Blanchette: 00:05:58

think too, is that people want to help, but

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:02

it's reaching the right people and quality instead of quantity.

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:06

Absolutely. And you never know who can help you. And I think

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:10

too, if that person can't help you, somebody else will. But it

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:14

has to happen organically authentically. It's not like,

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:19

oh, I want help. And then you don't see the person again, or

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:22

because it's always about you. But I made it about if I may

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:27

say, because he wanted me to succeed, but at the same time,

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:32

you know, I'm we're helping each other. We're collaborating,

Christine Blanchette: 00:06:35

because now my work for me still. Oh, wow. Blessing.

Janice Porter: 00:06:40

Yeah. That's, that's very cool. So I also

Janice Porter: 00:06:44

noticed, I mean, what you do you have to broadcast shows you have

Janice Porter: 00:06:49

run with it, which is fitness entertainment, and you have the

Janice Porter: 00:06:53

closing act, which is more about musicians, correct. And

Janice Porter: 00:06:57

celebrities and that kind of thing. So, and influencers in

Janice Porter: 00:07:01

the industry. So how often do you do both? And do you have a

Janice Porter: 00:07:05

favorite? Are they just different?

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:08

They're just different, Janice, but I am

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:10

always recording I'm always doing interviews, and the show

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:15

on novice TV, TELUS, which is to novice TV, which is part of

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:20

TELUS and then there's TELUS Optik. TV. So what I do is like

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:24

every is a monthly show. However, it gets a lot of

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:28

airplay because I repurpose the content. But I also do

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:32

interviews separately, or YouTube or rebel, I think and

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:36

how to pronounce it and or video on demand optic TV tells me

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:41

rather. But I'm always you know, there's such such wonderful.

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:46

Somebody always has a story to tell. There's great content out

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:49

there, but trying to find the nugget, if you will, what makes

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:54

that person so interesting, if you will, you always learn not

Christine Blanchette: 00:07:58

about you being the gas, you're gonna learn from the person

Christine Blanchette: 00:08:01

who's interviewing you. It's a two way street.

Janice Porter: 00:08:04

Absolutely. So um, which Okay, so I also know

Janice Porter: 00:08:10

that you do you do on air broadcasting, like as a guest as

Janice Porter: 00:08:16

well. You've been hosting you hosted the Leo awards, I think.

Janice Porter: 00:08:20

Yes.

Christine Blanchette: 00:08:20

Yes. Well, it was the I had I was at the

Christine Blanchette: 00:08:23

leaderboards for my show. And it was on the red carpet. Okay,

Janice Porter: 00:08:26

yeah. So when you do things like that, like the

Janice Porter: 00:08:30

the red carpet interviews, and and when you are on camera

Janice Porter: 00:08:35

yourself for yourself, not when you're interviewing other

Janice Porter: 00:08:38

people. Did you ever act like do you like doing that? Do you like

Janice Porter: 00:08:42

being that person? Or do you prefer being the the person

Janice Porter: 00:08:46

holding the mic? Well,

Christine Blanchette: 00:08:48

you know what I? Because I love what I

Christine Blanchette: 00:08:51

do. And I'm shy. But it pushes me to try to do it. And I don't

Christine Blanchette: 00:08:58

have any acting skills. Okay. But I just, I just think, Okay,

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:04

I'm, I'm, I know myself, it positiveness will go thinking I

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:11

was I can do this. And it's about the gas and just getting

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:14

the information out and being authentic. I think this will be

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:17

who you are. There's no one like you. And that's how you're not

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:21

going to always please every gas you're not always going to get

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:23

and I get that but I do love what I do. And as I said it

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:26

pushes me it really is like I think sometimes actors are shy

Janice Porter: 00:09:30

are definitely definitely Yeah, and

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:33

I don't know, you know, when it's okay

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:35

to be vulnerable. It's okay to say you're shy, but I I don't

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:38

let it stop me.

Janice Porter: 00:09:40

Oh, that's, that's great. And you also, you

Janice Porter: 00:09:44

also teach, right?

Christine Blanchette: 00:09:46

Yes,

Janice Porter: 00:09:47

I think Yeah. And I could see you being a really

Janice Porter: 00:09:50

good teacher as well. I love teaching as well. It's in my

Janice Porter: 00:09:53

heart and it's in my blood. And if I can teach I'm not It

Janice Porter: 00:10:00

doesn't matter who it is, whether it's little ones or, or

Janice Porter: 00:10:02

older people, it doesn't matter. But if I'm passionate about

Janice Porter: 00:10:05

something, and I can teach it to someone else, it's a bonus. And

Janice Porter: 00:10:09

I think that's where I see you doing the same thing you teach.

Janice Porter: 00:10:13

You teach at BCIT? Yes.

Janice Porter: 00:10:15

Yeah. Kind of fun.

Janice Porter: 00:10:16

Because you went there, right? Yeah. Are you teaching? What are

Janice Porter: 00:10:20

you teaching? Exactly? Oh,

Christine Blanchette: 00:10:22

freelance producing, or social media and

Christine Blanchette: 00:10:24

broadcasts, okay. Yes, yeah. So

Janice Porter: 00:10:27

when I watched a couple of your shows, I was

Janice Porter: 00:10:30

like, Oh, my goodness, this isn't just an interview, you're

Janice Porter: 00:10:32

putting in film footage, and, and so on, as well. So that's a

Janice Porter: 00:10:37

whole different story like than what I do. I sit in my home, and

Janice Porter: 00:10:40

I interview people on my computer, you know, so very

Janice Porter: 00:10:44

different.

Christine Blanchette: 00:10:46

Well, I think what you do is amazing.

Christine Blanchette: 00:10:48

Well, thank you, you asked great questions. And I think it's all

Christine Blanchette: 00:10:54

about being prepared. It's all about the guests. But I also

Christine Blanchette: 00:10:56

think having a conversation is really the key. And I, you know,

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:01

as I said, I love what I do, and I love teaching. And I think

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:04

everything when you go into a classroom, and you probably know

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:07

this, and you learn from the students, it's not always about

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:14

giving the information because they are teaching me to, and it

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:17

becomes such a well, especially

Janice Porter: 00:11:20

in today's world where technology changes

Janice Porter: 00:11:22

quickly, right? Oh,

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:24

yes.

Janice Porter: 00:11:26

There's another app, I write down that someone's

Janice Porter: 00:11:28

told me, but I'll never get to them all. It's crazy. You know,

Janice Porter: 00:11:31

really, you know? Yeah, it's

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:34

hard to keep up. You know, what

Janice Porter: 00:11:36

do you do in terms of equipment? Like, do you

Janice Porter: 00:11:38

have to rent? People? Equipment? Yeah,

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:44

sometimes I do. But I have a crew that has

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:47

their own camera. Okay. And that really is quite helpful. Have a

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:53

mic if, you know, I have access to that, which is really

Christine Blanchette: 00:11:57

important. Yeah. Because there's some people don't want to be

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:00

interviewed virtually. Which I got it. And then you do it with

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:03

studio. Yeah. And, you know, and I think to generally speaking,

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:09

they don't mind me doing virtual injuries for the show like that,

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:13

you know, or TELUS, or Zondra. TV, but they would like it, you

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:17

know, if I have the opportunity to do in person, because it has

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:21

that, you know, body language, you know, of course,

Janice Porter: 00:12:25

yeah, of course, and, you know, looking someone

Janice Porter: 00:12:28

straight in the eye instead of where's that dot, you know, I

Janice Porter: 00:12:31

get. So when you interview people, for either of your

Janice Porter: 00:12:38

shows, have you come across, like, Okay, you interview some

Janice Porter: 00:12:45

celebrities and some famous people and then you interview

Janice Porter: 00:12:49

the guy running the 10k down the street, right, you you've done

Janice Porter: 00:12:53

it all? What do you like to do best?

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:56

Well, you know, what I like? Everybody has

Christine Blanchette: 00:12:59

a story. I was, I would say, Everyone brings something to the

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:02

table, the show on the messenger. So yes, it's great to

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:06

introduce celebrity. Yeah, and great, but I also like to

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:09

interview an entrepreneur, someone who's making a

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:12

difference in the world, charity Sunrun. Because if I have a

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:17

show, that's all celebrities, which is okay, you know, but for

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:21

me, I like to have a mix, because you can learn from a

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:26

person who may has a clothing store and they are giving to

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:30

charity, which I think maybe some of us won't even know that

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:33

then you have the sun run which is an annual event which I

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:36

always take part in then you have a celebrity who is getting

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:40

into fitness because they have to do a part like you know, so

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:45

everybody has a story and this

Janice Porter: 00:13:48

is Hollywood North still as big as it was.

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:52

I think so i think is now because of the

Christine Blanchette: 00:13:54

strike is over. Yeah. Yeah. That there's more opportunities now.

Christine Blanchette: 00:14:02

I'm not an actor or anything, but I can sense that it is

Christine Blanchette: 00:14:06

because I'm getting more press releases. I'm getting more

Christine Blanchette: 00:14:09

people wanting to be interviewed generally. Okay, I don't really

Christine Blanchette: 00:14:15

know too much but I think it's in a better position right now.

Janice Porter: 00:14:19

Yeah, well, it's certainly we should notice it

Janice Porter: 00:14:23

when we're looking watching TV you know, there's nothing with

Janice Porter: 00:14:27

all the streaming that was going on like all came to really

Janice Porter: 00:14:30

pretty much a standstill. Everything that was on Netflix

Janice Porter: 00:14:33

was foreign. Yes,

Christine Blanchette: 00:14:35

yes. Yeah. And everybody needs a job right?

Christine Blanchette: 00:14:39

We all need

Janice Porter: 00:14:40

Yeah, exactly. So I love the fact that your your

Janice Porter: 00:14:47

origin story for for this part of your life was turning your

Janice Porter: 00:14:51

passion for running and everything fitness into a career

Janice Porter: 00:14:55

which I said at the beginning because there aren't many people

Janice Porter: 00:14:59

who can actors do what they love. Right? more today than

Janice Porter: 00:15:03

there were I think, but but it takes a real strong will and

Janice Porter: 00:15:10

determination to make it happen. So how long did it take? I think

Janice Porter: 00:15:14

you said a couple of years before it actually came into

Janice Porter: 00:15:17

fruition, right.

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:18

Two years. And it first aired on Shaw. And

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:22

then I had it both airing on Shaw TV and novice, but now

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:26

it's, it's on novice. But yeah, because in I understand the

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:32

process, the bid process involved. It's like when I send

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:35

something to help you living network, I don't expect it to be

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:39

aired right away, if I'm going to be a distributor that took

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:42

time to so everything is a process, you want something

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:46

great. There has to be a process. You know, sometimes

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:50

we're in the society where, and I'm guilty, too, because we want

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:53

we want it now we want it now. But it's not always the case. In

Christine Blanchette: 00:15:59

2013. Yes, it took two years. Now you're having your own show,

Christine Blanchette: 00:16:03

you can do it. Generally speaking, get it on the air a

Christine Blanchette: 00:16:07

lot quicker, like a podcast, which is great. You know,

Christine Blanchette: 00:16:11

because there's brooms, there's always room for us, because

Christine Blanchette: 00:16:14

we're always learning.

Janice Porter: 00:16:16

Yeah, yeah. But But again, the mark the

Janice Porter: 00:16:19

landscape is getting. What's the word? oversaturated. Still,

Janice Porter: 00:16:25

right, because everybody in their dog now is having a

Janice Porter: 00:16:27

podcast of some sort or another. In fact, I was just I just saw,

Janice Porter: 00:16:31

I got an email from someone that I and she this might be

Janice Porter: 00:16:35

interesting for you actually, I don't know. But there's a girl

Janice Porter: 00:16:40

in California in LA, that I interviewed for my podcast

Janice Porter: 00:16:46

before COVID, maybe early stages of COVID. And she was someone my

Janice Porter: 00:16:50

daughter knew when she was living in LA and, and she kept

Janice Porter: 00:16:53

telling me I should interview Kate Katie, because she was

Janice Porter: 00:16:56

really interesting. And she's an artist and an amazing artist.

Janice Porter: 00:17:00

And she lives in West Hollywood. And she's a bit quirky as a lot

Janice Porter: 00:17:05

of artists are. And anyway, we had a really great conversation.

Janice Porter: 00:17:09

But anyway, she sent me this email that she had another

Janice Porter: 00:17:13

friend of hers. Her name is Sarah. That's my daughter's

Janice Porter: 00:17:16

name, too. But this girl, Sarah and Katie just wrote this book.

Janice Porter: 00:17:20

And what is it called? Hang on one second. It's called. It's

Janice Porter: 00:17:29

called something about cocktails. It's yeah, it's once

Janice Porter: 00:17:36

upon a cocktail. Okay. And what they've done is I think, Sarah,

Janice Porter: 00:17:41

I don't know why I'm telling you this. But I just think it's

Janice Porter: 00:17:43

quite interesting. Sarah is a mixologist. So she's a

Janice Porter: 00:17:46

bartender, I guess. And she makes drinks. And West Hollywood

Janice Porter: 00:17:51

is an area with great history. And so what they're doing is

Janice Porter: 00:17:54

they've got they're taking the the signature cocktail from each

Janice Porter: 00:18:00

of these places, at these bars and hotels, and whatever, in

Janice Porter: 00:18:05

West Hollywood and deal, I guess, looking at the history of

Janice Porter: 00:18:10

each of the places as well. And Katie's done all the artwork for

Janice Porter: 00:18:15

the book, because she's really an interesting artist. So

Janice Porter: 00:18:19

they're on the circuit. So she might be somewhat interesting

Janice Porter: 00:18:21

for you to talk to actually. But um, yeah, I just thought, Okay,

Janice Porter: 00:18:26

it's exploring West Hollywood's cocktail culture. Now. Who's

Janice Porter: 00:18:31

gonna buy that book? I don't know. It's kind of interesting,

Janice Porter: 00:18:34

but I bet a lot of people will.

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:36

Yes. I mean, it's a niche. It's a

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:38

niche. I think it is, I think, you know, doesn't mean it's

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:43

because it's niche doesn't respond to sell market. It's,

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:46

you know, it's out there. And it's different. I think we're,

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:49

like I said before, be who you are. There's no one like you if

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:51

you are unique, authentic. People will recognize that I am.

Christine Blanchette: 00:18:58

And I believe there is a market, just how you market it, how you

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:00

build the relationships, exactly. What do you approach,

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:04

but I also say, what are you wanting? Why do you want to

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:06

create a show? Why do you want to create a podcast? It goes

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:10

back to that why you want to write a memoir? So

Janice Porter: 00:19:12

the kids are the kids, the people that you teach

Janice Porter: 00:19:15

at BCIT? Are they still what is it what is their generally their

Janice Porter: 00:19:21

dream today? How is it different you know, it's got to be

Janice Porter: 00:19:24

different from when you were there.

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:26

While they want to follow what they like to

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:30

do are curious to know about creating a podcast to a YouTube

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:34

series or Tik Tok series, okay, and we want to find something

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:39

that they can build an audience and then go from there. So

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:42

launch their own program or their own presentation, and, and

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:47

following what they their passion, but also buying

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:50

something that maybe EuroCity and they never had the

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:53

opportunity to do that. And I also think they can build

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:56

credibility, because it might be something that they can build

Christine Blanchette: 00:19:59

on. in it for opening a store or startup or, or Okay,

Janice Porter: 00:20:04

so So what are a couple of ideas that are that

Janice Porter: 00:20:07

are happening there now that they want to do? And are these

Janice Porter: 00:20:10

people already in a job job and want to get out of that job.

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:15

Some of them are some of our students.

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:19

There's a magic show. And he always wanted to have a magic

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:23

show. He started when he was a child. But now I want to bring

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:26

this dream into reality. Okay. And I think it's wonderful.

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:30

Yeah. And another student that loves cooking and thinking,

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:34

well, maybe I have a cooking series and start off, and then

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:38

maybe I'll be wrong cooking school. Everyone is different in

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:42

the program. So you have people that are working in the

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:44

industry, but they want to find something else, you know, their

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:48

own show, instead of working for the network. Okay, students who

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:52

are new? And when I say no, they don't, they're not working, but

Christine Blanchette: 00:20:57

they want to create something. And when I say something, can be

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:01

a show or presentation,

Janice Porter: 00:21:04

would you say that the type of students that

Janice Porter: 00:21:07

you have are shy? Like you were? Or are they? Are they

Janice Porter: 00:21:12

entrepreneurial to to begin with? Are they looking for a way

Janice Porter: 00:21:19

to be famous? Like, what what's?

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:23

Well, you know, what I would say they're

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:24

like, they have an entrepreneurial spirit. Because

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:27

they wouldn't be in the class if they weren't curious and finding

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:31

out information and right, and, and then, you know, like content

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:37

creators, like, when I say, Why do you want to be a content

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:41

creator? Is it for fame? Is it for this point, I show them a

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:46

documentary. And, and there's gotta be a reason it's not, it's

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:52

a lot of hard work. Yeah, there is a process like to everything.

Christine Blanchette: 00:21:57

But also knowing if it's going to be sane, you're not going to

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:00

get it journey, you may get it for a while, but it's not going

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:02

to last. Right? To be able to have like, a strong foundation,

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:08

I'll use it like running strong foundation. And it can apply to

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:12

business to foundation string. And then the top is your speed.

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:17

So I've taken that from the running room, I believe. So the

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:20

foundation, the strength and the speed. And I try to carry that.

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:24

And I always say dream it, build it believe it, you also have to

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:28

recognize and also repeat, recognize that this is not

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:32

serving you. And then you go back and see if you can tweak

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:35

it. Because the thing is, yes, I have my own shows, but not

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:40

everyone may not want to do do it, like continue on but they

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:45

can maybe do something on, you know, tick tock, instead of

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:49

having a podcast, they may change it. They, but everyone

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:53

has a presentation at the end of class or Okay. Which is awesome.

Christine Blanchette: 00:22:58

I'm just so inspirational for me.

Janice Porter: 00:23:02

So are they presenting their? Their? Their

Janice Porter: 00:23:06

shows? Okay.

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:09

And they're working hard. And smart.

Janice Porter: 00:23:13

Wait, so the presentation, is it on film?

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:16

Yes, they're going to present they're

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:17

going to present it. And, and they're going to, and I said you

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:22

do not have to have six episodes, you can have one or

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:25

two episodes and present it. Because I believe that you have

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:29

to start, do quality and then go from there. I'm not looking at

Christine Blanchette: 00:23:33

Bonnie, I'm looking at quality. Yes. So.

Janice Porter: 00:23:37

So I think and you've mentioned this word a

Janice Porter: 00:23:39

couple of times. And this is my favorite word. And that's being

Janice Porter: 00:23:42

curious curiosity. And I believe that that is such an important

Janice Porter: 00:23:51

trait to have. And yet I do ask people, usually at the end of my

Janice Porter: 00:23:58

podcast, do they believe that curiosity is innate or learned?

Janice Porter: 00:24:03

What do you think?

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:04

You know, it's such a great question. I

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:09

think we can learn it if we have the right relationships, but I

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:13

also think it's in your blood or in your DNA. Because I remember

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:18

as a little girl I wanted to, I'm curious about this. And I

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:22

think it was a book. Correct me if I'm curious, George? Yes. To

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:26

be mighty. Yeah, it used to be so interested in knowing why is

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:32

this why is that? And my parents used to. Never told me yet.

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:37

Well, my mom's passed, but But yes, I've always been curious.

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:42

Because it's just in me, but I don't know if that's the right.

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:45

I mean, I think it can be learned. But I was it's in my

Christine Blanchette: 00:24:49

DNA to

Janice Porter: 00:24:52

me to Absolutely. But you know, some people

Janice Porter: 00:24:54

believe one, particularly and some another, I think it's a bit

Janice Porter: 00:24:59

of both sometimes But so what are you most curious about these

Janice Porter: 00:25:02

days?

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:04

learning, learning from others? I think,

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:08

really the key ingredient is, is to really foster your

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:13

relationships, your business relationships or taking

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:16

professional development courses, I think is when you

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:19

know is when you don't know. I'm not sad. That's why I'm a

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:24

student too. And I think they were really generally speaking

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:28

like your student. Yes. Learning, I'm in this incubator

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:32

program. And I don't pretend to know it all. Because I'm still

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:35

learning. I think this will be put on this thing. Oh, I know

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:40

everything. No, we don't. We're never. That's what I'm doing.

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:45

I'm always trying to build building blocks, how can I help

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:49

you collaborate? How can I be a better human? And I think how

Christine Blanchette: 00:25:56

you do all that is never stop growing, never stop learning and

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:00

building those relationships, but authentically, because

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:02

sometimes, I listen to my intuition. If I if I may say, I

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:08

feel it doesn't feel right. I remember journalists and members

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:12

for news not gonna tell her her name. She said, Christine, be

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:15

the greatest thing. I'm just paraphrasing. Yeah. Doesn't mean

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:20

to do it. I've always listened to that voice. And I'm always

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:23

correct. What, what is that? I don't want to do this great

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:26

interview with this celebrity, or this great interview with

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:28

this person? Or why do I want to not buy this? Like, whatever,

Christine Blanchette: 00:26:32

you know, and when I don't when I do, listen, I'm very happy.

Janice Porter: 00:26:37

Yeah, I, I'm very big on intuition as well. That's

Janice Porter: 00:26:42

why I don't like to have lots of notes. But I like to go with the

Janice Porter: 00:26:46

flow of the conversation, because I'm curious enough that

Janice Porter: 00:26:49

I think I can carry it. And that's what makes it I find more

Janice Porter: 00:26:53

interesting for me. So and it's, it's all about me. No, just

Janice Porter: 00:26:57

kidding. It's just so like, I am a bit of a what would you call

Janice Porter: 00:27:03

it a pop culture person like I, I am not a, I think when I was a

Janice Porter: 00:27:08

kid in England, I was I, my first part of my little

Janice Porter: 00:27:13

childhood was in England. And I remember at that time, there, we

Janice Porter: 00:27:20

knew somebody who was, I think he was I don't know whether he

Janice Porter: 00:27:23

was a PR person, or an agent for a bunch of television people.

Janice Porter: 00:27:29

But he used to, we used to get to meet all these people. And I

Janice Porter: 00:27:33

was forever getting autographs of people. Right? That was a big

Janice Porter: 00:27:37

thing back then. So even back then I was kind of into that

Janice Porter: 00:27:40

edgy entertainment field. So I have to just ask you, from a

Janice Porter: 00:27:44

strictly selfish point of view, who is the most interesting

Janice Porter: 00:27:50

celebrity that you have interviewed?

Christine Blanchette: 00:27:53

Goodness. I would say I mean, oh, my

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:00

goodness, are all great, Janice. Um, I would say what I felt was

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:08

David Clayton Thomas. Oh, really? He was so

Janice Porter: 00:28:17

for those who may not even know who he is, what

Janice Porter: 00:28:19

was the name of the band? Oh, I know the songs spinning wheel is

Janice Porter: 00:28:24

the one that comes to my mind.

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:26

And you know, you've got goodness. Me

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:28

remember.

Janice Porter: 00:28:29

Isn't that funny, but he was the lead singer,

Janice Porter: 00:28:31

right. Singer. He

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:33

was so humble. And so when he was,

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:41

forgive me, I don't know the name tears.

Janice Porter: 00:28:45

Oh, just a minute. David Clayton, Thomas.

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:48

Sweat, sweat and tears. Yes. Plus, I

Christine Blanchette: 00:28:50

knew there was blood and sweat and tears. I said, you

Janice Porter: 00:28:53

did? Yeah. Spinning Wheel was the big song

Janice Porter: 00:28:56

that I remember. But yeah, yeah. So he was just a nice person,

Janice Porter: 00:29:00

like he was, was and it was during

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:02

the pandemic. And and I interviewed

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:04

him and he, he was just so we had such a great conversation.

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:09

And he was I mean, there's others twos who are listening,

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:14

like naked and breast cancer survivor. So many Jessika you

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:24

know, it's just yeah, so back to that. I mean, genocide. I'm

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:28

sorry, I'm going on here. But I just felt, you know, it gave me

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:33

it was so humble. It just felt very cool.

Janice Porter: 00:29:36

So the last thing I want to ask you about is I

Janice Porter: 00:29:38

think I heard somewhere that you might be writing a book.

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:42

Well, it is coming along. I'm a co author

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:45

of the pursuit three six by by Shelley Lynn Hughes. I'm in that

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:49

book called okay. But yes, I like to write a memoir. I I've

Christine Blanchette: 00:29:57

been asked to do it and And so stay tuned for more. Okay.

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:04

Before but it's it's like I'm not an author and I really

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:07

respect authors when I say my co author has not even so. But I

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:13

want your book to Janet's if your

Janice Porter: 00:30:15

book too. I listened I've, I've got chapters

Janice Porter: 00:30:18

in two books. And that's it. I've never really wanted to

Janice Porter: 00:30:21

write a book. I always wanted to talk to people.

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:25

Yes.

Janice Porter: 00:30:27

You probably have the one that I'm in. That was

Janice Porter: 00:30:30

Deb drumlins book.

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:32

Oh, yes. Yeah, I mean, that one. Yeah.

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:34

There's gonna be in 262.

Janice Porter: 00:30:37

Yeah, I think I might be too. As a matter of

Janice Porter: 00:30:39

fact, I'm talking to her today. Yeah. Anyway. So this has been

Janice Porter: 00:30:43

delightful. And I know that you're still as passionate about

Janice Porter: 00:30:48

running as you were right. Do you still run? Oh,

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:51

yes. And I can't wait till after today, I'm

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:54

going to be out there running and does a bit of fog, but I'm

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:56

not gonna let that stop me or rain. But if I do I take my

Christine Blanchette: 00:30:59

workouts in, you know, inside lift. Yes. So

Janice Porter: 00:31:04

you're still a health, health and wellness

Janice Porter: 00:31:10

proponent? And how long do you think you can run though? Like,

Janice Porter: 00:31:14

really? I mean, I'm good. My knees are good.

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:19

My knees are good. But however, I am

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:22

because I'm older now. When I feel I tweet, like in my IT

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:29

band, yeah, um, they will slow it down, Janice, or I'll do a

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:32

walk. I'll do my stretching. And then I and if I feel it's coming

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:37

on, I'll see a physiotherapist right away. Or a doctor always

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:40

say, you know, you may be running marathons. I'm not

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:43

running marathons anymore. But I'm still active. I'm still

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:46

running. So I can do like, generally speaking like an hour

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:50

and a half. That's my limit. I'm not into marathoning anymore.

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:56

Because I'm in a different chapter of my life right now.

Christine Blanchette: 00:31:59

And in that chapter being the book.

Janice Porter: 00:32:02

Yeah. Well, there are a lot of people in this city

Janice Porter: 00:32:05

that have been

Janice Porter: 00:32:11

influential in terms of running, right, and you're one of them,

Janice Porter: 00:32:16

and I'm trying to remember the girl's name that used to coach

Janice Porter: 00:32:20

on the Sunrun pages. Lynn Lynn. Yeah. What was her maiden name?

Janice Porter: 00:32:25

Oh,

Christine Blanchette: 00:32:27

she was Lynn Williams.

Janice Porter: 00:32:30

Lynn Williams. Right. And then yeah, then she

Janice Porter: 00:32:33

was an Olympic athlete. Was she not? Joining us? Oh, yeah, sure.

Janice Porter: 00:32:38

Yeah. Charmaine crooks? Yeah. Yeah, I met her a long time to

Janice Porter: 00:32:42

go. And then of course, Dr.

Christine Blanchette: 00:32:47

Diane Clemente implement.

Janice Porter: 00:32:49

Yeah. Yeah, chat time. Yeah. They've worked on a

Janice Porter: 00:32:54

lot for that industry in Vancouver. And in Canada in

Janice Porter: 00:32:57

general, right. Yeah. Amazing. So. So this is fun. For me. It's

Janice Porter: 00:33:03

all about people and finding out more about people that I've met.

Janice Porter: 00:33:07

And I'm so glad that you were free to come on my show. And I

Janice Porter: 00:33:12

appreciate your time here. And I do encourage my audience to go

Janice Porter: 00:33:17

find your shows run with it, and the closing act, and they're all

Janice Porter: 00:33:22

on YouTube, right? And on the Telus novice network, and what

Janice Porter: 00:33:26

was the other one? Oh,

Christine Blanchette: 00:33:29

optic TV and Zona TV got its own TV. And

Christine Blanchette: 00:33:32

I have a website run with a.ca. Right? Google my name.

Janice Porter: 00:33:37

Overtime through they'll find you for sure. So

Janice Porter: 00:33:40

thank you again, Christine, for being here. And any last words

Janice Porter: 00:33:44

for my audience? Well, I wanted

Christine Blanchette: 00:33:47

to thank you so much for your time,

Christine Blanchette: 00:33:49

Janice. Such great questions, and it was such a wonderful time

Christine Blanchette: 00:33:54

chatting with you today. Well,

Janice Porter: 00:33:55

it's my delight. Thank you again, and thank you

Janice Porter: 00:33:58

to my audience for being here. And remember, to stay connected,

Janice Porter: 00:34:02

and be remembered