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Cook (l) and her band play regularly
in the Toronto area |
Name: Nathalie Cook
Position: TSN VP/Sales & Brand Partnerships
Age: 52
Where I’m from: Montreal
Where I call home: Toronto
Focusing on right now: The Grey Cup coming up in Winnipeg and the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Best advice: It’s about asking. Ask for it. The worst someone can tell you is no. What I’ve found is that people wouldn’t even consider you for something until you raised your hand and said you wanted to put your hat in the ring for it. Sometimes we make assumptions that people know we’re interested in something, and they actually don’t.
A must for a new hire: I have a predisposition toward creative thinkers. In the end, the idea for me is what’s always going to win out. What’s going to be the point of difference and why are people going to want to do business with us? A lot of it is going to be around the creative strategic thinking you bring to the table on their behalf. I’m always on the lookout for folks who twist it, turn it around just a little bit.
Exec I most admire: I’ve admired STACEY ALLASTER my entire career. I’m really so admiring of her ability to have achieved the success from being a small-town Canadian girl to getting to the global stage like she has. I also admire her sense of knowing that it was time to take time. That’s really smart and courageous of her to do.
Best book I’ve read: "GIRL IN A BAND," which is KIM GORDON’s story, the founder of SONIC YOUTH. Maybe I related to her being a girl with a bunch of boys all the time -- I’m in a band called THE PEARL MOTEL. I’m a big music fan, too, so I just thought it was great. With my books, I’m old-school and like to crack the spine.
First thing in the morning: Coffee is definitely first. I don’t have to check on my kids anymore -- they’re grown -- so coffee and trade publications. I read all my clippings from all over the place and try to digest that before I get my day started. I pretty much get it all online now, unless I’m traveling when I might get offered a newspaper.
Talking tech: I’m very active on social media -- my daughter just recently taught me how to Snapchat, so that’s a whole new world I’m learning about. I’m a strong believer in social media. We just had a major election here, and again, from an industry perspective and staying tapped in, I love the ability to curate my streams and content. Those of us who work in media are bombarded all the time, so that’s a fantastic tool both professionally and from a general-interest perspective.
Must-have music: LUCINDA WILLIAMS is probably my fave -- I love her. SHOVELS & ROPE, PATTY GRIFFIN, that genre. In our band, we play a lot of original music. That’s my way to get out of my work mind and do something completely different.
Food for thought: I love to cook when I have time. Like everybody, we’re trying to eat healthier and being conscious about not binging out like we used to. Toronto has a great food scene -- we have the best Greek, Iranian, Peruvian, Mexican, Italian, etc., Toronto is such a multicultural city. We’re spoiled not only with restaurants but also with grocery stores where we can get the ingredients you need to cook any type of cuisine. My favorite is an Indian place called Pukka that’s just down the street. You can smell it about five houses away and it just sucks you in.
How I unwind: Our playing music is a good stress reliever. For years, my husband and I drove our daughters to soccer tournaments across the province, and all of a sudden when they grew up we had more free time. So my husband being a musician, one thing led to another, and now we play pretty regularly around time. It’s a good way to use the other side of my brain. I sing and play percussion.
Day in the life: The NHL media deal allowed us to move to TSN 5 quicker than we would have -- it went from TSN 1 and 2 to TSN 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. That was really based on offering consumers choice. What we said was, “OK, if Rogers is going to be in the NHL, we’re going to be across the board with all sports.” We really went broad in offering that sort of choice to our fans and consumers. TSN Radio signed a deal with the NFL recently, and our interest there is significant. Although not surprisingly, baseball is top of mind here at the moment -- but the NFL is a massive play for us with our partners here, as is the CFL.
