Who are you?

I’m Paul Nixey. I live in Vancouver’s West End, and own a scrappy little communications agency called Nixey Communications. We work with non-profits, progressive companies and public figures to help tell their stories, and have a strict no-working-with-jerks policy.

My boyfriend is also named Paul, which is occasionally confusing at cocktail parties. In my mid-twenties, I was a television personality on a ridiculous South Korean game show called ‘SURPRISE!’

What do you do for fun?

I obsess over spelling errors on restaurant menus, watch PVR’d House of Commons Question Period sessions (and lament over why Canada’s is never as good as the UK’s Prime Minister’s Questions), and serve on the Board of Directors at the Vancouver Friends For Life Society.

Friends For Life provides complementary and alternative health services to people living with life-threatening illnesses, and operates the Diamond Centre for Living in the West End. I travel to warm places as often as possible, and sign up for at least one half-marathon each year. I have yet to run a half-marathon.

What is your Favourite Community? Why?

The city! It’s jammed full of people, it’s where arts and culture thrives, and where innovation and ideas happen. In Vancouver’s downtown, you can ride your bike from a meeting in the business district to a coffee shop in the West End, and see ten people you know along the way. I get nervous if I can’t see skyscrapers.

What is your Superpower?

I connect people with good ideas.

How do you use it to Build Community?

As often as possible, I put a bunch of smart people in the same room, and get the hell out of the way. Occasionally, this is an excellent (if accidental) business strategy. Mostly, it’s a way of ensuring that the people around me meet new people who are producing excellent work an helping in their own communities. The lines between the business and the personal are blurring more and more each day; I believe that social networks – both on and off-line – are going to be the community-builders of the future.

My Three Favourite Things About Paul are…

1. He’s didn’t drink the political koolaid. Nixey is a politically motivated fellow. He’s done a lot of work on various campaigns, particularly in Vancouver Centre where he’s worked closely with Hedy Fry and her team election after election. Like many political operatives (oh, I know that sounds dark and backroomish), Nixey is a strong believer in political engagement and the importance of politics in civic society. But he’s also a realist. When a someone does something that pisses him off he’s not afraid to talk about it. No glassy eyed “repeat after the fearless leader’s mantra” here. In my mind, that’s the best sort of person to have on your side. Someone who’ll work hard to get you elected, talk politics late into the night and call bullshit if he sees policy or a party member doing something it/they shouldn’t.

2. His entrepreneurship. Word on the street is Nixey was a bit of a wiz-kid in the Starbucks world (Editors Note: I refuse to buy any Starbucks coffee on the theory that the brand is positioning itself to become the monopoly of all things “coffee shop” by 2020). Fortunately for all us Starbucks-haters, he’s no longer working branding magic behind the scenes. Now he runs his own communications shop doing great work for a handful of amazing non-profit organizations. In fact, his work has been so good that business has increased enough to justify him opening the doors to a new office off Davie Street above the Fountainhead Pub. Starting your own communications shop can be  a risky move. It requires balls and Nixey’s got those. It also requires real skill to manage all the business requirements – things like HR, accounting, business development. It’s impressive and definitely a favorite thing!

3. Sense of Humor. Nixey is one funny fellow. Don’t believe me? Ask the casting director of “Surprise” the South Korean game show he acted on. Pretty sure he knocked that guy’s socks off. Or you can talk to the dozens of Westenders, Gay community members, business clients, Liberals and Visionistas that Nixey connects with on a daily basis.