Who are you?
I’m Rochelle and I’m the CEO of BookRiff. What that means first and foremost is that I focus on delivering rockin’ digital media and social experiences that make lots of money for content owners, creators and contributors, AND that are fun and flexible for consumers! And, believe me, that’s no easy feat!
I also take care of many things in finance and business – building business relationships, making deals, analyzing the market, exploring new revenue models, speaking at conferences … that kind of stuff. I like to make sure BookRiff is a lean, mean, moneymaking machine! All this can be summed up in one famous statement by one infamous movie star: Show me the money!
I’m no newbie to the business or tech worlds. I hold an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy from the University of Chicago, as well as Master Certifications in Product Development Management and Business Facilitation. My career has taken me from New York to Chicago to Silicon Valley and now to Vancouver, Canada.
I was born in New York City, grew up in beautiful Tübingen, Germany, (and yes, I speak fluent German and Swabian German! ;-), and have been enjoying Canada for over 10 years! As a result, I consider the US, Canada and Germany all “home”. I don’t fit into “boxes” well and have learned that my uniqueness is, in fact, one of my Superpowers!
For fun, I am the lead singer in a 15-piece big band called Paper Moon. We sing music from the 1920s to 1950s. It’s a wonderful group and we are all doing it because we love music!
Recently, I have also started to get into the Vancouver “Way of Life” and have been adding more athletic activities to my schedule. I started running for the first time in my life in January 2011 and successfully complete my first 10K race at the Vancouver Sun Run in April 2011. I am also now training for my first triathlon in July 2011 (well, the Sprint Triathlon 😉 We’ll see how that goes!
What is your favourite community? Why?
I am part of so many amazing communities that it is hard to pick just one! I would say that I LOVE being part of the “creative industries” community. This includes technology startups and entrepreneurs, filmmakers, TV producers, publishers, video gamers, artists, students and of course, musicians! While I am a business gal at heart, I truly love working with (and around) creatives in all forms!
I am convinced that much of our future will be driven by the vision and ideas of creative people and if I can help shepherd those ideas and dreams to fruition, I’ll be very happy!
What is your superpower?
My superpower is engaging and motivating others around new ideas and initiatives! I love hearing new ideas and then going out and getting others to buy into those ideas and to create something special, new and unique! I am a high energy person (who also loves to wear bright coloured clothes 😉 and I love sparking new ideas and seeing where and how they grow!
I love to go where there is a bit of chaos and disruption and then I like to create some order. But, once everything is working smoothly, I tend to move on and to find the next burgeoning idea and venture. As I’ve often said, I’m a great CEO from “birth to young adulthood”. Once a company can more or less function on its own and it is more focused on tweaking operations for efficiency, I loose interest and am off working on the next new business model to pursue!
How do you use it to build community?
In hearing new ideas, I am often able to synthesize them down to their core essence, which allows me to go out to larger audiences and show them why this is something of interest and importance. Building community is very much about understanding the needs of your audience and delivering information in ways that resonate with them. That is something that I find quite easy to do and this “simplification process” allows me to distill often complex ideas into bite-sized nuggets that are easily “digestible” and more importantly, go viral!
For me, building community is all about listening to what people have to say and then synthesizing that information and showing everyone in the community where all the commonalities and common points of interest exist. In essence, it’s about building cohesiveness with a huge helping of enthusiasm and creativity!
My Three Favourite Things About Rochelle Are…
1. Energetic Style. You can see, hear and feel Rochelle coming from far away. She is bright, bubbly, fun, and simply projects the most wonderful positive energy. This is fantastically reflected by her neon outfits, which – as Rochelle will tell you – rise to the top of the fashion-world’s heirarchy (or “come back in style”) every 10 years.
But I digress…
When you have a conversation – or interaction of any kind – with Rochelle you leave feeling great.
2. Business Savvy Beyond the Cutting Edge. As Rochelle says, she cannot be defined by – or put into – the traditional boxes of business and technology. She transcends them. Or makes her own. And, in my humble opinion, I think she’s someone who looks at the world from about 10 years in the future, which makes her a great CEO. Google her to find out more.
3. Helpful, Assertive, Amazing Teacher. I’ve taken three or four classes with Rochelle – all the topics have been on new media – and she is an absolutely fantastic teacher. Her slide decks are crisp and engaging, she asks great questions, her assignments are simple and effective, and she gets the most out of her class – everyone leaves having learned something new. I’ve also been inspired by how Rochelle – with kind assertiveness – can get a potentially tangential conversation/diatribe back on track in no time flat. If you want to teach students or your team of professionals about engaging clients and/or your company’s employees through new media, hire Rochelle today!
As told by JCH…