Kinzie
Digital Diva
As the digital market continues its rapid expansion, few
executives in Asia have surfed at the crest of the wave with as much
stamina as Kinzie. Today, she draws on all of her accumulated experience in
non-profits, multinational corporations, agencies, small businesses and industry
associations when advising clients. Her primary objective is zero-cost marketing
: empowering clients
with skills for using digital technologies and grow their business through
targeted communications, saving time, money and trees … naturally.
Kinzie's achievements include launching the Asia Cable &
Satellite Directory in 1995 which is now published by The Cable & Satellite
Broadcasting Association as the
CASBAA Asia Pacific TV Directory. This led to her being headhunted by an
executive recruitment firm as one of Asia’s first broadcast media specialists.
She went on to work for CASBAA, recruiting members and organizing events around
the region before setting up her own business,
Connections Unlimited in 2000. In 2008, she launched advertising sales for
the
Asia Digital Marketing Association and attracted Yahoo!, eBay, McCann
Worldgroup, USA Today, Time Inc & Fortune and Adobe as initial advertisers in
The ADMA Yearbook.
Since completing her University degree (University of
Saskatchewan, 1984) in Consumer Studies, she always kept the customer in
mind when developing communications tools and strategies for clients. In
the absence of fax machines and computers at the beginning of her career,
Kinzie mastered cut-and-paste methods with the office typewriter. The
arrival of PC's in the late 80's automated the process and triggered a
passion for technology, discovering the latest tricks and finding the most
efficient solution to any problem. Having worked as the one responsible
for all areas of marketing and communications in non-profits with limited
or no budgets, Kinzie developed an innovative approach, relying on
creativity and stretching existing resources for maximum results --
recycling at every opportunity.
An early email adopter,
on her first day of work as a headhunter in 1996,
Kinzie ignored her new employer’s protests and crawled under her desk to
install a 56K dial-up modem she brought from home. Using her newly created
email format for candidate interviews, she leveraged her industry network
to build a successful regional broadcast division for the company with
clients such as
Turner Broadcasting,
Disney,
Sony,
CNBC,
BBC,
Discovery,
ESPN,
HBO,
MGM,
MTV,
Reuters,
Astro,
HK Telecom (PCCW)
and
STAR TV.
Morgan & Banks was acquired in 1999 by
TMP/Monster.com.
Active until the association terminated individual membership in 2000, Kinzie was an original
CASBAA
member of the Conference Committee and she went on to work for in 1998 as
Director of Membership & Committee Affairs. Working alongside the
Executive Director on a staff of 2, she designed and developed the
original CASBAA website and organized events (Regional Advertising
Seminars, China Cable Conference in Beijing,
Annual Convention) and sold corporate memberships and sponsorships to
the international television industry. During this time, she expanded her
network of Asia broadcast industry executives to include
National Geographic,
ACNielsen,
Hallmark,
Nickelodeon,
GE,
Bloomberg,
CBS,
CMT,
E!,
Digicomm,
Hughes DirecTV,
NDS,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers,
AsiaSat,
Shiniwatra,
PanAmSat,
Scientific-Atlanta/Cisco,
and
TVSN.
Seeking a new challenge, Kinzie established her own
business in 2000, setting up candidate retention strategies for Korn
Ferry’s online property (FutureStep)
and devised a revenue model too late for SportsNetGlobal, one of the era’s dot flops. She regionalized digital news releases and headed a China cable research project for
Tandberg Television, one of the industry’s leading digital broadcasting equipment providers.
Giving in to her longing for life balance, she combined marketing experience with digital desires and founded heartbeat in 2001, consolidating information for urban professionals exploring natural life in the fast lane. She self-publishes the website, weekly email newsletter and The Hong Kong Natural Life Directory, a print publication with 10% of sales donated to planting trees in the territory. She is a regular contributor to
magazine and has been published in
Parenting Magazine and the
SCMP.
Having arrived in Hong Kong in 1992 armed with 8 years of
Canadian non-profit experience, Kinzie had entered the corporate world and
learned business Chinese-style. Getting dropped in the deep end at a small
agency, she headed up PR for
Levis Strauss (FE) Ltd retail openings and entered the world of
technology writing ISO9002 releases for Hongkong Telecom, now
PCCW, and then accepted a contract to set up a marketing department
for Jimmy’s Kitchen Group (now owned by
The Epicurean Group) and oversee their expansion into 8 new Hong Kong
properties. This early experience provided the solid foundation for
building her company, Connections Unlimited.
www.kinzie.com
the one and only
BEGINNING : Kinzie was born with a passion for all things natural,
growing up close to nature in a rural farming environment. After completing a Consumer Studies degree in
1984, early work
experience
included non-profits, NGO's and community arts and youth organizations. The arrival of computers and desktop publishing improved productivity so new digital tools were quickly mastered as they became available. Kinzie arrived in Hong Kong in 1992 a seasoned communications professional. Adapting to Asia and learning business Chinese style included a fast-forward shift into life in the fast lane -- work hard, play hard.
TRANSITION : Emergency spinal surgery with complications and the threat of paralysis resulted in a lifestyle overhaul. Independent contracting seemed the logical solution after being released from a job on the first day back after surgery. It was the 2000 dot-com boom and all the new jobs on offer required a 24/7 commitment. Balancing rehabilitation with crazy start-up hours was not an option. The solution was to set up as an independent contractor and an advisory
business was born.
INNOVATION : Following a new personal interest in health and a long-held respect for the nature, Kinzie began exploring the natural products and services available in the local market.
With a passion for networking and a love of communications, Kinzie became the go-to person for everything natural in Hong Kong.
Email publishing offered a practical solution for responding to multiple requests in weekly batches with a bonus list of events, links, news and articles.
The weekly e-newsletter was born in October of 2001.
SUCCESS : Through regular contact with businesses and customers, Kinzie soon identified a gap in the market for natural information. In 2003, the first edition of The Hong Kong Natural Life Directory was self-published and 10,000 free copies were picked up in a matter of weeks. A committed DIY diva, Kinzie then learnedbasic programming and launched the heartbeat website in response to an email enquiry.
The business continues to expand organically and new technologies are adopted as quickly as Kinzie can master the tools, experimenting with their application in heartbeat and offering the resulting expertise to clients.
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