The Art of War: Empire Building for the Ambitious with Moses Znaimer, Media Pioneer & Owner, ZoomerMedia

There are few industries where an entrepreneur can develop more battle scars than the media business, particularly as the industry reels from disruption after disruption as the world goes mobile.
To say that Moses Znaimer is a media pioneer is to vastly understate the innovation and creativity that he has brought to his businesses. Founder of some 20 popular television channels and stations including CityTV and MuchMusic, in 2008 Marketing Magazine named Moses one of the Top 10 Canadian Media Moguls of the Past 100 Years.

He recently acquired the broadcasting assets of the Vision TV Group and also made headlines in trying to salvage the struggling Sun News Network. Currently he is the Founder and CEO of ZoomerMedia Limited, a unique multi-
media company devoted to Canada’s (large and wealthy) aging demographic.

About the Series
Playing with the theses in Sun Tzu’s book on military strategy, we engage prominent business leaders in conversation around how they have successfully (and unsuccessfully) used these tactics. We also dig deep into the raw, emotional side of leadership, exploring how each have worked through their own vulnerabilities, fears and personal challenges.
The format is an unadulterated, engaging conversation with the speaker and then a dynamic Q&A with the audience. For those who want more, they can participate in a small private roundtable dinner with the speaker to round out the evening.

Monday, March 23, 2015 The Rennie Group
Wing Sang Gallery
51 East Pender Street

4:00 pm Registration
4:30 pm Conversation with Q&A
5:30 pm Cocktails & Networking
6:30 pm (Optional) Private Roundtable Dinner with Speaker at L’Abbatoir (20 ppl)

$99 – Program Ticket 
$350 – Program & Dinner Ticket 
Online: Purchase Tickets
Email: anna@leahcostello.com
Phone: 604-227-3563 

Democracy & Human Rights:Why Canadians Should Care about China with Martin Lee 

Founding Chairman, Democratic Party of Hong Kong

Friday, March 13, 2015

The Vancouver Club

UBC Room, 3^rd Floor 
11:45 am  Registration & Casual Lunch 
12:15 pm  Presentation & Discussion 
1:30 pm   Wrap Up
Online: www.leahcostello.com
Phone: 604-227-3563

$55 per ticket, plus GST

Please register in advance:

Email: anna@leahcostello.com

China’s status as an economic powerhouse has shone the light of the world on its record of democracy and human rights. The most honest information channel on these issues remains open via Hong Kong, whose own democratic status requires continuous vigilance and defense.

In today’s interconnected global environment, China’s actions internally and towards Hong Kong have implications not only for the large Canadian population living there, but also externally in regions where values are imported through investment, trade and immigration.

The relationship between the rule of law, democracy and the devolution of centralized power should be of concern to every global citizen who practises democracy and cares about its future. How can we best defend and promote these very Canadian values?

About the Speaker

At the forefront of the Chinese democracy-building movement has been Martin Lee, founding chair of Hong Kong’s largest and most popular political party, and a directly-elected legislator for 23 years.

A prominent and controversial figure on the international stage, Lee’s call for the overthrow of mainland China’s leadership in regards to their human rights record has led to a ban on him visiting mainland China. Officials in Beijing have labeled him a “running dog of the colonialists” while human rights activists have named him the “father of democracy”.

Lee has been awarded the International Human Rights Award by the American Bar Association, the Prize For Freedom by the Liberal International, the Democracy Award by the United States' National Endowment for Democracy and as the first non-European to receive the Schuman Medal from the European Peoples Party and European Democrats.

$55 per ticket, plus GST

Please register in advance:
Online: www.leahcostello.com

Email: anna@leahcostello.com
Phone: 604-227-3563
Gifttool: 

Featured Events for 2015

(VAN) Nicholas Nassim Taleb The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Monday, April 20, 2015 The Fairmont Pacific Rim “The Black Swan changed my view of how the world works.” – Daniel Kahneman “Idiosyncratically brilliant.” – Niall Ferguson Nassim Taleb has devoted his life to immersing himself in problems of luck, randomness, human error, probability and the philosophy of knowledge. He specializes in uncertainty and errors in human knowledge, teaching us how to deal with and benefit from unpredictability. Making a living out of human's misunderstanding of uncertainty, he both predicted the economic crisis that started in 2008 while making a personal fortune out of it. Named one of Bloomberg’s 2011 “50 Most Influential People”, his Black Swan idea is currently inspiring research in the fields of philosophy, statistics, psychology, economics, medical research, epidemiology, political science and engineering. His latest book Antifragilityintroduces the idea of how to exploit disorder and chaos and benefit from Black Swans. (VAN) Dr. Craig Venter Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to Digital Life Wednesday, June 17, 2015 (Date TBC) The Fairmont Pacific Rim “[Venter is] the Voice of Innovation” – BusinessWeek “Either he is one of this era's most electrifying scientists, or he's one of the most maddening.” — Washington Post Known globally for being the first to sequence the human genome, in 2010 scientists led by Dr. Venter became the first to successfully create “synthetic life”. This put humankind at the threshold of the most important and exciting phase of biological research; one that will enable us to actually write the genetic code for designing new species to help us adapt and evolve for long-term survival. The science of synthetic genomics will have a profound impact on human existence, including chemical and energy generation, health, clean water and food production, environmental control and possibly even our evolution. In Life at the Speed of Light, Venter presents a fascinating and authoritative study of this emerging field from the inside—detailing its origins, current challenges and controversies, and projected effects on our lives. This scientific frontier provides an opportunity to ponder anew the age-old question “What is life?” and examine what we really mean by “playing God.” Life at the Speed of Light is a landmark work, written by a visionary at the dawn of a new era of biological engineering.

Leah Costello Chief Ideas Curator Curious Mind Productions Inc.

Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy

It's hard to express how delighted I am to be hosting the dynamic John Wood for the launch of his new book Creating Room to Read. Not only will he describe his success stories in spreading literacy around the world, but will share his unique model which uses business practices to strengthen his charitable work.

Check out this recent article about him in the Globe & Mail...

If you share our passion for books, learning, and literacy, please join us for an inspirational evening (and bring your friends)! You can register here - I hope to see you there! 

John Wood Former Microsoft Executive The Fairmont Pacific Rim Monday, February 18, 2013 5:30 pm  Registration & Reception 6:00 pm  Speaker with Q&A 7:00 pm  Reception 7:30 pm  Private Dinner with tax receipt (Optional) “A refreshing reminder of the power of libraries—their ability to transform individual lives and strengthen communities.” -Melinda Gates “John Wood is building a global movement around literacy and gender equality. Creating Room to Read offers a blueprint for transforming lives…and eventually the world.” -Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook Social entrepreneur and founder of Room to Read, John Wood talks about theleaps-and-bounds growth of the award-winning non-profit he started after leaving an executive position with Microsoft. From pushing forward with a new library in post-tsunami Sri Lanka to embarking into new territory in Africa, John takes you on a journey on how Room to Read started as a fledging start-up and in twelve short years became an enormously successful global organization thatimpacts more than 7 million children worldwide through its innovative literacy programs. People at the highest levels of finance, government, and philanthropy will embrace the opportunity to learn Wood's inspiring business model and blueprint for doing good. And general readers will loveCreating Room to Read for itsspellbinding story of one man's mission to put books within every child's reach.

Afghanistan's Fawzia Koofi to visit Vancouver

Every once in a while, a rare opportunity comes along to meet someone who is making history; defining the course of people's lives now and for many generations into the future.


One of those people is Fawzia Koofi. While not a household name here in Canada, her actions and leadership are changing the lives of many in Afghanistan. If you believe in the ripple effect, she's changing lives here too. A well-known activist for democracy and human rights, she's one of the growing number of Afghan women who are standing up to fight for their future, in a society often warped by tradition and war. 

Condoleeza Rice with Fawzia Koofi

She's Afghanistan's most popular female politician, and the first female Deputy Speaker of the Parliament in her country. She was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and will run for President of Afghanistan in 2014. That is, if she can survive the extremists that dominate politics in this region. She's challenged Hamid Karzai to take a stronger position on human rights before conceding to Taliban insurgents - resulting in the murder of one of her aides just months ago and numerous attempts on her own life. 


She's coming to Vancouver on June 6th to talk about Afghanistan, politics, religion, and her own, very personal experiences. I'm thrilled to be hosting her for two events that day: 


Lunch at the Vancouver Club - REGISTER HERE
11:45 am - 1:45 pm
For the business crowd at lunch, her presentation will focus on the political dynamics at play inside Afghanistan; where the country is headed as involvement from the international community evolves. 


What forces are shaping the political leadership - how influential are the religious extremists? What is the relationship between Afghanistan and its neighbours? How do these dynamics influence us in the West, in terms of energy, security, and economics? 


If you're downtown, this is a great opportunity to host your colleagues and clients for a stimulating presentation. More information and registration details for the lunch event are here.


An Evening at the Kay Meek Centre - REGISTER HERE
7:30 - 9:00 pm
In the evening, I will be hosting her for a larger public event at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver. We'll have a little more time, so she'll be broadening her talk to include more of her personal experiences as detailed in her recently published memoir Letters to My Daughters.


"In it, Ms. Koofi describes unflinchingly the wreckage she witnessed at the hands of Afghans of all ideologies and clans: the domestic violence that was a mundane part of family life, gang rape, the burning of a Kabul mosque where dozens of women had sought shelter during the civil war, and the public humiliation and beatings meted out casually by the Taliban."  - An excerpt from a recent Globe & Mail article.


More information and details about how to register for the evening event are here, but read on for a small preview of her story:

On the day Fawzia Koofi was born, her mother set her under the blazing Afghanistan sun to die. The 19th child of 23 in a family with seven wives, her mother did not want another daughter. Despite severe burns that lasted into her teenage years, Koofi survived and became the favourite child.

In Letters to My Daughters, Koofi tells her remarkable life story, one marked by a fierce passion to better the world around her. Koofi''s father was an incorruptible politician strongly attached to Afghan tradition. When he was murdered by the mujahadeen, her illiterate mother decided to send the ten year-old girl to school, and as the civil war raged, Koofi dodged bullets and snipers to attend class, determined to be the first person in her family to receive an education.

Koofi went on to marry a man she loved and they had two cherished daughters, Shohra and Shaharzad. Tragically, the arrival of the Taliban spelled an end to her freedom. Outraged and deeply saddened by the injustice she saw around her, and by the tainting of her Islamic faith, she discovered politics herself.

And thinking about her upcoming visit, this quote really struck me:

"Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people."
- Henry Miller


I hope to see you in June!