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Episode 77 - Dr. Harbir Sian On The Power Hour

How can you build your personal brand while remaining authentic? Join Dr. Harbir Sian as he takes the hot seat opposite Dr. Bethany Fishbein (CEO of the Power Practice) of the Power Hour Optometry podcast. Together, they discuss how to build a personal brand and why it is important for professionals in all industries. Dr. Harbir shares the story of how he started sharing and building a community in optometry by educating his audience about the industry. Be re-introduced to his mission and his purpose for the podcast. Tune into this episode and learn more about the voice behind the show.How can you build your personal brand while remaining authentic? Join Dr. Harbir Sian as he takes the hot seat opposite Dr. Bethany Fishbein (CEO of the Power Practice) of the Power Hour Optometry podcast. Together, they discuss how to build a personal brand and why it is important for professionals in all industries. Dr. Harbir shares the story of how he started sharing and building a community in optometry by educating his audience about the industry. Be re-introduced to his mission and his purpose for the podcast. Tune into this episode and learn more about the voice behind the show.

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Dr. Harbir Sian On The Power Hour

Thank you so much for taking the time as always to join me here to learn and grow. I am truly grateful and appreciative of all the support as the show has been growing. I have been connecting with people and learning about who is reading, what they like and when they are tuning in. All these things have been incredibly humbling. Thank you for all the support. As always, I would ask you to please continue to support. If you like the content and find value, please share it with someone. Leave a review, a comment and a like. All those amazing things that you have been doing, I truly appreciate all of that.

For this episode, I am going to share an interview that I did on another show called the Power Hour, which is one of the longest-running, most well-known optometry-related shows. It is something that I have been listening to for years. I was honored to be on the show and speak with Dr. Bethany Fishbein who is the CEO of The Power Practice, an amazing and well-known consulting firm in the US. We talked about building a brand and the value of building a brand for an optometrist and healthcare professional and how I went about building a brand for myself and our clinics.

What I wanted to share here was a reintroduction of myself to the readers of this show. By sharing this interview, you get to learn about me. For all the new readers or the people who have joined in over the last couple of years reading this show who do not know me that well, this is going to give you a chance to meet me and learn about me and how I got into optometry in the first place. I hope you love it. Please do check out the Power Hour. They put out amazing content. Stick with us here at the show. We are going to come out with amazing new interviews. I hope you enjoy this one. I will talk to you real soon.

At Power Practice, we talk a lot about helping optometrists achieve their dreams. When we ask clients or potential clients what their dreams and goals are, typically, people give us their goals for their office like, “I want to have a $3 million or $5 million practice. I want to collect this much, net this much and have this many staff.” We try to get people to think about their goals beyond the office, not only for what they want their practice to be but what they want for themselves, their contribution to their profession and the world. It is always a pleasure to talk to somebody who is making a big impact beyond the exam room.

My guest is Dr. Harbir Sian. He is an owner of 2 practices in British Columbia, 1 private practice and 1 sublease. He is a podcast host of The 20/20 Podcast, has done a TEDx Talk, author of many articles and has appearances on TV. I learned that his most important job of all is being a dad to his two daughters. You are making it happen. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk in this episode.

Bethany. thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.

To people who are thinking about creating content in some ways, often, we create our own barriers.

It’s my pleasure. I got to know about you through LinkedIn where you have a very active presence. In this episode, I want to talk about building that personal brand. Before that, I am interested to know about your path. How did you find your way initially to optometry?

How I found my way into optometry is not that exciting. People ask that question because a lot of times, we like to hear these stories that have some passion behind them. My mom’s vision was terrible. I wanted to go into this field to help people with that. Towards the end of my undergrad, I was trying to make a calculated decision about which profession would suit me best. I volunteered or shadowed a bunch of different professionals, including optometry, pharmacy and MD. Optometrists seem like the profession that aligned with my personality the best. Speaking with the optometrist, they tend to be laid back. None of them were that type A, which I am not.

One optometrist in particular, Dr. Amrit Pawa here in Vancouver, when I sat in the exam room with him, it was such a cool experience. It did not feel like the doctor-patient. It felt like two people connecting and conversing at the same time. One of them happened to be helping the other person with their vision and eyes. I felt like that interaction resonated with me. It was not a very clinical experience but more of a personal experience. That is what I like to try to emulate at work as well. When I was applying to optometry school, there is one word that sticks with me. I do not know where it came from but when I was filling out these applications, I would always write that I want to be an advocate for the profession or an ambassador for the profession.

I am not sure how I knew that when I was 21, still in undergrad and doing undergrad things. Somehow when I came out of optometry, right away, I started writing blogs, which I had never written blogs before, and emailing friends. They would send those emails to their friends because it was a fun fact about eyes. I kept that up for a couple of years and then I started making YouTube videos, Instagram and then the podcast. It snowballed and grew.

The underlying theme from all of it has been to somehow advocate for the profession, educate the public and let them know that as an optometrist, I am not simply spinning dials and giving you a pair of glasses. There is so much more to what we do on the health side of things and the education side of things. That has been the driving force behind some of the things that you listed off the top of the TEDx Talk, the podcast and everything else.

When you started doing that and you are writing these blogs, did you have a practice at that time that you were promoting?

No. At that time, I was working as an associate.

Were you doing just blogging personally or for any promotion? Is this a personal passion that you had?

TTTP 77 Dr. Harbir | Personal Brand

Personal Brand: It's just simply for the sake of education and for the betterment, hopefully, of the profession because there are a lot of forces out there that are creating friction or difficulty for our profession to move forward.

Yes. We talk about personal branding. Looking back on those years, I was personal branding before I knew what it was. I was writing these blogs simply from Harbir to the world about eyes. I look back and I do not know for sure but perhaps I thought that it was going to help me gain more patients somehow. I was doing it to educate. That was the number one driving force.

That genuine desire comes through in what you do. People are hit with so much self-promotion from all over, which is disguised as education. People can see through it. One of the things I have noticed about the articles and the TEDx Talk is you are putting information out there in such a genuine way that it builds trust. It is not something you intentionally came to because of how it started and that is who you are.

I am glad it comes off that way. If there is some other ulterior motive, I try to make it clear if I am speaking on behalf of a company or something like that. Otherwise, it is simply for the fact of education and the betterment, hopefully, of the profession. There are a lot of forces out there that are creating friction or difficulty for our profession to move forward. Some things are happening here in BC that we are not necessarily fighting but we are trying to rally the whole profession to make sure we can still stay strong in the long-term and not let these other forces diminish and devalue the profession. That is where most of the energy comes from.

When you were in school, you came to the profession thinking, “I met this optometrist. I like this optometrist. I could be him.” Where did you start to realize that the public had this misperception or would benefit from this additional education on what it is that we do as ODs?

It was right before I officially graduated. In May of 2010, there was a big thing that happened here in BC, big deregulation of eye care forced by an online company called Clearly.ca. They are a BC-based business but they are huge. They forced the government to make a change where they deregulated everything. People could go online and buy glasses or contacts without a valid prescription. Without seeing an optometrist, they could go ahead and do that.

That is the biggest thing that our industry has faced out here. It shook the whole profession and everybody was nervous and anxious. That was the impetus for me to get out there. I was trying to figure out how I could contribute at that point as a student or a very new grad. I thought that putting the word out there and educating the public was the best thing I could do. That is where it started.

You intended to go back and practice in Canada all along. You are from British Columbia and went all the way across North America and down the country to go to New England College of Optometry. Did you intend to go back and practice in BC?

Yes, 100%. There was never a doubt in my mind. I skipped residency for that fact because my singular goal is to come back to Vancouver and open my practice. I did not need anything else to get in my way. As far as moving to Boston, geographically, the closest optometry school is in Oregon, Pacific University. I was accepted there. I am a city guy and I did not realize it until that moment. I went down and was like, “This is a very nice campus but tell me where the stores, pubs, bars and nice places are.”

“The obstacle is the way.”

They are like, “You have to drive 45 minutes to Portland for all of that.” That was not my jam. In Canada, the only English-speaking school is in Waterloo, which is also a fairly small college town. It then came down to between Chicago and Boston. I loved Boston sports and everything. Something resonated with me there.

When you started with these blog posts, what content were you putting in there? Was it thought out and strategized or was it, “This is what is on my mind this time?”

It was the latter and that is how I live my life. I am not the most strategic person and a person who plans a whole lot. Although as you get older with businesses and family, you are forced to. I like to do a lot of things on a whim and off the cuff. That is what the blog was like. I would say, “Every Wednesday, I am going to release a blog.” Tuesday night I would sit down and say, “What am I going to write about?” I did not realize how much I enjoyed writing or trying to express myself through writing.

I tried to make it relatable and fun. A lot of times, I try to bring pop culture into it. There was a rap lyric from a Lil Wayne song or Snoop Dogg that said something or a hockey player got hit in the eye with a puck. I would write about these types of things and how they are relevant to eye care. I would try to make them fun like that. That resonated with a lot of people and it was fun for me too. I was not writing dry.

Did you work to build your audience or did it build organically because people were interested in what you were doing?

It was organically. I did not do any promotional stuff other than I did send these out in emails but I did not work to necessarily grow my email list. Naturally, those emails were getting forwarded from people on to other people. You could see the numbers on the blog increasing month after month. Certain blogs got a lot more attention than others but it grew naturally. I was doing it without thinking about its growth. I was doing it to put the education out there. I could have leveraged that growth more and use it for other things or actively grown it but I let it do its thing.

The podcast evolved from there. How did it happen?

TTTP 77 Dr. Harbir | Personal Brand

Personal Brand: If there's an obstacle that you perceive to block your path, don't try to go in a different way. Let's just find out what that obstacle is and figure it out.

There were a few steps in between. The blogs led to YouTube videos. I am fortunate to have good people around me who give me honest feedback or good advice in general. One of my closest friends said, “You should be doing YouTube.” This was back in 2012. YouTube had been around for a few years but had not blown up yet the way it has. I started making videos that I found fun and interesting. I started making these videos. I created an alter ego or a second character that I called Dr. Eyenstein. He did not talk but he was dressed up professor-like with glasses, a bow tie and a white coat. I had me who was doing most of the talking most of the time but he was the comedic relief in those videos.

One thing I have known for a long time is I like video and editing videos. I learned that many years ago and I have loved it. It gave me the chance to be more creative there and do these side-by-side types of editing things that were exciting for me. As anybody who does YouTube will attest to, it takes a lot of time to film and edit. As soon as we had a baby, I was like, “I cannot spend six hours creating this video. I have a business and a child.” I dropped off the YouTube video thing for a long time. It naturally led to podcasting. It was getting big. I was trying to see what other way I could create content.

One thing I would like to share with people who are thinking about creating content in some ways is often we create our barriers and reasons why we think, “I do not have the time, resources or finances to do these things.” When I was looking to create this podcast, I wanted it to look polished and professional but it was going to be just me doing all of it, filming, editing and posting. I thought that if I am also doing a video with it, I am going to need a good camera, lighting and microphones. This was pre-COVID so I tried to have as many guests in person as I could. I needed microphones for the guest as well. I put it off for a year, maybe more.

One day, this thing is nagging me. It will not leave me alone. The same as when I started my YouTube videos, I kept having this thing that was nagging me and not leaving me alone. When the YouTube videos happened, my fiancée at the time went out and bought me a nice camera for my birthday. She was like, “Here. Shut up and make these videos. You keep talking about them.” The same thing happened with the podcast. I was like, “How much do lights and microphones cost?” The lights were a fraction of the cost of what I thought they were going to be. I could buy these little clip-on mics that plug into my phone for $30. I was like, “I can afford this.”

I finally reached out to a bunch of people that I knew and said, “Would you mind coming in for a podcast?” I recorded 5 or 6 episodes first to make sure I felt like it was something I wanted to do. I then went, “I am going to do this.” A lot of times, we create these barriers and obstacles in our minds. I am into stoicism. I read a lot of this stoic philosophy type of stuff. One of the biggest ancient stoic philosophers is Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, thousands of years ago. One of his key theories or dictums is the obstacle is the way. If there is an obstacle that perceives to block your path, do not try to go differently. Let’s find out what that obstacle is, go that way and figure it out.

For me, these obstacles were imagined and not real. When I went that way, I found that I could continue down this path. It has been amazing. I love doing the podcast. It is another way for me to creatively express myself but most importantly, help amazing people and experts have a voice to continue to promote, advocate and improve our profession. That path has been winding like many paths are but it has been fun for me as well.

Talk about your podcast, The 20/20 Podcast. What is it? Who are you speaking to?

The 20/20 Podcast: Bringing Clarity to Business, Entrepreneurship and Optometry is the full title. Years ago, I launched my eyewear brand. It was an eCommerce company. Through that, I was exposed to a lot of people in different industries as I was trying to grow the brand like entertainers, athletes and business people. I was networking a lot trying to grow the company and build its awareness. I met such amazing people like these celebrities to different levels and other people. At the same time, I was speaking with students or new grads through social media about how they can build their influence and personal brand and become better at business.

Most people are pretty happy to share their stories or contribute and help others if you give them a chance. 

I thought, “On one hand, I have these amazing successful people that I am speaking to through my online business. On the other hand, I have these young people who want to grow their business and become successful. How can I bring them together?” That is where the impetus for the podcast truly came from. I reached out to those people that I had known through my eCommerce brand and said, “Would you mind sparing me an hour to talk about how you became this television personality and this super successful business person?”

One thing I have found over the years is most people are happy to share their stories or contribute and help others if they can and you give them a chance. The podcast was an opportunity for those people to share their side of the story, their struggles and successes. One common theme is that everybody has struggled. You could read an episode from a successful hockey player and you will say, “I have been through that myself. I remember being in a certain position like that myself.” Knowing how they got out of it, you’ll learn the next time you go through that same rt, how you can work your way out of it and come out better.

The goal of the podcast is to share those stories. Somebody said that it is more like a success podcast. I do not think I would use the word success but it is not your standard clinical type of conversation for the most part. Half of my guests are from eye care and the other half are from other realms. My favorite guest was Hayley Wickenheiser who is unanimous. She is the greatest women’s ice hockey player of all time.

She has got multiple Olympic gold medals and World Championships. She is one of the grittiest people I have ever spoken to or met. After her hockey career ended, she went and finished medical school. She is in the process of finishing her residency. It is crazy all of the stuff she doing but it is more about how or what her mindset was going through all of those things. I love to share that. That is the core of the podcast.

My husband is Canadian and is very determined to raise our children that way too. My son growing up, one of his favorite books is called Z is for Zamboni. It is a little alphabet of hockey. I forget if Hayley Wickenheiser is H or W but she was in there. That is how I knew her name. How did you get the TEDx Talk? How did that happen?

It is funny how you hold certain thoughts in your mind and somehow, they come to fruition. It is hard to say exactly how it happened but I have envisioned myself doing something like that for a long time. I have even gotten to the point where years back when I was doing my YouTube videos, I was like, “How can I recreate a TED Talk?” Not to say that I am doing a TED Talk but I want to recreate that entire stage and environment and make my series of talks. I was going to call them TOD Talks. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design so I was going to make it Technology, Optometry and Design.

I was like, “Where can I get the big red letters made? Who is going to film this?” I was planning this whole thing out. It became too big. I had this vision in my mind that I was going to be on that stage somehow. I thought that if I could recreate this and have optometrists come and speak on the stage, I thought that would be cool but it was too big of an endeavor for me.

TTTP 77 Dr. Harbir | Personal Brand

Personal Brand: When potential customers or patients see your videos, they can learn your personality and build that trust with you before they've ever come in and seen you in person.

Many years go by, I threw all the networking that I have done. Through the passion that I exude or express when I talk about optometry, eye care and eye health, it ended up being someone that I know happens to know the organizer of a TEDx event. That organizer happened to express that they were organizing an upcoming event and actively looking for speakers.

Our mutual friends said, “You should talk to Harbir.” That is what it came down to. I believe other things were happening in the background. I do not know how many people think about things that way about the universe and how energies work but clearly, something happened along the way that made that conversation happen. The organizer got in touch with me.

Initially, the talk was supposed to happen in 2020 and then COVID shut everything down. At that time, they said, “What would you talk about?” I spat out all these ideas of, “I love philosophy and stoicism. I could talk about the mindset and all these things and then my podcast. I have learned about these things.” They are like, “Many people talk about mindset in TED Talks. What are you bringing as an optometrist? That is what we are interested in.”

I showed them some YouTube videos that I had made. I call it Chiasma. A chiasm is a place where the two nerves come together at this junction. For me, it was this theory of bringing optometry or eye care and philosophy together. I am big into philosophy. I do these short one-and-a-half-minute segments. It is like a Jay Shetty talk, bringing in philosophy and then how that relates to our eyes, how powerful our eyes are and how much of our brain is taken up by our vision and the visual system.

I made 5 or 6 of these videos. I showed them and they said, “We want you to do this on stage because this is different. It is poetic and philosophical but you are talking about eyes. There are a very few TEDx speakers who have spoken about eyes.” That is how it all came together and it became a roughly ten-minute talk. I would love for everybody to go and check it out. There are things I could have done a little better but I am happy with the way it turned out. The message is conveyed fairly clearly that our eyes and eye health are very important. We should make it a priority in our lives.

In private practice, we get caught up in getting through the day sometimes. You’re like, “Here we are at work. This many patients are going to come in. We are going to do this and this. There is an emphasis on making money.” It was a good step out to get that 10,000-foot view on, “This is important to life, health and sight.” It was a good perspective. I would recommend everybody to check out that TED Talk video. You have done other cool appearances too. On your LinkedIn, you have got links. You are the go-to expert on TV when they are looking for someone to talk about eye stuff. Did you actively seek those out or did that manifest itself as well?

I was a bit more active in pursuing that one. I tend to deliberately put myself into uncomfortable situations so I can grow and get better at them. My family would laugh at me for saying this but I was not the most comfortable in public speaking. They know that now I am okay with it but in the past years I would say, “I would like to be comfortable with that. I want to be that guy on the stage. How would I do it?”

Trust is what brings people in. 

The only way to do it, in my mind, was to get on stage somehow and look for those opportunities. The same went for these TV appearances. I saw people on TV and thought that would be cool. I aligned not just simply to be on TV but with my goal of becoming that advocate and ambassador to be out there to want to share the important messages.

One of the key things I share with everyone or young ODs who are trying to build themselves up in the profession and build a presence is to be involved with their association, provincial, state or whatever local association. It is called BC Doctors of Optometry. It is our association. From day one, when I graduated and became an optometrist, I was a member and then got involved on committees. They started sending out emails like, “We have this opportunity. Is there anybody who would like to go on the radio or TV?” I would instantly respond as soon as I saw it and be like, “Yes.” They realized that I was interested and then comfortable enough doing it so they started to reach out to me.

We have a small group. There is a handful of us in BC that when our association needs someone in a certain region, they will reach out to us. It is cool to be that key person. It was something that feels right to me to reach out to express or advocate and be an ambassador for the profession as a whole. Being involved in the association is the number one thing I have put on the top of the list for any time I am talking to any OD.

If you are wondering how you could be out there more, that is the best thing to do. Many opportunities have come to me as an optometrist as far as public speaking because I have known someone through our association who needed something and they reached out to me for it. I would highly encourage people to do that.

These things are out there enough that have turned around and helped your practice. You started with this vision, “Maybe someday patients will want to see me because I do this,” but it was not the primary driver and it sounds like it has never been for you but how has it affected your practice that you are being this person and advocate?

It has impacted the practice for a few years but I have not looked at it and quantified it. I was not looking for it to be that for me. People are more comfortable sharing certain things. In the past, people would say, “I found you online.” They would not say anything else. I did not probe a whole lot but then people are openly saying, “I saw you on TV or Instagram.” Instagram is a big one. “I saw this video that you did so I thought I would come to you.” It is being shared.

Almost every day I go to work, there is a patient that says something like that. It has become a more common thing and it is helping the practice but I am also a little awkward when people say that to me. I am sitting in the exam room with them and they say, “I saw you on Instagram.” I feel like I have to be that Instagram person, “Which video did you see? What was I talking about?” I am trying to bring that same energy here in the eye exam. It is helping the practice grow, especially since we are doing more specialty stuff.

TTTP 77 Dr. Harbir | Personal Brand

Personal Brand: If your leading motive is to bring value to the person on the other end, that's how you bring authenticity.

We are doing a lot with dry eyes, radio-frequency, IPL, iLux and more myopia control. When I talk about those things, I know there are going to be people who see me locally who would be more interested in learning more and come to see me in person. I know that my videos are being seen across North America. I am getting messages from ODs in Texas saying, “Tell me about your radio frequency.” Patients in Toronto are saying, “I would love to get this treatment. Where can I go?” It is broadly being shared for everybody’s education but locally, people are going to come and see us because they see that I have this technology that could benefit them.

Not only do several new patients come in to see you but the thing that happens when someone has seen you speak and has come in because of that is they are coming in with a level of trust that you have to work for with somebody who truly saw you online and picked your name off a list. The patients who are coming in are primed and ready for what you are presenting because they have already heard it and liked it.

In my podcast, I am doing a series on marketing. I have a few guests coming on who specialize in personal branding or online digital marketing. That is one of the key messages that they are sharing in this series. Video is the number one way to get out online to share your personality. When potential customers or patients see these videos, they can learn your personality and build that trust with you before they have ever come in and seen you in person. That is where being online and building your brand is so important. I did a COPE-approved lecture at the beginning of 2019. The concept of personal branding was still new to a lot of people.

I did this lecture and was surprised at how many people showed up. It was personal branding and online marketing. At the end of the lecture, an older OD put his hand up and asked, “Why are you doing this lecture? What is the purpose?” Either my whole presentation fell flat or I am ahead of the curve and these guys do not know why this is important yet but I hope most people know why it is important.

I was trying to show that if you get out there, you can build this trust. Trust is what brings people in. Building trust is so hard. If you can do that before someone even sets foot in your office, that is a huge win. That is why I keep encouraging ODs to get out there. Start to do this type of thing, get on video and share.

I have heard a couple of good solid pieces of advice here. The things that I am taking are one, do it for the right reasons. Do it because you want to and you have something that you want to contribute, not going in with the intent to monetize it or, “I am going to do this to get patients.” Do it because you have something nagging you that you want to put out there. The second is, do not let perfect be the enemy of the good. If you have something, do it. It does not have to be the perfect setup. You can start and improve from there. Do things that make you uncomfortable. That is a big one.

I am hearing that personally. Video is important and I am dragging gills to the ground like, “It cannot get you there.” Also, a bit of, “Just do it.” The young ODs are coming into this profession having heard podcasts, followed ODs on Instagram and have favorites they watch on TikTok. They are coming into this thinking, “How can I be that?” Any other advice to give?

You have to think of yourself as not just the person putting out content but as the audience as well. 

In that lecture and in general, I share the three pillars of personal branding. It goes for online and offline but we are talking mainly online. Number one is to bring value. If your leading motive is to bring value to the person on the other end, that is how you bring authenticity. Value goes in a few different ways. In my opinion, education is the easiest way to bring value because we are all experts and professionals. We can talk about an eye drop, a technology that we offer or something in the eye. We can educate the public. We might think that it is mundane information but there are a lot of people out there who do not know this information.

The other ways you can bring value are comedy, humor and telling passionate stories, however you can integrate those things. The Singing Dentist does these funny songs where he makes up his words to a song and they have nothing to do with dentistry. He is so popular on YouTube. If you have a hobby or something that you are good at, that can be the value that you bring. Number one is value.

Number two is engagement. When you are online, actively engage with people. Let’s say you put up a post and someone comments, “That was funny.” You respond to that. That is the simplest way to engage. “Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it.” It is like a Google review, make sure you respond and engage when you get a Google review. The other way to engage is to actively go out there and find people to engage with.

You have to think of yourself as not just the person putting out content but as the audience as well. Go find people who are relevant to you in the community you would like to be part of. Go comment on their stuff. Go reach out to people. In-person, that would be like going to an event and networking with people. If you are going somewhere, you are going to shake hands. “What do you do? That is interesting. I would like to learn more about it.” That is essentially doing that online. If you use hashtags, you can search #Optometry or #EyeCare and comment on relevant posts.

The last one is consistency, which means two different things. It means posting regularly but people get too caught up in that. The second type of consistency is posting on different platforms where you have the same voice. Instagram is my primary outlet but I post on LinkedIn, Facebook and other channels. TikTok, not so much but I will post the same video or post on all channels. Different people will see it but they will all hear the same voice. Consistency is important.

On that note about getting comfortable, at the end of 2018, I decided I was going to make a dedicated effort to become more comfortable online. I told my wife, “You are going to see me on Instagram way more. Do not make fun of me. Let me figure this thing out.” I decided that for 30 days, I am going to go on Instagram and do a story. On Instagram stories, they only last for 24 hours and then they are gone.

I felt like, “Good. It is not permanent. Even if I say something silly, it will not be there forever.” You can always take it down or edit it. I thought, “I am going to do 30 days of stories. This will help me be consistent and comfortable.” It was always a video. I am holding the phone, looking at it and talking about something educational or informational thing. It ended up running for over 100 days straight. My second daughter was born and then that day or the next day, I had to stop because I had other priorities.

What you see is a result of getting comfortable. I would highly encourage that if somebody is looking to get out there, start like that. Those videos are maybe 1 minute or 30 seconds. Get comfortable with looking at the camera, saying stuff to people and educating. Eventually, you can pick up your phone in public and be like, “I am here. Look what I am doing.” That was uncomfortable for me for a long time. It still is a little bit but that consistency of doing it regularly is what is going to help you get better.

It does not take long. Many people say, “I do not have the time.” If you go sit in a room somewhere, open your phone and talk to the camera, “I wanted to tell you about near-sightedness, which means you cannot see far away.” End of conversation. That is all you need to do for 30 days. You will slowly start to build the other things on top of that.

That is a good way to get started. It’s super interesting to learn about you and hear your story. This is terrific. Harbir, thank you so much for taking the time and giving time to me and my readers. Everybody out there, thank you for reading.

 

 Important Links

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Episode 59 - Success Is 100% Hard Work With Suzanne Lacorte Of Optical Prism

Episode 59 - Success Is 100% Hard Work With Suzanne Lacorte Of Optical Prism

In this day and age, when many people are losing jobs, look for the opportunity and go for it. In this episode, Harbir Sian introduces Suzanne Lacorte, the publisher of Optical Prism. Suzanne shares with Harbir how she found herself as the new owner of a publication that has been a staple in the Canadian eyecare market for 40 years. Optical Prism is Canada's leading eyecare industry magazine.

Suzanne Lacorte believes that fate and circumstances come into play when it comes to discovering opportunities. But success is 100% hard work. If you want to succeed in your business, you need to love what you’re doing. Tune in!

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Episode 9 - Sonia Beeksma on Working Hard, Having Faith, and Being Confident

Sonia Beeksma is an award-winning television broadcaster who has previously worked on multiple large networks in Vancouver (including Global News and CTV Morning Live) and recently became a host on eTalk CTV in Toronto.

In this episode, Sonia discusses her path from being a creative kid, to starting a career in the medical field, to eventually finding her calling in broadcasting.  Hard work, faith, and confidence are the pillars to her success.

You can also listen to the full episode on the following channels:

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/31fRLne

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/33yqjlX

Music: Feelo Records - If I Fall

Find Sonia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soniabeeksmatv/

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Listen to the podcast here

Sonia Beeksma On Working Hard, Having Faith, And Being Confident

This is our very first episode of the year 2020. This is super exciting for me as an optometrist. We are always trying to get people to see 20/20 and now everybody can see. If you’ve read the show before or watched the show before, I always have a small request right in the beginning, which is, if you found any value, please share it with a friend, whether you text them, tell them in person or take a screenshot and put it up on your Instagram story and tag my lovely guest and me. Let us know what you thought of the episode.

My goal is always to bring on guests who have been successful in their respective industries but beyond that, who have inspirational stories, motivational, aspirational and sensational. This lovely lady is the epitome of all of those things. She is an award-winning television broadcaster who started her career on radio as an anchor and a reporter but quickly transitions to television, as you will see, quite clearly why very soon.

She’s been on multiple large networks here in Vancouver, Global News and on CTV Morning Live early in the morning and has a huge transition coming up, which we will talk about. I’ll let her reveal the big news. It is some exciting news there. She’s also a highly sought-after MC and host for a lot of the big events around Vancouver. She is truly kind, humble, genuine and super fashionable if you’ve seen her online. Please welcome my lovely friend, Sonia Beeksma.

Thank you for that intro.

Building Confidence: Many think that they need to know their paths even at a young age. But there’s the big guy up there who’s also directing your path and feeding these little images and vision to guide you.

My pleasure. Thank you so much for doing this. Everybody will say that they’re busy. You do have a lot going on.

I don’t like the word busy. We’re all busy. Life is supposed to be full, so my life is full, and that’s a good place to be at.

Full, busy, lot’s going on, however you phrase it, I appreciate you being here because I know you have a lot to do. I like to start with a little bit of a backstory, where you grew up, how you got into doing what you’re doing and we’ll go from there. Tell us where you were born and raised.

I was born in New Delhi, Faridabad. My dad has always been a huge entrepreneur. When I was born, my dad started the first paper mill in Iran. He lived in one of shell’s corridors. I didn’t know my dad for the first four years of my life because he was always in Iran. I used to call him uncle but it’s interesting. They always say, “The first five years of a kid’s life are crucial.” Not in this case. Those studies are always a little bit confusing but my dad and I are so close. He eventually moved back because of the second Gulf War. He had to flee. He always had this desire to move his family somewhere better.

Not that India is not a great place to live but you and I both understand what I say, a better life for the kids and more opportunities. My brother moved to Canada and we all moved there eventually in ‘91. I was only eight years old. I had no idea what was going on. That’s where our journey started as becoming Canadian citizens and embarked on a whole new path. I didn’t speak a word of English. Although, I went to an awesome private school in India where they claim that they’re teaching English but we didn’t. It wasn’t a huge effort. I came here and did not speak a word of English.

My parents put me in an all-English private school. There were no ESL students in that school. I hated them for that but now I’m so thankful because that pushed me to learn the language right off the bat. A lot of people say, “You don’t even have an accent.” I’m like, “A, I was young when I moved. B, when I get tired, you can hear it.” I’m wide awake. That’s pretty much it. I’ve been in Canada ever since. I’ve never visited my homeland yet but I will. I’ll take my daughter one day and show her where she’s from. Part of my childhood was in India then the rest of it here.

My family moved to Canada in ‘94 but we were in the transition period in the early ‘90s from England, so it’s a slightly different scenario. I know the feeling of people asking you about your accent. The problem is almost a desirable accent but I lost mine quickly. I was young and I wanted to assimilate as well. I’ll put it on from time to time. I’m not as good as I used to be but a little more desirable maybe. It depends. Different things and phases. Indian accent might be cool one day. Tell me about how you got into broadcasting.

I was always a performer. Even in India, I did. When we came here, I’ve always danced but I made the transition to hip hop and jazz. I always had this artsy side to me. I was the performer in the family. I was about twenty when I decided I wanted to get married because I had found my dream man. I’m not mocking this. At that time, you do think this is it. I wanted to get married. My dad said, “You’re not getting married until you’re educated. You have something under your belt because you need to be able to take care of yourself.” I went on to become a medical lab technician. I got married at 21. That was that journey.

I’ve always been very driven and ambitious. I knew that even though I was on this medical lab technologist path, that wasn’t it. I knew it was to please my dad. Even during those times, I was acting, doing commercials, modeling and all the fun stuff. Some broadcasters have the story where they’re like, “I used to stand with a mic and deliver the news.” I don’t have that. To be honest, I’ve fallen into it. Someone said, “You’d be a great broadcaster. You’re so confident.” I was like, “I’m going to look into this.”

I looked into the program, BCAT. At the time, there was a private college that was offering an intense broadcasting program. I signed up for it. I’m like, “Let’s see what happens. Give it a shot.” Honestly, the rest is history. Sometimes we think we need to know our paths but I always feel like there’s the big guy up there who’s also directing your path and feeding these little images and vision. At that point, you’re so young. You have no idea what you want but I always knew that was something I was going to fall back into. I didn’t know when and how. I said, “God, whatever way you want this to go down, let’s do this.” That’s how I fell into it.

Having that faith is hard for a lot of people because you have to trust that your path will be shown to you or you’ll have to know when the opportunity’s presenting itself.

The unknown is very scary but for me, it is very exciting. If I knew everything, I feel like that’d be very boring.

That’s a scary step that you made there to go because it’s two completely different paths. This path you do in the medical field. You had some background there. You like to perform in that stuff and you’re comfortable in that sense but that’s a completely different path for you to take. How was it? Was there any pushback from family?

Not really because I was married off. They were like, “You’re not our problem anymore. Do whatever you want.” It’s funny you say that because when I was a technologist, I was always so intrigued by the heart. My thought was like, “I’m going to go back and become a cardiologist.” That was my intellectual part of me going, “I want more schooling, learn more about the heart and save lives.” The artsy part of me was going, “You are going to be so bored by the time you’re 30. This is not going to be fulfilling.” It was one of those things that I was torn in between.

When the whole broadcasting schooling started, it was one of those moments. When I sat in that chair for the first time and pretended that I was doing my radio show, something clicked and I went, “I know what I’m supposed to be doing.” Not the full picture but I was like, “This is cool.” Telling my stories and other people’s stories is fascinating. I get to do it in my way with my style. I was in love with it that very second.

Building Confidence: Having faith is hard for many. You have to trust that your path will be shown to you or know when an opportunity presents itself.

I hope that everybody gets to have that moment. That’s a hard moment to find. My story is similar in the sense that I didn’t know what my path was. I knew I wanted to do something in the medical field and eventually, through a more calculated process, I found myself in optometry but it was during optometry school, sitting in front of what we call the slit lamp with this microscope and being able to see inside the eye. It was like this light bulb in my mind that was like, “That is insane.” From that point, I was all in. I do all random things when it comes to my profession, like making YouTube videos and shows. It’s cool when you can have that moment. You’re like, “I am on the right path. We can go.”

That will always be your foundation but who says you can’t build your house in different ways and add another wing and floor? That’s how I look at it too.

Within this broadcasting profession of yours, you’ve had multiple jobs. Tell me about the challenges. You’re on TV every day and that’s not an easy thing. I’m sure there’s a lot of people trying to be in the same position that you’re in. What challenges do you face? What work does that require on your end to get to that position?

This is one of those things where I’ve worked very hard and everyone knows that. With these young ones, I feel like we’re always attacking them. I’m not that old but we’re on that border where I’m like, “I’m not in that group. Thank God. That means I will own a house.” I find the work ethics are missing because people are so used to quick and overnight results with social media and all these different platforms where they’re rewarded so quickly for their very little effort. I’m not downplaying these things but the biggest challenge where people don’t understand in this industry is you have to work very hard.

You have to work long hours. You look at the hours and say, “How is this humanly possible?” You do it because you’re so passionate. The ones who are committed to it because they understand their own purpose within that industry are the ones that somehow miraculously find the energy to go forward with it. That’s the biggest challenge. That’s when a lot of people do fall off in the beginning because they don’t realize how many hours, work and energy. It’s art and a craft. I don’t only show up and do my thing. Maybe some days that’s about to change. That’s a challenge with this industry.

This industry is shrinking in the sense where conventional television is changing. We don’t make appointments with TV anymore. We have access to everything like this. That’s also evolved. People think that traditional jobs are not available anymore but if you’re willing to evolve, grow and move in the direction this industry is going, there’s always room for everyone. It’s all on your timing, you being at the right place at the right time and being prepared. I don’t believe in competition and taking your neighbor down to get to something. I’ve never had to do that and I never will. I know that people say, “Never say never,” but I will never ever do that. It depends on what it is that you want to do.

I’ve had a lot of potential students or young optometrists who are getting out there. They’re worried about it being saturated. “Should I go into this field because it’s saturated? There’s a lot of competition. Is there more room for another optometrist or another clinic?” If you put in the work and you’re good at what you do, there’s always room. I tell people, “Our profession has been saturated for many years. That doesn’t stop new people from succeeding.”

If you are willing to put in the time and effort and come in with a passion, that will take you a long way. Energy is so important. I’m learning this from doing this little show. You got to be ten times your normal energy for you to come across your average level of energy through the camera. You do that at what time in the morning?

5:00 in the morning.

Is it when you start on camera?

5:30 in the morning but I say 5:00 because mentally, I have to be ready to go in half an hour before. I don’t leave it until the last minute. I’m pumping myself up, doing vocal exercises and waking myself up. By the time the viewers tune in, we’re ready to go. I’m not waking up with them.

Tell me about your morning routine if you could give us a few tips on how you could get up early. You’re a morning person, so that helps. I’m not a morning person but I had tried for a long time to get up early, go to the gym at 5:00 AM and do whatever I can do to get it. Since our second baby was born, I’m not so good at that. It’s a little bit different. If you can give the average person who’s trying to get up a little earlier, trying to be a little more energetic in the morning, what do you do that helps?

First of all, you have to train yourself to understand that morning is the magic hour. It’s before the rest of the world is awake. It’s your one opportunity before you dive into the day to say, “What are my intentions? What I didn’t accomplish yesterday?” It’s like a restart button. I find that very exciting every single day where I’m like, “How am I going to make this day count and little bit better than yesterday? What am I going to do that I had on my list yesterday? Not things to do but things that I had intentions for. How can I get that done today?” It’s not so much of pressure but I always say, “I love Mondays.”

People are always saying, “It’s Monday. Case of a Monday.” I’m like, “Are you kidding me? It’s a whole new week.” We get to do so much. Mondays are awesome. It means routine. I am a routine person. I don’t like lounging around and doing nothing. Sometimes, I may need that. My friends say, “Maybe you should try that one day.” I don’t like wasting time. Time is so precious. You probably get that you have children. It becomes even more precious because they’re growing up so fast right before our eyes. I get excited when I get up.

I’m a person of faith. To me, it’s like, “God, what are we going to do today? How are you going to amaze me?” Don’t get me wrong but my alarm goes at 3:15 sometimes. There are some days where I’m like, “Are you kidding me? I have to do this again?” On most days, I wake up with excitement but that is when my alarm goes off. To be honest, I’m a coffee person. I love my coffee. I usually wake up looking forward to my coffee. I love good beans.

The number one thing I took from there is the intention. I found those mornings where I was waking up quite as early at 4:30 or 4:45. Setting the intention the night before was so keen. Getting amped up for tomorrow like, “Tomorrow’s going to be such a good day. I’m going to get this crazy workout at the gym. I’m going to feel so pumped, then we’re going to go to the office and do all these things.”

I might be taking Junee to her strong start. Different things that you got to get pumped up the night before. In my mind, not to speak for anyone else but I would think, “In the morning, when my alarm goes off, I got to pump myself up.” You got to rewind the clock for about 12 or 8 hours and tell yourself the night before what you need to be excited about.

I won’t look at my entire day the night before because that can also be very overwhelming. Your brain is going and so you can’t sleep. I always pick a couple of things. I say, “These are the two things that I want to get done tomorrow. I’m excited to get them done.” To be honest, this is something I’ve been doing for a very long time. The second I opened my eyes, I thanked God for the day. Right there, I take a deep breath. I never jump out of bed. I take my time. I give myself at least 2, 3 minutes but people are like, “Don’t you fall back asleep?” I said, “Don’t close your eyes. No matter what you do, open your eyes.” Honestly, I’m up and ready to go.

That gratitude piece is key if you ever hear highly successful people speak about it. There’s a guy named Dean Graziosi. He’s a highly successful motivational speaker. He always says that, “First thing in the morning, the second you open your eyes, be grateful.” We have the saying, “I have to open two gifts and it’s my eyes.” It’s the simple things.

We take it for granted that we get to do life every day and be so rich in many ways. I will never forget that.

Speaking of things to be grateful for and excited about, you have these big changes coming up. You’re leaving town. Tell us what’s going on.

Building Confidence: Work ethics are missing today. People are so used to quick and overnight results with social media. All these different platforms reward people so quickly for very little effort.

My last day with CTV Morning Live was such an emotional day. I said it on air. The reason it was so emotional is because we have such a beautiful team there. We’ve all worked so hard to create this awesome show that people tune into and walk us into their homes. You forget that. You are in people’s bedrooms and living rooms, having coffee with them. They feel like they know you. We share a lot of personal things in our lives. They do know you.

I’ve never taken that for granted. It was a very emotional day for me because of the team that I’m leaving. I always said to myself that I would never leave this team unless I knew I was going into something that was beyond me. It was part of the big plan and picture. I’m moving to Toronto, joining the team at Etalk, which has been my goal from day one.

I believe in vision and goals but not getting disappointed when you don’t reach those certain things. We’ve heard of this quote before, “Aim for the stars, you’ll land on the moon.” I was told in the beginning, “No way. You’re starting. You’ll be too old by the time you’ve experienced enough. A lot of negativity.”

That’s another thing. When you set your vision and goals, you should be careful with whom you share them. Don’t cast your pearls among swine. You have to protect your vision. Only share it with those who believe in you like your tribe. Have people in your friends who believe in your future. Not people who keep reminding you of your past. That’s an important thing.

I never shared that with too many people but in the beginning, you get excited. You’re like, “This is what I’m going to do.” Right off the bat, these negative intentions were spoken. I had to bring them down and say, “I’m not going to receive that. I know what I want to do.” It’s like I’ve made this whole circle. It’s honestly like a 360 because I started as an intern at Etalk. When I graduated from broadcasting, I went to Toronto for six months and I interned there. That’s when I was like, “I’m going to come here and work one day.” I am years later.

That’s such valuable insights there of setting your intention and creating a vision for multiple reasons, not sharing it with everybody all the time. You have to be careful and protective of that.

We overshare, especially when it comes to social media and all these things. It’s okay to keep some things to yourself.

I want to say a couple of things on that. One, there’s some humility in that like keeping it to self. You stay grounded, have a vision and a goal. The other thing is on social media, it’s too easy to say, “I’m going to be of whatever,” then you somehow have this feeling of achievement from putting it out there because you get that instant like, “Good for you.” That feeling of achievement, since it’s there already, you don’t start to put in the hard work or as much hard work as you need.

There are some scientific studies on that. People who say, “I’m going to be this,” get the feedback in their minds. They feel like they’ve already achieved it, so they don’t have to put in as much hard work. There’s some value in keeping it small to a tight group of people. People who will give you positive feedback or the encouragement that you need along the way. That’s super exciting news. I’ve only been to Toronto a few times myself but I love it there. I feel like the energy is different. It’s a much bigger city than Vancouver. You will be leaving behind the ocean and mountains. You’ll fit.

I have been there a few times. I’ve co-hosted, guest co-host on The Social a few times. I’ve been in that building. I’ve lived in Toronto for six months, so I get the energy. I do fit that level of energy and that hustle, so that excites me. Sometimes I get frustrated with West Coast because sometimes people are so chilled. For example, when I was looking for something and making calls about it. I got a call back days later like, “You were inquiring about something.” I’m like, “I’ve already hired someone. You’re following up days later.”

My pace is I like to get things done. I feel like I will fit that but having said that, it’s going to be very difficult. People don’t realize that I’m leaving all my friends behind and my friends are my family. I have had such an incredible core of friends that have been in my life for years. Some of my girlfriends are like my sisters and family. It’s not going to be easy, for sure. There’s a lot of change coming.

Good for you. You’re willing to accept that, go through all of that, pushing your boundaries and broadening your horizons. It sounds like such an incredible opportunity. It’s going to be awesome. I’m very happy for you. One thing you’ve touched on along the way, which I was intending to bring up with you was that spirituality. This can get a little sensitive for some people who don’t want to talk about God or whatever it might be. I’m totally fine with it too. I believe that there’s a higher power guiding our path, whether you want to call it the universe, God or something else. It’s super important and that means a to you. Tell me how you integrate that into your life day-to-day. First thing in the morning, you say something to yourself.

I was introduced to God at very young age at sixteen. I went to White Rock Christian Academy. I’m a very proud Christian. Right off the bat, when you say that to a lot of people, they right away judge you because they feel that there are certain things that you stand for and don’t stand for. When I say I’m a Christian, we all know what that means. I believe in Jesus. Mainly, it’s I believe in the love of God. That’s what Christianity and religion to me are. I don’t even like to say religion, to be honest. When people would say, “You’re religious.” I’m like, “No, I’m a person who believes in love and God to me is love.” That’s when I say I’m a believer in that sense.

It’s one of those things that, whether it’s all real or not, the hope that it brings to believe in something and what it does for you in your spirit and mind, nobody could ever talk me out of that. My journey and path is my path. It is my relationship with God. It wouldn’t make sense for me to try to bring on another relationship that I have with someone and try to push it on someone else. That’s my relationship. Whether people want to judge me for having a relationship with God or not, I don’t care because that is what grounds me. That is my number one blessing in my life. This is what I truly believe is why I’m so blessed.

I was very lucky to go to an incredible school that was very open inviting people to make their own decisions. Ever since then, I have always had this great relationship with God. That has been my number one foundation in my life. I’ve been through a lot of tough things as a lot of us have but I feel like that is the number one anchor in my life that has kept me on this path where I didn’t lose sight, hope and go destructive. I have had opportunities. We all have but I feel like that has kept me grounded.

There will be times of despair or difficult times on the path. You don’t have to have faith but I believe that having faith in something greater will allow you to get through those tough times.

I listened to so many different podcasts. I respect and invite wisdom from all kinds of backgrounds and different religions. Wisdom is all around us. It’s how much of it do we want to invite into our lives?

That openness is what’s missing a lot of the time. When it comes to religion or you name a specific religion, people close themselves off. Not that we need to go into politics at all but when you start talking about politics and people get closed off, defensive, open and go with the flow. There are things to learn from every single person you meet to accept those things that you can learn from them. There’s a lot of overly sensitive people.

I feel like somebody somewhere is always waiting to be offended. If I say, “I don’t believe in anything,” somebody will be offended about that. It’s like, “I’m going to do my thing. If it offends you, that’s not something that concerns me. I’ve done nothing to come into your home or life to offend you.” When people get offended, that’s their problem. You’ve done nothing intentionally to offend someone. That’s on them so let them deal with it.

The other thing I wanted to touch on was the charitable side of what you do. You spend a lot of time giving back or working with other organizations. When you do speaking engagements, you do them for free. A lot of the time, you’re doing it with these charitable organizations. One of the organizations that I know you’ve worked with, which I’ve seen personally, is Room to Read, which is an incredible organization. Tell us a little bit about that, how you’re involved in and some of the exciting stuff that’s happening there.

Room to Read is an amazing nonprofit organization. I don’t even say it’s a charity because they don’t do charity work. They go in and build a structure that’s going to last a lifetime, whereas charity is like you give a little bit and do your good deeds thing but they build to last. It’s like a gift that keeps on giving. I strongly believe in young girls being educated and a lot of these developing countries where young women and young girls are neglected.

We come from a country where very few women are presented with opportunities. Thank God that’s changing but it’s not changing fast enough. The more women we have that are not educated in our future, I worry about a future like that because women are incredible beings and they can do a lot. Especially when they’re given books and education, watch out.

It’s remarkable that we’ve gotten to this point without that, to be honest but it’s exciting if you think about the future.

Building Confidence: When people get offended by you, that’s their problem. You’ve done nothing intentionally. Let them deal with it.

I’m excited for my daughter and her future in that sense. There are opportunities that she’s going to have and all these young girls. I was introduced to Room to Read. To be honest, I was searching in that sense. I had left Children’s Wish Foundation, another organization I was a part of because I was with Global News at the time. I like to think that was the legacy I left because I was with Children’s Wish, then Global became a sponsor.

When I left Global, they stayed on as they should. It’s huge media exposure, partnership and sponsorship but I could no longer be a part of it because I was with the competitor. It was sad I had to part with them but then I went, “No, this is great.” I have an opportunity to be a part of something else. I want to be a part of an organization that educates young girls. That’s what Room to Read has been doing for many years. The founder was the head of Microsoft, who left Microsoft in its glorious times of years to pursue this.

They’ve done number of schools and libraries they’ve built around the world and continuing to. The Obama Foundation came on board, which is huge. Not that the foundation needed another stamp of approval from anything because they’re already doing such amazing work but that always helps to see strong partnerships like that. It’s an amazing organization.

I didn’t realize how big it was. It’s such a big organization in multiple chapters in different places and big names on the board as well. It’s a huge amount of support. It’s pretty cool to see. Going back to your charity comment, Sharon Davis is amazing. She has her philanthropic endeavor but she’s careful to discern between philanthropy and charity. Philanthropy is that long-term building infrastructure versus charity is like, “Here’s a quick handout.”

Both are great but with a different purpose.

For them to have a bigger impact, they’re looking for philanthropy and that’s what Room to Read is doing. The thing that caught my attention, the timing was when you had introduced it to me was early in 2021. I had gone on my trip to the Middle East. I’d made the trip in Jordan and they had sponsored the production of 600,000 textbooks or something like that for girls in Jordan. I was like, “How crazy that this happened at the same time?” It’s one of those things where the universe is like, “You should probably look and understand.” I loved it. It was awesome. I enjoy seeing what they were doing and going there.

That’s why that organization excites me. There are many organizations like that excite me because the connections that you also make where it give people a deeper purpose into things. We have our jobs and everyday thing but with these types of things, I feel like you find your bigger purpose in life.

There are two questions I ask at the end of every interview that I’m going to ask you. They’re longer questions but before I do that, I want to ask you a couple of real quick short answers. More quick fun things. Your time on CTV Morning Live, you’ve interviewed a lot of people. Who were maybe your top 1, 2 or 3 most fun interviews, the coolest people you’ve interviewed so far?

That’s always such a tough one. It wasn’t on the actual set but I’m a huge fan of Jay Shetty. I’ve followed his work before he made it so big. That opportunity to talk to somebody who has encouraged and motivated you without even knowing it and been part of your journey for so long was so cool. He’s been part of my journey for a long time. I talked to big stars. I’ve interviewed a lot of big celebrities. They’re people, honestly. I always tell people, “They make a lot of money and money is power,” whatever way you want to look at it but they’re regular people as well. For someone like that, that was exciting.

That same week, I had another moment with Scott Schuman. Scott Schuman’s is one of the most well-known street style photographers who is the original street style photographer. He’s the first person ever to launch a street-style blog. There were no bloggers at the time. There were a few. He is the original. He started this whole new movement of fashion photography. I love fashion. It’s a huge part of my life. That same week, I got to meet this man whose books I already had. It was so fascinating and for him to be like, “If I had my camera, I would photograph you.” I was like, “Did we get that on tape? Somebody record this.” That was cool. The reason I say that is because those are my personal people that I follow and love.

To go further, you’re going on Etalk and be probably in the presence of even more celebrities. Who would be the most iconic person you would love to interview?

This probably wouldn’t happen for Etalk, to be honest with you, which is interesting that you say that. The Obama Foundation has come on with Room to Read. Even though I cannot be part of the Vancouver Chapter anymore, we’re figuring out a way where I can still be on board and I’m going to be so close to New York. My goal is to have a sit-down with Michelle Obama. She is such a force.

I’m almost done reading her book. Her book is pretty much a reflection of what she has already shown to the world. It’s a deeper look into her life. I already had so much respect for that woman but reading about her life, the trials and everything that they had to work through, I can’t wait to be in the same room as that force. I’m sure somebody is going to see this and be like, “Knock it down.” I’m at that point where people knock me down and I keep going.

You are an icon in yourself as far as fashion goes. Who is your fashion or style icon?

To be honest, I don’t have any icons.

Inspiration.

I love Victoria Beckham. She’s pretty fascinating. I love Blake Lively. That’s more like a little huge girl crush. To be honest, I don’t have any specific names. I can’t remember her name but maybe I’ll show it to you. This is an amazing woman in her 70s from Montreal. She is so fierce and her fashion sense is so incredible. I believe she was a lawyer before she became this fashion icon and this news on Instagram. She’s got this silver hair. She’s so petite. It’s so much spunk in her end. I am fascinated by her. She’s nobody famous but I love her boldness and confidence, especially at the age that she’s at. It’s bad that I don't know her name or her Instagram handle.

You’re in fitness and staying in shape. What’s your favorite workout that you could do? Like how everybody’s got that one that if you’re not having the best day, you want to go do this. It gets you pumped up.

A 45-minute Vinyasa Yoga.

Not a weight or cardio exercise? Yoga, but not to say it’s not intense.

It’s very intense. I get very sore when I do it, depending on who your teacher is. I usually go on YouTube. I usually do this girl, Kassandra. She’s got awesome 45-30 minutes, but if I don’t have too much time, I have to do something physical every day. It has to be 30 to 40 minutes something. That’s like me-time every day. It will be weight training twice a week but all the other times, it’s either a walk but mainly it’s yoga.

The two longer final questions that I ask every guest. Number one, if we could step in a time machine and go back in time to whatever point in your life where you could speak and give yourself some knowledge and wisdom based on everything that you’ve experienced so far. You don’t have to share the exact moment necessarily but is there a point in time where you’d go back? What would you say to yourself at that time?

I don’t think I would.

Let’s not go back in time. How about something that you learned as an important lesson that you’d like to share?

I’m going to be honest. I’ve always been a very confident person. I’ve never dealt with insecurities. We all have certain days that we don’t feel so great but I’ve always been a confident person. What I didn’t realize was that sometimes your confidence can be misunderstood. People find that very intimidating. Growing up, especially in my twenties, I never understood why certain people were intimidated by me because I was so bubbly, confident and great.

There was some backlash from some people in my life through my journey that I never understood at the moment and took it personally where I understand it. I realized it wasn’t me. It was their insecurities. Something I would tell my younger self is, “Stay confident. Don’t be intimidated by other people’s insecurities. That’s their problem. Don’t try to change yourself to fit into somebody else’s box.” For a little time, I tried to do that. I tried to bring my confidence down to make other people feel comfortable. That’s something I would go back and say, “Continue being you because your strength is going to be needed in other areas for people who are feeling weak.”

The final question is, you’ve done some pretty cool things. I’m sure there are tons of big things coming still, I’m sure. Of what you’ve achieved so far, what would you say is due to luck and how much is due to hard work?

Zero luck. I don’t believe in luck. I believe in destiny, faith, a lot of hard work and being prepared. The whole fake it until you make it thing is not as real as some people throw it out there. I believe in saying yes and figuring it out after because opportunities don’t always come so easily. When they do, you need to say yes and figure it out after. I believe that everything is part of our journey. Everything happens for a reason to teach us something.

Thank you very much. I feel like I want you to do your professional teammate signup. I’m sure this won’t be nearly as emotional but before we do that, can you tell everybody where they can find you if they want to connect with you?

You can reach me on Instagram and it’s @SoniaBeeksmaTV because I’ll have a network one day named after me. I’m kidding. I thought that for the first time for no reason but you can do that. I’m not on Twitter yet. I was but I deleted it. Instagram is the only way.

For ladies who want any style inspiration, check her out if you could lead us out of the show.

Thank you so much for reading. My name is Sonia Beeksma. I hope and pray that all of you have the most incredible 2020. Make this year the year that you get to accomplish all your dreams and reach for all your goals because you are responsible for your own life.

Thank you so much. I’ll see you in the next episode.

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About Sonia Beeksma

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Sonia Beeksma is an award-winning television broadcaster who has previously worked on multiple large networks in Vancouver (including Global News and CTV Morning Live) and recently became a host on eTalk CTV in Toronto.

In this episode, Sonia discusses her path from being a creative kid, to starting a career in the medical field, to eventually finding her calling in broadcasting. Hard work, faith, and confidence are the pillars to her success.

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