Do you have any industry-related initiatives, projects, or hobbies outside your current role at IBD? If yes, please tell me about them!

Calvin: I do various design work and 3D printing; I like designing things to print. 

Joe: I work on film projects outside of work. I currently have a couple of writing projects.

Teagan: I have a podcast called Our Golden 20’s. A lot of the marketing I do for the podcast, I also do at IBD for clients. I also have various creative hobbies, from photography to video content creation. 

Torin: I recently published a tabletop role-playing game (RPG) called Victory. It's a science fiction setting where alien visitors have occupied Earth. They didn't precisely invade. They just arrived and took over. You play a member of the underground resistance fighting back against them, trying to save humanity. You can get my game on DriveThruRPG.com. I made it as part of a DriveThruRPG game jam called #PocketQuest2023.

Do you have a background related to your hobby, or are you self-taught?

Calvin: I went to Ryerson, now TMU, for a program in their School of Image Arts which no longer exists, called Image Arts: New Media, where I got to use a lot of exciting emerging technology, including the first consumer-oriented 3D printer. In high school, I took a lot of tech classes where I learned many skills, including AutoCAD, and I taught myself to build computers. 

Joe: I attended Toronto Film School, where I got my diploma in Video Production. 

Teagan: I have a film degree, but it focused more on film theory, not on actual film production. That gave me background knowledge of creation and creativity. But podcasting, all content creation, including video editing and social media, is self-taught.

Torin: I've been playing role-playing games for most of my life and designing rules systems for role-playing games for many years, but I haven't published those. I studied game design in university and grad school. I also made hundreds of mobile games as iPhone and iPad apps before joining IBD.

Why did you get involved or begin this initiative or hobby in the first place? What sparked your interest?

Calvin: For 3D printing, I feel like I've always liked building things, and it's just a very cool way to be able to turn a drawing or a design into something physical. Same with design work, I've always just liked drawing, doodling, designing, and making things. So if there's a cause or something I care about, it’s a way for me to help and contribute my skills. 

Joe: When I was a kid, I was really big into Star Wars and Indiana Jones. When I was little, my family and I went to MGM Studios, and they had the Indiana Jones live stunt show and that kind of made me interested in how they do these things for films—just looking behind the scenes, seeing how some of the stuff in Star Wars was made with miniatures and the special effects behind it. I got really interested in it, and that's probably what sparked my interest to begin with.

Teagan: I started my podcast during the pandemic because my friend Sadie and I would just have long chats all the time over Facetime and text. And my husband, who is the host of the successful podcast The Band: A History, suggested our chats would be an interesting podcast. It aligned to sort of the values that I was trying to search for during the pandemic, especially with connection and creating a community for people who might not have it at that time. 

Torin: I knew the game jam was approaching, and I had a library of game design ideas I had previously created that I planned to use. You only get a month to develop and publish the game, so I wanted a foundation ready to adapt to the theme (which is different every year). But when they announced the theme for the game jam, I was inspired. I threw out my system's existing core game mechanic and created a whole new core mechanic over the first weekend. That actually worked really great, and it's turned out to be some of the best work I've ever done in terms of game design stuff. It is fun, fast, and easy to learn. So I am very proud of it and plan to use it for future games.

What have you learned that has been able to help you with your current role at IBD? What are some specific examples of how these initiatives or hobbies have had a positive impact on your career or professional development? 

Calvin: Most of my work has been tech, but having this passion for design and doing things in my own time and volunteer capacities and stuff like that has helped me keep those skills current. It's also something that has a lot of overlap with what I do professionally, so I think it marries well in that regard.

Joe: I'll start with the professional side. The things that I learn from filmmaking transfer over. I just learn techniques or little tips and tricks that kind of work their way into what we do at Innovate By Day, like finding ways to use the environment or location when lighting a scene. On a personal level, you meet a lot of new people. On set, you might meet 40 new people at a time sometimes. So a lot of friendships and working relationships come out of that.

Teagan: I am constantly learning things that can be used in my everyday work. So to promote the podcast, I have a Facebook, Instagram and TikTok account, and I'm constantly creating content for all three of those platforms and seeing how they perform and learning how to connect with a potential audience. 

Torin: Role-playing games (Dungeons & Dragons is the most famous example, but there are countless others) can empower your creativity and foster your curiosity about the world because you're playing and creating in a fantastical or science fiction-related kind of scenario. However, there is still a lot of correlation to the real world. So it gets you interested in science and history. There is also reading and math, so it also improves those skills. It also teaches you many soft skills, like communication, negotiation, leadership, and teamwork, because you all work together to overcome obstacles as a team. I recommend playing tabletop RPGs to anyone, but in particular, it is fantastic for young people.

Are there any notable achievements or milestones you’ve reached within your hobby that you are particularly proud of?

Calvin: Building the computer I have now. My goal was to build a computer capable of doing anything I want with it, like using it for resource-intensive programs like games or 3D modelling software. My whole life, I owned older computers that weren’t as capable, so building this one, making it look nice, and having it work well, felt good. 

Joe: I recently finished writing my first feature with a co-writer friend of mine, but also before that, I wrote another feature-length script on my own. Prior to that, I had only written short films, so writing these two bigger, longer film projects is a milestone for sure.

Teagan: Hopefully, by the time this blog post is up, we will have hit 50,000 listens. We've grown to over 9000 followers on TikTok and over 3000 followers on Instagram. We've also had people reach out saying that what we've said has made an impact on them or has inspired them to do certain things. So whether it's little stuff or people saying, you've inspired me to quit my job or ask for a raise, that's also pretty impactful.

Torin: Publishing my new game was a significant milestone for me. But one of the things that is really great about role-playing games is keeping connected with friends for a long time. I have close friends from my university days, where playing RPGs together has kept us in constant contact over the years.

What advice do you have for individuals considering participating in similar extracurricular activities?

Calvin: For 3D printing, do a lot of research first before buying your first printer. If you can make friends in the field or join a local group for help. In Toronto, there are several public libraries with 3D printing, which is a great way to get started. In general, there is a high financial barrier to entry when it comes to computers and 3D printing, but that being said, you can still get a lot of use out of buying something second-hand or a couple of years old, which will be less expensive. 

Joe: You have to be really passionate about it; otherwise, you're not going to get anything out of it. If you're just getting into it to make a lot of money and be famous, it's probably not going to happen. Maybe 99% of people don't make it that big, right? So, you have to do it and love it. 

Teagan: I think a problem a lot of people have is being too much of a perfectionist and focusing on creating something perfect before you launch it. I think if someone has an idea for something, just do it and figure it out as you go along. I think another thing is you have to sort of embrace the cringe because it's only cringe until you're successful. For me, posting on TikTok was the most embarrassing thing, and people said, “Oh, my God, this is so cringy; Teagan thinks she's an influencer.” But then it's like if you have a video that does well, suddenly everyone says, “Oh, yeah, Teagan thinks she's an influencer because she is.” Cringe is just a step on the way to success.

Torin: If you are interested in RPGs, you should find some people to play with and jump in. If you can find an experienced person to play with your first time, that flattens the learning curve. There are also a lot of great actual play shows online now (such as Critical Role and Dimension 20) where you can see people playing and see how it is done. They give you a feel for how the games flow which is important because it is a different paradigm than board games. You are not competing; you are collaborating, and there are many benefits to playing (as mentioned above) besides the fact that it is very fun.