July 24, 2023 • 25 mins
Join us as we journey into the inspiring saga of Kimron Corian, Ryerson University graduate and the proud winner of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean State 30 Under 30 award. This episode offers a glance into his brilliant journey, the arduous work behind his accolades, and his undying love for his homeland, Grenada. Walk with us down memory lane as Kimron relives his Grenadian childhood, his involvement in his university's incubators, and the birth of a project so close to his heart, “I am Grenadian”. Let's unfold together the story of an individual whose commitment and determination serve as a testament to his success.
Shifting gears, we dive head-first into the world of Kim's business, Kim Run-Korey and Digital, and the myriad services they offer for brands, organizations, and businesses. Listen as he deciphers the enigma surrounding AI and its implications on job displacement and reskilling. Let's talk about online negativity, and how Kim has tackled this inevitable aspect of the digital world with grace and empathy. Finally, discover how Kimron leverages digital media to propel his entrepreneurial ventures. Buckle up for a riveting discussion on entrepreneurship, AI, and the vast expanse of digital media with none other than Kimron Corian!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carlene Humphrey (00:04):
Hi, I'm Carlene and this is Nutmeg
Nation.
Thank you so much for tuning into the show.
We have our first guest of theseason, kimron Corian.
He's the graduate of RyersonUniversity, with a master's in
digital media, which is soprevalent now, and also the gold
(00:26):
medal recipient, winner of theorganization of Eastern
Caribbean State 30 under 30,which is amazing.
So tell me about this award andwhat did you do to get this
accolade?
Absolutely.
Kirani James (00:43):
So thank you so much for inviting me on the
podcast.
It's a pleasure to be here,quite an honor.
As you spoke about my Ryersonexperience, getting the gold
medal and so well, just to saythat when I went to Ryerson it
was called Ryerson University.
It is now called TorontoMetropolitan University, so
(01:04):
that's the new name of theschool in Toronto and I did my
masters in digital media.
Like you stated, and throughoutmy journey, throughout my
master's journey, I never juststuck to the academics of you
know, like what we're doing inthe classroom or maybe some of
(01:26):
the projects that we do on theside.
I took an interest in a lot ofthings that were happening
outside of the classroom, sogetting involved in some of the
incubators at the university.
Because Ryerson University, nowToronto Metropolitan, is how it
is.
It's broken down into likezones, so you have like a
transmedia zone, a digital mediazone, a legal legal innovation
(01:50):
zone and so on and so forth,where startups can come in or
students can go and incubate thestartups or the startup ideas
there.
I was part of the transmediazone, which is focused on like
storytelling, and also thedigital media zone which,
because of the master of digitalmedia, we were automatically
based in the digital media zone.
And yeah, so I was involved inthat.
(02:12):
I was involved in like allsorts of different things at
university and one of myprojects that I did was also
incubated at university.
It's a storytelling projectcalled I am Grenadian.
Right, and myself, my partnerTrisha, we launched this project
, got it incubated at RyersonUniversity as well, and the aim
(02:36):
of that was to empowerGrenadians at home and in the
diaspora with engaging andaccessible content and stories.
So just doing all these thingsand on top of that, I did
extremely well on the academicside.
So on graduation day, I wasawarded the one of the highest
honors that the universityoffers, which is the Ryerson
(02:57):
Gold Medal, and that has beenlike I mean, it was exciting.
You know, I was truly happy forit and still today, like I'm
like wow, when I look back, Ican't believe that actually got
that.
And you also mentioned the OECS30 under 30.
So I am no longer 30.
(03:17):
I am over 30 now.
But yeah, a couple years agothe OECS launched the inaugural
30 under 30 program and I got itbased on.
So I was one of.
I was one of 30 young peopleunder 30 from the Eastern
Caribbean that was recognizedbased on what I was doing in the
(03:41):
field of digital marketing andalso the project.
I am Grenadian, so it reallyhad a lot to do with the work
that I was doing at the time,because I do have an
entrepreneur.
I'm working with brands,businesses, you know, helping
them to connect, engage andbuild relationships online using
the different types of digitalmedia tools that are available
(04:02):
to us, whether it's social mediamarketing, whether it's email
marketing, whether it's paidmedia, whatever it is that we do
at my agency.
So I was under 30 at the time.
I also recognized for the workthat I was doing.
That's kind of the awards in anutshell.
Carlene Humphrey (04:17):
Definitely.
I mean a lot to talk aboutthere, especially now with the
way, ted, that technology isgoing.
But I mean this show is aboutGrenada and you know your roots,
so tell me, were you born inGrenada?
Like, what was it like growingup in Grenada and what was your
experience?
Like that led you up to whereyou are now.
Kirani James (04:37):
Yeah, I was born and raised in Grenada, in St
Andrew Paradise to be exact, andI believe that I had one of the
best upbringings that a youngboy could ask for.
You know, I mean growing up.
I did all the typical thingsyou know expect a teenage boy, a
(04:57):
young boy, to do, you know hangout with friends, go into the
river, fishing, playing soccerin the park at the time progress
park or maybe the park atPearls, you know, playing
basketball on the court with theguys, playing cricket in the
road.
And you know, like, going toget mangoes with the boys,
(05:17):
whether or not the mangoesbelong to us, but going to other
people's land, you know, backthen you know nobody, nobody
really minds.
So you're going to somebodyland, pick up the mangoes.
They don't mind that.
I mean, what are the people?
People might get upset, but youknow it's young people growing
up so you know the people don'tmind that.
I went to St Andrew AnglicanPrimary School in Grenville.
(05:38):
I used to walk to one fromschool every day, unless I got a
ride.
So imagine that I walk fromparadise to Grenville back then.
Oh my goodness.
But now it's like no, I do itwillingly.
So, for example, I mean I don'tlive in Grenville right now,
but whenever I'm in Grenville Isometimes just walk to one from
(05:59):
Grenville, just because wheneverI'm in Grenville, like I'm
driving or whatever, but likesometimes it's like, nah, I just
, I just want to walk, like likethis is it, I just want to walk
.
So I went to school in inGrenville and Andrew Anglican
Primary.
Then, after I passed comedyinsurance, I went to St Andrew
Anglican Secondary School at SAS, again over there, play
(06:21):
football, took part in athleticsand I mean I've made some great
friends who, like, are some ofmy closest friends to this day.
And it has been.
It has been quite a journey.
Like, from SAS I went to TamCici, spent one year and after
that one year in Tam Cici I leftbecause I got a scholarship to
go to Mexico.
I went to Mexico to do myundergraduate degree there, did
(06:43):
a bachelor's degree in economics, came back, worked in the
financial services sector for abit, migrated to Canada,
switched from economics andfinancial services to digital
media and yeah, that's what I'mdoing now.
Carlene Humphrey (06:55):
Wow, you are a Grenadian to the bone, so the
country boy.
You know what I mean Becausefor me, I grew up in Grenance
and I left when I was a lotyounger.
So I guess a lot of peoplealways ask you like what's your
background?
And everything like that.
I left when I was so young, Ileft when I was six.
Kirani James (07:10):
So you definitely yeah, you don't have more roots
in Grenada than I do for sure.
I left when I was growing upand I left Grenada I mean
outside of like traveling tolike Trinidad and so on, so
forth for like a week or two andcome back.
I actually left Grenada for thefirst time like for us to spend
a long time outside when I wentto Mexico, and that was like at
(07:30):
age 18, good and 19.
Right so, and I spent fiveyears in Mexico, so yeah wow,
you're a traveler.
Carlene Humphrey (07:39):
There we go.
You know what, the one video Igot to give you accolades for I
watched it a couple of times isthe one that you created on
Grenada being one of the bestplaces to travel in the world.
I guess Time Magazine listedGrenada as that, and so the
reason I even saw you is becauseof your I am Grenadian page.
(07:59):
I mean, I was, I guess I'vealways followed it, since it's
an exception, but I startednoticing the podcast and I'm
like wait a minute, he has apodcast.
What's going on?
You know behind the barspodcast, so you are very busy,
and so the way that, as anentrepreneur, the way you make
your money to live, is itthrough digital media.
(08:22):
Are you helping other clientswith their digital media
presence?
What is your main brand?
Kirani James (08:27):
So I am Grenadian , so let's start there.
Well, you know what?
Let me go back a bit, becauseyou mentioned that video and
we'll come forward to the lastquestion that you asked.
So you mentioned that video.
That video I did where Time'sMagazine listed Grenada as one
of the top destinations to visit.
That video was done during mytenure as the communications
(08:48):
manager at the Grenada TourismAuthority.
So I worked as thecommunication manager at the
Grenada Tourism Authority for abit and I mean we did a lot of
videos, we did a lot ofcampaigns and so on.
That video was the last video Idid before I resigned and moved
back to Canada.
So every year I sometimes justrepost that video.
(09:08):
I am Grenadian Again.
We launched I am Grenadian acouple of years ago and over the
years we've sort of fallen offa bit.
But my business partner and I,trisha, we are currently
preparing to relaunch I amGrenadian 2.0 at the end of this
month.
So there's gonna be some thingscoming where I am Grenadian is
concerned.
Super excited about that Now,as it relates to the main thing
(09:31):
that I do in terms of businessis well, my business is called.
Well, the brand is Kim Run-Koreyand Digital.
The company is officiallyregistered as Korean and Co, but
I set a set of the registrationso I can operate as Kim
Run-Korey and Digital andultimately what we do is work
with brands, organizations,businesses on the digital media
(09:54):
presence.
So ultimately, we design andexecute results oriented social
media strategies and campaignsfor organizations and brands to
help them achieve the bottomline.
Whatever that bottom line iswhether it's you're trying to
generate more revenue, whetheryou're trying to get more
attention towards a cause as anonprofit, whether you're trying
(10:15):
to generate brand awarenessbecause you're launching a new
product or service, likewhatever it is we design
campaigns and strategies to helpyou achieve that.
Additionally, we work withclients that have us on retainer
just to work with theirmarketing people or their
communication people on thedigital strategy.
So on a weekly basis, I willmeet with some clients and we
(10:39):
need to talk and break down someof the strategies, some of the
things that they're working on.
In many cases I may or may nothave worked on the strategy for
them or with them, but justhaving somebody like an advisor
that you can run things by,discuss things with, you know
you have an idea for a newcampaign that you wanna launch
and in many cases, they have thetraditional side of things well
(11:01):
documented or they have thetraditional side of things
sorted out, but the digital sideis where people tend to have a
little bit of problems.
So, having that being that, Isuppose you can call me that
person or that voice that theycan go to to get assistance with
their digital, that somebodythat they can run things by.
The other piece of the businessis training and workshops.
(11:22):
So we host a lot of workshopsand training as well.
As a matter of fact, about amonth ago, I was in Grenada
hosting a social media andartificial intelligence
masterclass.
Went to Grenada, did thatmasterclass is something I've
been doing for a bit.
Additionally.
When I came back, many peoplewere saying to me we love this
social media, but we alsorealized that AI is becoming a
(11:45):
big thing.
So can you do a workshop thatstrictly focus on AI?
And about two weeks ago, I didan online workshop on generative
AI, right?
So training workshops that'sthe next piece of what we do as
a business.
So, yeah, that's kind of it onthe shell, how we operate.
Carlene Humphrey (12:03):
Even though you're here in Toronto, you do
go to Grenada and help otherGrenadians learn about
technology now.
You know AI is making a seriouspresence.
Right, I have a little story.
So I was at Walmart the otherday and they already have a
Zamboni that's run by itself, sono one else is cleaning the
(12:24):
floor.
It's obviously AI operated, soI guess that's the way that
things are going.
A Walmart obviously has themoney to invest in that.
So what is your opinion on AI?
Someone who studied digitalmedia, do you think it's a great
thing?
Like you know, there's lots ofmixed reactions when it comes to
artificial intelligence.
(12:44):
I mean, we've seen it in movies.
I remember watching AI withSteven Spielberg years ago, so
it's just like what do you think?
Kirani James (12:54):
Like I said, there's a lot of like, mixed
reviews about AI.
There are AI deniers or AIpeople who are being, you know,
negative.
That's really the AI therePeople who are focusing on the
positive of AI.
Here's the thing about AI AI isnothing new.
As a matter of fact, artificialintelligence as a discipline
was introduced in 1956 at theDathomod conference.
(13:17):
All right, so that's I mean,it's been a minute.
What we're seeing today is aresurgence of AI that is brought
about as a result of anincrease in storage capacity,
computing power, big dataavailability so there's more
data available now.
So some of these things wereunavailable years ago, so there
(13:39):
was no, the AI wasn't asprevalent as it is now, and we
also see an increasing startupinvestment in AI research and
also AI powered tools.
So AI is nothing new.
First of all, the second thingto note is that artificial
intelligence is anothertechnological revolution that we
(14:01):
are experiencing.
It's like we've done in thepast.
So we have seen technologicalrevolutions in the past where
there's a new technology thatcame in, disrupted the status
quo, displace some jobs,creating new ones, and then we
moved on to think about whenfarmers were walking the lands
(14:23):
and they were fucking, and so wehad an introduction on the
tractors right.
Many people got angry becauseit's like oh, people are going
to lose their jobs because thetractors are not coming into the
land and do whatever.
However, with the efficienciesthat came about as a result of
that, we had new jobs createdelsewhere and these people who
used to work in land now hadjobs in other areas of the
(14:44):
industries.
Now, as it relates toartificial intelligence the need
at one of the biggest, I wouldsay, changes that we've seen in
a minute from a technologicalstandpoint and there will be
some displacement of jobs as aresult of AI.
But more than just jobdisplacement, we are also going
to see jobs being created inother areas as a result of AI.
So our focus needs to be onreskilling.
(15:07):
Number one, to ensure that wedon't get left behind.
Number two, we should beembracing AI.
So there is no point in beingscared of AI, or there is no
point in complaining about AI isgoing to come in and take over
a job.
You're going to do whatever,because the truth about it is
it's here.
So we can be emotional abouthow we want things to be, or we
(15:29):
can react to how things are andget to the program, and the
people that are scared of AI orwho do not want to engage with
AI are the ones that are goingto get left behind in this new
world that we are embracing.
What AI is concerned, what AI isgoing to do, artificial
intelligence will supercharge usas individuals.
It will make us more efficient,it will make us more productive
(15:50):
, and a lot of the mundane tasks, a lot of the tasks that we
have to do, the manual tasksthat we have to do over and over
it will step in and really makethose things more efficient and
better, so that we can get moretime to be a little bit more
creative, more strategic and, atthe end of the day, the next
thing to remember about AI isthe fact that artificial
(16:14):
intelligence is not humanintelligence.
Right, it's a simulation ofhuman intelligence, but it's not
human intelligence, so it'sstill need.
Let me give an example.
Let's look at chat GPT.
Chat GPT is one of the morepopular generated AI platforms
that we have now and really andtruly without the human input,
(16:35):
then chat GPT doesn't work.
It's just a tool and we needthe creative input from a person
to enter like a prompt.
First of all, that prompt needto be very specific, it need to
be very detailed in order to getthe output that you want.
And even when chat GPT give youan output, then you still need,
as a human, to go in and checkand show that what you're
(16:57):
getting is in fact goodinformation, because many times
chat GPT can give you erroneousinformation and again, like we
say, when you're looking atentering prompts, garbage in,
garbage out.
So, at the end of the day,artificial intelligence is
pretty much just a tool and it'sreally how we use it to make
our lives better.
That's my thoughts on AI.
Carlene Humphrey (17:16):
How important do you think it is to either
get on the bandwagon withartificial intelligence, like in
terms of learning, what do youthink listeners should be
learning if they are people whoare in the IT field?
Because I feel, with technologyespecially, you always have to
upgrade your skills, but ifthat's something that you're not
(17:38):
good at, like I mean, what arethe ways you think people should
learn about this in order tomake their future better?
Kirani James (17:46):
So here's the thing about AI Like you don't
have to be an AI expert to useAI or to get involved with AI.
You don't have to be an ITprofessional.
I'm not an IT professional.
I don't have any kind ofbackground in technological
development.
I cannot create AI.
I'm not a software engineer.
So you don't have to be any ofthat.
(18:06):
You don't have to be atechnology person in order to
make use of AI.
So there are the people thatactually can create the
technologies.
Right, what are there?
We're talking about softwareengineers, mathematicians, data
analysts and so on and so forth.
You have those people.
However, if you don't have anyskills in those areas, that's
okay.
(18:26):
You can just teach yourselfreally how to utilize and make
use of those tools and thoseplatforms that exist.
So let's look at something asbasic as a prompt engineering.
That's a new career that'semerging as a result of
artificial intelligence.
That is called promptengineering and, despite the
fact that there's engineering inthe name, what it really is is
(18:48):
about how to write the correctprompt to enter into an
artificial intelligence so thatit can give you the output that
you really need.
You don't need an engineeringdegree, you don't need an IT
degree or anything to be able todo any of that.
So I don't believe that thereis anybody that can't make use
(19:10):
of AI.
I think everybody can make useof AI.
If you can use Facebook, thenyou can use chat GPT right,
because chat is literally justjust typing something into a
chat bar and it giving you aresponse.
So I believe anybody andeverybody can make use of any of
the AI tools.
Now what we have to do is wehave to be, I will say,
(19:31):
inquisitive enough to check themout, investigate them.
So many people, without eventrying any of the AI tools, they
will talk about it and say,well, it's this, it's that, it's
bad, it's whatever, and theyhaven't even tried it out
themselves.
So it's kind of tough for youto be to ensure that something
that you haven't even triedyourself.
So that's what I was to tellthe people like just go ahead
(19:53):
and try it out, try out chargebeauty, try out my journey.
There's a bunch of differentartificial intelligence tools
that are all they just type itin Google AI tools and you will
come up with a bunch, andthere's two.
There's AI tools for a lot ofdifferent things.
If you want to create content,there's tools for that If you
want to and there's a bunch ofdifferent tools for that, for
example, a podcast like thiswill benefit from some of the
(20:14):
content creation tools that thatexists.
For instance, if you want tolook at a tool like cast magic a
cast magic is a tool that I usefor my podcast All I have to do
is load what is the audio orthe YouTube link or whatever,
and it will literally summarizeeverything that the episode was
about, right Me notes I can putin my YouTube description.
(20:35):
It will generate questions likea bunch of different stuff that
it really makes my life mucheasier as a podcast.
So I would say that people needto just try tools based on their
chosen profession and just lookat okay, how is my profession
going to be impacted, going tobe changed, going to be
disrupted as a result of AI, andwhat I need to do to ensure
(20:58):
that I don't get left behind?
And most of the time, what youneed to do is either reskill or
learn to use the tool themselvesto make your job more efficient
, because not every job you canuse AI for, especially in the
creative space, because of them.
We have to be the ones to becreative and strategic and tell
AI what to do.
Carlene Humphrey (21:15):
It is helpful , you know, especially with time
there's only so much time inthe day and whatever something
else.
Like you said, summarizing theshow and like making note for
people who can't hear AI isgreat If you have the words on
the screen so that the listenercan understand what's being said
.
So obviously it just helps withtime management.
(21:37):
Anything that can help us dothings more efficiently in life
is always great, but I thinkit's one of those things, like
you said, I didn't even realizelike you just taught me
something new that you know thisconversation about AI has been
around since 1956, like youmentioned prior, so there's so
much to talk about.
So, and it's amazing, I knowlike time is of the essence.
(22:00):
But one more thing you are apodcaster as well, and your
podcast is dropping bars podcast, and I saw it on your page.
I am granadian, so what madeyou decide to create this
podcast?
Kirani James (22:15):
Yeah, so dropping bars, dropping bars with Kim
around Korea, and it can befound on YouTube, spotify, apple
podcast anyway, and the reasonwhy I wanted to podcast was to
meet cool people.
Carlene Humphrey (22:29):
I love that whole idea there because I mean,
I've met some cool people and Ithink you're cool too, you're
very educated, you know you'retalking about, and I'm so happy
you were able to make the timeto come on the show because when
I started off with nonmagnation, I did a lot of
research and there's a lot ofnegative things.
People say I spoke to someoneelse because, you know, granada
(22:51):
is a small island.
The population is only 112,000.
And a lot of people always havethings to say about Granada.
You know to me, oh, it's sosmall and with other Caribbean
podcast, like you know, jamaicais a bigger island and I was
saying we turned it out inTobago and so it was kind of
discouraging when I started off,so you kind of reignited the
(23:13):
flame for me because I'm like,wait a minute, I have a little
bit of competition now, you know.
Kirani James (23:17):
so so here's what I think about some of the
negativity that you might getonline and people may be talking
, smack about different thingsthat what we're doing Right.
The way I see it is if youcould take time off your day,
like your day, take your time tocome to sit down and like,
write me a negative comment, orto lamb base, make it a size,
(23:40):
something that I'm doing, thatI'm doing, that I'm in the field
, I'm the one doing the podcastor creating the videos or doing
whatever.
You don't do anything, and thenyou could create that some,
some sort of negative commentand so forth.
But then I have empathy for youbecause it has to be that your
life is that miserable that youdecide that your whole purpose
is to just put other people down, people that you don't even
(24:02):
know.
Well, I could only deployempathy towards you, so I don't
let any of that get to me if I'mbeing honest.
Carlene Humphrey (24:10):
Yeah, definitely, no, no, I don't do
what I got to do.
We all do what we got to do, sothank you, you know what I mean,
camron, I will definitely haveyou back on the show to talk
more about technology, because Ifeel like you have more to
share.
You are someone that'sdefinitely know what you're
talking about and, with thebackground, especially in
digital media, it's so importantnow than ever before.
(24:31):
I think the pandemic 2020 kindof made us realize that we have
to have a plan B, we have tocreate other ideas, we have to
do other things and it's amazingwhat you're doing.
So, if anyone wants to followyou on social media, where are
you?
Kirani James (24:47):
at Camron Korean everywhere.
K I M R O N C O R I O N Allplatforms YouTube, facebook,
tiktok, twitter threads nowInstagram, wherever, linkedin,
camron Korean.
Carlene Humphrey (25:02):
Thank you so much, Camron.
It was great to have you on theshow.
I'm Carleen and this isNotmagnation.
Hi, I'm Carlene and this is Nutmeg
Nation.
Thank you so much for tuning into the show.
We have our first guest of theseason, kimron Corian.
He's the graduate of RyersonUniversity, with a master's in
digital media, which is soprevalent now, and also the gold
(00:26):
medal recipient, winner of theorganization of Eastern
Caribbean State 30 under 30,which is amazing.
So tell me about this award andwhat did you do to get this
accolade?
Absolutely.
Kirani James (00:43):
So thank you so much for inviting me on the
podcast.
It's a pleasure to be here,quite an honor.
As you spoke about my Ryersonexperience, getting the gold
medal and so well, just to saythat when I went to Ryerson it
was called Ryerson University.
It is now called TorontoMetropolitan University, so
(01:04):
that's the new name of theschool in Toronto and I did my
masters in digital media.
Like you stated, and throughoutmy journey, throughout my
master's journey, I never juststuck to the academics of you
know, like what we're doing inthe classroom or maybe some of
(01:26):
the projects that we do on theside.
I took an interest in a lot ofthings that were happening
outside of the classroom, sogetting involved in some of the
incubators at the university.
Because Ryerson University, nowToronto Metropolitan, is how it
is.
It's broken down into likezones, so you have like a
transmedia zone, a digital mediazone, a legal legal innovation
(01:50):
zone and so on and so forth,where startups can come in or
students can go and incubate thestartups or the startup ideas
there.
I was part of the transmediazone, which is focused on like
storytelling, and also thedigital media zone which,
because of the master of digitalmedia, we were automatically
based in the digital media zone.
And yeah, so I was involved inthat.
(02:12):
I was involved in like allsorts of different things at
university and one of myprojects that I did was also
incubated at university.
It's a storytelling projectcalled I am Grenadian.
Right, and myself, my partnerTrisha, we launched this project
, got it incubated at RyersonUniversity as well, and the aim
(02:36):
of that was to empowerGrenadians at home and in the
diaspora with engaging andaccessible content and stories.
So just doing all these thingsand on top of that, I did
extremely well on the academicside.
So on graduation day, I wasawarded the one of the highest
honors that the universityoffers, which is the Ryerson
(02:57):
Gold Medal, and that has beenlike I mean, it was exciting.
You know, I was truly happy forit and still today, like I'm
like wow, when I look back, Ican't believe that actually got
that.
And you also mentioned the OECS30 under 30.
So I am no longer 30.
(03:17):
I am over 30 now.
But yeah, a couple years agothe OECS launched the inaugural
30 under 30 program and I got itbased on.
So I was one of.
I was one of 30 young peopleunder 30 from the Eastern
Caribbean that was recognizedbased on what I was doing in the
(03:41):
field of digital marketing andalso the project.
I am Grenadian, so it reallyhad a lot to do with the work
that I was doing at the time,because I do have an
entrepreneur.
I'm working with brands,businesses, you know, helping
them to connect, engage andbuild relationships online using
the different types of digitalmedia tools that are available
(04:02):
to us, whether it's social mediamarketing, whether it's email
marketing, whether it's paidmedia, whatever it is that we do
at my agency.
So I was under 30 at the time.
I also recognized for the workthat I was doing.
That's kind of the awards in anutshell.
Carlene Humphrey (04:17):
Definitely.
I mean a lot to talk aboutthere, especially now with the
way, ted, that technology isgoing.
But I mean this show is aboutGrenada and you know your roots,
so tell me, were you born inGrenada?
Like, what was it like growingup in Grenada and what was your
experience?
Like that led you up to whereyou are now.
Kirani James (04:37):
Yeah, I was born and raised in Grenada, in St
Andrew Paradise to be exact, andI believe that I had one of the
best upbringings that a youngboy could ask for.
You know, I mean growing up.
I did all the typical thingsyou know expect a teenage boy, a
(04:57):
young boy, to do, you know hangout with friends, go into the
river, fishing, playing soccerin the park at the time progress
park or maybe the park atPearls, you know, playing
basketball on the court with theguys, playing cricket in the
road.
And you know, like, going toget mangoes with the boys,
(05:17):
whether or not the mangoesbelong to us, but going to other
people's land, you know, backthen you know nobody, nobody
really minds.
So you're going to somebodyland, pick up the mangoes.
They don't mind that.
I mean, what are the people?
People might get upset, but youknow it's young people growing
up so you know the people don'tmind that.
I went to St Andrew AnglicanPrimary School in Grenville.
(05:38):
I used to walk to one fromschool every day, unless I got a
ride.
So imagine that I walk fromparadise to Grenville back then.
Oh my goodness.
But now it's like no, I do itwillingly.
So, for example, I mean I don'tlive in Grenville right now,
but whenever I'm in Grenville Isometimes just walk to one from
(05:59):
Grenville, just because wheneverI'm in Grenville, like I'm
driving or whatever, but likesometimes it's like, nah, I just
, I just want to walk, like likethis is it, I just want to walk
.
So I went to school in inGrenville and Andrew Anglican
Primary.
Then, after I passed comedyinsurance, I went to St Andrew
Anglican Secondary School at SAS, again over there, play
(06:21):
football, took part in athleticsand I mean I've made some great
friends who, like, are some ofmy closest friends to this day.
And it has been.
It has been quite a journey.
Like, from SAS I went to TamCici, spent one year and after
that one year in Tam Cici I leftbecause I got a scholarship to
go to Mexico.
I went to Mexico to do myundergraduate degree there, did
(06:43):
a bachelor's degree in economics, came back, worked in the
financial services sector for abit, migrated to Canada,
switched from economics andfinancial services to digital
media and yeah, that's what I'mdoing now.
Carlene Humphrey (06:55):
Wow, you are a Grenadian to the bone, so the
country boy.
You know what I mean Becausefor me, I grew up in Grenance
and I left when I was a lotyounger.
So I guess a lot of peoplealways ask you like what's your
background?
And everything like that.
I left when I was so young, Ileft when I was six.
Kirani James (07:10):
So you definitely yeah, you don't have more roots
in Grenada than I do for sure.
I left when I was growing upand I left Grenada I mean
outside of like traveling tolike Trinidad and so on, so
forth for like a week or two andcome back.
I actually left Grenada for thefirst time like for us to spend
a long time outside when I wentto Mexico, and that was like at
(07:30):
age 18, good and 19.
Right so, and I spent fiveyears in Mexico, so yeah wow,
you're a traveler.
Carlene Humphrey (07:39):
There we go.
You know what, the one video Igot to give you accolades for I
watched it a couple of times isthe one that you created on
Grenada being one of the bestplaces to travel in the world.
I guess Time Magazine listedGrenada as that, and so the
reason I even saw you is becauseof your I am Grenadian page.
(07:59):
I mean, I was, I guess I'vealways followed it, since it's
an exception, but I startednoticing the podcast and I'm
like wait a minute, he has apodcast.
What's going on?
You know behind the barspodcast, so you are very busy,
and so the way that, as anentrepreneur, the way you make
your money to live, is itthrough digital media.
(08:22):
Are you helping other clientswith their digital media
presence?
What is your main brand?
Kirani James (08:27):
So I am Grenadian , so let's start there.
Well, you know what?
Let me go back a bit, becauseyou mentioned that video and
we'll come forward to the lastquestion that you asked.
So you mentioned that video.
That video I did where Time'sMagazine listed Grenada as one
of the top destinations to visit.
That video was done during mytenure as the communications
(08:48):
manager at the Grenada TourismAuthority.
So I worked as thecommunication manager at the
Grenada Tourism Authority for abit and I mean we did a lot of
videos, we did a lot ofcampaigns and so on.
That video was the last video Idid before I resigned and moved
back to Canada.
So every year I sometimes justrepost that video.
(09:08):
I am Grenadian Again.
We launched I am Grenadian acouple of years ago and over the
years we've sort of fallen offa bit.
But my business partner and I,trisha, we are currently
preparing to relaunch I amGrenadian 2.0 at the end of this
month.
So there's gonna be some thingscoming where I am Grenadian is
concerned.
Super excited about that Now,as it relates to the main thing
(09:31):
that I do in terms of businessis well, my business is called.
Well, the brand is Kim Run-Koreyand Digital.
The company is officiallyregistered as Korean and Co, but
I set a set of the registrationso I can operate as Kim
Run-Korey and Digital andultimately what we do is work
with brands, organizations,businesses on the digital media
(09:54):
presence.
So ultimately, we design andexecute results oriented social
media strategies and campaignsfor organizations and brands to
help them achieve the bottomline.
Whatever that bottom line iswhether it's you're trying to
generate more revenue, whetheryou're trying to get more
attention towards a cause as anonprofit, whether you're trying
(10:15):
to generate brand awarenessbecause you're launching a new
product or service, likewhatever it is we design
campaigns and strategies to helpyou achieve that.
Additionally, we work withclients that have us on retainer
just to work with theirmarketing people or their
communication people on thedigital strategy.
So on a weekly basis, I willmeet with some clients and we
(10:39):
need to talk and break down someof the strategies, some of the
things that they're working on.
In many cases I may or may nothave worked on the strategy for
them or with them, but justhaving somebody like an advisor
that you can run things by,discuss things with, you know
you have an idea for a newcampaign that you wanna launch
and in many cases, they have thetraditional side of things well
(11:01):
documented or they have thetraditional side of things
sorted out, but the digital sideis where people tend to have a
little bit of problems.
So, having that being that, Isuppose you can call me that
person or that voice that theycan go to to get assistance with
their digital, that somebodythat they can run things by.
The other piece of the businessis training and workshops.
(11:22):
So we host a lot of workshopsand training as well.
As a matter of fact, about amonth ago, I was in Grenada
hosting a social media andartificial intelligence
masterclass.
Went to Grenada, did thatmasterclass is something I've
been doing for a bit.
Additionally.
When I came back, many peoplewere saying to me we love this
social media, but we alsorealized that AI is becoming a
(11:45):
big thing.
So can you do a workshop thatstrictly focus on AI?
And about two weeks ago, I didan online workshop on generative
AI, right?
So training workshops that'sthe next piece of what we do as
a business.
So, yeah, that's kind of it onthe shell, how we operate.
Carlene Humphrey (12:03):
Even though you're here in Toronto, you do
go to Grenada and help otherGrenadians learn about
technology now.
You know AI is making a seriouspresence.
Right, I have a little story.
So I was at Walmart the otherday and they already have a
Zamboni that's run by itself, sono one else is cleaning the
(12:24):
floor.
It's obviously AI operated, soI guess that's the way that
things are going.
A Walmart obviously has themoney to invest in that.
So what is your opinion on AI?
Someone who studied digitalmedia, do you think it's a great
thing?
Like you know, there's lots ofmixed reactions when it comes to
artificial intelligence.
(12:44):
I mean, we've seen it in movies.
I remember watching AI withSteven Spielberg years ago, so
it's just like what do you think?
Kirani James (12:54):
Like I said, there's a lot of like, mixed
reviews about AI.
There are AI deniers or AIpeople who are being, you know,
negative.
That's really the AI therePeople who are focusing on the
positive of AI.
Here's the thing about AI AI isnothing new.
As a matter of fact, artificialintelligence as a discipline
was introduced in 1956 at theDathomod conference.
(13:17):
All right, so that's I mean,it's been a minute.
What we're seeing today is aresurgence of AI that is brought
about as a result of anincrease in storage capacity,
computing power, big dataavailability so there's more
data available now.
So some of these things wereunavailable years ago, so there
(13:39):
was no, the AI wasn't asprevalent as it is now, and we
also see an increasing startupinvestment in AI research and
also AI powered tools.
So AI is nothing new.
First of all, the second thingto note is that artificial
intelligence is anothertechnological revolution that we
(14:01):
are experiencing.
It's like we've done in thepast.
So we have seen technologicalrevolutions in the past where
there's a new technology thatcame in, disrupted the status
quo, displace some jobs,creating new ones, and then we
moved on to think about whenfarmers were walking the lands
(14:23):
and they were fucking, and so wehad an introduction on the
tractors right.
Many people got angry becauseit's like oh, people are going
to lose their jobs because thetractors are not coming into the
land and do whatever.
However, with the efficienciesthat came about as a result of
that, we had new jobs createdelsewhere and these people who
used to work in land now hadjobs in other areas of the
(14:44):
industries.
Now, as it relates toartificial intelligence the need
at one of the biggest, I wouldsay, changes that we've seen in
a minute from a technologicalstandpoint and there will be
some displacement of jobs as aresult of AI.
But more than just jobdisplacement, we are also going
to see jobs being created inother areas as a result of AI.
So our focus needs to be onreskilling.
(15:07):
Number one, to ensure that wedon't get left behind.
Number two, we should beembracing AI.
So there is no point in beingscared of AI, or there is no
point in complaining about AI isgoing to come in and take over
a job.
You're going to do whatever,because the truth about it is
it's here.
So we can be emotional abouthow we want things to be, or we
(15:29):
can react to how things are andget to the program, and the
people that are scared of AI orwho do not want to engage with
AI are the ones that are goingto get left behind in this new
world that we are embracing.
What AI is concerned, what AI isgoing to do, artificial
intelligence will supercharge usas individuals.
It will make us more efficient,it will make us more productive
(15:50):
, and a lot of the mundane tasks, a lot of the tasks that we
have to do, the manual tasksthat we have to do over and over
it will step in and really makethose things more efficient and
better, so that we can get moretime to be a little bit more
creative, more strategic and, atthe end of the day, the next
thing to remember about AI isthe fact that artificial
(16:14):
intelligence is not humanintelligence.
Right, it's a simulation ofhuman intelligence, but it's not
human intelligence, so it'sstill need.
Let me give an example.
Let's look at chat GPT.
Chat GPT is one of the morepopular generated AI platforms
that we have now and really andtruly without the human input,
(16:35):
then chat GPT doesn't work.
It's just a tool and we needthe creative input from a person
to enter like a prompt.
First of all, that prompt needto be very specific, it need to
be very detailed in order to getthe output that you want.
And even when chat GPT give youan output, then you still need,
as a human, to go in and checkand show that what you're
(16:57):
getting is in fact goodinformation, because many times
chat GPT can give you erroneousinformation and again, like we
say, when you're looking atentering prompts, garbage in,
garbage out.
So, at the end of the day,artificial intelligence is
pretty much just a tool and it'sreally how we use it to make
our lives better.
That's my thoughts on AI.
Carlene Humphrey (17:16):
How important do you think it is to either
get on the bandwagon withartificial intelligence, like in
terms of learning, what do youthink listeners should be
learning if they are people whoare in the IT field?
Because I feel, with technologyespecially, you always have to
upgrade your skills, but ifthat's something that you're not
(17:38):
good at, like I mean, what arethe ways you think people should
learn about this in order tomake their future better?
Kirani James (17:46):
So here's the thing about AI Like you don't
have to be an AI expert to useAI or to get involved with AI.
You don't have to be an ITprofessional.
I'm not an IT professional.
I don't have any kind ofbackground in technological
development.
I cannot create AI.
I'm not a software engineer.
So you don't have to be any ofthat.
(18:06):
You don't have to be atechnology person in order to
make use of AI.
So there are the people thatactually can create the
technologies.
Right, what are there?
We're talking about softwareengineers, mathematicians, data
analysts and so on and so forth.
You have those people.
However, if you don't have anyskills in those areas, that's
okay.
(18:26):
You can just teach yourselfreally how to utilize and make
use of those tools and thoseplatforms that exist.
So let's look at something asbasic as a prompt engineering.
That's a new career that'semerging as a result of
artificial intelligence.
That is called promptengineering and, despite the
fact that there's engineering inthe name, what it really is is
(18:48):
about how to write the correctprompt to enter into an
artificial intelligence so thatit can give you the output that
you really need.
You don't need an engineeringdegree, you don't need an IT
degree or anything to be able todo any of that.
So I don't believe that thereis anybody that can't make use
(19:10):
of AI.
I think everybody can make useof AI.
If you can use Facebook, thenyou can use chat GPT right,
because chat is literally justjust typing something into a
chat bar and it giving you aresponse.
So I believe anybody andeverybody can make use of any of
the AI tools.
Now what we have to do is wehave to be, I will say,
(19:31):
inquisitive enough to check themout, investigate them.
So many people, without eventrying any of the AI tools, they
will talk about it and say,well, it's this, it's that, it's
bad, it's whatever, and theyhaven't even tried it out
themselves.
So it's kind of tough for youto be to ensure that something
that you haven't even triedyourself.
So that's what I was to tellthe people like just go ahead
(19:53):
and try it out, try out chargebeauty, try out my journey.
There's a bunch of differentartificial intelligence tools
that are all they just type itin Google AI tools and you will
come up with a bunch, andthere's two.
There's AI tools for a lot ofdifferent things.
If you want to create content,there's tools for that If you
want to and there's a bunch ofdifferent tools for that, for
example, a podcast like thiswill benefit from some of the
(20:14):
content creation tools that thatexists.
For instance, if you want tolook at a tool like cast magic a
cast magic is a tool that I usefor my podcast All I have to do
is load what is the audio orthe YouTube link or whatever,
and it will literally summarizeeverything that the episode was
about, right Me notes I can putin my YouTube description.
(20:35):
It will generate questions likea bunch of different stuff that
it really makes my life mucheasier as a podcast.
So I would say that people needto just try tools based on their
chosen profession and just lookat okay, how is my profession
going to be impacted, going tobe changed, going to be
disrupted as a result of AI, andwhat I need to do to ensure
(20:58):
that I don't get left behind?
And most of the time, what youneed to do is either reskill or
learn to use the tool themselvesto make your job more efficient
, because not every job you canuse AI for, especially in the
creative space, because of them.
We have to be the ones to becreative and strategic and tell
AI what to do.
Carlene Humphrey (21:15):
It is helpful , you know, especially with time
there's only so much time inthe day and whatever something
else.
Like you said, summarizing theshow and like making note for
people who can't hear AI isgreat If you have the words on
the screen so that the listenercan understand what's being said
.
So obviously it just helps withtime management.
(21:37):
Anything that can help us dothings more efficiently in life
is always great, but I thinkit's one of those things, like
you said, I didn't even realizelike you just taught me
something new that you know thisconversation about AI has been
around since 1956, like youmentioned prior, so there's so
much to talk about.
So, and it's amazing, I knowlike time is of the essence.
(22:00):
But one more thing you are apodcaster as well, and your
podcast is dropping bars podcast, and I saw it on your page.
I am granadian, so what madeyou decide to create this
podcast?
Kirani James (22:15):
Yeah, so dropping bars, dropping bars with Kim
around Korea, and it can befound on YouTube, spotify, apple
podcast anyway, and the reasonwhy I wanted to podcast was to
meet cool people.
Carlene Humphrey (22:29):
I love that whole idea there because I mean,
I've met some cool people and Ithink you're cool too, you're
very educated, you know you'retalking about, and I'm so happy
you were able to make the timeto come on the show because when
I started off with nonmagnation, I did a lot of
research and there's a lot ofnegative things.
People say I spoke to someoneelse because, you know, granada
(22:51):
is a small island.
The population is only 112,000.
And a lot of people always havethings to say about Granada.
You know to me, oh, it's sosmall and with other Caribbean
podcast, like you know, jamaicais a bigger island and I was
saying we turned it out inTobago and so it was kind of
discouraging when I started off,so you kind of reignited the
(23:13):
flame for me because I'm like,wait a minute, I have a little
bit of competition now, you know.
Kirani James (23:17):
so so here's what I think about some of the
negativity that you might getonline and people may be talking
, smack about different thingsthat what we're doing Right.
The way I see it is if youcould take time off your day,
like your day, take your time tocome to sit down and like,
write me a negative comment, orto lamb base, make it a size,
(23:40):
something that I'm doing, thatI'm doing, that I'm in the field
, I'm the one doing the podcastor creating the videos or doing
whatever.
You don't do anything, and thenyou could create that some,
some sort of negative commentand so forth.
But then I have empathy for youbecause it has to be that your
life is that miserable that youdecide that your whole purpose
is to just put other people down, people that you don't even
(24:02):
know.
Well, I could only deployempathy towards you, so I don't
let any of that get to me if I'mbeing honest.
Carlene Humphrey (24:10):
Yeah, definitely, no, no, I don't do
what I got to do.
We all do what we got to do, sothank you, you know what I mean,
camron, I will definitely haveyou back on the show to talk
more about technology, because Ifeel like you have more to
share.
You are someone that'sdefinitely know what you're
talking about and, with thebackground, especially in
digital media, it's so importantnow than ever before.
(24:31):
I think the pandemic 2020 kindof made us realize that we have
to have a plan B, we have tocreate other ideas, we have to
do other things and it's amazingwhat you're doing.
So, if anyone wants to followyou on social media, where are
you?
Kirani James (24:47):
at Camron Korean everywhere.
K I M R O N C O R I O N Allplatforms YouTube, facebook,
tiktok, twitter threads nowInstagram, wherever, linkedin,
camron Korean.
Carlene Humphrey (25:02):
Thank you so much, Camron.
It was great to have you on theshow.
I'm Carleen and this isNotmagnation.
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