Not everyone wants to become an influencer. Not everyone knows how to build an audience, navigate an algorithm or compete for attention. And sometimes talented, experienced and deeply interesting people find themselves on the outside because life has changed, circumstances have changed, or the usual doors simply aren't open to them.

I've always been drawn to what happens behind the scenes.

As a kid involved in theatre, I learned acting, but I was just as fascinated by the lighting booth, the scenery and props, the costumes and makeup, the runners backstage and all the people making it possible for someone else to step onto the stage.

And I've always gathered stories. When I received my first cassette tape recorder for Christmas at ten years old, I used it to record my great-aunt Peggy telling me about her life as a pioneer in Murrayville. A few years later, when my mother was terminally ill and I was spending that time with her, one of my instincts was the same: record her stories. Don't let them disappear.

The technology has changed enormously since that little cassette recorder, but the reason for using it hasn't changed very much. Technology can make remarkable things possible, but it doesn't have to be the point. At its best, it simply facilitates the connection and then quietly recedes into the background.

That thread has continued through my life in media, production, broadcasting and events. What I've loved most isn't necessarily being at the centre of things. It's creating the circumstances in which something can happen, and helping somebody else's voice, music, story or idea reach the people who might value it.

CharacterDriven.live grew out of that.

It creates a pathway between the person who has something to contribute and the person somewhere else who would value receiving it.

And that pathway can be remarkably simple.

It might be one person, alone in a small room, with a microphone and something they want to share, reaching someone on the other side of the world.

Or it might be a musician playing, an artist creating, a host hosting, a producer producing, a sound person using what they know, or an event organizer bringing people together.

Sometimes one person can do all of it.

Sometimes people can collaborate, without even being in the same room or the same country. Someone in one place can create while someone somewhere else helps produce, organize, promote or simply encourage what is happening. People around the world can contribute their different strengths to something happening in one person's home or in an entire community.

The point isn't how many people are involved. It's making the connection possible.

That's something I first loved about theatre. Everyone didn't have to stand in the spotlight to be part of making something happen. Different people could contribute in different ways. And when the performance was live, there was an immediacy to it. Anything could happen.

I still love that.

But today the backstage doesn't have to be one physical place. The stage doesn't either. Neither does the audience.

Someone can be quietly broadcasting from home while another person listens thousands of kilometres away. Or a whole community can gather around an event and invite the rest of the world in.

Our local can become someone else's discovery, and their local can become ours.

The goal isn't popularity. It's connection.

It isn't about deciding whose contribution matters by counting likes, votes or followers. It's about recognizing that people already have something of value and creating a pathway for them to share it.

I've spent enough of my life in media to know that the usual doors don't open equally or easily for everyone. Sometimes people are misunderstood. Sometimes circumstances change. Sometimes talented people find themselves on the sidelines. Sometimes someone simply needs another person to recognize what they have to offer and say, “There's a place for that. Let me help you find a way to do it.”

That's the kind of producing I love.

I don't want to put people on a platform simply for the sake of putting them in front of an audience. I want to create pathways for what they already have to give.

And sometimes creating that pathway also means connecting people.

One person may need only a microphone and an Internet connection. Another may benefit from somebody helping behind the scenes. An event may bring together many different people. There isn't one model.

What matters is that the technology and the community can meet people where they are, rather than requiring them to become something else first.

That's why the live part matters too.

Live means participation. Something is happening somewhere. Someone makes it accessible. And suddenly another human being, perhaps just down the road or perhaps on the other side of the world, can be there with them.

The person creating benefits. The person listening benefits. And when other people are involved, they can contribute what they do best as well.

Nobody has to become famous for this to have succeeded.

If someone sitting alone with something worthwhile to give discovers that there is a place for them to give it, that matters.

If someone who doesn't feel comfortable going into a venue can still make music, broadcast, create and connect with other people, that matters.

If people in different places can come alongside one another and make something possible together, that matters.

If a local event reaches someone who couldn't be in the room, that matters.

If someone's music, knowledge, creativity or story gets heard because a door was opened, that matters.

And if those connections begin to strengthen one person's life or an entire community, that matters too.

I've been fascinated by that process since I was the kid who wanted to know what was happening backstage.

CharacterDriven.live is simply a bigger backstage, with a much wider door.