“When I would watch the coverage on TSN, I just knew that was what I wanted to do, and I never lost sight of that goal”
Brie Robertson is a strong, confident woman who has never been afraid to play with the big boys.
Robertson found her passion for sports and the television industry growing up in Yellowknife where she curled competitively.
“When I would watch the coverage on TSN, I just knew that was what I wanted to do, and I never lost sight of that goal,” she says.
Robertson now has 15 years’ experience in the television industry and has held the titles producer, director, videographer and editor.
Working for networks like TSN, Sportsnet, Fox and on major events like the Pan Am Games, the Pyeongchang Olympics and the Asian Summer Games in Indonesia have been huge accomplishments for her.
However, she admits that being a woman in a still hugely male-dominated industry can be challenging.
“It’s not lost on me that sometimes I am at an event and I look around, and in a room of 50 people, I am the only woman,” she says.
“After all this time, I still get people looking at me when they first meet me and saying, ‘Oh, you’re directing?’ or ‘I’ve never seen a woman director before.’”
Robertson says she responds to these comments by doing the best job she can to show them that she deserves to be there.
“I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy, so it fits for me. I can deal with being the only woman,” she adds.
What is hard for her as a woman working in the television industry is the strange hours and the travel involved that sometimes take her away from her husband Ed and six-year-old daughter Laëlla.
“The biggest struggle is juggling our schedules because my husband works for the Calgary Flames and has odd hours as well,” she says.
“We want to spend as much quality time together as possible and make sure everyone feels loved and happy.”
Despite her busy schedule, Robertson has also been running her own company – 62 North Media – for the past two years. She shares her video-making expertise with Airdrie entrepreneurs to help them make professional corporate videos for their small business on a reasonable budget.
“We make videos realistic for small businesses,” she says.
“People think they need to spend thousands to get a professional video for their company and they don’t. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get something impactful.”
Whether it’s through her work as a television director or helping other small business owners realize their dreams, Robertson’s biggest goal is to be a good role model for her daughter and show her that by working hard in any industry, women can be happy and successful.
