9 things about me

1. My name is Jason Wesley Oke. The Oke part is an old English spelling of “oak” as in the tree (and is pronounced that way), but people often think I’m Nigerian, Japanese, or Finnish. The Wesley comes from Charles Wesley, a founder of the Methodist Christian movement and composer of many well-known hymns (well-known, I guess, if you’re the church-going type). He was no relation, I just had ancestors who were really active in the Methodist church and wanted to honor him, and the name somehow became a family tradition. The Jason my parents thought would be unusual name, but somehow it became the 3rd most popular name that year and I was one of 6 Jasons in my grade one class of 24 kids. Funny how that happens.

2. I live in Toronto. It’s quite nice, you should come visit.

3. I have a lovely wife, a rambunctious daughter, a chilled-out son, and a neurotic cat.

4. I work in marketing as a strategic planner, which involves helping companies think about strategies for communications, and understanding the motivations and behaviour that leads people to like things and buy things. Look: I’m not really sure what it means either, but I really enjoy doing it. I’ve worked at large multi-national agencies, startup boutiques and done freelance consulting work, and been lucky enough to work with clients like Coca-cola, Pepsico, Kellogg’s, Frito-Lay, Nintendo, Quaker, Starbucks, and Unilever.

5. I’ve always told people I stumbled into advertising by accident. But I realized recently that I’ve actually been in communications for a long time. I was in a diaper commercial when I was a baby (apparently I was fussy, bored easily, and didn’t take direction well – not a lot has changed). Then I was editor of my elementary school newspaper, started a sports newspaper in high school, and edited yearbooks in both high school and university. So I guess my connection to media runs deeper than I ever really acknowledged. In hindsight it all seems so obvious.

6. I seem to talk a lot – speaking at conferences, teaching marketing courses, debating minor points of cultural trivia, whatever. I’m have a feeling this trait will sound familiar to other bloggers. But I find it odd because I used to be quite shy.

7. I’m a classically trained tuba player. I used to play in national youth orchestras. Then I stopped and haven’t touched one in over 15 years.

8. I make a really good beet risotto. My paella is pretty good too.

9. I’m a poor but enthusiastic dancer, and an embarassing but not-infrequent kareoke performer. My rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love Of All” has brought down the house on a few occasions. And for the record, yes, I do believe the children are the future.