Meet the Q Family: Graeme
Meet Graeme.
Creative Director. Football (soccer!) fanatic. Q Charmer.
Favourite expression: One Love.
Favourite children’s book: Where The Wild Things Are (I have 2 figurines of characters from the book, which I got only a few years back – shhh).
Website you visit the most: I hate to admit, Facebook. Close 2nd, Vimeo – keeps me inspired.
A free day is spent: Playing football or watching football. I’m using the term football to refer to the sport where you kick the ball with your foot, ie. soccer. Truthfully, I could care less what you call it – any which way, it’s my passion.
Biggest pet peeve: Clutter. I’m self diagnosed – well, also diagnosed by many others – as OCD. Can’t stand clutter. It drives me crazy. Just ask my partner or any of my colleagues. The OCD does go beyond just clutter too 😉
Favourite story to tell: My trip to Jamaica when I was in my early 20s (my family is from there, so I used to visit a lot growing up), this time however I got to meet Rita Marley on my last day, had a great experience with her gardener’s select plant harvest and, well the rest I’ll let you know if you ask me in person…
Dream project: A feature length documentary or film about the journey of my ancestors to Jamaica, who came from West Africa, Great Britian and the Arawak tribes in the Caribbean. The written history that we have thus far is a really interesting story. We have a detailed family tree that goes back 8 generations.
Something quirky about yourself:
My father is Scottish and my mother is Jamaican which makes me have this dual personality. As Dorothy (senior partner at Q) puts it, I have the calm and coolness of my Jamaicain blood and the eye-for-detail and conservativeness of my Scottish blood.
I’m also double-jointed in my elbows, have flat feet, cut my own hair and I produce sneezes that try to kill me.
A dinner party with any three people, dead or alive – who’s at the table?
Bob Marley. Sir Alex Ferguson. My grand-parents – never knew my father’s parents or my mother’s father. Sorry, that’s technically 6, but I’m sticking to it.
What did you want to grow up to be?
Depends what age – I go back to look at this book my mom kept that we filled out every year with answers to questions like that – it changed every year. I do think the best one I looked back at was “to be like my uncle”: lots of money, smooth-talker and always on the go. Also, always wanted to be a musician – too late?
Why aren’t you doing that now?
Because I can’t play any instruments, even though my grandfather was an island-renowned organist in Jamaica. I DJ and have a radio show, so, close. As for being like my uncle, well lets say money isn’t everything.
If you could be a character in a movie – who would it be?
Blondie (Clint Eastwood) in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. He is one of the smoothest, coolest, most calm, collected and badass characters ever.
What’s your “Q” connection?
One of my best friends, Navin, got me in the door. He used to work for them. I later heard that their first impression of me was that I was too smooth or something like that. I’m glad their opinion changed – at least I think it did.
Most memorable Q project:
Ethiopia video for SickKids. One of the most beautiful places on earth and some of the nicest people. Always wanted to visit Ethiopia and this gave me that opportunity, as well as film some really touching stories and meet some kids that will always be in my memory.
What do you like most about working at Q?
Opportunities to step outside your role. Without that culture, I’d still be writing factoids for women’s health shows. Now I’m the Creative Director and get lots of opportunities to direct some really amazing projects.
What makes you happy?
Football. Manchester United. Beaches. Reggae and soul music. Family. And the girl that keeps my life in order and who is quite frankly one of the funniest people I know. Oh, and karaoke – FYI, Guns ‘n Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” is my go-to; be advised, if we’re ever in a karaoke session together, I only do this song solo. And traveling (I try to visit somewhere new every year).
Visit Meet the Q Family to get to know other members of the team.
