Checkmate (2016) : Movie Review

December 2016

It was amazing experience being part of this film created by students at Centennial College Astonbee in Scarborough

I appear at the 1:51 mark.

Enjoy


                                     

Special Post: TEDx Centennial College is happening October 2018

  I will be submitting to speak at TEDx Centennial College this year!

 Proud Alumni of Centennial College Progess Campus

 Stay tuned...

Learn more                    

                              

Special magazine review: Ascent Alumni Magazine: Centennial College Alumni Association

                              Ascent Alumni Magazine 2009

                     I am proud Centennial College Alumni of 1994 co-op

                  I was feature twice in the magazine Where are they now? and article on 3 keys to success

                    

                                      

Special Post: Jim Pagiamtzis’s lifelong journey of education

      Education is a lifelong journey, and some people don't want to stay still. At Centennial College, we set our alumni up with transferrable skills that let them move around, if that's what they wish.

That was the case with Jim Pagiamtzis, who graduated from our Business Management program in 1994, and moved on to a varied, successful career in areas as diverse as marketing, public speaking, and even acting.

 He used his business knowledge as a platform to pursue a variety of interests on his long, colourful journey, and regularly uses his skills to give back to Centennial College, the school that helped set him up. Here's his story. Read More

Jim Pagiamtzis Centennial College Alumni

                                 

Jim Pagiamtzis journey of success (article written by Centennial College student)

                                              

Education is a lifelong journey and some people don’t want to stay still. At Centennial College, we set our alumni up with transferable skills that let them move around, if that’s what they wish to do. That was the case with Jim Pagiamtzis, who graduated from Business Management in 1994 and moved on to varied successful careers in areas as diverse as marketing, public speaking and even acting. He used his business knowledge as a platform to pursue a variety of interests on his long, colourful journey and regularly uses his skills to give back to Centennial College, the school that help set him up. Here’s his story.

Coming to Centennial

“I go to my guidance councillor and say, I want to become a scientist. She says scientist? Science doesn’t pay.” Jim says about his unusual path into Centennial College. He’d eventually come and take Business Management at our Progress Campus, something he calls “a logical choice.”

“It was a cool program because of how I’d go to school and learn on the go, at that time Centennial College was one of the first schools where a new co-operative was being tested.” He’d take part in two co-op placements, working in the field while he took classes.

“I went to school, and I worked for a company called Oshawa Foods,” he explains “I go to work for four months there, and made some really good money, so I did two co-op work terms.”

“I had to compete with other students to get into the program,” he continues, discussing how in-demand the position was.” Three people interview me for Oshawa Food position! There a lot of competition. I’m grateful that I had that choice, because it helped me later on to understand the world of business, and it allowed me come out of college with no debt!”

“My work ethic definitely improved from being in business, understanding numbers and accounting.” He says, reflecting on what he learned that would later benefit his career. “My accountants loved me, Understanding numbers, expenses and investments helped me.”

“Later on , I realized working independently and working with a team were two of the greatest assets.” He adds “When you don’t have a strong team, things can fall apart.”

A varied career

“I just started working with Digital Marketing here in early June.” Jim says, before that though, he had a long varied career, always trying his hand at new things. From the conventional to the unusual, all grounded in what he’d learned in Business Management at Centennial College.

“After Centennial for ten years, I worked as shipper/ receiver for a couple of computer stores.” He says “Then from 2003 to 2011 I worked in the logistic industry for FedEx Freight, and at that time, I started to get mentored that had a big impact on me personally and professionally, and then in 2007/8 I wrote 3 articles for the Toronto Public Library on mentorship, marketing and volunteering.”

Jim’s passion was always in public speaking, though he’d finally get to do in 2012, after leaving the logistic industry.

“I go hired by social media company Constant Contact.” he continues, “I spoke on email marketing, in that industry for about two years in Toronto, which was my dream to speak full-time and get paid to do it.”

His love of public speaking would also motivate him to bring the Public Speakers Association to Toronto in 2013 which he calls ‘another adventure into itself” The organization currently has chapters in Niagara falls, Calgary and throughout the United States. “It let me do something bigger than me, by giving me speakers to learn from and community they could learn and make impact” he says.

“In 2016 some great thing happened.” He adds, “I taught at a private school in Richmond Hill, ONT teaching the future leaders between the ages of 8 and 13 the power of presentations skills through speaking, It was an awesome experience!”

“After that in May I got back into the acting industry.” He says, surprisingly he did background acting and appeared in few documentaries, even got a small supporting role in “A Girl without a song” in September 2014. It later premiered in Asian Film Festival in October 2015 in Toronto. Then in May he got speaking role in Matt Damon movie Downsizing which will debut in theatre December 2017. “ I got to go behind the scenes, and see how things work in big budget movies.” He says “ I have goal in directing my own movie in the near-future.”

“Then I got hired by digital marketing in June.” He says, closing the loop. “and it’s be a great experience to come in every day and enjoy what I do. The stuff I do doesn’t take a lot of my time, but all things I’m passionate about!”

“People want to succeed, but you have to listen and learn.” He says his advice to anyone looking to  pursue a similar path. “My three area of what I live for is Learn, Speak & Socialize leads to monetize $, I’m constantly learning, always reading, I read multiple books every month. Being a great communicator and ability to socialize and network effective with professionals. Try to understand social media. We didn’t have LinkedIn or Facebook in 1994! There were only phones and McDonalds! We didn’t have this social connection. That’s the biggest difference I share from stage. Now there are some many different types of medium to connect and share.”

                                              The Medium is the Message - Marshall McLuhan

Giving back to the college

“I’ve done a lot of great with Centennial College over the years.” Jim says.  “I constantly run into alumni on my journey, and I continue to look for opportunities to give back to Centennial College.”

“I’m grateful to go back and do what I do.” He explains, “I encourage others to do the same, It’s the least you can do to help your fellow alumni.”

“In 2008 I reached out to Centennial College Alumni Association and I did a couple of articles for Centennial’s Ascent Magazine for the Athletic Wellness Centre that was being built from the blueprints!”  he says explaining some of the things he’s done. “I have spoken to a few classes on social media and networking and participated in Speakers Event in 2011, I went to Family Day and I have met Centennial College Grad in my networking journey over the years.”

  

Jim Pagiamtzis at Centennial College booth at Canada Job Expo June 2016

                                 

Philosophy on success

“I was working evening shift at FedEx Freight, during that day I had nothing to do, so I made myself do something.”  He says explaining why he was involved in so many ventures. There more to it than that, though.

“It’s all about making the time.” He says “It sounds like a lot, but it happens over the years, It didn’t happen all this year, it didn’t happen all last year, it happened over time. You got to make time to do things, and I’m glad I did make the time, It allows me to empower others and share the vision of what Centennial college is doing now.”

“We all go on a journey, and we make decisions, and I happened to go on a journey that set me on a extraordinary path, but there’s nothing wrong with a regular path.” He says. Life can’t be exciting every day, but I try to make it as fun as can.”

Jim Pagiamtzis is Author, Speak and Trainer. Part-time actor  Check out www.jimpagiamtzis.ca to learn more about him.

Jim Pagiamtzis and Centennial College at Banner

Summer Documentary 2014

            It was an awesome summer! Enjoy the videos below from your truly sharing insight on Business, Life and Success.


Greg Turner (blogtalk radio)Panam/ Parapan celebrations at Nathan Philip Square, Interview with Greivis Vasquez of the Toronto Raptors. Mia Martina singing at Yonge and Dundas Square during Live Green Festival. Bonnie Chan and Aline Ayoub sharing at Canada Job Expo at North York Civic Centre.

     Celebration at Honest Ed with big announcement of Bad Boy Furniture opening store in October 2
014. Jim Pagiamtzis sharing insights on Summer Networking Bash at Atlantis ( Ontario Place)

 Interview with Promod Sharma on Rethinking the art of networking.  Interviews with Lena Guirguis with Author and Speaker. Sujit Reddy on his book. Teawna Pinard interview Jim Pagiamtzis at the Summer Networking bash 2014 at Atlantis (Ontario Place)

   Video clips from J Brett Abbey Founder of Message Masters sharing at Develop Your Personal Brand 2014 at OISE Building on Aug 16th. 2 Videos from Corporate Panel featuring Jim Pagiamtzis sharing stories on networking and branding.

     Jim Pagiamtzis sharing experience driving the Panam Volunteer truck to Centennial College Morningside (at the car wash on the way back to Toronto) and finally video from amazing boat cruise on the River Gambler on Sept 1st with friends Ash Silva, James Erdt  cruising Lake Ontario. Networking, socializing and having fun!

  
          
                                            

                                                          
                                                                                                          

                                               Greg Turner and Jim Pagiamtzis
                                            Blogtalk radio Interview Listen
                                       

              
                                      
                                                      Jim Pagiamtzis sharing insights on his book journey
                            


                                                                  

                                          Interview with Author & Speaker Erik Swanson Listen
                                               

                                 Jim Pagiamtzis sharing insights on Constant Contact Core Certification 2014                                      

                                          Blogtalk radio interview with Carmelia Ray Speaker  & Author
                                             Listen



                                       




 


                            



                                                                             

  Jim Pagiamtzis sharing message on Summer Networking Bash 2014



                                       






                




                          





                  



               



                


                                                        



                          




                           






                        


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        Ash Silva, Jim Pagimtzis and James Erdt on the River Gambler on Lake Ontario Sept1st  

Centennial College Room Rental

                                                                         

Spotlight: Matt Green

Spotlight: Matt Green

1^st You currently taking journalism course a Centennial College, what got you interested in the area?

 Well, I was always had a passion for both public speaking, as well as writing. In Spring of 2012, I had received two offers from Centennial College, one for Journalism and the other for Communications & Media Foundations. I thought I could just jump right in to Journalism or I could go in to Media Foundations, get a head start in many areas and then be a step ahead everyone else while having the options to go in to Film, Advertising, or Journalism. 

During the past school year, after having many experiences and collaborating with many different students, I realized that writing was for me considering my best marks were in those courses and I felt that it became my niche. 

I am happy to have taken that course as I have a wealth of knowledge and experience going in to the three year Journalism program in September.

2^nd In early February you started interviewing various professionals in your network on your blog and have completed 25 of them, Can you share this experience and what you have learn from it?

It seems like a long time ago but I can easily summarize it up. It started with an interview assignment for our Media Writing class taught by Errol Nazareth. We were asked to simply interview an inspiring person to us and write an article about them for class. Simple enough? Yes; however, I wasn't done there. I decided that I enjoyed the interview and I decided to do it again for fun for my blog. I kept doing another one and people started to take interest in my articles. I eventually realized that this was a good way to build a portfolio for when I complete the three year program. It would also be a great thing to have when I start the program.

 After ten or so of them, I realized that I needed to specialize in something so I decided that Arts and Entertainment would be best. Musicians, Dancers, and Artists. I recently got to 25 articles and now I find people are calling me, e-mailing me, and approaching ME just to do a story on them! 

All this attention has started to become a bit stressful but I guess this is a good way to prepare for the stressful life of a Journalist when I finish school.

Recently I started thinking of writing a book. I'm constantly writing new content for it while continuing my interviews. I plan on continuing interviewing people and writing about them until I'm no longer able to write some how. I love it, it's great and once my books are in Indigo and I get to meet Tony Robbins - I can then say I finally reached my goal; however, there is no end in goals. I just have to keep setting more.

Matt Green
Journalist and Entrepreneur

Mattgreen34@hotmail.com

Twitter: @mattgreen34

LinkedIn: Matt Green

Blog mattgreencc.wordpress.com