Colin Matson-Jones

Hometown

I was born in East Vancouver, just a few blocks east of commercial drive. When I was 10, my family moved to Coquitlam, and I went to High School in Port Coquitlam. If you don't know Port Coquitlam, a fun fact is that Canada's worst serial killer is from there!

Pre RED?

For the past 6 years I had been pursuing a career in music. I received my diploma in Contemporary and Jazz guitar from VCC in 2013, and I spent a year working as a lead guitarist for Carnival Cruise Lines where I completed 2 runs of the Western Caribbean. For the past year and a half I have been playing guitar professionally in Vancouver and teaching guitar both privately and as a contracted teacher for several different music schools. Something I didn't realize was that pursuing music as a source of income would have me almost exclusively playing cover music and background music-two things I don't love. I've also realized I don't love teaching guitar. And then one day at a family dinner I hear that my brother has enrolled in a digital marketing course at a school called RED Academy...

An Interesting Fact

My spirit animal is a Guess What?

But of course, a Penguin!

Best Travel Experience

Since I've yet to do the whole "go backpacking alone and find yourself quest", I'd have to say that my best travel experience was when I worked on cruise ships. I got to see some really beautiful places in the Caribbean with some great friends. My favourite places were Cozumel and Aruba.

Secret Talent

I'm pretty near unbeatable at air hockey

Post RED

Well, like most of us I imagine, I would like to be working in the tech sector after RED. There seems to be endless opportunity in this field and it's really exciting, and I love the idea of working somewhere abroad or even working remotely and travelling! There are several companies that I've had my eye on a little bit:

• Hootsuite (this one in particular!)
• Spotify
• Xmatters
• Mobify