Introducing you to Kevin Bourne, CEO and Creative Director of SHIFTER

Kevin Bourne, also known as “KB The Boss” or simply “KB”, is a Toronto-based arts and culture journalist, media personality, and branding and marketing strategist. As CEO and Creative Director of the content marketing, communications and branding firm SHIFTER Agency Inc., KB has worked with everyone from New Balance to CBC.

The former political staffer is quickly becoming a staple in Canada’s cultural landscape as both a commentator and freelancer, writing and commenting on music, film/television, fashion, and politics. Doubling as editor-in-chief of the online magazine SHIFTER, Kevin has covered some of Canada’s top red carpet events, from the Juno Awards to the Canadian Screen Awards and has interviewed everyone from Kevin Hart and Fast and the Furious star Tyrese Gibson to Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, and Orange Is The New Black star Dascha Polanco.

We caught up with Kevin to learn more about how he built his personal brand, challenges he’s faced along the way and his advice for up-and-coming journalists/media personalities. 

1. Nice to meet you, Kevin. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Let’s jump right in. Tell us how you got into the media and journalism space?

I was kind of by accident. I was working in politics in communications. In between jobs I started blogging and a news outlet asked me if they could pay me to repost my blog posts on their website and to write original articles. Political communications translated well to journalism. It’s all about knowing how to craft a story or narrative. Then I was approved to be the Canada Editor for an online platform based in London, England.

I kind of just had a knack for journalism. I never went to journalism school. I’m self-taught. I’ve been a good writer since I was a kid.

2. Today, you’re the founder and Editor in Chief of Shifter Magazine, a Canadian online Black and urban culture magazine celebrating the best in music, film, television, fashion and sports. What makes your platform unique?

First off, what makes us unique is that we’re Black owned. A lot of Black outlets aren’t actually owned by Black people. They’ll hire us to be the face of it, but the people who are profiting off it don’t look like us.

Second, we’re about building bridges. We cover both Canadian and American culture and our audience spans both countries. We also cover Caribbean and African culture. I’m a dual citizen of Canada and Barbados so I like to put some Caribbean culture in there.

Lastly, we like to focus on opinion pieces and columns. We take pride in providing a voice for Black people on issues that are important to us.

3. What are some challenges you’ve faced while building your personal brand?

I do too many things and wear too many hats. It’s been hard sometimes for me to define who I am and to communicate that in a clear way.

I’m a business person who runs our company, but I’m also a personality, a journalist, and a creative who loves to do art direction, photography, video and graphic design. Now I’m pivoting into producing for TV and film. I have my hand in a lot of things.

4. What can you tell us about the Black entertainment landscape in Canada?

It lacks some of the basic infrastructure to launch talent, especially people of colour. A lot of the decision makers who deal with talent in various industries aren’t people of colour so they don’t know what to do with us, including the record labels. There also aren’t a lot of networksBlack TV and film producers can shop their productions to. As a result of the lack of infrastructure, a lot of talent still feel the need to move to L.A., Atlanta, New York or Europe.

Organizations like the Black Screen Office, which is fairly new, are helping but it’s still hard.

The good news is things have gotten slightly better since the murder of George Floyd and the lack of infrastructure presents a good opportunity for entrepreneurs that want to get in a build something.

5. How do you envision your brand evolving over the next 5 years? Tell us about your biggest goals!

As I said before, we’re pivoting into film and TV with our sister company SHIFTER Entertainment. We want to focus on Black/BIPOC content and want to do some co-productions with companies in the UK and U.S. I want to be recognized as a North American leader in Black entertainment, eventually getting into the events space too.

Generally, I see our brand going global. We’re going to be doing more in the U.S. in 2023. We just had a team member at the Critics Choice Awards in L.A. for the first time. I’m going to be back and forth between Canada and the U.S. a lot more this year; covering events and networking. Then we’re going to focus on the UK and Caribbean after that, leveraging my connections to Barbados. 

We also want to raise the profile of our interviews and be known for interviewing the biggest names in entertainment. We’ve interviewed people like Kevin Hart, Tyrese Gibson, Dashca Polanco, Janelle Monae, and Muni Long, but those are sprinkled throughout the year. I want to maintain that level throughout the year and hold to that as our standard for who we interview.

6. What advice would you offer an up-and-coming journalist? Any lessons you’ve had to learn the hard way?

Build your own platform through tools like YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, or a blog and brand yourself as an expert in a discipline, whether that’s entertainment, sports, or fashion. Journalism school teaches you to be a generalist, but that’s outdated. I get opportunities that people coming out of journalism school don’t get because I’ve branded myself and built an audience.

I’d also say experience is everything. Too many journalists want to get paid before they’ve had a chance to build their personal brand, audience and skills to show they can add value to a network or media platform.

7. What does self-care look like for you? 

I pray daily. Faith in God is important to me. It helps me to cope with the ups and downs, and disappointments, of life and business.

I also journal constantly. I read. I watch TV. That’s a big one. I love to watch TV. And I work out. Working out is very important. It got me through the pandemic.

8. Lastly, where can our readers keep up with you?

On IG and Twitter at @kbtheboss_. I’m also active on Linkedin (@kevinrbourne). For my articles you can check out SHIFTER (shiftermagazine.com and @shiftermagazine). For my interviews you can subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/shiftermagazine)