Chilly nights in late February stink.  The fun of the holidays waved bye-bye to us a long time ago and chances are that it will be cold and dark for a while longer (even if that accursed groundhog says it will be an early spring).  Besides throwing vegetables at the television whenever a weatherman says, “More snow on the way”, it can be hard to find activities after work to look forward to during this time.

Enter Tom Ascheim, speaking at the CMA Red Chair Event Discussion with moderator Amy Friedman.

Tom is someone I had heard about a good amount over the years, mostly from coworkers that have worked with him.  Despite the fact that he’s worked in some seriously lofty positions, such as EVP & General Manager at Nick, CEO of Newsweek, and most recently as the Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Sesame Learning, I almost never hear of his credentials whenever his name is brought up in conversation.  The things I hear repeatedly in regards to Tom Ascheim?

“He is a friendly guy” and “He is tall.”

This fascinates me.  I too fit these descriptions.  In fact, these descriptions follow me around to a level that often overshadows anything I am doing or likely will ever do.  I am convinced that even if I were to run outside right now, strip nude and scream, “The redcoats are coming” on the streets of New York City while firing a t-shirt cannon into office building windows, any newspaper headlines the following day would simply read, “Tall, friendly man causes a ruckus.  Hundreds gain free t-shirts.”

 Don’t get me wrong, “friendly” and “tall” are both fantastic qualities that mean you are doing something right (namely being a good person and fostering a bang-up pituitary gland), it’s just rare to find someone else so innately connected to these two descriptions in Children’s Television in New York.  And upon sitting and watching the CMA Red Chair event I had the same reaction countless others have had before me: “Wow…that is one tall, friendly man.”

Amy Friedman started off the event by reminiscing with Tom over their time together at Noggin, and I quickly realized that roughly 80% of the audience had worked with Tom in some capacity.  In fact, after a Q&A where almost everyone in the audience spoke of their personal experiences with Tom, I was tempted to dub the event “Remember When: A Night Of Reminiscing With Tom Ascheim.”   Rarely if ever have I seen a constituency more excited to speak about how great their interactions were working with someone.  Obviously, Tom is doing something right.

 I too found myself charmed by Tom’s words, as he seemed to lack any of the cockiness and negative outlook that can come with a successful career.  He also seemed to love talking, if for no other reason than to connect with others and use conversation as a bridge to fostering quality work.  Of his time at Noggin, he said that he tried to find programming for children that was, “Weird, but not mean,” an admirable set of traits that can be lost all too often amongst the quick-laugh slapstick programs for kids.  He also pointed out that he puts a strong emphasis on audience research, a trait he brought with him to Newsweek.

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the evening on a personal level occurred when an audience member asked Tom how it was to work as a male in a predominantly female field.  I scanned the crowd at the event, noticing I was largely in an audience composed of women.  Once called “Women in Children’s Media,” the Children’s Media Association has taken great strides in recent months to rebrand itself to be less gender-specific and open to everyone working in the field.  A huge part of the reason I am now involved with the organization is due to this shift, a realization that speaks to the willingness of the organization’s members to see walls and break them down to better embrace their colleagues.  Likewise, before answering, Tom paused to take in his audience.  In a measured response, Tom said that gender frankly doesn’t matter when you’re working with talented people to make good content.  He added that he did notice the disparity, but that it wasn’t something that he actively thought about.  It was a darn good answer.

 

Once the event had wrapped and everyone was either chatting or getting their coats to head out into the crummy late-February weather, I had a chance to speak briefly with Tom Ascheim. I shook his hand, introduced myself, and said the most obvious thing I could think of off the top of my head: “It’s nice to meet another tall, friendly guy in Children’s Media in New York.”  He smiled and responded, “There aren’t many of us.”  Glancing around and noting that we towered over everyone like two buildings in a hayfield, I agreed.  If there are indeed only a few of us out there, I’m glad one of them is Tom Ascheim.