Ovi People Interviews: meet Jason from the Ovi Experience team!

Monday, Monday… How was everyone’s weekend? I saw two birds fighting in the park on Saturday. Try and top that.

After that random start (what do you expect from me? It’s Monday morning) it’s time to introduce our this week’s Ovi People interviewee, Jason Madhosingh who works in the Ovi Experience team. Would you like to know how my discussion with Jason went? Let’s find out!

What do you do here at Nokia?

I lead our digital marketing for Ovi, part of our product marketing team.  The main parts of the role are looking after the story of Ovi by Nokia at Ovi.com, our storytelling efforts via the Ovi blog, and also the product marketing for ovi.com, ovi suite and a few other upcoming things   We have lots of working teams on these projects so there are quite a number of folks with leadership in these areas.  One thing I am very proud of is the re-launch of the Ovi blog which we started in January of 2009.

How long have you been working here and what other projects have you been working on at Nokia?

I joined Nokia in 2007, prior to this role, I led product and consumer marketing for Download!, one of the predecessors to the Store [link ovi store]

What did you do before you joined Nokia (work + education)?

Just before Nokia, I helped lead a strategy unit at Alcone Marketing, the top promotional agency in the US.  I’ve also held jobs in Brand Management at the Walt Disney company (I worked on Disney on Ice and Winnie the Pooh on stage… really fun stuff) and before that, was part of the founding team at a boutique online marketing agency, where I did a ton of work in the video game, music and publishing sectors. Before that, I worked at a record label and trained to be a sous chef in DC and New York. I did my bachelors in Marketing with specialty in International Business at Georgetown University and then my MBA in entrepreneurship and strategy at The University of Maryland.  I just couldn’t seem to escape the DC area!

What makes you passionate about what you do?

I love technology and its relationship to communication– it fascinates me.  Particularly, the transparency of content and information, and the democratization of access to the world is amazing. My family is from a small town in Trinidad and Tobago and in my childhood in the US, I visited quite a bit. I saw a great disparity between the access in the US and TnT.  Even still, I am have only seen the explosion of social media there in the last 18 months (roughly 24 months behind US) as my family reaches out through these already familiar channels to us.

Is there anything specific you like about working at Nokia?

The work life balance and organizational flatness are amazing, but are eclipsed by the sheer wonder of connecting with colleagues from all over the world on a daily basis. It is a really humbling experience to learn and navigate through so many cultures. The people at Nokia are the most talented I’ve ever worked with. True subject matter experts in each and every field and discipline.

What word is the first word that comes to your mind when you think about Ovi?

Open. As in both wide open to all partners and consumers, but also open in definition. One of the things I love about product marketing is the work we do to define and share what Ovi by Nokia is to the world. And one of the things I love about digital is that we can implement it faster than Ronaldhino could juke me with his samba-robics.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve downloaded from Store? Why?

My favorite is actually JoikuSpot.  I travel every day around 3 hours round trip from NYC to our office, so having JoikuSpot really helps me to get online during my train rides. I also like to review the sales charts from the Store in all of our markets and download the most popular stuff to see what consumers like; Doodle Jump and Exclusion are two really terrific recent discoveries as well.

What was your very first Nokia device?

I am admittedly terribly uncivilized. I got my first Nokia (an E62) in 2006. My favorite, though, was the N82, which had the most amazing camera I had ever used on a non dedicated device. Plus, I played FIFA Street 2 endlessly. Note to self, grab that handset and play a game tomorrow at the office.

What device(s) do you use right now and what do you mainly do with it/them?

I am using three devices regularly right now: my N900, N97 mini, and E72. The N900 is amazingly fast and extensible, I love using it note only for Evernote, which I use to take notes, but also for the integrated Skype. My N97 has unlimited access to Ovi Music, and I just crossed 15,000 downloads in early June. My E72 is the meanest, leanest email machine I’ve used. I like to sport it whenever I’m on business travel.

What were you looking for the last time you used Maps?

I use maps almost every day. I like to record my favorite places as I pass them, and especially like to send them direct to phone of people I am meeting out.  I also navigate frequently. My wife made me a really funny voice recording, so whenever I need directions, I’m happy to listen (translation: I know who the boss is!!)

What are your top five favorite blogs/websites?

I read Mashable, Smashing Magazine, popurls, likebutton.me and my Delicious feeds daily. And of course I use the internet to keep up with my friends and colleagues.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

In my spare time I like to photograph street art (see attached for one of my recent favorites) and play football (the real kind, not the American kind). I also really enjoy reading magazines – they are an amazing way to keep current on a wide variety of topics. I like to grab articles and hand them to friends and coworkers. A colleague of mine once joked that “I was bringing the internet to paper”.

What’s your motto?

My personal motto is to find something you love then figure out a way to build a life around it. I believe that happiness comes only from within, so start there. Most of the time I have a smile on my face or a joke ready, so hopefully it’s working!

For me, I like to meet and learn from people, so building meaningful relationships with a diverse group of people is always important for me.

Is there anything you’d like to tell our readers here at the Ovi Blog?

Just be happy. Every day we are working really hard here in the team to help bring you closer to whatever matters to you.  Please feel free to write, I would love to hear from you (madho@ovi.com)