AfterTMU — Graham Beer

Graham Beer is President and Executive Producer of Graham Beer Media (external link, opens in new window) , with more than 14 years of experience in television production, live experiences and media strategy. He founded Cobourg Media and has worked with CBC News, CBC Olympics and Bell Fibe TV1. A dedicated community leader, Graham has raised over $100,000 for local and national causes. He holds a BA, MA and MBA from Toronto Metropolitan University, and in 2025 was named a TMU Alumni Rising Star.

Did your academic journey at TMU help to shape your approach to leveraging media to have an impact beyond entertainment? 

While I was in my third year of the RTA School of Media, I began to see the potential for live broadcasts to inspire people to take action. That realization led me to call up friends with an idea for a livestreamed concert to fundraise for local pandemic relief in Northumberland County. 

For three years, I chaired Northumberland Rocks Back, a benefit concert series in support of United Way. Our first show featured local musicians performing in a parking lot with an impressive stage production. By our final year, we had moved into Cobourg’s arena with Grand Ole Opry member Chris Janson as our headliner. We brought together thousands of people in person and online, and raised over $91,000.

Fast forward to this past summer: I produced the digital multi-camera production for VELD Music Festival, Canada’s largest electronic music event. Once again, I called on TMU talent, building a crew largely of alumni and current students. We had gone from connecting with thousands of people in a local community to reaching millions of EDM fans around the world. The scale had changed, but the vision remained the same. We were bringing people together through music and giving a community the platform to tell its own story. 

Much of your work centres on bringing people together, from sharing stories about war veterans in Cobourg to successfully fundraising for community causes. Did someone inspire you to tell these stories? 

Growing up in a small town offers a unique opportunity to tell stories about people who have a profound impact in your own community. In Cobourg, Ontario, local veterans have helped shape Canadian history, and their impact lives on today through their storytellers. 

Through an introduction from the local mayor, I met and interviewed Helen Vari. She was a dedicated philanthropist, a champion of education, and deeply committed to preserving the stories of Canada’s veterans.

Helen and I worked together on several initiatives, including the unveiling of the Fern Blodgett Sunde Statue. Fern was a courageous young woman from Cobourg who broke barriers during the Second World War as the first Canadian woman to serve as a wireless radio operator at sea. Bringing her life to a new generation showed me how a story rooted in one community can resonate globally. Helen always encouraged me to think bigger about the world and the impact one person can have in making it better. That perspective continues to influence the stories I tell today. 

You’ve produced major broadcasts like the Olympic Games to local community stories. How do you adapt as a producer to engage with different-sized audiences? 

Knowing your audience is one of your greatest strengths as a producer. While running my local news platform and production company, Cobourg Media, I engaged with my community by joining a variety of organizations. This became a major source of inspiration for my content.

In a single month, I could go from producing an advertisement for a local business to interviewing Olympic athletes or reporting on community events. Those experiences helped me build the network, skills and confidence to move between very different stories. 

For global events like the Olympics, I believe you need to lean into the moments that connect us as individuals. The sacrifices made by athletes’ families, the devotion of volunteers, and the triumph or loss that the world’s cameras don’t always see. Sometimes, the stories that connect us aren’t found on the podium, but in the people surrounding it. 

Building an independent media company while pursuing two post-graduate degrees is no small feat! How did you navigate so many simultaneous pressures? 

I’ve always approached entrepreneurship like being a lifelong student. You’re constantly learning, experimenting and challenging yourself to grow. When I pursued my master’s degrees in Media Production and Business Administration, I didn’t realize how much they would broaden my outlook on the media business. As an entrepreneur and producer, your job is to solve problems and surround yourself with people who bring different perspectives. I took the same approach to my research and education. 

To balance running a business with my studies, I focused on areas where I had less experience, like business strategy and negotiation. I was also able to build a strong support system of family, classmates and faculty. Many of those connections became lifelong friends and mentors. That experience taught me that the relationships you build are just as important as the degrees you earn.

What was one of the biggest hurdles you faced early in your career, and what key lesson would you share with current TMU students and alumni? 

One of my biggest hurdles early in my career was feeling like I needed to fit into one box. Was I a journalist, a producer or an entrepreneur? Over time, I realized I didn’t have to choose. I’ve been fortunate to work across many different roles and areas of media, from the CBC newsroom to consulting with organizations on their media operations. Each experience has given me a new perspective and a different set of skills. I’ve learned to see that range as one of my strengths. 

My advice is to stay curious, create your own opportunities and keep building skills that allow you to adapt. Sometimes the experiences that don’t seem connected at first are exactly what prepare you for what comes next. 

What’s next for you, and how do you hope your work continues to bridge media production with community building in the years ahead? 

My new company, Graham Beer Media Inc., is a Toronto-based production and strategy company focused on developing original content while providing production services and media strategies to brands, organizations and creators. 

I’m developing a slate of documentaries, unscripted productions and live experiences centred on remarkable people, with distinctive formats designed to connect new audiences. 

There is an enormous opportunity to think differently about media, not simply as content we produce, but as something we can build with a network of creators, businesses and communities. Stories have the power to bring people together, and I believe that matters now more than ever.