Zoom-in Online

Last summer I spent a week at Robert Scoble's ranch in Montana. His mother had recently passed away and he inherited this incredible cabin out in the middle of no where. In typical Scobleizer fashion, he invited the world to join him as he packed up her things and chilled out in the mountains, promising an occasional visit to Yellowstone and a lot of ruby-on-rails-versus-python geek chic chats by the campfire.

I dusted off my tent from the tiny closet where I keep it (I live in Manhattan and rarely camp), and flew out to Boseman, MT. Little did I know that among all the die hard videobloggers, ex-Microsofters, and C# coders I'd meet an amazing creative couple, Tanja Andrews and Oscar Grimm, two artists and activists from Oakland CA, who were starting an extraordinary little video blog "show" as they called it, entitled Freshtopia.

What struck me as special about their story was not necessarily the topic of the vlog (it's about RAW Food and sustainable development. I have an interest in environmentalism, but it's not my core passion and it's likely I never would have tuned into the show had I not met the show creators). The amazing part was who they were: genuine, intelligent, incredibly passionate people who were undertaking a daunting endeavor of producing a regular show (3 times per week) about a topic they care very deeply about. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and we became fast friends.

Since that trip, we've seen each other socially on my trips to the Bay Area. When I served as a juror at the Vloggies, I was thrilled to support their winning efforts. They embody the pioneering effort of video blogging: original voices that are compelled to be heard, and that the "big guys" would never understand how to program or market through traditional broadcast channels. (And I say that as a proud former employee of the "big guys.")

Freshtopia has built up a small but dedicated global following. They produce and publish the show consistently with top-notch production values, and they've even managed to secure some modest sponsorship, along with support from Scoble's new employer, Podtech.net and Dana Kaplan's video blog network, BlipTV.

Tanja and Oscar are living out the spirit of the LongTail, and it's a beautiful thing to see.

Fast forward the clock to this year. A few months ago, I went online to check out a few episodes I had missed and I was horrified to learn that the Freshtopia show had been put on hiatus because Oscar had been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, and required immediate surgery. I wasn't sure how to react. Should I call them? Write? Send something? I was depressed for days.

Meanwhile, I posted to their blog and read the site obsessively for updates. I was amazed to see all types of notes of comments, notes of support, even humor and cheer. Some were obviously from friends but others seemed to be from loyal audience members who knew Oscar and Tanja exclusively from their video blog.

This struck me as a bit of an online miracle, and it brought back one gem of advice that I learned from a cable television executive, a revered woman who is now a SVP at a top 5 network, and who has mentored dozens of young people throughout her career.

Over drinks one evening, she told us why she valued networking. "At some point in your career --as in your life-- you're going to go through a crisis. You'll be out of a job, or in an emergency position at work, or in a tight spot, and you'll need something from someone to help you out.

"At that point, you'll have your network to turn to. Look around you right now, this is who you'll call." We looked around at one another fondly, but doubtful of the potential for symbiosis. She added, "A network is not something you can build when you need it. It has to be something you valued all along."

To this day, that's the best piece of career advice I've ever received.

As for Tanja and Oscar, they clearly have an incredible, loyal, dedicated network of friends and colleagues and anonymous video blog viewers. Oscar's had his operation and is now entering the difficult period of recovery. But he's on the road, and they've both approached this difficult time with the spirit and sense of humor that Freshtopia.net is famous for. Best of all, he's far from alone.