The owner of a new recording studio near Richer is this year’s winner of the Community Futures Just Watch Me video contest.

Jody Hunter owns a new business called Studio 23 and was Manitoba’s winner in the startup entrepreneur category. The contest helps celebrate the success of entrepreneurs with health conditions or disabilities. Hunter started construction of his studio in fall of 2017 and opened for business in summer of last year.

Hunter served in the Canadian Military for ten years with the PPCLI and then went on to pursue an education in audio engineering.

Hunter says he opened the studio last summer and notes it was quite the learning curve.

"A lot of it was, we built our own cables and took the time of soldering our cables, buying everything in bulk," he explains, "our acoustic panels were all built in-house but that also gives us the chance to gain more experience."

Hunter feels that by taking the time to learn more about the basics of the business he was getting into, he was able to save a lot of money that way. 

Along with music recording and mixing, Hunter says he hopes to dive into the market of doing sound for video games, television and movies.

"There’s quite a few larger studios in Manitoba that can take care of the bigger budget films but a lot of the indie filmmakers in Manitoba can’t afford to go to those studios just based on their budget so it’s a service I want to provide by helping get their start as well as helping me get my start in the industry."

Hunter says he is grateful to have received this award and looks forward to what the future holds for his business.