Canada’s Entrepreneur

Julie Yoo is owner of I Miss You Vintage, Toronto’s premiere destination store for designer label consignment shopping. With over 20 years industry experience and 15 years running a bricks and mortar retail boutique, Julie is a veteran of the resale fashion world. She specializes in identification, authentication, and appraisal of 21st century vintage couture and contemporary luxury designer label resale fashion. Her clientele has included celebrities such as Lady Gaga, runway fashion designers, international museums, and fashion archives. Julie has been interviewed by various publications contributing to discussions about female business entrepreneurship, ecommerce for small business, fashion styling advice, fashion buying tips, and fashion as a financial investment. Julie is featured in Paypal’s 2019 Women Entrepreneur Study and is included in eBay’s 25th anniversary marketing campaign as the face of Canadian small businesses. When she isn’t glued to the computer, she is usually found working with the newest arrival of fabulous designer dresses and purses in store.

Nora Jenkins Townson is the founder of Bright + Early, an unconventional HR consultancy that has helped some of the most successful startups scale. With a focus on employee experience, anti-oppression and creativity, Nora believes that the best People strategies are human first and data informed, with a dash of design thinking. With a background leading HR at Canadian success stories like Wealthsimple and FreshBooks, she founded Bright + Early to help conscious companies who are too small for full time HR leadership. She is also the co-author of The Parenting Playbook, a resource for small businesses on navigating parenthood in the workplace. Her work has been featured in TechCrunch, Elle Magazine, and the Globe and Mail, and she is a frequent speaker on inclusivity, designing HR, and the future of work.

Transitioning from in-person practitioner visits to online sessions has been presently surprising. As a specialist in trauma & couples counselling, Christine Hall (https://blacksheepcounselling.com/) shares her insights on being an independent practitioner in BC, and how traumas of childhood, COVID and racial tensions are creating an impact.

Christine embraces a holistic and collaborative approach to working with others, respecting that successful therapy honours the values and beliefs of each client. She believes that distress and pain are often the foundations that strength, meaningfulness, and wisdom are built upon. She brings a wealth of specialized training in Relational & Developmental Trauma, Somatic Therapies, EMDR, Couples Counselling, Strengthening Family Systems, Adolescent Issues, Substance Abuse Treatment, Existential Issues (finding meaning and living more fully), LGBTQ+ Issues, The Impacts of Colonization (First Nations sensitivities), and Working with Shame to her work with clients. Christine is a trained Mindfulness Self-Compassion Facilitator and embody a compassionate lens to life and to therapy work. She loves art, travel, culture, and is a fierce social justice advocate.

Karen Barry is Founder/CEO of the Beltline Cannabis retail store as well as owner of Barry Commercial Real Estate in Calgary.

Sylvie Bougie a eu le chance de s’entretenir avec Hugo Morin associé de plusieurs entreprises en technologie. Vous y retrouvez ses conseils et certaines anecdotes de son parcours d’entrepreneur.

Hugo Morin fonda Humagade en Avril 2003. Humagade produisait des jeux vidéo sur plusieurs plateformes mais était spécialisée en jeux sur téléphone cellulaire. Dans les années qui ont suivi, Humagade remporta de nombreux prix, connu une croissance annuelle des ventes de 84% en moyenne en augmenta son nombre d'employés de 2 à 40. Ayant produit plus de 150 jeux en J2ME, BREW et Flashlite, Humagade est rapidement devenu un joueur important pour le divertissement mobile. Dû à son expertise, elle s'est vue octroyé l'opportunité de travailler sur des licences de calibre mondiale tel que Star Wars, Mickey Mouse et les Jeux Olympiques.

En 2007, M. Morin fut sélectionné par la Fondation de l'Entrepreneurship afin de participer au Entrepreneurship Development Program de la prestigieuse Sloan School of Management au Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

En Février 2008, M. Morin devient actionnaire de Frima Studio, qui acquiert Humagade devenant ainsi le deuxième plus grand studio de développement de jeux indépendant au Québec.

En plus de siégez sur de nombreux conseils d’administration (CLD de Québec, Desjardins...) et d’être associés dans plusieurs entreprises technologique, M. Morin est associé-investisseur chez V3-Ventures, un fond d'investissement pour startup techno.

Et en 2015, il devient partenaire et directeur général chez IndieGameServices, une entreprise offrant un service de développement d’affaire dans le marché du jeux vidéo.

Pour écoutez la chanson Good Riddance de Green Day : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQ8N1KacJc Aussi Hugo Morin vous a recommandé le livre "How to win friends and influence people" de Dale Carnegie et lis en ce moment "The last Odyssey" de James Rollins.

Over the past 3 years, Brad Pilgrim has led Parity Inc. to develop and deploy an AI-powered energy management platform for multi-residential buildings in order to eliminate energy waste in buildings and cultivate more sustainable urban environments.

Using this platform, Brad and his team have helped prevent more than 4 million lbs of CO2 emissions from their customers’ buildings since 2017.

Lori Desjardine is the co-owner and Occupational Therapist at Pillars of Wellness – a family owned integrated care centre in Burlington ON. Lori completed her undergraduate degree in Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, graduating with Honours. She then continued her academic journey and completed her Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto.

Throughout her carrier as an Occupational Therapist she worked in several different healthcare environments, with her role ranging from front line care, to supervising, mentoring and teaching. She started her first company in 2013 – Desjardine Rehabilitation, and then further expanded to opening Pillars of Wellness with her husband in 2018. Lori has spend the majority of her career focusing on complex trauma, neurological disorders, brain injuries, and mental health challenges.

Having worked within a variety of healthcare settings and observed the strengths and weaknesses within the various medical/rehabilitation disciplines, Lori was inspired to create a care centre that would serve as a bridge in addressing a very noticeable gap in service.

Lori’s vision is to provide truly integrated healthcare services to all clients. While her primary focus is to maximize health, she strongly advocates partnership and knowledge exchange to empower people to manage their own health and make sound care choices. Lori believes that in combination with best practices, coordinated and seamless care, in conjunction with the latest technologies, we can provide clients with the most sound assessments and treatments available; thereby allowing people to maximize quality of life.

Lori Desjardine is the co-owner and Occupational Therapist at Pillars of Wellness – a family owned integrated care centre in Burlington ON. Lori completed her undergraduate degree in Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario, graduating with Honours. She then continued her academic journey and completed her Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto.

Throughout her carrier as an Occupational Therapist she worked in several different healthcare environments, with her role ranging from front line care, to supervising, mentoring and teaching. She started her first company in 2013 – Desjardine Rehabilitation, and then further expanded to opening Pillars of Wellness with her husband in 2018. Lori has spend the majority of her career focusing on complex trauma, neurological disorders, brain injuries, and mental health challenges.

Having worked within a variety of healthcare settings and observed the strengths and weaknesses within the various medical/rehabilitation disciplines, Lori was inspired to create a care centre that would serve as a bridge in addressing a very noticeable gap in service.

Lori’s vision is to provide truly integrated healthcare services to all clients. While her primary focus is to maximize health, she strongly advocates partnership and knowledge exchange to empower people to manage their own health and make sound care choices. Lori believes that in combination with best practices, coordinated and seamless care, in conjunction with the latest technologies, we can provide clients with the most sound assessments and treatments available; thereby allowing people to maximize quality of life.

Sylvie a eu la chance de discuter des aspects liées à la croissance d'une entreprise, le fait de faire affaires à l'international et plusieurs autres sujets avec Jimmy Plante, un entrepreneur inspirant! A écouter pour en connaître davantage sur son parcours mais aussi pour avoir ses précieux conseils!

Passionné par la construction et les technologies, M. Jimmy Plante est un homme d’affaires ainsi qu’un entrepreneur axé sur les résultats et la satisfaction des clients.

M. Plante a débuté sa carrière professionnelle au sein d’une des plus grandes entreprises dans le domaine de la construction d’acier en Amérique. En plus d’avoir été chargé des développements informatiques au niveau des logiciels BIM tels que Revit et Tekla, M. Plante a eu l’opportunité d’être conseiller à l’amélioration. Pendant cette période, il a eu l’occasion de bien comprendre les différentes phases de construction en plus d’avoir eu l’opportunité de mettre en place des stratégies afin de contrer la résistance au changement. M. Plante est entre autres reconnu pour son professionnalisme, son leadership ainsi que sa capacité à résoudre les problèmes de grande complexité.

Le mélange d’expertise tel la gestion d’entreprise, la construction ainsi que la conception de logiciel a permis à M. Plante de démarrer et de développer son entreprise Construction Virtuelle et Technologie BIM One Inc. qui compte plus de 70 employés aujourd'hui. BIM One se spécialise dans les technologies reliées à la modélisation de l’information du bâtiment (BIM). Elle offre des services de conception de logiciels et l’élaboration de stratégie technologique, BIM One offre des services de consultation et d’intégration du BIM afin d’aider les intervenants dans le domaine de la construction à obtenir un processus de conception et de construction « Lean ».

David J. Greer is an entrepreneurial coach, author, and professional speaker (coachdjgreer.com). He is the catalyst who gets you to fully live your dreams now. Spend one hour reading his book Wind In Your Sails, attend a one hour talk with him, or get one hour of 1-to-1 coaching and you will have 3 concrete action items that will shift and accelerate your business within 90 days. David and his wife Karalee are committed to each other and their three children, spending time supporting them in the many and varied activities they are involved with. They live in Vancouver, Canada.