Conversations with REZ

We all have multiple interests, passions and projects that fit outside the traditional singular answer to "what do you do?". Lauren balances and blends the worlds of engineering and entertainment. She is driven by impact, from solving problems and shining a light on solutions that help improve individuals' lives and businesses. 

Lauren is an on-air personality with CityTV, former Miss Canada, Actress, content creator, digital strategist and Industrial Engineering graduate from U of T where she was named one of the top 10 female engineering students to watch. In this episode, we walk through her journey, her experiences and very cool projects she's done over the years. Another cool project I personally loved was the Sharktooth collection which we speak about as well. Thank you for coming on and for the insightful conversation Lauren!

Mehran is a Canadian electrical engineering graduate from the University of Toronto.

He has spent the last few years specializing in blockchain and web development. During his time at Deloitte as an engagement manager, he worked closely with clients, developers, and designers to ship production-grade web products. In addition to delivering products, Mehran was responsible for scaling the blockchain practice at Deloitte.

Currently, Mehran is a product lead at UNICEF Innovation. In his role as product lead, he is creating cutting-edge products on the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains so that UN agencies around the world can utilize blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies effectively and seamlessly. Some of his projects include Crypto Fund and The Atrium.

Co-founder & CEO at Prediko, Youri's ambition is to bring advanced technology to the masses. Prediko is an Inventory Planning SaaS for E-commerce. They help direct-to-consumer brands: 1) Get rid of stockouts & excess inventory and 2) Save time & money when analyzing sales and replenishing stock.

Appreciate your insights and for sharing your experiences. Thank you for coming on Youri!!

An experienced leader in the consulting services, software and cloud computing industries, Germain's career is focused on the effective introduction of emerging technologies, delivering strategies, programs, and digital transformations to arrive at impactful and competitive business solutions in commercial enterprise and government.  A People-First and Servant Leadership advocate, Germain is passionate about teamwork and helping create high-performance teams to deliver strong results. Successfully led Management Consulting, eBusiness, Middleware, HCM / HRTech and Cloud consulting services teams with high client satisfaction and low attrition.  Leading and managing remotely still boils down to the same thing in the end. Effective remote work requires discipline and organization, strong relationships, trust and collaboration.

Each week Gia writes about super-cool startups in his newsletter (https://www.startupsstories.com/) and posts a short summary of the company on LinkedIn. Gia also regularly writes about interesting financial market stories so that you learn from these insights. Gia has a keen interest in startups, innovation and equity research. Concepts he is familiar with include venture capital, e-commerce, pitching, design thinking, value investing, equity fundamentals, LinkedIn brand strategy.  If you are looking for some advice for your startup or you have a question about financial markets feel free to connect with him!

Forbes 30 under 30, Merritt Moore is an American ballerina and quantum physicist. She studied at both the University of Oxford and Harvard University. Moore works to combine her interests in physics and ballet through her research and dedication in both the arts and sciences.  In this episode, we talk about her journey, her projects and the importance of early childhood education.

Founder of Breathing AI, Hannes has been creating personalized calming technologies (screen/audio/olfactory) with patent, prototypes in AR/VR/MR with biofeedback, researched and creating art.  

Projects in conjunction with research universities University of Oregon (UO), University of Miami and University of Michigan with initiated EEG and FMRI studies conducted at The Institute of Neuroscience (UO), and published papers. His team won the award in the panel "Well-Being Computing: AI meets Health and Happiness Science" at Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence SS16 at Stanford University 2016.  

Hannes is also teaching meditation, yoga and breathing practices and has trained with Wim Hof for years. He works with private clients, in corporate offices, schools, international conferences, museums and workshops.  For 15 years, Hannes has also been exhibiting as an artist in museums (e.g. Pérez Art Museum, Bronx Museum NY) and galleries internationally.

Episode 24 with my good friend Med where we speak about his experiences in the interesting, challenging and fun field of product development.

Med is a U of T Engineering alumni with both consulting and product development experience under his belt. What I appreciate about Med is his sense of curiosity and his will to push forward even when the going gets tough. 

Thanks for dropping by Med!

We are back and at it in a new season, season 3. In this episode, we have Raj, a law student with a focus on Blockchain. Interesting conversations overall, from what Blockchain really is, to its use cases and what the future holds. Hope you enjoy and learn something like I did.

Last episode of PST. Had a great chat with my good friend Heerbode talking through his ikigai, his favourite books, his fears, excitement for the future and more. Heerbode is an interesting character and always pushing himself mentally and physically. It's important that we push past our comfort zone in order to grow and that's exactly what Heerbode does constantly. Thanks for hopping on, was great chatting with you!