Aja and Alexa are the co-founders of Duet, an event planning company. We talk about how they each came up in different corners of the hospitality and corporate events world before ending up at the same company and eventually deciding to build something together.

They get into what it was like starting the business at 23 and 26 with no real credibility yet, why they put their heads down and had no work-life balance in the early years, and how that foundation is what made everything after it possible. We also get into how they stay calm on event days when things go sideways, why over communicating with clients is the most underrated part of the job, and what it means to be only as good as your last event.

00:00 — Intro

04:25 — How Lani Knows Both of Them and How They Found Each Other

06:08 — Aja's Path From a Gym at 17 to Corporate Events

07:05 — How Aja and Alexa Met at Platters and What They Saw in Each Other

17:34 — How They Started Working Together and What They Thought It Would Be

20:38 — We're Only as Good as Our Last Event

22:02 — The School Carnival Story and What It Feels Like to Trust Your Planner

25:32 — What Each Partner Brings and Why It Works

30:00 — Managing a Team and Setting Expectations on Event Days

33:53 — Overcommunicate Everything or It Becomes Disaster

34:14 — Toronto Venues: Hot or Not

40:05 — Smash or Pass: Wedding and Event Trends

51:12 — Dream Venues Around the World

Dani Kagan is the co-founder of Mave & Chez, a luxury ergonomic slipper brand designed for women. We talk about how the brand started from a real health problem she experienced during pregnancy, how she figured out manufacturing and product development with no background in either, and what it took to get from prototype to a Kickstarter that sold out in 12 hours.

We also get into building in public, why she thinks founders need to be the face of their brand, the realities of ethical sourcing and manufacturing costs, and why staying curious has kept her going more than any end goal ever could.

Follow Lani:

IG - @gettin_chai

YouTube - @gettinchaipodcast

Follow Dani:

IG - @maveandchez

Website - maveandchez.com

00:00 — Intro

04:18 — Why Collaboration Always Wins and the Story Behind the Name Maeve & Shea

07:13 — The Health Problem That Started It All and How She Built the Product

11:09 — Trusting Her Gut, Finding the Right Partner, and Getting Through the Hard Days

14:13 — Launching on Kickstarter, Selling Out in 12 Hours, and Why She Didn't Wait Until It Was Perfect

20:36 — Building in Public, Ethical Sourcing, and the Realities of Manufacturing

27:56 — Conscious Consuming, Profit for Purpose, and Why Founders Are the Brand Now

33:09 — Getting Comfortable Asking for Things and Sitting in Discomfort to Grow

Erin Kleinberg joined me to talk about what it takes to really build a brand  — the pivots along the way, trusting your instincts, staying creative, and having the confidence to ask for what you want.She shares what it really looks like to navigate change while continuing to build on your own terms.A thoughtful conversation about resilience, creativity, and evolving as a founder.

00:00 – Intro01:05 – Having a fire in the belly from a young age

02:03 – Starting a clothing line with no business background

06:42 – Selling to major retailers and landing celebrity placements

09:19 – Co-founding a media brand and going inside people's homes

11:34 – Raising funds, landing a famous investor and moving on

13:40 – Pivoting back to clothing and starting a creative agency

16:44 – Landing their first major beauty client through a cold email

18:07 – What a creative agency actually does

19:50 – Losing a grandmother and starting a beauty brand in her honor

21:47 – Building the brand and launching the first products in 2022

24:40 – The thinking behind the product names

31:21 – What makes a candle clean and why it matters

35:09 – Rapid fire round

42:33 – Having a parent as a business partner from day one

46:05 – Why trusting your team and delegating is everything

Yasemin Emory and Whitney Geller are changing the condom landscape.

In this episode, we talk about Jems and what it really takes to modernize protection while keeping the brand intentional and aligned. From navigating stigma to building trust in a sensitive space, this conversation gets into strategy, messaging, and how a small team can shift a big narrative.

FOLLOW GETTIN CHAI

Instagram: gettin_chai

TikTok: gettin_chai

YouTube: gettinchaipodcast

FOLLOW JEMS

Instagram: jemsforall

Website: jemsforall.com

00:00 – Intro

03:33 – Walking into the condom aisle and seeing a massive problem

05:30 – The communication and design gap no one had fixed yet

07:05 – STIs are at an all-time high and why that matters

08:11 – Tackling stigma alongside selling a product

10:46 – How they built the brand and what Gen Z actually told them

13:07 – Campus ambassadors, condom fairies and free marketing

17:24 – Managing inventory and scaling to hundreds of new doors

19:43 – Fifteen years as business partners and what makes it work

22:32 – Riding the highs and weathering the storms together

23:55 – Sex education, young kids and a gap no one is filling

29:11 – What Gems is doing to fill the education gap

32:36 – Why condoms beat eye cream as a business idea

35:00 – What it feels like to be gritty, in it and loving it

This week on Gettin Chai, I’m joined by Alison Albright, who works in victim services on the front lines of crisis and care.
We talk about what the work actually requires — making decisions under pressure, building trust in minutes, and carrying responsibility most people never see.

00:00 – Intro

02:04 – What Is Victim Services Toronto?

03:15 – The Range of Cases & Specialized Programs

07:00 – How the System Works: From Charges to Court

09:43 – The Year of Waiting & Its Impact on Young People

11:34 – What Testifying in Court Actually Looks Like

15:26 – "Court Was Worse Than the Abuse"

16:25 – The Gap in Post-Court Therapy & Support

20:24 – No Specialized Program Exists Anywhere

22:34 – Finding a Leader Who Got It & Building Something New

28:33 – Fundraising the Gap: Creating the Rise Event

31:49 – Community Support, Celebrity Involvement & Sponsors

36:28 – Being Part of the Solution & Why Talking About It Matters

Samantha Diamond joins me to talk about building Bird&Be from personal frustration, lived experience, and science. We get into PCOS, pregnancy loss, why so much of fertility care still feels stuck in the past, and how empowering people with better data can change everything about how they move through the journey.

00:00 – Intro

04:16 – What Is Bird & Bee and How Did It Start?

05:38 – A PCOS Diagnosis While Dating a Fertility Doctor

07:02 – Blending Western Medicine & Naturopathic Care

08:50 – Spotting a Gap in the Market for Reproductive Health

12:10 – What Was Actually on the Shelf Before Bird & Bee1

4:35 – Building Credibility Through Education First

16:39 – The Product Range: Tests & Supplements

17:03 – Reaching People in Reproductive Care Deserts

18:13 – Male Fertility Is a Feminist Issue

20:45 – The Number One Reason People Seek IVF in Canada

22:01 – How the At-Home Tests Actually Work

27:12 – Why You Need to Start Prenatals Before You Start Trying

28:26 – The New Three-in-One Collagen Product

32:40 – Breaking Down Perimenopause & What It Actually Means

37:43 – Why You Need to Be Lifting Heavy Weights

39:36 – How Sam Fills Her Cup: Workouts, Walking & Coaching

44:00 – Closing Thoughts & Why This Conversation Matters

Ariel Swan joins me to talk about the evolution of her teaching, how Jaybird’s method came together, and the role music plays in shaping movement and focus. We get into alignment, energy, and what shifts when you stop overthinking and start moving with more intention. It’s reflective, honest, and grounded in real experience.

00:00 – Intro

05:26 – Feeling over fixing and why emotions need to move through the body

07:58 – How Jaybird came to be and the philosophy behind it

09:49 – Why the room is dark and what removing sight actually does

13:07 – No judgment, no mirrors and why that changes everything

17:04 – The dance party, why it exists and the evolution of every person in the room

20:17 – Rest, nervous system regulation and why pushing harder isn't always the answer

23:03 – Meditation, the pause and why distraction is actually the point

28:14 – Unconscious habits, awareness and being kind to yourself about it

31:04 – What it takes to become a Jaybird instructor

35:42 – Strength versus mobility and what actually matters as you age

40:15 – Instructor chat, favorites and what makes each class different

44:30 – What it means to a founder to hear how it landed

Haley Bogaert didn’t build her brand by chasing trends; she built it by showing up, learning in real time, and doing things her own way.

We dive into early hustle, hard lessons, and why slow-and-steady growth often feels better than constantly pushing for the next big thing. Haley shares what it’s really like to build over time, protect her energy, and grow something that aligns with who she is now.

00:00 – Intro

02:21 – Discovering a passion for beauty at 15

03:24 – Losing two family members six months apart

04:49 – Starting a business from a home apartment

06:10 – How word spread and the business took off

08:31 – Three locations, ten years, no outside funding

11:05 – Learning to raise capital and bring in advisors

12:44 – Trying facials and why it didn't work

14:04 – Expanding into smaller cities across Canada

16:07 – How the brand and marketing evolved over time

17:21 – Building culture and keeping staff turnover low

19:43 – Dating as a driven entrepreneur in Toronto

26:25 – Dealing with a year-long autoimmune diagnosis

29:29 – Losing an entire Instagram account overnight

32:22 – Getting over the fear of social media

35:51 – Why staying connected to clients still matters

40:06 – What's in the bag

43:37 – Top five product picks from the store

This episode dives into the moment Eli Beer realized emergency response needed to change, and how that single realization sparked a movement that now saves thousands of lives a year.We talk about the early days of United Hatzalah, the creativity that led to the Ambucycle, and amazing Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze volunteers, who show what unity looks like in action.It’s raw, insightful, and rich with leadership insights born from a lifetime of service, the kind that reminds you that real impact is built in the moments when you choose to step forward and help.

00:00 – Intro

03:48 – What United Hatzalah is and how it works

06:35 – Why this model only works in Israel

11:10 – Uniting Jews, Muslims, Arabs and Christians to save lives

13:08 – Training other countries and responding to global disasters

15:37 – The rise of antisemitism and what history tells us

18:14 – How to respond without losing the war that matters

20:21 – Showing the world the goodness of Israel

21:05 – What it actually takes to become a volunteer

23:40 – Expanding the model beyond emergency medicine

26:23 – Why volunteers get more out of it than the people they save

29:08 – What Canada and other nations risk if they don't pay attention

36:12 – Getting energy from people, not meditation

39:38 – A 95 year old driving to the airport at 5am

42:56 – The moment that turned all of his children into volunteers

43:52 – His son treating a Palestinian child on the front lines

46:00 – Closing thoughts on community, purpose and doing good

A candid chat with Zoë Paliare, former lawyer turned entrepreneur and transformational coach!She opens up about her journey of making bold career moves, staying authentic in a busy world, and building success on her own terms.

00:00 – Intro

05:01 – Dropping the GMAT, going to law school and practicing commercial litigation

09:00 – Reaching a point of no return and leaving law behind

13:23 – Discovering coaching

19:07 – A co-founder describes the exact same vision in a coaching call

20:46 – Why an all-in-one wellness space was missing in Toronto

24:57 – A first visit to Trove and what the experience felt like

29:21 – What's under one roof and how the space was designed

32:03 – Finding best in class practitioners and building before it makes money

37:14 – Privilege, responsibility and letting go of shame