This is one of my favourite episodes that I have recorded. I got to sit with Dapo Odutayo to catch up on what’s going on with his life and his ventures. Dapo and I met in the Fashion Zone incubator at Ryerson University while we were both working on our startups. Dapo founded Steezle, which was a mobile shopping app that allowed individuals to shop for fashion items by swiping similar to Tinder. As users shop, the app would be able to collect data on what the user likes. Dapo began the app in January 2018 and decided to move on from the whole project all together this year.

We spoke about the challenges of being a solo founder. Every entrepreneur has encountered this problem when they begin a project. You formulate a grand vision of what you want to create, and how it’s going to make an impact. As you begin the journey, you realize how difficult it is to attract the right individuals to your project. Those people who share the same vision as you and want to be missionaries, and not mercenaries on the journey of building the startup.

We touched on how going through the fire, and entering the unknown of creating has lead Dapo to true happiness. The feeling of “failure” brought clarity on where he can apply his strengths and live his life with purpose. The act of doing has brought him peace and given him an unwavering confidence that he can do anything. 

Tune in to a great episode filled with heartfelt chats and laughter!

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In this episode, we have Lucas Ens as our guest. Lucas is the CEO & co-founder of Zky Inc. Zky has built a unique technology platform that allows them to create wearable technology for multi-purpose use. Lucas and I met while working together at GoodLife Fitness and we immediately hit it off as budding entrepreneurs. 

Lucas embodies the hustler’s spirit and is a relentless entrepreneur. Lucas took the jump and moved to Toronto from Prince George, British Columbia with his girlfriend to have a change in his life. While living in Toronto, he came across RFID technology. He and his friend saw this an opportunity to create a business with this technology. This opportunity would steer him into a direction of creating an impactful product.

After 4 years of going through partners,  and team members; he has forged a direction for the business to take it to its next level. Today, Lucas and his team are powering through to ensure everyone uses Zky services.

We spoke about the difficulties of all the ups and downs that come from building a startup. We speak about screening business partners, having a job while building a company, staying committed to the process, and creating a legacy.

This is an energy packed episode with gems from Lucas!

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In this episode, I talk about my long hiatus from podcasting as I was graduating school and the rebranding of the podcast. Over the past couple months, I have had some time to reflect on the journey. I thought about school, the startup life, and the steps ahead of me. All I could think about was the hustle. The hustle it takes to complete a 4 year degree, the hustle it takes to create something from nothing into something, the hustle of getting better everyday. Everything comes to hustling to get to the next step.

Before I was mainly focused on one aspect of the startup world in e-commerce. I want to talk more about the actions that it takes to create. The podcast will be looking at all things hustle. It will be discussing on how to build, persona development, and execution. It will be more of a documentation of the grind. We will be having guest from all kinds of fields in business, music, fashion, and culture. The podcast will be a platform for individuals to come and share their best hustle stories!

In today’s episode, we have Sofia da Silva. She is the founder and CEO of Raiz beverages. Raiz™ supplys a line of coffee alternative beverages made with adaptogens and superfoods, to provide natural energy and immune-boosting properties. The Raiz promise is to always deliver a healthy & plant-based product that is low in sugar and made with 100% real ingredients.

Growing up in a multicultural household, she has always been interested in food. She tried out many diets and fads and finally found what worked for her. Her experimentation leads to become a certified Holistic Nutrionist. 

A trip to Portugal to visit her grandmother lead her to a great discovery. She loves coffee but it lead her to jitters, stomach upsets, and increased anxiety. To combat this, she had ancient herbal alternatives that made her feel energized and invigorated. After that summer, Sofia came back with even more knowledge about herbs and the power of adaptogens. She knew that she had to share this with the world, and this lead her to launch Raiz. 

Today we have Simba Wakatama to talk about his new venture called New Amber. New Amber is a boutique social media agency that exposes Brands & Artists to millions of #relevant audiences using Dynamic Content Creation & Influencer Marketing.

Simba talks about the business model, his meetings with a major record label and how they plan on transforming the way marketing is done for musicians. 

Tomi Gbeleyi is the founder and CEO of Makeup for Melanin Girls, a beauty brand that leverages online communities to develop cosmetics and shopping experiences tailored to multiethnic beauty customers. In just 10 months since launch, Makeup for Melanin Girls has been featured in Glamour, Flare, BuzzFeed and Byrdie. A direct to consumer brand, Makeup for Melanin Girls has an online community of 300,000+ women, a community that was built by Tomi's social media marketing sills.

In this episode, we discuss how Makeup for Melanin Girls was built using social media. Tomi tells her story on how a community of women of colour on her Instagram page and her blog lead her to build direct-to-consumer brand.