Joshna Maharaj is a chef, two-time TEDx speaker, and activist. She believes strongly in the power of chefs and social gastronomy to bring hospitality, sustainability, and social justice to the table. Joshna is a regular guest on CBC Radio, a passionate public speaker, and co-hosts “Hot Plate,” a food and drink podcast. She was the recipient of Restaurants Canada’s Culinary Excellence Award in 2018. Her recent book, “Take Back The Tray,” is about her work building new models for institutional food procurement, production, and service. This book is a movement to reconnect food with health, wellness, education, and rehabilitation in public institutions around the globe. It is a passionate story about how a chef tried to disrupt the institution in hopes for systemic change.

Declan Edwards is a thought leader in the field of happiness and the Founder of BU Happiness College–an award-winning social enterprise growing global happiness. An avid believer in the potential of people, Declan has seen firsthand that when people are equipped with the strategies to manage their minds and master their emotions, they make a positive impact not only in their own lives but also in the lives of those around them. It is this impact that he is passionate about spreading. As a published author, podcast host, and keynote speaker Declan is actively bringing the skillset of happiness back to the people and creating a world where people can thrive. When he isn't working, you'll find him hiking and spending quality time with his wife and their two dogs, or you'll find him playing either country music or acoustic covers of RnB classics on his guitar.

In this episode, we talked about mortality, the link between love & happiness, country music vs. R&B music, hedonic vs. eudaemonic happiness, ego death, transcending GDP as a measure of success, color coding calendars, and making decisions that align with our head, heart, and gut.

Connect with Declan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/declan-edwards-bu-coaching/

Alicia Robertson is a transformative life coach who helps people navigate massive change. She is the founder and CEO of Lemonade Life–a coaching business and community for women going through major life changes such as the loss of a loved one, career pivots, midlife uncertainty, divorce, and more. In just the past three years, Alicia has coached over 1,000 women and built a community of over 30,000 people. She is a sought after speaker and thought leader who has been featured on SiriusXM, Thrive Global and The Papaya Podcast. It's Alicia's mission to help empower people to thrive through change and build their best life.

In this episode, we talked about rebounding from a divorce, navigating difficult change (such as layoffs or career pivots), burnout, living out and through your values, operating with love & kindness, and being perfectly imperfect.

Connect with Alicia here:

Website: https://www.lemonadelife.ca/

Victor Godinho is a serial entrepreneur and wealth management & strategic financial planning professional. His work and insights have been featured by the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, HuffPost Business, Canadian Wealth Professional, Global News, CBC, and the Financial Post, among other notable media outlets.

Victor is the Managing Partner at Kismet Wealth Group, overseeing the firm's strategic growth in their Wealth Management and Family Office services. Victor holds Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter, and Chartered Investment Manager designations.

Victor is also a recently published author. His first book, “Enterprise Your Wealth: How To Manage Your Wealth Like A Business,” is now available on Amazon.

In this episode, we talked about the importance of paying it forward, growing up in Scarborough, wisdom from Jay Z, the hustler’s mentality, Parkinson’s Law, and doing whatever it takes to turn your dreams into reality.

Connect with Victor here:

Website: www.kismetgroup.ca

James Benham is a bootstrapped serial entrepreneur, corporate innovator, and investor focused on technology that transforms the world’s oldest industries. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of JBKnowledge, a multinational technology and consulting company founded in 2001 that develops industry-leading software for the largest insurance companies across the globe. He is also the Co-Founder of two insurance tech products: SmartCompliance and Terra.

Prior to being focused solely on insurance, James built multiple technology products for the construction industry. His most successful, SmartBid, became the leading construction bidding software for general contractors worldwide, culminating in a multi-million dollar acquisition in 2018. With over 9,500 followers on LinkedIn, James is a sought-after consultant and speaker at the forefront of innovation, technology, sales, and business leadership. He is the host of The InsureTech Geek Podcast and has spoken at over 400 conferences in the last 15 years. His first book, Be Your Own VC: 10 Bootstrapping Principles to Generate Cash and Keep Control, is set to release this fall.

James's first book: Be Your Own VC: 10 Bootstrapping Principles to Generate Cash and Keep Control, is set to release this Fall.

In this episode we talked about the pain vs. control, entrepreneurship, persisting through overwhelming fear, compassionate leadership, the power of checklists, and the discipline and focus it takes to land planes—metaphorically, and literally.

Connect with James here:

Website: https://jamesbenham.com/

Courtney Watts is a human-centred design strategist at CGI, bringing human-centred systems thinking and mindfulness together to help design teams and global enterprises alike solve complex problems. She completed her masters in international business at Hult International Business School in 2014, splitting her time in the program between Cambridge, and Shanghai. She's spent most of the last 8 years in global IT consulting enterprises and startups, including a glorious few years in Toronto. She returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and joined CGI back in October 2020. In addition to her work at CGI, she works with students at Carnegie Mellon University.

The universe truly aligned for this conversation to take place. In this conversation, Courtney and Hamza talk about the love of language. They pick apart the concept of love and how that relates to fear. Are you team love or team fear? They talked about identity, the importance of healing and mindfulness at work. Courtney and Hamza touched upon things like stress and burnout and the importance of creating human-centred systems. With notes on Formula 1 racing and spirituality, it was a conversation everyone should hear at least once!

Connect with Courtney here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wattscourtney/

Hamza Khan is a Democratic Strategist & political activist based in the Washington Metro Region's Maryland suburbs. He is also a frequent guest on national & international news stations to provide analysis & commentary on topics ranging from the environment to immigration & developing markets. Hamza is the founder of The Pluralism Project, an organization working to empower everyday Americans hailing from diverse narratives in our political process. He has previously consulted members of Congress & the US Senate on outreach strategies to immigrant populations & minority voters. He is a keynote speaker who has spoken at dozens of social & political events across the country. Hamza also has a background in speech-writing, with clients including ambassadors, political candidates, religious leaders & Fortune 500 executives.

In this conversation, Hamza Khan and Hamza Khan discussed how their path crossed and what it is like to share the same name. They talked about an array of subjects such as Ms.Marvel, social justice, South-Asain identities, burnout, and believe it or not,  infiltrating FoxNews. Ultimately ending on a very poignant note about the importance of creating empathy and how your life can change, just one breakfast at a time.

Follow Hamza here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamzapolitics/

Herbert Lui is an editorial director and author. He has been writing since he was 15. His work has appeared in publications like Fast Company, Hypebeast, and Quartz, and he later joined Lifehacker as a staff writer. His company Wonder Shuttle has advised teams at organizations such as the City of Toronto, Shopify, and Skillshare on their writing and publications.

In this conversation, went deep into his latest book, Creative Doing and the impact it has had on both our journeys since the last time we spoke on the podcast. We also talked about generational trauma, death anxiety and what it means to have a “purpose” in life. It also wouldn’t be a conversation with Herbert if there wasn’t a little Kanye West in there as well.

Follow Herbert here:

Blog: https://herbertlui.net/

Earlier this year, I had the immense privilege of delivering a convocation address to the 2019 graduates of the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) in Toronto, Ontario.  Inspired by The Toronto Raptors' crowning as 2019 NBA Champions, I urged graduates to contend with imposter syndrome and talk themselves into greatness. Here's the full audio for your listening pleasure. Links to the video and transcript are below.