What happens when you blend Indigenous values, entrepreneurial grit, and a mission to do business differently? You get Cheekbone Beauty, one of Canada’s most purpose-driven beauty brands—and the brainchild of Jenn Harper.

In this live episode of Mission Critical recorded in Toronto at Waterworks Food Hall, Lance sits down with Jenn to unpack her incredible journey—from overcoming addiction and selling fish (quite literally) to discovering her purpose in a dream and pioneering what she calls Indigenous Beauty, a category rooted in authentic sustainability.

Jenn gets candid about the highs and lows of building a brand from scratch, how close she came to shutting down, and why community—especially her customers—has always been the foundation of her success.

This episode is presented by Mastercard Canada as part of a special series spotlighting small business owners who are shaping the future of Canadian entrepreneurship.

Listen now to hear how Jenn is rewriting the narrative—and what she wants the world to know about Indigenous excellence, sustainability, and the future of beauty.

• 💄 Origin Story with Purpose: Cheekbone Beauty was born from a dream—and Jenn’s mission to give back to her Indigenous community and rewrite the narrative around Indigenous success.
• 📚 Scholarship Fund Impact: With the support of partners like Mastercard, Cheekbone Beauty launched a scholarship fund that has awarded 30+ scholarships to Indigenous youth since 2021.
• 🌱 Indigenous Beauty as a Category: Jenn is working to define Indigenous Beauty as a global category—anchored in authentic sustainability, community values, and cultural leadership.
• 🔥 Billion-Dollar Vision: She’s unapologetically building a brand with the goal of reaching a $1B valuation—and doing it with only six full-time staff and a lot of heart.
• 🤝 The Power of Community: Jenn credits her survival in business to loyal customers and movements like Buy Canadian, proving that small business success is community-driven.
• 💬 Leadership Through Love and Humility: Drawing from her Anishinaabe culture, Jenn built Cheekbone’s core values on love, humility, and integrity—redefining what business leadership can look like.
• 🎤 Being Vulnerable Online: Jenn opens up about sharing her story publicly, navigating social media as a founder, and why transparency helps build stronger customer relationships.

What does it take to thrive as both a designer and an entrepreneur? In this episode of Mission Critical, Lance sits down with Lesley Hampton—Indigenous artist, acclaimed fashion designer, and founder of her namesake brand—for a conversation about creativity, community, and self-preservation.

From dressing icons like Lizzo, Lily Gladstone, and Sandra Oh, to challenging colonial norms in fashion, Lesley has carved out a space that’s inclusive and deeply intentional. But behind the red carpet moments is a commitment to mental health and setting boundaries. As Lesley puts it, “My business isn’t thriving unless I’m thriving.”

Presented by Mastercard Canada, this episode is part of a series celebrating Canadian small business owners and the stories behind the brands. We talk about the power of mentorship, what it means to lead with your values, and why asking for help (even through a DM) can change the trajectory of your career.

Listen now to learn how Lesley built her brand from scratch, why fashion can be a form of activism, and how she’s creating space for the next generation of Indigenous talent.

This episode is presented in partnership with Mastercard Canada. Listen now and join the Mastercard Small Business Community—a network built to help entrepreneurs learn, grow, and connect. Sign up at mastercard.ca/smallbusiness.

What if a beverage could change how we gather, how we connect, and how we feel seen?

In this episode of Mission Critical, Lance sits down with Andrea Grand, co-founder of Barbet, the stylish and intentional Canadian non-alcoholic beverage brand that's become a mainstay on menus and in fridges across the country. But beyond the buzz and the branding is a story rooted in personal experience, cultural disruption, and purpose-driven entrepreneurship.

Andrea shares how her sister’s health journey was the catalyst behind Barbet’s creation, and how they set out to challenge the norms of an alcohol-centric beverage industry. From battling the assumption that non-alcoholic drinks are “less than” to creating a beverage that fits into social moments without compromising experience, Andrea built Barbet to be, yes, a great drink. But also, a brand with a point of view. A design-forward invitation to inclusivity and a challenger to industry conventions.

In this episode, Andrea reflects on:

• The emotional rollercoaster of building a brand from scratch—without a roadmap
• Why perfection is a myth, and launching before you're ready might be the best move you can make
• The importance of support systems (financial and emotional) in surviving entrepreneurship
• How small businesses are not just economic contributors, but cultural catalysts
• What modern leadership looks like when you’re building in public, balancing vulnerability with vision
• Why visibility and community are essential to long-term impact, especially for women-led brands

Throughout the conversation, Andrea underscores that Barbet isn’t a sobriety brand, but rather an inclusive lifestyle brand for anyone looking to drink differently, without compromising taste, aesthetic, or ritual.

This episode is presented in partnership with Mastercard Canada. Listen now and join the Mastercard Small Business Community—a network built to help entrepreneurs learn, grow, and connect. Sign up at mastercard.ca/smallbusiness.

What if networking wasn’t transactional, intimidating, or exclusive—but reimagined as a safe, empowering, and welcoming experience for ambitious women? That’s the mission behind Monday Girl, a community-driven platform co-founded by Rachel Wong that’s reshaping how the next generation of women professionals connect, grow, and succeed.

In this episode of Mission Critical, Lance sits down with Rachel to explore the personal story and social experiment that launched Monday Girl, the challenges of unlearning outdated rules in entrepreneurship, and the powerful role of community in business. From bootstrapping the business as a side hustle to scaling a membership of over 350,000 across North America, Rachel offers candid reflections on vulnerability, imposter syndrome, and what real support for women founders looks like in today’s ecosystem.

Whether you’re building your own business or searching for your people, Rachel’s insights on building with heart, purpose, and momentum will leave you inspired to take your next bold step.

Key Takeaways:

• The gendered dynamics of networking and how Monday Girl is rewriting the script.
• Why Rachel believes you should “hate your first version”—and keep building anyway.
• The power of community as a product—and why vulnerability can be a superpower.
• How the idea of success is shifting from unicorns and venture capital to slow, sustainable growth.
• The underestimated importance of peer mentorship and seeing role models who reflect your story.

What does it mean to reclaim space in a world that was never built with you in mind? And how do you transform platforms designed for performance into spaces for healing, community, and cultural resurgence?

In this episode of Mission Critical, Lance sits down with Shayla Stonechild, a powerful voice in the movement to uplift Indigenous stories, wisdom, and wellness. As the founder of the Matriarch Movement and host of its podcast, Shayla is redefining what it means to be an Indigenous influencer in today’s digital world. Her work lives at the intersection of spirituality, activism, and storytelling—and she’s using platforms like Instagram and podcasting not for virality, but for impact.

The two talk about the responsibility that comes with sharing stories online, how Indigenous storytelling is rooted in relationship and land, and why healing (especially for Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people) is a radical act of resistance. Shayla also shares her hopes for the future, including two newly announced book deals and her vision for Indigenous voices to be centered in the global wellness industry.

Key Takeaways:

• How Indigenous storytelling is evolving through social media and podcasting.
• The protocols and responsibilities tied to sharing stories from your culture and lineage.
• What decolonized leadership looks like through a matriarchal, relational lens.
• Why healing and wellness for Indigenous people is deeply political.
• How Shayla is using digital spaces to amplify voices that have long been silenced.

Pride is more than a celebration—it’s a call to action. And in a world where LGBTQ+ lives are still under threat, that call has never been more urgent.

In this powerful episode, Lance sits down with Latoya Nugent, Head of Engagement at Rainbow Railroad, an international organization helping LGBTQI+ individuals escape state-sponsored violence and persecution. Latoya speaks not only as a leader, but as a survivor—she was forced to flee Jamaica after being targeted for her identity, and found safety in Canada through Rainbow Railroad’s life-saving work.

Now, she’s building programs that center refugee leadership, amplify queer voices, and push for global systems change. We discuss how displacement shaped her path, why Pride must remain political, and what it means to fight for your rights when the system is not built to protect you.

• The roots of Pride in protest, resistance, and political organizing.
• Why queer and trans refugees face unique dangers worldwide.
• How Rainbow Railroad helps LGBTQ+ individuals escape persecution and find safety.
• Latoya's personal story of forced displacement and transformation into a leader.
• Common myths and harmful narratives about refugees—and how to dismantle them.
• The failures of resettlement systems to protect queer lives.
• The role of refugee-led leadership and the power of lived experience.
• How to build true global solidarity with queer and trans communities at risk.
• What allyship actually looks like beyond social media support.
• Why Pride must remain a force for radical, collective liberation.

• Rainbow Railroad: https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/
• Donate Now: https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/donate

Happy Pride Month, everyone.

Pride is many things—celebration, visibility, love—but it’s also resistance. It began as a protest, led by queer and trans people who demanded to be seen, safe, and free. And while we celebrate today, that original spirit feels more urgent than ever. Across the world, queer and trans communities are facing renewed backlash—their rights questioned, their bodies debated, their joy politicized.

And yet, joy persists.

In today’s episode, Lance is joined by someone who embodies that very dynamic—and that resilience. Joining him, and making a return to the Mission Critical podcast, is Jonathan Van Ness—a voice many know for their humour, beauty, and boldness. Over the past year, Jonathan has navigated intense public attention, scrutiny, and personal transformation. But what’s equally true is that it was also a year of tremendous support and success: their podcast Getting Better grew, their book became a New York Times bestseller, and Queer Eye continues to thrive. Despite the challenges that 2024 brought, they chose to reawaken, to return to joy—not as escape, but as power.

This conversation is about what it means to lead with joy—especially when the world insists on something else. It's about resistance, intention, recalibration and building something lasting from the most authentic parts of who you are.

This is Mission Critical. Let's get into it.

Key Takeaways & Highlights:

• Why joy, for queer people, is both survival and strategy.

• The business decisions and emotional clarity that helped Jonathan rebuild in 2024.

• What it means to build a media and beauty empire rooted in queer identity.

• Honest reflections on public scrutiny.

• The role of activism in brand-building—and when to say no.

• How Jonathan defines success, leadership, and purpose after a year of transformation.

In this episode of Mission Critical, Lance catches up with David and Kavi Moltz, the husband-and-wife duo behind the cult fragrance brand D.S. & DURGA. You might recognize their minimalist, design-forward bottles on the shelves of your favorite department store—clean fonts, matte black caps, and labels that evoke poetry, punk, and place in equal measure.

But what you won’t see on the shelf is the wild, unconventional journey behind the brand: starting from scratch in a Brooklyn apartment, hand-labeling bottles, learning perfumery without formal training, and scaling their business with zero investors for the first decade.

David and Kavi share how they built one of the most distinctive indie fragrance brands in the world—not by chasing trends, but by trusting their instincts, telling great stories, and growing slowly and intentionally.

Key Takeaways:

• Why creative integrity is a long game—and why it's worth it.
• Lessons in DIY brand-building without a business plan.
• How to stay independent while navigating growth and investment.
• Why "brand" and "business" don’t have to kill artistry.
• The value of trusting your weird ideas—and turning them into product.

Today’s guest knows what it means to disrupt the status quo. Carinne Chambers-Saini is the co-founder and CEO of Diva, the Canadian company that put menstrual cups on the map long before the fem-care space was even a thing—they created an entire business category.

While most brands steered clear of the stigma around menstruation, Carinne leaned in, using her platform to advocate for body autonomy, women’s health, and sustainable solutions—way before it was fashionable to do so. Now, more than two decades later, Carinne is still challenging the status quo. With Diva’s latest product line expanding into vulvar health, she’s bringing the same relentless focus on science, accessibility, and cultural change to a category that remains under-discussed, underfunded, and censored. And she’s doing it in a time when women’s bodies have become political battlegrounds—where words like “vulva” and “menopause” are still treated as provocative, even as access to basic healthcare is being rolled back.

Today, Lance and Carinne dive into what it takes to lead in a category you had to invent from scratch, the exhausting work of advocating for research and respect in women’s health, and what happens when business collides with a culture that still thinks your body is a political statement.

• Inventing a Category: How Carinne and her mother built Diva from the ground up, created a new market, and challenged industry norms with conviction and grit.

• The Politics of Women’s Bodies: A candid conversation about the ongoing weaponization of healthcare, the lack of research in women’s health, and how companies can—and must—show up as advocates.

• Breaking the “Ick” Factor: Educating not just consumers, but also medical professionals, buyers, and gatekeepers in a system still uncomfortable with women’s anatomy.

• A New Chapter in Vulvar Wellness: Why Diva’s expansion into vulvar care is timely, necessary, and rooted in the brand’s legacy of clean, effective, science-backed solutions.

• Menstrual Leave as Culture Shift: How Diva walks its talk internally, offering paid menstrual and menopause leave to create space for real well-being.

• Redefining What’s ‘Normal’: The importance of tracking, quantifying, and understanding the menstrual experience as a way to validate women’s pain and experiences—especially in diagnosing conditions like endometriosis.

• Legacy & Leadership: Carinne’s reflections on leading with values, staying true to the mission, and the responsibility that comes with being a pioneer.

What does it mean to be a ‘modern Inuk woman’—and who gets to define that? That’s one of the many bold questions North of North poses. It’s the first large-scale TV series shot in Nunavut, co-produced by CBC and Netflix, and presented by APTN, with over 500 locals cast as background actors and a $23 million impact on the Canadian economy. But beyond the numbers, it’s a groundbreaking show that shatters stereotypes about the North, showcasing Inuit life as vibrant, joyful, and deeply layered.

At the center of it all is Anna Lambe—an actor, advocate, and rising star who’s just getting started. From challenging the white saviour narrative to celebrating the complexities of being a young Inuk woman, Anna brings humour, heart, and unapologetic authenticity to the screen. And with a new project alongside Brad Pitt on the horizon, her influence is only growing.

Today, Anna joins Lance to talk about the power of storytelling, the radical act of centering joy in Indigenous narratives, and why North of North is more than just a TV show—it’s a cultural moment. This is Mission Critical. Let’s get into it.

• Redefining Inuit Identity: Anna discusses what it means to be a “modern Inuk woman” and how North of North pushes back against outdated narratives about the Arctic and its people.

• Joy as Resistance: Why centering Indigenous joy is a radical act — and how the series uses humor and warmth to tell complex stories.

• Cultural Fashion as Storytelling: The intentional use of Inuit fashion, from vibrant parkas to traditional fur, and how it connects to both personal identity and cultural survival.

• Economic and Cultural Impact: The show’s $23M impact on the Canadian economy and the 500+ local roles created in Iqaluit — a game-changing moment for Nunavut’s film industry.

• White Saviour Complex: Anna unpacks how the character of Helen embodies the complexities of well-intentioned “helpers” in Indigenous communities, and why the show avoids easy answers.

• Global Reach and Representation: With Netflix as a distribution partner, North of North is bringing Inuit stories to a global audience — and changing the narrative about what Indigenous storytelling can look like.