Melissa Chee is an accomplished leader with over 20 years of deep tech expertise and a proven track record of growing successful start-ups and global companies.

Melissa is the President and CEO of ventureLAB, a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies. Under Melissa’s leadership, ventureLAB launched the Hardware Catalyst Initiative, Canada’s only lab and incubator for hardware and semiconductor-focused start-ups and scale-ups and is a founding member and Vice-Chair of Canada’s Semiconductor Council.

Prior to joining ventureLAB, Melissa led New Initiatives at a major division of Constellation Software, one of Canada’s largest publicly traded enterprise software companies. Previously, as the Executive Officer responsible for Product, Operations, and Marketing at a publicly-traded, Canadian-founded semiconductor company, Melissa headed global supply chain operations, product management, and corporate marketing where the company’s products were designed into major consumer brands including LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Facebook. In this capacity, Melissa played an important role in the company’s transition to public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Melissa started her career at Nortel, one of Canada’s largest telecommunications multinationals at the time, where she held roles in product management, marketing, and systems engineering.

She has held numerous board positions through national and community impact organizations and is a passionate advocate for innovation in Canada to advance our nation’s global competitiveness, technology commercialization, and women in STEM. Melissa holds an MBA from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from McGill University.

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Anastasia Barbuzzi is a journalist and the creator/host of the podcast $HMONEY Radio. $HMONEY makes financial literacy approachable, attainable, and fun to talk about for millennial women. An open, inclusive, and judgment-free zone that promotes the idea of educating yourself to empower yourself, $HMONEY is a safe place to discuss money matters without guilt or shame. $HMONEY Radio has now been listened to in over 300 cities and 38 countries worldwide, and the show is available on multiple podcast directories.

Anastasia’s path to founding $HMONEY started with her graduation from Toronto’s Ryerson University as a Journalism major. Her strong admiration for and fascination with print from the time she was a little girl led her to pursue a career in print media, and she soon became the Digital Editor of STYLE Canada. Her freelance career has taken her from being a lifestyle and shopping writer for Yahoo and a regular contributor to publications such as VITA Daily, Mode Show News, Style Democracy, Edit Seven, YogiApproved, and Fitt (Detroit). In 2018, she worked under FASHION Magazine’s beauty director as a freelance writer as well. Today she is the Managing Editor of Honest Brand Reviews, in addition to her work with $HMONEY.

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Melissa Moye joined Enbridge in April 2021 as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, leading Enbridge’s Human Resources and Real Estate and Workplace Services. This portfolio includes HR Business Partners, Centers of Excellence, Operations, Rewards and Analytics, Talent Management, and Diversity and Inclusion.

Prior to joining Enbridge, Melissa held the role of Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Bayer AG where she was responsible for the company’s global HR strategies and its Centers of Excellence including responsibility for Compensation & Benefits, Talent Acquisition & Development, Diversity & Inclusion, Digital Analytics, Leadership Development & Succession. Melissa joined Bayer through its merger with Monsanto Corporation where she spent nine years in a variety of increasingly senior HR roles supporting the company’s growth, including leading its HR integration with Bayer AG in 2018.

Melissa holds a Master of Business Administration and brings a breadth of experience in multiple industries including manufacturing, banking, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals.

Melissa has been active in her profession and community, sitting on the Boards of the St. Louis YMCA, Junior Achievement, Together We Grow, and St. Louis Opera. She has also been recognized as a Top 100 HR Professional, and Diverse Business Leader.

Ms. Moye lives in Houston, Texas with her husband, Charles, and has a daughter and a son.

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Valerie is the author of That Construction Worker is My Mom, she began her career as a laborer for her father when she was seven years old and continued through high school. She grew up spending a lot of time on construction sites and developed a passion for working with her hands. She chose to follow her heart instead of listening to others who told her she should choose a job more suited for women. 

Valerie proved them wrong, working as the Regional AMERS Preconstruction Lead for Microsoft supporting Data Center Development. She has worked in a variety of construction markets such as Hewlett Packard, Apple, Google, and other major corporations. 

Yes, Moms can be construction workers are important words that Valerie often uses and helped her write her children's book to inspire and give exposure to the female workforce. 

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We are talking to Pam in this week's episode. Pam shares her story and insights about working in a male-dominated industry so that she can help encourage women who are looking for a career change to consider the skilled trades. Pam is one of Build A Dreams Her Power Tools Winner and has participated in our Trade Campus as a speaker. 

Pam is a 50-year-old, second career, apprentice machinist, with a strong interest in teaching.  Pam's passions have always been working with tools and being creative. Her early career path included finance, manufacturing, and health and wellness. In her forties, Pam pivoted to start a new career as a Machinist and describes the decision as being both scary and exciting, but definitely worth the effort. 

You won't want to miss Pam's amazing story in our latest episode of Perfectly Unfiltered.

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Today's guest is Jennifer Khan, Vice President of Inclusive Diversity at EllisDon. Jen is one of the Board of Directors for Build A Dream. Jen began her work in equity and social justice in 2019 as the Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion committee at EllisDon and 2020 almost created her role for herself in the company. Join Nour and Jen as they discuss their work with DEI, how Jen and EllisDon got involved with Build a Dream, and how to approach DEI in the workforce. 

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Today’s Guest is Gareth Nock who is a passionate family man, entrepreneur and has over twenty years in the fitness industry where he does coaching both in person and online.  

Join Nour and Gareth as they discuss the role of fathers in creating more inclusive communities, the journey and learning of parenthood as a dad and the conversations that men need to have with their partners in order to be an active partner and father.  

https://www.instagram.com/gareth_nock/
https://www.thenockacademy.com/podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/360650

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Constanza is an environmental field technician and has built up a following on Instagram sharing her work as well as reviewing women’s workwear. Women’s workwear is a huge issue for women in the trades and if you’re in the trades, you already know that, but we’re expected to wear men’s workwear clothes which can cause a lot of safety issues on site.  

https://www.instagram.com/technically.a.tech/

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Meet Markie Tuckett! Award-winning, proud owner, operator and lead designer of Timber + Plumb Kitchens and Cabinetry. A creative and optimistic Metis-Canadian woman, who strives to make impactful connections with her clients and community. Having worked over a decade in the industry, Markie's number one goal is to make her clients fall back in love with their homes! Beyond her successful career, Markie is on a mission to support her local Windsor-Essex region, build lasting relationships with other female entrepreneurs and stress the importance of finding the balance between work life and your mental health. 

https://www.instagram.com/timberplumb/
https://www.timberplumb.com/

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After 25 years in the construction industry, and successfully selling her trades business, Coralee now shares her knowledge, experience and expertise with other women in construction and trades to build their business for greater profitability, flexibility and freedom. In addition, Coralee advocates for women in trades to empower them to take control of their future in the industry, helping them start a business and doing so on the right foot, providing best practices for growth and success.  

Coralee wholeheartedly believes in the power of women and believes together they are stronger. Her purpose is to support women in construction to maximize their business potential and live a life they love. 

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