The Connector Next Door with Lisa Gareau

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Riaz Meghji is a human connection expert and author of the book “Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection That Build Extraordinary Relationships”.

After one conversation led him to take a dramatically different career path that changed his life for the better, he became dedicated to exploring the ways that authentic human connection can change lives and organizations.

In addition to being a respected thought leader and author on the topic of human connection, Riaz is also an accomplished broadcaster with 17 years of television hosting experience; he has interviewed experts on current affairs, sports, entertainment, politics, and business.

Riaz has hosted for Citytv’s Breakfast Television, MTV Canada, TEDx Vancouver, CTV News, and the Toronto International Film Festival. He is a natural storyteller with a proven ability to conduct engaging, in-depth conversations across various disciplines.

His insights have been featured in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review and Financial Post.

He holds a degree in business from Simon Fraser University and studied leadership communication at Harvard and off-camera, Riaz dedicates himself to philanthropy and causes he cares about including Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and Covenant House.

It was in November 2022 that I “inhaled” Riaz’ book – and message of connection.

Riaz’ book has made it to the "required reading" section of my library, and I encourage anyone planning or promoting events to take a read and consider how conversations can help you create the connections that matter!

What a gift to learn more about Riaz in this conversation, understand more about why “every conversation counts”, and put my sharpie to work gathering the many “mic drop” moments and insights he offered.

You might want to get out your sharpie as you listen in too!


Reach out to continue this conversation with Riaz on his website HERE: www.RiazMeghji.com 

 Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Brandi Morpurgo is the co-owner of Daisy Chain Book Co., and she runs two bookstores in Edmonton and Beaumont, Alberta and has worked hard to create a vibrant community of readers.

In a previous life she was a Social Worker and Foster Parent who had the wild idea to start Alberta’s first book truck - a bookshop on wheels.

That wild adventure took her all through central Alberta and gained attention around the world.

Brandi reads a lot, delights in the calm task of doing a puzzle while drinking whiskey and listening to audiobooks, and her favorite feeling is giggling with her grown daughters until someone snorts.

In our conversation today Brandi shares why she’s so passionate about creating community around books and how she has found success in developing the Daisy Chain Book community through book clubs.

We got to know each other as my team here at Candy has been working to support the planning of the Administrative Professionals Conference in Edmonton happening on May 3 – just a few days away.

Brandi believes that any event could benefit from having a local bookstore partner help curate both fiction and non-fiction titles for those in attendance.

She graciously agreed to host our “Explore More Book and Resource Store” by curating books that could help the Admin Pros in their career journey. 

I can’t wait to see – and read – some of her recommendations! 

Reach out to continue this conversation with Brandi by connecting through her website HERE -  www.daisychainbook.co

 Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

'Segun Olude is a Graphic Design Professional, Design Educator, Storycrafter, Author, and my good friend.

'Segun is a certified professional graphic designer who has developed brands and identities for professionals, businesses, and institutions. 

He is a Professional Member of Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (CGD Certified), with a range of skills in Graphic Design, Editorial Illustration, Editorial Design, Art Direction, Design Consulting, Design Education, and Design Seminar Facilitation. 

'Segun has taught graphic design, design history, design theory and criticism, and other professional courses at the University of Manitoba, Fort Garry campus and regularly speaks to virtual audiences at design conferences and seminars in Nigeria and internationally. 

Along with his wife, Titi, 'Segun visits Nigeria every year to train and equip leaders for community development and transformation, primarily in rural areas.

In 2008 I met Segun as someone who could help me design the logo, look, and overall brand for my new company. 

I had chosen the name “Candy Consulting” a year or two before meeting Segun the first time but had buried the name deep in my sketchbooks as I felt no one would take me seriously. 

I’ve told the story many times about how I came into Segun’s office armoured up with a completely different direction for my brand. It was his kind personality, ability to listen, and expert design skills that gave me the grounding I needed in more ways than one.  

Learn more about ‘Segun HERE: www.segunolude.com

See his photos and stories HERE: www.instagram.com/segunolude

Watch his PechKucha presentation HERE: https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/a-conversation-with-my-25-year-old-self-brace-for-change

Watch his CreativeMorning Talk HERE: https://creativemornings.com/talks/virtual-what-s-in-your-story-box-segun-olude-on-design-and-storytelling-to-preserve-a-language/2

Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

It’s Jaclyn Falkenberg’s calling in life is to support people to be successful.

This is most evident in her career that has stretched over 20 years working as an Administrative Professional in various sectors including youth justice, charity, and finance.

As a Senior Executive Assistant, she has supported five C-Suite Executives at TriWest Capital Partners, one of Canada’s leading private equity firms, for the last 10 years.

She’s an expert at juggling multiple and competing priorities, strategic planning, event coordination, and partnership building.

To enhance the scope of support she provides, she completed her Co-Active Leadership Coach training and is an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation.

She currently owns and operates Dare to Imagine Coaching Inc. and Indispensable EA Coaching & Consulting where she helps leaders maximize their personal and professional potential.

Jaclyn has been an active volunteer for many non-profits. She just recently served her third term as a board director at Kids Up Front Calgary.

As President of the Association of Administrative Professionals – or AAP – Calgary Branch, she is excited and honoured to lead an incredible team that supports administrative professionals to learn, grow and thrive and to advocate for the profession on a broad scale.

As a long-time partner with AAP branches across the country, it’s been my joy to connect with Administrative Professionals over the years.

But it’s extra special when I see the positive impact the group has in my own backyard here in Calgary!

• • • • •

Reach out to continue this conversation with Jaclyn Falkenberg on Linked in HERE or by email at [email protected]

Learn more about AAP HERE www.canadianadmin.ca or – if you are in the Calgary area – register HERE for Canadian Administrative Professionals Summit 2023 taking place on Administrative Professionals Day – April 26. {Registration closes April 17, 2023}

• • • • •

Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Victoria Burns, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. She lives in Calgary, Alberta with her husband Hervé and Pinot, their grumpy poodle-bichon.

As a registered social worker, educator, researcher, and engaged activist she has invested her energy and expertise in the homelessness and addiction-recovery sphere for over 15 years. She comes to her work with lived experience of addiction, recovery, and disability.

Even with all her accomplishments, accolades, and awards I didn’t know of Victoria – her brave story of recovery – until last summer.

She was introduced to me by a mutual connection and I learned she was the Director of the UCalgary Recovery Community (UCRC) and Recovery On Campus (ROC) Alberta.

Together with her ROC Team – which now includes me and my Candy Team – Victoria is on a mission to co-create peer-driven campus communities that support and celebrate all pathways of recovery for students, faculty, and staff in Alberta, Canada and beyond.

I’ve had the joy of supporting the ROC Team as they officially launched the initiative in September of 2022 – helping them to strategically connect well with those they were looking to serve – the 26 Post-Secondary Institutions (PSI) spread far and wide in Alberta.

We’ve also started to coach these passionate PSI’s to plan events as the start of what will become a network of recovery communities in the province!

In our conversation today Victoria shares how the research shows that providing fun, informative, recovery-friendly events is one of the ways “community” is built on a campus. 

And we're already seeing the result!



You can connect with Dr. Victoria Burns via LinkedIn HERE.

Read more about her work on the University of Calgary website HERE.  

Learn more about UCalgary Recovery Community (UCRC) HERE. 

Learn more about Recovery On Campus (ROC) Alberta HERE. 

Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Rebecca-Jane McAllister is a lifelong learner who lives out her leadership through service to others.

As an evidence-based chiropractor she provides exceptional and quality care to her patients through manual treatment, education, and rehabilitation exercises.

Since we first met, I have been intrigued and inspired by Dr. Rebecca’s focus on collaboration with both patients and partners.

She appreciates the role of all healthcare professionals within the healthcare system and fosters an inter-professional and collaborative approach to the care of each of her patients.

When I asked Dr. Rebecca what “Connection” meant to her she quickly pulled from Brené Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection, quoting, “Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued.”

She believes it is imperative that her patients possess the self-confidence, and are equipped with the tools, to be active participants and self-advocates for their healthcare.

Dr. Rebecca lives out her value of connection in her practice and, in our talk today, she even mapped out the road to creating and maintaining groups that can lead participants to a greater experience of health but also better connection with each other!


You can find Dr. Rebecca-Jane McAllister via LinkedIn HERE or on her website HERE.

Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Sharayah and Journee are deep thinkers, thoughtful connectors, and are sisters who have been through thick and thin together.

They are two of the most intriguing and inspiring people I know ... and just happen to be my daughters.

If you have been following my journey as I have built my business over the last 14 years, it’s almost guaranteed that you have seen snaps of my girls or heard my overwhelming gratitude that I get to be their Mom.

I was so thankful when Sharayah (26) and Journee (22) agreed to sit down with me to have the conversation about connection as they have been my constant companions and courage-building companions through thick and thin too.

For as long as I can remember the three of us have enjoyed mapping out a road trip, preparing the seats in the mini-van with big comfy blankets, packing up the dogs, cranking up the tunes and heading on the open road to enjoy time by a lake, in the mountains, or cruising over the Coquihalla Summit to visit my parents on the West Coast of Canada.

These road trips have been – and continue to be – times to shut out the world and connect but also to coil into deep conversation about current events and concepts we are curious about.

The miles we’ve travelled together have been a gift and the winding roads became a treasured thread through some very tough times.

Thank you for choosing to join us on today’s “road trip” as we chat about what connection means to them, what strategies they used to manage making friends through almost a dozen moves in their younger years, and what it’s like to navigate connection as bi-racial young adults.

If you’re snuggled in … let’s dive in!



Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

 Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Jessica McNaughton has learned that by chasing the things that bring her joy and that help her feel fulfilled – more would come.

She now spends her days following that positive energy and engaging with those that drive her purpose forward.

As the CEO, and Founder of memoryKPR technologies, Jessica is joyfully building a company committed to connecting the world through story.

She believes we all have more habits to capture media than ever before but fewer safe solutions to create and protect our stories for the future.

Jessica is ensuring we have somewhere to keep the most cherished memories for years to come.

Prior to starting memoryKPR, she was a C suite exec who spent 25+ years in progressively senior roles in some of Canada's most respected companies, building high-performance teams and managing transformational change.

As a busy Mom, Jessica jokes to her children often, that she has 3 kids, Jacob, Jakson, and memoryKPR. Something my kids could certainly identify with – lol!

I chatted with Jessica virtually from her home of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan about her exciting start up based out of the near-by, vibrant prairie city, Regina, the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

I love how Jessica shares how connection – to her – feels like a big warm blanket that wraps us up and warms our relationships.

Given that she is calling on her long-time relationships to build a platform that helps us all create deep, lasting, long-time relationships – it’s a perfect analogy.

You can find Jessica via LinkedIn HERE or on the memoryKPR website HERE.


Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca


The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. John Rook is a passionate servant leader who champions the belief that poverty can be solved.

With a doctorate from Oxford University, he has spent years both at the front lines and in academia to gain both a theoretical and practical understanding of the issues facing people in poverty.

It is this perspective that makes him a desired speaker at conferences – tackling topics related to poverty and prosperity and policy change.

As the President & CEO of Simon House Recovery Centre, John builds trust with his practical, hands-on approach thanks to several decades of work in the trenches.

Simon House in Calgary, Alberta, has been in their community for over 40 years, and has been founded on a culture of care.

The goal of the organization is to guide and empower men to achieve long-term recovery from addiction and all its effects.

Under John’s leadership, and his empowered staff, Simon House leads from the Core Values of compassion, acceptance, respect, integrity, accountability, and innovation, and are leading the way in addiction treatment and lifelong recovery.

In our conversation we discussed that many going through challenges use substances to help them disconnect from life’s pain.

John shares with us how by building a trust-filled community at Simon House, men in the program can start a new journey, and begin the work of reconnecting with life in healthy ways!


You can find John by email at [email protected] or learn more about Simon House on their website HERE. 

Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca

The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!

Send us Fan Mail

Preethi Balasubramanian, MBA, ACEA, CCAP, PACE learned from an early age the value of connection.

She soaked in the connection with her family growing up in India and naturally worked to bring friends together into that feeling of family as well!

Preethi has grown into her life path as an award winning, certified experienced Administrative and Human Resources professional with 15 years of experience supporting senior and C-suite executives, Board of Directors, and leading HR initiatives at various organizations from start-ups to large Multi-National Corporations.

Currently as the Owner of her own Virtual Executive Assistant business, the Wonder EA, Preethi provides administrative, social media and communication, people and HR, board governance and executive support services to coaches, speakers, and small entrepreneurs.

Preethi holds an MBA degree with a double major in Human Resources and Information Technology.

She also obtained a Certificate in Business Communication for The University of Toronto and participated in The Leadership in Administration Program at The Rotman School of Business. She holds the international designation as an Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant (ACEA).

She also has the Canadian designation Canadian Certified Administrative Professional (CCAP) and the American designation Professional Administrative Certification of Excellence (PACE).

Preethi and I met in her role as the President of the Toronto Branch of the Association of Administrative Professionals of Canada where I have been investing as a long-time partner through Candy Event Consulting, supporting Admin Pros who plan and promote their own events.

What a joy to learn more about Preethi in our conversation and be inspired by her unique and infectious way of creating connections!

You can find Preethi on LinkedIn HERE – or on her Wonder EA website – HERE. 

Meaningful connections matter now more than ever!

Your community, clients, or customers are ready to connect. Are you ready to be their connector? Events can grow your business, create an impact in your community, or motivate a group around your ideas. The Connection Architect Course and Community is for the everyday event planner that is ready to create connections that matter.

Sound like you? Start building at www.TheConnectionArchitect.ca


The Connector Next Door is produced by www.CandyConsulting.ca  

Are you planning or promoting events for your business, organization, or group? Reach out and book a 30-Minute Hello with podcast host, Candy Event Consulting Founder, and Connection Strategy Coach Lisa Gareau to share how you are creating connections through events!