A former varsity basketball player, Randy Osei traded in his jersey for sports marketing and is the Founder & CEO of Rozaay Management, a creative marketing and talent management firm. He is also the Executive Director of the Athlete Technology Group, an events and media company that connects tech entrepreneurs and athletes.

Technology has transformed the way we market and brand ourselves. Talent agencies are constantly shifting to adapt to the world of today in order to connect athletes to their fans and business opportunities that will allow them to prosper past their sport.

Rozaay Management has evolved form a sports management agency to a prominent social enterprise having worked with high-profile clients like Anthony Bennett, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Andrew Wiggins, and more.

We sit down with Randy to explore the world of athlete management. He explains his strategy to building long lasting, organic relationships, breaking down the knowledge barriers that athletes are faced with, and how he’s leveraging tech to establish perpetual revenue streams for his clients. If you’re looking for creative branding techniques, this episode is a must listen!

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Cody and Cole Hock are co-founders of Up North Management Group.

The creator economy is booming, with creatives across various social platforms gaining popularity and business opportunities at scales we have never seen before. However, these individuals are not always equipped with the knowledge and expertise to navigate the technical landscape of monetizing a platform. This is where Up North thrives.

Up North Management Group is a leading talent management firm representing top gaming and esports creators and streamers, and professional athletes with a passion for the digital space. They have partnered with brands such as Samsung, Nesquik, LG and Oculus, while representing high profile clients like Nasher, Inkslasher, NoisyButters, among others.

We sit down with Cody and Cole to discuss their journey in talent management. They detail how they started their firm, how they help clients maximize their platforms, and common pitfalls of creators who are mismanaged. If you’re looking to learn how to take your talents to the next level, this episode is for you!

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Kyra is a Canadian born footballer who started from Toronto and took her talents to Howard University in Washington to pursue athletics and health sciences. Though she had no intention of a pro career, she was quickly noticed by the Saint Kitts & Nevis Women’s National team and brought on as their goalkeeper and captain.

Today, Kyra serves as the CEO for healthcare consulting firm, Persimmon Group while continuing to train and educate young athletes as a mentor and coach.

We sit down with Kyra to discuss her journey through athletics and healthcare, the culture shock of playing abroad, and the mentality of athletes representing their country. We hope you enjoy!

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Travis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Knowledgehook, an instructional guidance system designed to professionally develop teachers and students. Their proprietary technology can uncover learning insights from assessment data that helps bridge the gap between student needs and teacher capabilities.

Having recently raised over $20M, Travis and team are ready to scale the business to new heights. We talk with Travis about how he views growth, how to sell to government organizations, and where the future of online learning is headed. We hope you enjoy the first episode of the year!

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2:00 - Intro, Midlife Crisis, “The Dip”, and personal development

Buster Scher is the founder of HoopsNation. At a young age, Buster knew he wanted to be a broadcaster. Throughout his high school years, he experimented with various outlets before deciding that he wanted to carve out a niche for himself in fantasy sports - enter Hoops Nation.

Hoops Nation started as a fantasy basketball page when Buster was 15 years old. Within a couple years, Buster found himself surrounded by like-minded creatives and brands alike. Buster would go on to partner with Dunk, Atlantic, Overtime, and Vayner Media, run by everyone's favourite Gary Vaynerchuk.

Today, Hoops Nation has over a million followers, while Buster continues to build onto his brand with the Buster Show, his personal podcast with athletes and celebrities. We talk to Buster about scaling up your brand, how to strategize your digital presence, and his experience interning at Vayner Media. Click play to start building!

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Josh Solomon is the Director of Enterprise Sales at Ada Inc. Ada is an AI-powered platform that enables businesses to drive an incredible customer experience through scalable automation. Josh has built his entire career in sales, a field so important that he suggests a good sales professional is able to transfer their sales skills into life skills.

We ask Josh about his journey through sales and dive into his philosophy around sales skills that are transferrable to life. He walks us through the important steps that sales professionals should understand, from nurturing a lead all the way to securing a customer. We also discuss how Ada’s platform helps businesses and dispel the negative connotation around “chatbots”.

Whether you want to become a better salesperson or want to learn must-have skills for your own personal development, this episode is for you! So sit back and listen to Josh sell us that pen.

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2:00 - It all starts in your head

Andrew is the founder of Flourish Pancakes, whose protein pancake mix has taken the Canadian breakfast industry by storm.

Flourish aims to reimagine breakfast with the belief that eating healthy shouldn’t be a chore. Improving eating habits can be achieved by transforming indulgent foods to fit your lifestyle. No elaborate prep or complicated instructions - just pure, organic, natural ingredients tastefully brought together in a simple way.

Andrew takes the time to share his journey of building an alternative healthy food brand loved by consumers in an ever changing and hard to please industry. He leans in on his experience of working with Arlene Dickinson from Dragon’s Den and how her fund, District Ventures, has helped scale Flourish to the next level.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show - maybe over a fresh stack of pancakes?

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Venture for Canada (V4C) is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to foster the entrepreneurial mindset and skills of young Canadians. The organization envisions a Canada where the youth can equitably realize their potential to build the most prosperous place in the world.

The organization achieves this through an internship program for post-secondary students and a fellowship program for graduates that help train the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the entrepreneurial ecosystem with likeminded peers.

In 7 years, VFC has grown from an idea to a national charity with 20 staff members, a multi million dollar budget and more than 5000 community members and alumni.

We talk to Scott about how he brought this idea to life, what the VFC programs have to offer, and how today’s education system fails to prepare young graduates for the business world.

If you’re looking to jumpstart your next big idea, have a listen and see if Venture for Canada can help you!

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1:50 - How Scott came up with Venture for Canada

Hush is a company on a simple mission - to help people around the world relax with ease and fall asleep faster whenever they wish.

Almost every scientific study nowadays indicate that insomnia, stress, and anxiety levels have been on the rise for years. Sleep and relaxation are really important to managing these stressors. Hush’s weighted blankets apply evenly distributed pressure that is proven to reduce anxiety and cortisol. This firm, deep pressure stimulation is known as Deep Touch Pressure Therapy that acts like a hug.

We talk to Aaron about how he started the company with co-founder Lior Ohayon. He explains their growth strategies, their amazing pitch experience on CBC's Dragon’s Den and the science of weighted blanket therapy. Aaron also leans in on his entrepreneurial spirit and what drives him to bet on himself and succeed. 

So wrap yourself in your coziest blanket and click play to hear more about how Hush’s products can help you get better quality rest. And if that blanket isn’t cozy enough, maybe you want to check out Hush?

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Independently owned and operated, Great Lakes Brewery (GLB) is celebrating over 30 years in the craft beer business, making them one of the oldest craft breweries in Ontario! They specialize in producing flavourful beers that are sure to awaken your taste buds with each sip. From unique seasonal ales, bottle conditioned releases, year-round ales and premium lagers, GLB produces a variety of products to be enjoyed by everyone!

We talk to Troy Burtch, the Marketing and Communications manager, about his journey into the beer and spirits world. He details the importance of local breweries and how they compete in the ever popular craft beer space. Troy also explains the amazing pivot that GLB made at the start of the pandemic where they recalled their beer kegs and began producing hand sanitizers to support the community.

GLB is a true success story, starting out of a strip-mall in Brampton, Ontario to becoming one of Canada’s most beloved and recognized craft breweries. We hope you enjoy this fun conversation and highly recommend you crack open a cold one before you hit play!

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