Design

A vision of helping women feel great about themselves

Nancy Nasr is the Founder of Think Stunning, a boutique located in Southcentre Mall that offers Women, Baby, and home accessories made and designed by women. In 2017 with a vision of helping women feel great about themselves with fun and stylish accessories, Think Stunning became a brick-and-mortar store. Each accessory is carefully curated and crafted, and it tells a story written by the incredible women she has had the privilege to collaborate with, each bringing a unique touch to its collections. Think Stunning has overcome many challenges, and has moved with resilience to adapt to different markets. In essence, Nasr is creating a movement by giving women a platform to shine and offering exceptional products.


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The challenges of moving from a service-based to product-based business

Victoria Marshman is a passionate and driven entrepreneur, marketer, community leader, and dance educator. Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, she has operated and scaled two 6-figure companies since 2015 and has helped raise over $250k for local Canadian charities through charitable events. Recently, Victoria has Co-Founded Mave & Chez: a luxury ergonomic slipper brand designed for women, by women. The brand successfully launched on Kickstarter in October 2022, with over 425 pre-orders, and was selected as a “Project We Love” by Kickstarter. The brand has already scaled to 6-figures in just a few short months in the market. Catch Mave & Chez on the next season of Dragon’s Den this fall.


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Persevere through trials and tribulations to reach success

Karly Gramlich is the Founder and CEO at Upper District; a Canadian-based sustainable luxury fashion and accessories brand. She describes herself as unapologetically unconventional. Despite growing up as a farmer’s daughter and miles away from the luxury scene, her ambitious personality took hold and Upper District was born. She sought to outfit those who have worked relentlessly to achieve their goals, despite an unconventional background. Those who have worked tirelessly through trials and tribulations, only to persevere and reach success.


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Bringing a bold and unorthodox approach to design and business

Amanda Hamilton is the founder and creative director of Amanda Hamilton Interior Design and Palette Archives. An award-winning entrepreneur and Interior Designer based in Calgary, Alberta working across Western Canada, Amanda is celebrated for her tenacious entrepreneurial spirit and vibrant persona. Her bold and unorthodox approach to design and business has made her one of the most sought-after creative minds in Canada.

Her debut satirical memoir, Not That Likeable: And Other Stories I told Myself was published in the fall of 2022. Amanda Hamilton unflinchingly chronicles her childhood exploits and coming-of-age story, in all their cringey glory. Riotously funny and spirited, Amanda balances unflinching honesty and side-splitting wit in this offbeat memoir for the proverbial outsider.

Amanda has been featured in numerous national publications including House & Home, Style at Home, Western Living, Montecristo, Avenue and FLARE. She has appeared on various broadcast programs, such as The Marilyn Denis Show, CTV, Global and Breakfast Television and was a collaborator for two episodes of The Property Brothers. A gifted and spirited speaker and storyteller, Amanda has delivered keynote presentations, acted as the Master of Ceremony, moderated panels and has sat on various panels covering a broad range of topics ranging from design to business.

Notable accolades include the 2020 WXN: Top 100 Most Powerful Women of Canada, 2020 Calgary Influential Women in Business Emerging Leader Award, 2019 Women of Inspiration Trailblazer Award, 2018 AWE Entrepreneurship Upsurge Award, 2017 Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40 Award, 2017 Silver Stevie Female Entrepreneur of Canada, 2017 Calgary Herald’s Most Compelling Calgarians, 2013 Western Living Magazine’s One to Watch and 2012 Mount Royal University Alumni Award.

Committed to supporting and elevating the voices of entrepreneurs, Amanda recently launched a number of internal initiatives including Hard Bar Friday, After Hours Podcast and Office Hours: Open Source Learning.

Amanda received her Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Interior Design from Mount Royal University, received her status as a Licensed Interior Designer through the National Council for Design Qualifications and is also a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accredited Professional. She is a mentor for the Harry G. Schaefer Mentorship Program and chairs the Junior Achievement of Southern Alberta World of Choices event. In 2016, Amanda launched a Travel Scholarship through her Alma Matter to promote design exploration.


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Profits and Purpose with Jennifer St. John

Founder and Head Designer at MARNIE & MICHAEL, Jennifer St. John, has been involved in art and design since her earliest days. In 2020, Jennifer launched her business, along with a mission to start a mental health initiative and began a retail shop during the peak of the pandemic, taking a risk that has paid off. With an online shop and six retail locations, Jennifer creates and hand sews her own line of high end leather bags and accessories and devotes up to 15% of all profits to mental health initiatives. She just completed her first successful mental health annual fundraiser and fashion show, with proceeds donated to RVH hospital Foundation.

Jennifer’s mom was untreated and undiagnosed with mental illness for her first fifty-two years of life. Growing up in this very unstable environment with her sisters, no one talked about mental health and everyone around her was distracted by her mom’s unhealthy coping strategies. The only constant in her life was instability and shame. The name, Marnie & Michael, is in honour of her parents and her mother’s journey – now she is determined to be a part of the conversation and space that is changing the stigma!


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Enhancing lives and creating legacies

Kathy Yuen is an Architectural Technologist and founder of Phase One Design, a residential design firm specializing in designing dream homes for homeowners across Canada since 2006.

Phase One Design has helped over 700 homeowners design their dream homes. They have been recognized for countless awards (26 finalist nominations, 12 awards) and featured in numerous publications across Canada.

Kathy is a recognized business leader, public speaker, and educator for the design and custom home community. She has spearheaded various community initiatives such as educational seminars, and has made regular stage appearances. Kathy has been nominated twice for RBC’s Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.

You can check out her videos on the YouTube Channel ‘Dream Homes with Kathy’.


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Se lancer dans la fabrication de cuir végétal

Fannie Laroche a grandi dans une famille ou l’entreprenariat était un mode de vie. Riche de 10 ans d’expérience en tant que styliste personnelle à son compte, elle se questionne depuis un moment sur les pratiques éthiques appliquées dans le milieu de la mode et, faute d’options intéressantes, décide de créer sa propre solution : La création de cuirs végétaux à partir de matières résiduelles.

Elle-même végétalienne engagée et motivée à faire avancer la cause, elle crée Flaura, cuir végétal afin d’offrir des cuirs haut de gamme durables, locaux et naturels aux marchés du textile et des intérieurs de voiture.

Passionné et curieux de nature, le parcours professionnel de Grégory Hersant l’a amené successivement à occuper des postes touchant à la recherche, à son financement et à l’enseignement. Chimiste de formation, il a tout d’abord travaillé comme chercheur et gestionnaire de projets en chimie verte puis comme conseiller en développement de la recherche (soutien administratif des activités de recherche) et en fin dans le domaine du transfert technologique. Tout ce bagage d’expérience lui a permis de bien maîtriser les éléments importants de la chaine d’innovation. Grégory s’intéresse également depuis plusieurs années à la valorisation des matières résiduelles. Il offre d’ailleurs depuis 2008 des services de consultation en chimie verte et plus spécifiquement dans le cadre de projets touchant à la valorisation de matières résiduelles organiques ou d’origine végétale. Il est profondément convaincu que toutes les matières que nous jetons constituent un formidable réservoir d’opportunités d’affaires. Flaura, cuir végétal est une formidable opportunité de prouver qu’on peut à la fois donner une nouvelle vie à une matière considérée comme un résidu, développer un projet d’entreprise viable tout en ayant une approche respectueuse de l’environnement.


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Tackling unexpected challenges with fearless determination

Nicole Matos is a Metis woman, wife, mother of three, President of Rivet Construction and Founder of Oonnie Food Technologies. Leading her construction company for over a decade and now founding a food tech company, Nicole loves to tackle unexpected challenges with fearless determination. You will often hear Nicole say that her successes have mostly come from trying everything the wrong way first.

As an indigenous business Rivet is open to talking about potential partnerships or joint ventures. Rivet currently operates mostly in Alberta, however has a satellite office in Kelowna and some presence in SK. Rivet’s focus is commercial construction, commercial preventative maintenance and design build.

Oonnie is Farmers Market online – it gives you an opportunity to sell your products all day everyday without ever having to set up a physical booth or stand in the rain. Oonnie is like Etsy for food. Oonnie provides a platform and tools to support and help food producers grow their business.


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If You’re Going to Spend the Time, Do it Your Way, with Your Own Style

Henry Rojas is a Sheridan College graduate in Architectural Technology. He started his career as an Architectural Draftsman and continued to grew his skills in various roles in the industry. He began to work with custom homes and progressed to designing and constructing commercial spaces and apartment buildings. He extended his passion by overseeing the development of apartment units. His company Rojas Empire of Design, founded in 2018, is based in Mississauga, Ontario in 2018.


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Alignement des coeurs et de la vision d’entreprise

Albin Poignot est cofondateur de Linky Product et Product Leader, avec une vaste expérience en développement de logiciels. Il a dirigé avec succès trois produits logiciels. Il a travaillé pour de grandes entreprises, comme Capgemini ou Ubisoft, ainsi que pour des startups comme Koolicar ou Lightspeed. Son objectif principal est de définir les bons objectifs business et de comprendre les utilisateurs, afin de s’assurer que la technologie peut servir les utilisateurs et soutenir le développement de l’entreprise.

Valentine Hoyet est cofondatrice de Linky Product et Product Leader, avec une solide expérience en conception UX. Ayant toujours l’humain à l’esprit lorsqu’elle prend une décision, elle est une Gestionnaire de Produits très talentueuse et une leader naturelle. Valentine a travaillé dans un ensemble très diversifié d’entreprises internationales : Capgemini, Orange Business Services, BDC, Ubisoft… Elle sait relever les défis Produits dans de grandes entreprises avec de vastes bases clients. Son objectif principal est de comprendre les utilisateurs et de créer l’expérience utilisateur la plus fluide possible, afin de s’assurer que le produit peut servir les utilisateurs et l’entreprise.


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