Listen. Discover. Engage.
Priscilla Stanbury, was born in England but grew up in Vancouver. She taught students with learning disabilities in the post-secondary education sector in England and Vancouver. Following her second kidney failure, she is a first time author of a best-selling, award nominated book, Warriors and Heroes of a Different Kind: Battling Kidney Failure.
Brit Garon grew up in rural Ontario. He attended Western University in London Ontario, where he received a degree in Finance & Economics.
Immediately after University, Brit moved to the GTA and began work at CAA, where he helped launch the travel insurance company Orion Travel Insurance. He was lured away by the Danish insurance company software that CAA had helped develop, where he helped run operations on this side of the Atlantic. While working there, Brit and his roommate developed the idea for what would become ScholarTree.
ScholarTree began life 2 years ago and officially launched in 2017. ScholarTree helps match students with scholarships, so that they can afford to pursue the career of their dreams.
Six years ago, Mehrnaz Bassiri made the riskiest and most rewarding decision of her professional life: she traded a career in Biotech for K-12 educational development. Now she’s an award-winning entrepreneur, a writer, speaker, progress specialist, and the founder of MyGradeBooster. She has been featured at TEDxChilliwack, on Global News radio, and in the Huffington Post.
Nicholas Raymond-Giasson est propriétaire de Cleanergy Inc. Nicholas est un préparateur physique et il effectue également des consultations en nutrition. Il possède son propre studio d’entrainement à St-Jean-sur-Richelieu nommé le Cleanergym Underground. Il a de nombreuses formations académiques : études collégiales en travail social, études universitaires en Éducation Physique et à la santé à Sherbrooke, Somatraining avec Guy Voyez à l’institut Somatraining, Kinésiologie Appliqué avec Bob Rakowski au Minnesota, Posturologie avec Annette Verpillot, Nutrition Appliqué avec Precision Nutrition (en ligne) et Bob Rakowski à Houston au Texas, etc. Son but est de pouvoir aidez un maximum de personnes à retrouver une santé optimale en identifiant les outils qu’ils seront en mesure d’intégrer dans leur quotidien.
Kenny Wong, self proclaimed friendliest builder in the Lower Mainland, is the Co-Director of PHW Homes Inc., a family run business focusing on designing and building residential custom homes. Following his client focused experience while working at eBay, he joined the family business 10 years ago inspired to learn and with the desire to change the common perceptions of contractors within the home building industry. Since that time, PHW Homes has grown substantially and has been featured in Globe & Mail and Global News. The company prides themselves on the client experience and has been awarded Best of Houzz – Client Satisfaction from 2016-2018, and is one of Google’s top 3 rated home building contractors in Burnaby. Additionally, as a newly discovered health and fitness buff, he now is also one of the owners of Oxygen Yoga & Fitness in Yaletown.
Christianne Hayward has been educating children and adults for over forty years. She established her unique parent and youth bookclubs in 1996, and founded the Lyceum in 2007 where she now facilitates 11 bookclubs, 7 writers’ workshops and literature and art classes for young children at the Lyceum, with her talented staff. She also teaches at post-secondary institutions, works as a teacher consultant, facilitates parent groups in the ANCHOR Program at the Vancouver Child Study Centre, and is mother of two sons. She is committed to building community and inspiring a sense of social responsibility in those that she engages with Her Ph.D studies in education (UBC, 2000) focused on using select children’s literature to develop socially relevant curriculum in early childhood settings through to high school. Christianne’s M.Ed studies (Bristol, 1982) centered around the use of literary theming in nursery schools and its effect on children’s attitudes toward reading. Christianne completed her B.Ed (U of A, 1978) in Special Education and received her Diploma in Early Childhood Education in the same year. Her first year of study at the U of A was dedicated to Fine Arts which fuelled a life-long love of the arts.
Nicola Kozmyk Jones is the owner and executive director of Pure Motion Dance Company, a company she started in 2008 at the age of 21 that quickly grew into one of Calgary’s largest and most successful commercial dance companies. Pure Motion provides Nicola with the opportunity to work with some of Calgary’s top dance professionals and share her love of dance with young children.
She has a bachelors degree in sport and recreation management from Mount Royal University. She is an MRU Distinguished Alumna, winning the university’s prestigious Horizon Award which is presented annually to a recent graduate for outstanding achievement early in their career.Both Nicola and Pure Motion have been nominated for and have won a number of awards including the Calgary Chamber of Commerce’s Customer Service Award in 2017.
In addition to Pure Motion Dance company, Nicola works as a business coach helping dance industry professionals throughout North America achieve their full business potential. Nicola’s personal motto, which she shares with everyone she meets, is “You are PURE potential”.
Emilee-Mae Feely, 26, began teaching piano in Waterloo four years ago to earn cash on the side. She went on to develop a web-based business called Feely Piano School that lets you book a piano teacher to come to your home. In 2014 Emilee-Mae founded Feely Music, which has been called the “Uber of Music Lessons.” Since then, it has grown from a small startup to a three-province, 10-city enterprise. Currently, Feely, a “self-taught entrepreneur,” is associated with three incubators at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Sheridan College, and Carleton University, which are helping support her journey. Lately, she has been focusing on the business side of the company and is no longer teaching. Over 10 cities in Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia are served by Feely Piano School.
Pavel Bains is the CEO of Bluzelle – the decentralized database for the new internet. An expert in digital media having worked with Disney, Microsoft, Warners Bros, and DreamWorks. Pavel is also a frequent contributor to Forbes, Huffington Post and Fast Company, writing articles in the areas of finance and digital media. In less than one year he led Bluzelle to projects with the world’s biggest banks, to being named Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, to becoming one of the most influential blockchain projects in the world.
