Education

Olivia Wong Discusses her Business Prototype Thinking Labs, Disaster Relief and Offers Help for Entrepreneurs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Olivia Wong is a former emergency disaster responder living in Vancouver, BC. She was one of the first international aid workers deployed to the frontlines of the Fukushima nuclear radiation disaster in 2011. She has shared essential lessons learned from managing a crisis through hands-on examples from her past work with the UN, UNHCR, International Rescue Committee, and the US State Department. Since leaving nonprofit work, she has merged her past experience in the field of crisis management with Prototype Thinking Labs, a breakthrough innovation method born at Google X, and has trained large corporations such as Google, General Mills, Capital One, Mastercard, L’Oreal, Lululemon and more. In Vancouver where she resides, she has been a mentor to startups in the Vancouver startup community and during COVID-19 has been helping other entrepreneurs and small business owners launch new income streams in 36 hours. Prototype is offering a free 75-minute training to help small business owners & entrepreneurs launch new income streams in 36 hours. To date, they have helped 400 people in less than 3 weeks! Free 75-minute Interactive Webinar: www.prototypethinking.io/webinar.

Scott Stirrett Founder and CEO of Venture for Canada Discusses How the COVID-19 Pandemic May Impact New and Future Entrepreneurs

Scott Stirrett is the Founder and CEO of Venture for Canada, a national charity that develops entrepreneurial leadership skills in young Canadians. In 2019 over 350 young Canadians from coast to coast accelerated their careers through Venture for Canada’s programs. Previously, Scott worked on a cross-product client experience team at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York City. He was recognized by The Inspire Awards as the 2018 Telus LGBTQ Innovator of The Year and last year was named by Future of Good as one of its 21 Young Impact Leaders. Scott is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Evan Gilbert

With a partial BCIT degree, investing 7 months working in the corporate world with Rogers, several years working hospitality with the Vancouver Canucks, Evan Gilbert set his mind on living life as a Digital Nomad traveling around the world while engaging technology to establish a niche helping real estate professionals invest wisely in their online content, presence and sales process. He is on a mission to revolutionize the advertising industry by delivering the best online resources for you to succeed in paid traffic! Within his digital marketing agency in Vancouver, he is also developing an education and training program to help other business decision makers & entrepreneurs get started with their own successful advertising campaigns on social media. Learn more about his business on the Block E Media website.

Andrew Gordon Discusses the Cannabis Industry and His Retail Cannabis Chain Kiaro

Andrew Gordon is a shareholder of Kiaro, which is a cannabis retail brand, and derives from the Italian “Chiaroscuro”, meaning to emerge from darkness into the light. He currently serves as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations and Community. He specializes in organizational development, public affairs, community partnerships and industry performance. Andrew has a degree in Political Science from UVIC, and is a graduate of BCIT’s Non-Profit Management Program. Andrew has successfully led the community integration efforts for a number of private retailers across Canada, and has worked with a diverse array of patients, consumers and regulators to build accountable, community-responsive and financially sustainable cannabis retail models. Galvanized by the prospects of cannabis legalization in Canada, Andrew is passionate about working with community stakeholders across the country to help reduce social stigma, and abate pharmaceutical drug dependence within communities.

Annee Ngo

Annee Ngo is the co-founder and CEO of Startup League, an educational gaming platform for students to learn creative problem-solving through competition and play. She is a serial entrepreneur whom scaled global ed-tech company into more than 30 cities across 12 countries in under 3 years with clients like Adobe and Stanford. She exited her first startup in 2016, returning 3x to her investors. Annee is also the proud recipient of Women Tech Founders’ Award for Gaming/AR/VR and BC Business’ 30 Under 30.

Cam Armitage

Cam Armitage is a professional firefighter and side-hustle CEO of CamArmitage.com. Author, speaker, entertainer, motivator. Cam’s “work” is sharing the message that you can be a “bad-ass” while doing good work, with primary audience of 13-18 year olds who are at a critical pivot point of life choices.

Steve Mesler

Steve Mesler is CEO and Founder of Classroom Champions, a non-profit that brings together children and the world’s best to mentors to teach kids the skills they need to succeed in and out of the classroom. After winning an Olympic Gold Medal in bobsled at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, Steve was inspired to bring the values, lessons, and experiences he and his fellow Olympic and Paralympic athletes had gained through sport into classrooms. Since creating Classroom Champions, over 180 athletes have taught more than 1 million students about goal setting, perseverance, and teamwork to support their mental health, wellness, and academic achievement. Listen in as we chat with Steve about being a social entrepreneur!

Francis Gagnon

Francis Gagnon est le fondateur de Pratico Plastique, une entreprise dédiée à l’éducation des masses sur la réutilisation et le recyclage du plastique pour une grande variété de produits. Il est du type “”Idéateur””, “”Inventif””, “”Puriste”” et “”Rassembleur””. Il démarre toujours d’un enjeu ou d’une problématique et il prends le chapeau de l’architecte de solutions. Il va trouver 1000 solutions à un problème avant de réduire ce nombre et trouver la solution la plus viable. Il n’est pas un architecte, un ingénieur, un médecin ou un biologiste, mais il comprend beaucoup de choses, mais surtout il sait s’entourer des gens de qualité assurant la réussite d’un projet grâce à la co-création.

Il aborde les modèles de coopérative, d’entrepreneuriat social, d’économie solidaire, d’inclusivité et d’économie locale avec grande affection.

De toute façons, à quoi sert l’argent ou une entreprise si nous ne pouvons pas faire rayonner la communauté et les personnes qui composent les lieux où nous opérons ?

Priscilla Stanbury

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

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.