Real Estate

Creating a fashion and accessories brand popular among celebrities

Lisa Drader-Murphy designs and produces seasonal collections of fashion and accessories that are of the moment yet enduring and classic in quality and expression of timeless design, all from her 250-year-old sea captain’s estate in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Willow Vale Estate, co-managed by her husband, Carey Murphy, also operates as a 5 star boutique resort, boasting multiple spa amenities.

Her label has received extensive international coverage including CNN, New York Times, Entertainment Tonight, BFM Europe, NRJ France, European Vogue, Cosmo, Flare, ELLE, CTV, CBC, SLICE, Canadian Learning Television, Global TV, and has been seen on runways across Canada. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Missi Pyle, Linda Cardellini, and Michelle Rodriguez are among the many celebrities who have selected Turbine for their wardrobes. Turbine has been invited to present at celebrity gifting suites during the Toronto International Film Festival, Golden Globes, Oscars, and the Cannes Film Festival and their signature leather handbags have been spotted on the red carpet.

Established in 1997, Drader-Murphy’s design house is unique in that it is one of few vertical fashion companies remaining in Canada. Her collections are sold exclusively at her 5 privately held retail locations and online.


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Full-service media squad helping real estate agents showcase their personal brand

Laura Stewart is the Co-Founder of FTGU Media, a full-service media squad helping real estate agents showcase, through content, their personal brand. Laura is able to reverse engineer what agents are looking for, because she herself is an agent. In just 6 years, Laura has been promoted to Vice President of the #2 Real Estate sales team in Canada for Royal LePage and has subsequently helped over 700 buyers, sellers and investors every single year.


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A woman of many hats as a lawyer, realtor and fashion retailer

Emma May is the Founder of the digitally native fashion brand SophieGrace and the boutique real estate brokerage Charles Real Estate. A former corporate lawyer, Emma has worked in film and television and was a senior staffer to former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice.

Emma has consistently demonstrated commitment to her community. Following the floods of 2013 she Co-Founded the Calgary River Communities Action Group and advocated on behalf of her fellow Calgarians for policy and mitigation that would protect the City of Calgary in years to come.

In 2014, because of her activism, Premier Jim Prentice appointed Emma Executive Director, Office of the Premier, Southern Alberta. Her responsibilities included stakeholder relations, strategic policy development, issues management, and public affairs. She was responsible for the management and public programming of McDougall Centre and directed and collaborated with Provincial Administration on Flood Recovery Policy and Process. Emma also assisted in the consultation and re-write of Bill 10 (Gay Straight Alliances In Schools) in order for it to achieve unanimous all-party support.

Emma was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2000 and to the Alberta Bar in 2002.

As a lawyer, Emma explored best practices regarding corporate structure, intellectual property matters, strategic planning, and contractual concerns. She was also responsible for the negotiation and drafting contracts relating to financing, insurance, cast, union and guild related matters.


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Challenging the established real estate market

Ken LeBlanc has successfully challenged an established industry and selflessly shares his passion for helping others build a business through his activities with organizations such as the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. Ken has been in the business of building his own business since his student days. Now, 20 years later, he has leveraged his drive and vision into the largest real estate marketing franchising network in Canada, Property Guys.


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Disrupting Commercial Real Estate with Mike Ward

An accomplished investor, advisor, and board member, Mike Ward has invested in private companies for nearly a decade. Mike has a proven track record in his ability to invest in companies and help them to scale and execute strategy, having helped companies such as Ripple, Honk, 1080 Payments, Dollar Shave Club, World First, and Elevate Growth Partners, among others.

Previously a financial industry executive, Mike has over a decade of experience driving profitability, business strategy and leadership. Mike joined World First in January 2015, as Chief Executive Officer for North America and Chief Revenue Officer of the Group. Mike was responsible for strategic commercial operations, including customer acquisition, Marketing, Partnerships, Dealing, and new products. The company has transacted with over 130,000 private clients and 60,000 companies, and last year transacted over $12bn. World First was sold to Ant Financial for $500m. Before World First, Mike previously held the post of CEO for North America and Europe at OzForex, an online foreign exchange and global payments provider. In 2013 he and the executive took the company public through a liquidity event for Macquarie Bank, Accel Partners, and The Carlyle Group. Mike has also previously held positions as a Co-Chairman at Bridgepoint Health and as a Vice President of Sales & Trading at Jameson Bank. Presently, Mike holds the title of CEO at AnthemIQ, a leading commercial real estate transaction company.

Growing up in Toronto, Mike moved to the States to attend university and indulge in his passion for playing ice hockey, while studying Finance at Liberty University. Mike currently resides in Austin, Texas.


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Staying focused and networking created a Vancouver real estate empire

Susan Au-Young is a Senior Mortgage Broker (https://www.susanauyoung.ca). Raised in Vancouver most of her life, Susan is very passionate in working with people and developed a knack for helping clients understand the many financial risks and opportunities they face; while providing a vast wealth of products through Canada’s largest banks, credit unions, trust companies, and financial institutions.

Entrepreneurial Connections – Networking, diversity, resilience and becoming more valuable.


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Learn how Jay Miller built a #1 selling real estate team

Jay Miller’s interest in real estate began during school when he worked summers for a company that did complete home renovations – gaining valuable construction knowledge that would pay off later.

In addition to studying business in College, Jay’s passion for sports led to him playing AAA hockey. His love of song writing helped him obtain a song writing contract with Polygram & Universal Music. These responsibilities taught him discipline and determination along with the unique ability to combine business with creativity and innovation.

Jay began his real estate career working with a friend. He worked tirelessly. His honest caring approach based in Christianity, along with an exceptional work ethic, innovative marketing ideas and an insightful, matter-of-fact negotiating style helped Jay become one of the a top selling realtors in Greater Toronto.

As a solo realtor, delivering service and results at such high standards was taking it’s toll. Jay was working 12+ hours per day 7 days a week. That was when he began his search for outstanding administration and sales partners. Jay’s criteria was very strict but he knew that with a team of professionals, combined with his systems and marketing ideas, the Jay Miller Team would raise the bar in the real estate industry.

It worked! The Jay Miller Team at Re/Max helped a lot of people and became the #1 selling team in Newmarket and one of the top selling teams in York Region. But a need to learn, grow led to the next bold move – Opening up an independent brokerage.

With a strong, honest brand, an incredible team and a lot of faith, Jay Miller Real Estate Ltd. opened in September 2013. To this day, everyone at Jay Miller Real Estate works together as a team. Even more than that – it’s a family. Most of Jay’s partners have been with him for many years.

The Jay Miller Team became the #1 Selling Team in all of York Region in 2015, 2016 and 2018. The team has also been the #1 Selling Team in Newmarket since 2011 and one of the top selling teams on the Toronto Real Estate Board – Canada’s largest real estate board.

The Jay Miller Real Estate Team has been built by sincerely caring about people and delivering incredible results. “When you work with us, you are informed and protected. If it’s not the right deal for you – no deal. There’s always another opportunity and we will make it happen.”


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Ed DePrato life-long entrepreneur shares how his unique business model is proving to be a winner

Ed DePrato is a life-long entrepreneur. His ability to see great opportunities, tenacity, and willingness to put in sweat equity have led him to his most recent venture of launching Sweetly Real Estate in Edmonton, Alberta.

Ed offers his advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs, what traits he sees in himself that make him a great entrepreneur, and discusses how Sweetly has worked well for Edmonton home buyers during the pandemic.


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Adrian Pannozzo from police officer to real estate entrepreneur, he discusses why investing is based on time in the market and not market timing

Adrian Pannozzo is Co-Founder of Executive Properties Capital which is the realization of an amazing entrepreneurial journey in real estate investment and management. Adrian spent 21 years as a police officer and retired early as a result of the choices he made in Real Estate Investment. Adrian has created a proven model of success specifically to share with others through BRR strategy to “buy, renovate, and refinance” Adrian is now a full time real estate investor and entrepreneur and in less than a decade has built an amazing real estate investment, sales and property management group and well over 50 investment properties with more than 300 rental units.


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Candice Bakx-Friesen is a Top Performing Realtor, Entrepreneur, Money Coach, and Speaker

Candice Bakx-Friesen (www.candicebakxfriesen.com) is passionate about helping people reach their financial dreams. She is a highly motivated woman who has a passion for helping others succeed in life and business. She is a mother of 4, top performing realtor, entrepreneur, money coach, and speaker.

Candice has been a real estate investor since 2001. Candice’s candid approach to business and affinity for getting past the fluff and getting to the root of each challenge for her clients so that they get a lot done, has led to her becoming a highly sought after coach within the finance and real estate industries.

She also provides sales coaching to fellow real estate agents but her passion lies in the finance industry. She coaches / trains / mentors on money topics, anything from basic budgeting to real estate investing.

Candice has had many opportunities to speak in front of large crowds and enjoys teaching others and helping people reach their financial dreams.

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