Calgary

Decarbonizing Your Business with Dr. Jamie Stephen

This episode with Dr. Jamie Stephen will provide information on the decarbonization solutions that entrepreneurs can consider as they build and grow their businesses. Now more than ever, there are expectations for companies to integrate carbon-conscious decisions into operations. Dr. Stephen will specifically discuss how the forest sector can support the most effective decarbonization efforts that business can adopt.

The efforts that will be focused on include:

  • Building with wood – carbon capture through wood infrastructure
  • Thermal energy – heating buildings sustainably which is the largest climate liability for businesses
  • Bioenergy carbon capture and storage – options for permanent CO2 removal from the atmosphere

Dr. Jamie Stephen is Managing Director of TorchLight Bioresources, an energy and resources consulting and project development firm based in Nova Scotia, Canada.

He has managed bioenergy and cleantech projects for a broad variety of clients including national and provincial governments, utilities, airlines, manufacturers, investment funds, First Nations, and technology developers. Projects have focused on industrial growth strategies, facility feasibility, technology deployment hurdles, policy options, and investment prioritization.

Originally from Saskatchewan and the UK, he holds a PhD in Forestry (bioenergy techno-economics/strategy) and a Masters in chemical engineering from the University of British Columbia and a BSc(H) in Life Science from Queen’s University.

Learn how you can become net-zero at https://www.forestryforthefuture.ca/


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Entrepreneur, Community Builder, and Humanitarian

Desirée Amanda Bombenon has over 30 years of business operational experience, and strategic leadership. Awarded Ernst & Young 2019 Entrepreneur of the year for the Prairies in Communication Technology, she is a bold innovator, futurist, and purpose driven leader. Her portfolio includes business strategy, social enterprise, and culture building. Desirée is an active member of a number of organizations including YPO (formally Young President’s Organization) and International Women’s Forum, and has chaired several industry boards and focus groups. She is a past director of the National Music Centre, is a past Chair of YPO Alberta Chapter, and a past Chair of YPO Canada Region. Desirée currently serves as Chair of the Governance & HR committee for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Chair of Governance, HR & Nominating committee for Children First Canada, and Vice Chair with CAMX, the Canadian Call Management Association. She also currently Chairs the YPO International Wine Network and is an Executive Committee member of the YPO Sustainable Business Network. She is a cohort for Singularity University and a Harvard Alumni for the Advanced Leadership Initiative 2017 Cohort. She is involved in mentorship programs in her community and through Women’s Executive Network. Desirée has earned her B Admin, CIAC Certification as a Strategic Leader, and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is currently enrolled in Queen’s University EMBA program through Smith School of Business.

Under Desirée’s leadership SureCall has been recognized for numerous industry awards for service excellence, ethics, and integrity. The Centre for Economic and Leadership Development, in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, recognized Desirée as a transformational leader naming her “Champion of Sustainable Development” and honouring her with the ‘Enabler of Vision’ award at the 2017 UN Summit in New York.

Desirée has pivoted her company into a social enterprise and through the “GoodCall” program has established SureCall as a “purpose driven” organization. SureCall became a Certified Benefits corporation (B Corp) in April of 2019 and was named a ‘Best For the World’ Honouree in 2019, rounding out Desirée’s vision of utilizing business as a Force for Good.


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Speaker and Mindfulness Teacher specializing in employee wellness & engagement

After years working in cultures where stress and burnout were seemingly the only way to success, Trish Tutton suffered a shocking loss and things became clear: stress is unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to dictate our lives. As a speaker and mindfulness teacher, Trish has taught the skills to live and work happier to thousands of professionals and has created positive change for her clients to become happier, more productive, effective and successful without the busy badge of honour.

You can find her as a teacher on the #1 free meditation app in the world, Insight Timer, and she is the author of the Mindful Mornings Journal.


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The challenges of opening a tea shop in the busy tourist town of Banff

Jolene Brewster’s ties to the Rockies really start at her family’s roots in the area. They are among the pioneers of Banff’s hospitality industry hosting tours and hikes throughout the Rockies since the early 1900’s. The lifelong Banff resident seeks the harmony of nature, activity, & community on a daily basis. With an degree in Land Resource Management, the equestrian and former Stampede Queen (current ambassador for the Calgary Stampede) founded Natur’el Tea in 2005 which rebranded Jolene’s Tea House upon opening a retail spot on Bear Street this year. Jolene’s entrepreneurial spirit is dedicated to a deep rooted passion for people, health, and happiness.

Jess McNally was born and raised in Alberta, and grew up ski racing at Lake Louise. She is passionate about the environment and ecology, and received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Earth Systems from Stanford University. After university she worked as a science journalist and a vegetable farmer before deciding to become a Buddhist monastic. She spent three years living at Zen Mountain Monastery in New York. She travelled to Asia where she was ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She lived in the Indian Himalayas for two years, with most of that time spent in solitary meditation retreat. Afterwards, she spent a year in Madison, Wisconsin, where she was a fellow at The Center for Healthy Minds, which is a global leader in studying mind, happiness and well-being.

About four years ago Jess decided to take off her monastic robes and move back to Canada. Her family had moved to Banff and she’d always loved these mountains, so it was an easy decision to live here.

Jess has always loved tea, and was delighted when Jolene approached her in 2020 to become a partner in the business.


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Annabelle Mastalic went from trained nurse to interior designer in pursuit of her passions

Based in Calgary, Alberta – Annabelle Mastalic officially launched ADM Interiors in May of 2019. With 17 years of experience as a trained nurse, Annabelle transitioned to interior design, leaning into two of her passions, a love for minimalism and a life-long fascination for design.

Because of her background, she brings a unique lens in her approach to designing spaces that are both beautiful, but also take her client’s health and wellness needs into consideration. Through her medical training, she is able to identify solutions and prompt conversations with clients to consider how they can bring wellness to the forefront of their homes and designs.

She is the first designer in Alberta to become a Certified Living In Place Professional (CLIPP) from the Living in Place Institute (Living In Place focuses on making all homes accessible to people of every age and ability, including helping seniors to age in place) and a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) from the National Association of Home Builders. Both designations enable her to identify and offer solutions for home accessibility, comfort, and safety in every home.

Annabelle’s timeless aesthetic and ‘less is more’ design approach/philosophy, focuses on removing daily burdens to create functional spaces that allow people to live with ease, comfort and beauty. Her designs are inspired by three core values – wellbeing, minimalism, and bringing the homeowner’s story to the forefront of the designs. Especially as we have spent more time at home over the past year, she is passionate about designing homes that are beautiful, meaningful, and are spaces where we can live well and thrive.


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Paula is a storyteller and tells us about the importance of PR, social media and brand strategy

A respected entrepreneur and communicator, Paula Worthington is the founder and principal of Worthington PR & Story, a Calgary-based communications agency specializing in public relations, social media and brand strategy.

She launched Worthington PR & Story in early 2018. The agency’s current client roster includes a who’s who of Alberta businesses, including Calgary Co-op, ATCO, University of Calgary Properties Group and Parks Foundation Calgary.

Worthington PR & Story services include public relations, strategic communications, media relations, media training, issues management, social media strategy, project management, content writing, influencer campaigns, event management and marketing.

The agency also supports changemakers, social enterprises and charities in the community through an agency division called Noble Arrow Projects. Current clients include the Women In Need Society, Paul Brandt’s #NotInMyCity anti-human trafficking movement and the Quinterra Legacy Garden.

Paula is a storyteller at heart. Occasionally, you can find Paula travelling the globe as a notable freelance writer and photographer, with her work appearing in national newspapers and magazines. The yellow arrow in her logo was inspired by her travels (on foot), following a little yellow arrow several hundred kilometres across Spain. She never forgot the power and importance of having wayfinders in order to accomplish our goals.


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How The PIVOT Project Helps Canadian SMEs Future Proof Their Business for a Changing World

Led out of McGill University, The PIVOT Project is an action research project that uses social media to bring small business owners across Canada together to share their climate action goals, struggles and achievements and shift Canadian perspectives on our country’s green future.

We will be interviewing PIVOT participants over the next few months. We love this kind of initiative. In this interview we talk with Drior Etcion an Associate Professor at McGill and one of the drivers of the initiative.

PIVOT is an action-research project that amplifies the action of small business owners across Canada as they transition to the low-carbon economy. PIVOT harnesses the power of stories to document the growing movement of SMEs that are future-proofing their businesses and setting themselves up for success in a changing world.

PIVOT is spearheaded by the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill but is collaborating with many other departments including biology, informational science as well as external stakeholders like the National Film Board of Canada The project is funded by the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative.


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Connecting medical cannabis patients, licensed producers and processors

Joel Taylor, Co-founder of Patient Choice, has been at the forefront of the ever-changing cannabis industry for many years. He helped transition black market cannabis cultivators to the legal market, connecting them to the regulators of Health Canada and British Columbia.

Patient Choice is a licensed online medical platform that connects medical cannabis patients, licensed producers and processors.


Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

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PLAY is the new frontier of creativity and innovation

Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose childhood was full of mud pies and leaf soup, snow castles, and swings. The little girl believed very much that anything was possible and spent much of her time imagining worlds filled with magic and mystery.

As she grew up, people told her that “life was not a fairy tale” and “in the real world it was different,” and she started to believe this was all true.

Yet, no matter how she painted the picture, it was never complete.

So the girl decided to change the script and became the Master of Play.

The tools we need for navigating change and challenge have been in our back pocket our whole lives, but we left them on the playground long ago. We traded imagination and discovery for stability and steady.

But we know that when creativity and innovation intersect people thrive, and profits dramatically increase. COVID has left little space for new, bold, ideas and actions. Now more than ever businesses face larger hurdles in complex problem solving, employee engagement, retention, communication, and ideation.

PLAY is the new frontier of creativity and innovation.

Play is the catalyst for, undefeatable resilience, increased employee engagement, and empowerment. It’s not ping pong tables and pool tables, it’s knowing and understanding whole people, what motivates and inspires them and drives them to share ALL of their strengths at work.

Brandi Heather is a respected award-winning, passionate trailblazer powered by 25+ years of success developing, directing, and optimizing innovative strategies and programs for education and industry leaders. She is well known for spearheading, influencing critical organizational change initiatives. As the co-founder and co-owner of AMPED2PLAY INC., and best-selling author of Return to Play: Rebuilding Resilience, RIsk, and Reconnection she is helping organizations get back “in play”. She is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) and frequently speaks about using the power of PLAY for navigating diversity, inclusion, change management, communication, self-care, mental and physical health.


This podcast is brought to you by Schneider Electric. Supporting Canadian businesses with innovative energy management and automation solutions. Schneider Electric…your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. Click here to learn more.

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A Flower Shop Named After a Shakespearean Character

Marika Styba is the Owner of Peaseblossoms, which opened its doors in 1995 with a unique name based on the work of playwright William Shakespeare.

Peaseblossom was an attending flower fairy to Titania the fairy queen in William Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. As time wore on, by the Victorian Era, a peaseblossom became synonymous with simply being a flower fairy. Sweet, charming and whimsical are all traits Styba loves about her shop and she thinks the name suits them to a ‘t’. The small flower shop has seen steady business in the past year even during the pandemic as people continue to want connections with others through the beauty of flowers.


Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

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