Toronto

Advice from the co-founder of a leading global influencer talent management agency

Emily Ward is the co-founder of Canada’s leading global influencer talent management agency Shine Talent Group. Emily transformed her PR agency (which she had for 10+ years) into a full influencer talent management agency. In this session we discuss, knowing when to make a change, knowing when it’s time to bring on a business partner, and how to find the right person.


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How a maker defined success his own way

Cate & Levi was founded in 2008 after the CEO & Founder’s first son Levi was born. Although Josh Title graduated from law school and practiced corporate law, “making” has always been his true calling. His mom is an avid crafter and father a committed and successful small business owner. You may say that Josh is the perfect marriage of both!

As Josh and his wife awaited the birth of their first child, he noticed that there was a lack of one of a kind, responsibly made, and beautifully designed products for children. He decided to create a unique collection of products that would be intricately crafted and environmentally responsible. Josh started by designing a handful of stuffed animals made from upcycled sweaters. These quickly became their signature pieces distributed and collected around the world.

The Cate & Levi Collection is handmade at Josh’s studio in Toronto, Canada. Together with his talented production team, he oversee every aspect of this collection. All the materials are sourced as close to home as possible. This process cuts down on shipping and reduces the carbon footprint. Cate and Levi produces three distinct product lines: One Of A Kind Reclaimed Wool Finished Products, DIY Wool Crafting Kits, and Softy Polar Fleece Finished 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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The freedom and impact of being an entrepreneur

Robert Saunders is the Founder & CEO of Doormat, a tech company that wants to make real estate transactions dead simple. Buying and selling properties in Canada shouldn’t be so complicated. Doormat is on a mission to simplify the process by pairing modern technology with top-tier service.

A creative and self-motivated engineer and entrepreneur, Robert has always been driven to build products that excel in other people’s lives and has a deep passion for technology.


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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The road from incarceration to entrepreneurship is lined with popcorn

Emily O’Brien is the founder of Comeback Snacks popcorn company. It all started when she went to prison. Before, Emily was an entrepreneur and social media professional, having created her own firm at a young age and enjoyed great success. Regrettably, addiction caused her to make some poor choices that culminated in a four-year jail term.

As her sentence began, Emily made it her mission to transform herself, get clean, and make a positive difference during her term. “I didn’t know how I’d make a difference at the time,” says Emily, “but I knew I would find something I cared about that would benefit from a purpose-driven facelift.”

Thus, Comeback Snacks (formerly known as Cons and Kernels) was born.

Upon her release, Emily made a decision to start a popcorn company that used high quality, health-conscious ingredients to create unique flavours inspired by the ones she found in prison. A fun, self-deprecating brand that would also help remove the stigma around people who had prior convictions and provide newly-released offenders with the chance at a fresh start through training, empowerment, and education.


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Become an entrepreneur for the right reasons because it’s not an easy ride

Two Canadian entrepreneurs, Tyler Dyck, Co-Founder & COO, and Brandon Goode Co-Founder & CEO, have partnered with global leaders in the mental health space to solve a growing issue in Canada. Despite the increasing ubiquity of antidepressants, their use cases, treatment durations, and side effects are widely misunderstood. The drugs have undoubtedly helped many Canadians facing anxiety and depression (candidly, including myself), but a sharp rise in long-term use (treatment guidelines say they are only supposed to be used for six-to-nine months!) has led to a growing problem: people don’t know how to get off of them safely—and no one is talking about it.

When Tyler Dyck decided he wanted to discontinue his antidepressants after years of treatment, he was met with a lack of information and resources surrounding withdrawal and ended up yo-yo-ing, much to the detriment of his mental and physical health. He found a major gap in recommendations he was receiving from doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists, and chatted about this with his former colleague Brandon Goode, whose background in the healthcare space had him investigating similar issues. They quickly realized that there was no existing solution to a major issue more and more of their loved ones were facing.

Together with world-leading scientists and healthcare professionals, they created Outro Health, the first patient-focused, science-based off-ramp for antidepressants, which just launched in Canada. Outro’s user-friendly platform provides science-based, personalized tapering plans to slowly reduce medication dosage. It also provides proactive symptom monitoring, one-on-one chats and video appointments with practitioners trained specifically in safely stopping antidepressants, and a patient-first approach that minimizes the risk of relapse and maximizes the chance of successful tapering.


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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!


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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