Starting her journey as a feminist leader at university in the 80s, Madeleine shares untold stories of over 30 years as an activist, social entrepreneur and author. She is famously known for her venture Aisle (previously known as Luna Pads), G day and her book The Greater Good.

0:00 - Episode Intro 1:58 - Childhood & growing up 4:00 - Mindset influence 6:15 - University Experience 8:00 - Traumatic experiences 10:30 - Taking action at a young age 13:20 - Getting into menstrual products & the world of menstruation18:54 - Break 1 20:05 - First Product Design 23:55 - Sharing with friends and family 25:15 - Convincing people to try 29:50 - Turning it into a business 35:15 - co-founder relationship38:02 - Break 2 38 :54 - Evolving the business & scaling 45:15 - Global impact & change 50:30 - The meaning of impact 56:52 - The Greater Good: Social Entrepreneurship for ordinary people who want to change the world 1:01:15 - Piece of advice & what does changing the world really mean?

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Growing up, Koji found his passion for entertaining from an early age through his father who used to be a juggler. But it was only until his summer before university where he found his love for music. In this episode, Koji shares his journey of he became a professional music producer, started his own event company - Kumo Vancouver and is now on a mission to build a platform for other artists to fulfil their dreams as a creative. 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - Dad inspiration & background 3:15 - Dancing in high school 5:04 - best friend growing up 7:15 - busking at a young age 10:45 - mindset going into university 14:00 - turning point in music 15:55 - keeping up the balancing act 17:35 - relationship with school 21:24 - break #1 22:30 - living in the nightlife 25:45 - maintaining a balanced lifestyle 29:33 - accountability and support system 32:30 - evolution of KUMO 36:44 - diving deeper into the growth journey 40:00 - learning about his why 42:35 - giving back 43:41 - break #2 44:20 - day in the life & inspirations 48:55 - comparing to others 51:00 - Vancouver music & party culture55:05 - building your brand 58:33 - building the community 1:00:50 - piece of advice 1:03:00 - outro Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly resources, opportunities, and behind-the-scenes content: https://leaders-of-today.ck.page/c780a10061 Follow us on: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/leadersoftodaypod/ Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@leadersoftoday?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziyaanvirji/

After going on exchange in Belgium, Niyati realized the importance of Sex Education for youth and the lack of it India - her home country. This inspired her to start her own nonprofit that has empowered over 29,000+ people in India. Niyati's work has been featured and recognized on various platforms like Forbes India, NDTV, TheGuardian and more. She is an author of her own book 'Under the Carpet' and was recently invited to speak in New York at the United Nations Headquarters. 0:00 - Intro 1:15. - childhood story 4:13 - growing up and moving a lot 5:42 - relationship with brother 7:20 - exchange in Belgium 10:00 - should you do summer programs? 12:37 - mindset shift in Belgium 14:00 - mindset coming back to reality 15:55 - the idea for the organization and bringing it to life 19:10 - riding the momentum 22:30 - building a team and the leadership component 27:42 - diving into Pratisandhi 30:35 - Sex Ed in India & schools 34:40 - younger men and masculinity 40:31 - experience of writing a book 45:22 - early on struggles as a non-profit 51:00 - what keeps you going? 54:33 - opportunities from her journey 1:01:00 - piece of advice Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly resources, opportunities, and behind-the-scenes content: https://leaders-of-today.ck.page/c780a10061 Follow us on: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/leadersoftodaypod/ Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@leadersoftoday?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziyaanvirji/

Starting his career as a Basketball player, Kamar Burke (also known as KB) shares with us how he played for the Moncton Miracles and the All-Star team of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL). He also shares how he transitioned his career from starting his own academy, to working as a videographer for famous artists like French Montana, Massari and Tory Lanez and eventually co-founding his own media company Joybox.

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Starting her journey when she was only 15, Vedanshi shares her story of how she started her non-profit organization - Bolt Safety to create safer and more equitable communities around the world!

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

1:00 - background and childhood

2:00 - moving to Canada

3:50 - family life

5:35 - earlier school life

7:00 - BOLT inception

9:50 - continuing after a loss

12:00 - finding your cofounders

14:10 - expanding BOLT

16:38 - think like an entrepreneur

18:28 - what is an “entrepreneur”

19:56 - break #1

20:17 - founder & ceo - solo person & fake it till you make it

23:15 - integrity & work ethic

25:30 - leadership style

27:35 - building meaningful relationships

29:33 - taking BOLT to the next step

31:18 - what is SAFEHUBS

33:33 - how can we all be allies

36:47 - securing funding

38:30 - selling bracelets to make $

40:06 - break #2

41:26 - taking care of one’s self

43:45 - setting priorities

45:55 - dealing with expectations

48:15 - what do awards mean to you?

50:22 - relationship with her sister

53:00 - project LIGHTNING

56:40 - being proud of your culture

58:30 - piece of advice

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Vedanshi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vedanshivala/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vedanshivala/

Growing up in a small town in Canada, Derek shares his story of how he became a finalist in Canada’s most-watched reality TV show (Big Brother Canada) and his journey of how he became a full-time social media content creator.

0:00 - Intro

1:03 - Growing up in a small town

2:50 - Small-town living shaping who you are as a person

3:35 - Being a people pleaser

6:15 - Working in the construction & oil industry

7:30 - hating my job

8:30 - the sum of your closest 5 people

10:00 - moving out and taking that next step

12:20 - big mindset shift

17:00 - relationship with best friend

20:35 - break

22:15 - transitioning into business and reality tv

26:30 - starting first business

33:30 - getting into Big Brother Canada

37:00 - Big Brother experience

46:00 - break #2

47:15 - impact of Big Brother

50:10 - day to day life

56:50 - maintaining success

58:40 - working on mental wellbeing

1:03:25 - toxic masculinity

1:05:06 - understanding your why

1:10:00 - piece of advice

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Derek

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derekjacobkesseler/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@derekjkess

On Michelle’s 8th birthday, when she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said “she wanted to change the world and do something positive”. Naturally, she was given three options “a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant”.

After trying everything, Michelle spent her teenage years pursuing being a doctor. In high school, Michelle would spend her summer at research labs which led her to pursue a pre-med degree at Western University.

Going to university across the country have Michelle a chance to have her “first sense of real freedom and exploration”. This led her to explore her other passions as a digital marketer, content creator, and other business projects and opportunities. She continued saying “YES” to every opportunity in university which led her to work with major brands like Headspace, Bumble, Disney, Nike, Raptors, and more.

After receiving a message from her brother and receiving an acceptance email from NEXT 36, Michelle decided to switch paths. She switched her degree, graduated early, and moved to Toronto for this accelerator program. This is where she met her roommate Ravina (who eventually became her co-founder) and started FLIK -  a platform to connect female founders with female students looking for work experience.

Fast forward 2 years after, FLIK has gone on to help over 15,000 people in over 70 countries around the world. Given the demand for the platform (especially during COVID), FLIK eventually got acquired by Rumor Avenue. For her work, Michelle has won numerous awards including BC Business 30 Under 30, YWCA Women of Distinction and Conversationa - LIST GenZ Honoree.

Michelle is currently building a new start-up Bonfire a space to share meaningful moments globally every day.

0:00 - Intro

1:20 - growing up and being pushed at a young age

3:00 - what do you want to be when older?

7:00 - exploring entrepreneurship

9:05 - path to present Michelle

11:45 - relationship with parents

15:05 - all-girls high school and her experience

18:15 - exploring other interests

25:40 - switching away from medicine

32:00 - reflecting on her decision

34:00 - Next36 experience + FLIK

38:40 - Starting FLIK

43:00 - relationship with co-founder

45:30 - impact on people

48:00 - advice to young women

49:30 - men’s role

52:00 - FLIK business model

53:15 - FLIK exit

57:45 - post-FLIK

1:02:00 - new venture

1:05:00 - advice to young people

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Michelle:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellebkwok/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellebkwok/

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Growing up, Teon Gibbs had to move around a lot every couple years from Botswana, South Africa, Angola, UK and eventually Canada. He was first introduced to music and hip hop when he would listen to his brother's CD's when he was away from home. As he moved around a lot, Teon built strong connections and felt consistency in his life through music. He was even actively involved in Church while playing guitar and the bass. This helped him find a sense of community at the time as well as taught him a lot about performing in front of an audience.   

Teon eventually moved to Kelowna, BC in Canada where he initially had to compromise a lot to fit into his community. Initially, he even stopped releasing hip hop music and was playing in India alternative bands to cater for his community.   As Teon settled in to Canada, he would work a full time job at Shaw Communications and Shopify during the day and then make music until 2-3 am at night. This went for a couple years until he eventually decided to do music full time. This came with lots of challenges and uncertainty.  

It's been 3 years since he quit his job. He is now Canada's most well known artists being a trailblazer in the industry. From selling out shows to working with Grammy Award winning producers to releasing multiple albums, Teon is continuing to raise the bar and reach heights never seen before. In addition to his show-stopping performances, what sets him apart his ability to take risks with his art. Complex UK has stated that Teon's work has “hit on a fusion sound that has been sorely under-explored" as he continues to always push the boundaries of genre and innovation. Exclaim! has described Teon as having a natural ability to blend serious themes with soulful tracks, delivering a thoughtfulness that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries.  

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Teon: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teongibbs100/ 

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@teongibbs?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

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