Michele Romanow
Tech titan Michele Romanow is an engineer and serial entrepreneur who started six companies before her 35th birthday. A “Dragon” on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Michele is also the co-founder and executive chair of Clearco, the world’s largest e-commerce investor, and one of only 23 fintech unicorns with a female founder.
Prior to co-founding Clearco, Michele co-founded SnapSaves (acquired by American tech giant Groupon), and Buytopia.ca (acquired by Emerge). She is also the co-founder of the Canadian Entrepreneurship Initiative non-profit with Sir Richard Branson, and is the host of the hit Audible Original podcast, The Revisionaries, and has created digital solutions for many of the world’s leading brands, including P&G, Netflix, Starbucks, and Cirque du Soleil.
Honoured with RBC’s Women of Influence Innovation Award in 2021, Michele’s work has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, and The Globe and Mail.
Michele is a director for Vail Resorts, BBTV, and Queen’s School of Business. Previously, she was a director for Freshii, Whistler Blackcomb, SHAD International, and League of Innovators. Renowned for her youthful energy, enthusiasm, and business savvy, Michele serves as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and women in business everywhere.
Joelle Tomlinson
Joelle Tomlinson is an award-winning journalist, news anchor and public speaker based in Calgary, Alberta.
At the age of 26, Joelle became the youngest ever Black female morning news host in Western Canada, anchoring CTV Morning Live. She quickly became known as a warm, personable and empathetic broadcaster, who combines the art of storytelling with a magnetic on-camera presence. Joelle has appeared on multiple news programs, and has appeared on Global National, CTV National and The Social. Today, she is the community reporter for Global News Calgary.
Joelle is an avid representative for racialized populations, spends time mentoring youth in empowerment programs, and is passionate about changing the narrative around mental health and addictions. When not chasing a story, you can find her lacing up and hitting the trails – she is the 2024 Canadian Ambassador for the Chicago Marathon and hopes to run all six Abott World Marathon Majors her lifetime!
Joshua Morrow
Joshua Morrow joined the cast of The Young and the Restless in 1994, portraying Nicholas Newman, the son of Victor and Nikki Newman (played by Eric Braeden and Melody Thomas Scott).
In 1996, Morrow won a Soap Opera Digest Award for “Outstanding Younger Lead Actor.” He was also nominated for five consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards (1996-2000) in the category of “Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series.” Morrow also starred in the telefilm My Stepson, My Lover opposite Rachel Ward. He is consistently named a favourite male star in daytime television by the top soap opera magazines.
Morrow lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Tobe, their sons Cooper, Crew, and Cash, and daughter, Charlie Jo. Morrow is a star player on several celebrity basketball and softball teams that raise money for charity. One of his favourite charity events is the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celeb Race, in which he has competed three times.
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Jodie Baulkham
Jodie is a licensed teacher, accredited professional life coach, certified grief coach, and certified Leader Character practitioner dedicated to fostering resilience in herself and others while supporting individuals through their grief and healing journeys. Her focus is helping people identify and articulate their needs, redefine their sense of self, and rebuild confidence to find meaning in their new reality.
As the spouse of an RCMP police officer, Jodie has faced unimaginable challenges—losing her first husband in the line of duty while on maternity leave with their 8-month-old and now supporting her second husband as he lives with post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) from his service. She is also a mother to a child who lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Jodie’s journey from teacher to leadership and mental health curriculum design specialist to professional coach has made her a champion and advocate for mental health. In her best-selling book, Choosing My Tomorrow: Surviving Murder, Navigating Mental Health, and Harnessing the Power of Choice”, Jodie shares her insights on overcoming traumatic grief, navigating mental health challenges within a family, and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Mercedes & Anastasia Korngut
Mercedes and Anastasia Korngut are two teen sisters and co-founders of Small Bits of Happiness. Their mission is to help individuals of all ages find more happiness in daily life, build happy habits, and boost parent-child connection. They have reached over four million teens and adults.
As two teens, Mercedes and Anastasia understand firsthand the difficulties of teenagehood, including not only the hormonal changes that tweens and teens undergo, but the added stressors of war, post-pandemic life, and beyond.
The two have been featured on national news and media, spoken at schools and conventions across North America, host the podcast Hack Your Happiness, as well have designed a series of happiness-wellness products for tweens, teens, adults, and schools.
Milena Radakovic
Milena is President and CEO of Nexus Exhibits, Western Canada’s one-stop shop for complete turnkey visual branding services. Aside from being an accomplished entrepreneur, Milena has over 25 years of experience as a transformational branding, marketing and business strategist who has worked with internationally recognized marque clients
After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and completing her MBA from Nova Southeastern University, Milena has dedicated herself to being a lifelong learner. She recently finished her ICD.D designation.
Milena’s mission is to alleviate poverty by educating, empowering, supporting and celebrating women. With her Charity ‘WEDO Canada’ she’s working with various government officials to proclaim November 19th as Women’s Entrepreneurship Day in Canada, with a goal to raise funds to give $1 million dollar in scholarships to female student entrepreneurs.
Her commitment has been recognized with awards such as the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada; Business Leader in Calgary; Calgary’s Most Influential Women in Business and others to name a few.
Natasha Bridgemohan
Natasha Bridgmohan has been in business for herself since 2003, and as an immigrant woman of colour, coming from humble beginnings, it’s been a winding road. A colourful journey mixed with detours and bumps, hills and valleys but best of all… the scenery and people she has met along the way have shaped her into the successful woman she is today.
She is an advocate for celebrating and practicing spiritual and cultural diversity both at home and in the office. She brings this deep understanding with her when she addresses her audiences around the globe. She is President and Chief Visionary Officer of The BridgGroup of Companies (TBGOC). She is also a sought-after industry expert and motivational speaker.
She has been invited to speak on television, radio, and online talk shows and has been featured in numerous articles about her dynamic philosophy around financial education. Natasha is the host of the highly viewed and successful Financial Room series on GLOBAL Television Network/CHEX Peterborough. Her mission is to change lives with her natural talent for numbers and undeniable knowledge of the financial industry. When she combines this with her views on a positive mindset, spiritual connection and healthy living she is able to deliver a fresh message of hope, perseverance and tenacity to her audience. She teaches her viewers to focus on the big picture and keep the rest simple. In short, she shows people how to be the Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) of their own life!
Dr. Suhayya Abu-Hakima
Sue is a much awarded serial AI entrepreneur – on her third startup as Co-Founder CEO of Alstari Corporation focussed on AI and security. She had that role in Amika Mobile that focussed on public safety and security , acquired by Genasys, a NASDAQ company.
Sue is a rare woman technology CEO who has a reputation for excellence and innovation. Sue has both a Masters and PhD in AI. As CEO, she provides the vision for her companies and its products.
Sue is a key inventor and innovator of 48 international patents related to AI. Her first company, AmikaNow! launched as a spin-off from NRC government R&D labs and was focussed on AI and automatic content analysis. Its Compliance Business was acquired by Entrust, another NASDAQ company for its secure messaging platform. As a CEO she created hundreds of jobs in AI, software, Security, Messaging, Business Development, Sales, and Operations.