Meet Chris Schmidt, the original creator of Snapchat geo-filters and today, the CEO and Co-Founder of Pluto Ventures – a venture-backed artificial intelligence company that is leveraging the hyper-personalized online world and using our body dimensions to customize goods and services. Get in on the ground floor of their new fashion-first social platform that captures your body dimensional data, and then uses that information to enhance your shopping experience. (Think – no more matching your body type to the reviews section because AI does it for you – in a much more reliable way!)  AND t ..read more

Meet Amy Tung, Founder of I Am Love – a social enterprise that is constantly thinking of new and innovative ways to help our community thrive. Launched in 2018, the primary premise of I Am Love was to create jewelry with meaning, created by youth and sold to raise funds for local charities. On top of that, they’ve helped many organizations to build, execute, and accelerate their fundraising success. Amy’s calling has always been around reaching out and supporting others, including smaller local charities who lack the necessary funding. Spreading love was always her goal. And the organization w ..read more

Meet Felicita Ovadje – a practicing attorney and freelance makeup artist. With an eye for excellence, she identified a gap for products designed for people of color in the North American beauty industry and decided to be that change. Founded in 2014, Felicita launched Felicheeta Artistry – pivoting in 2020 to become both an ecommerce and a brick and mortar space for customers to find makeup brands owned by people of color, created for women of all skin tones.   Felicita is passionate about the success of Immigrants and persons of Colour; she is focused on  playing her part by cr ..read more

Meet Ben Buckwold, CEO of ESL Library – a company empowering language teachers to teach their best class, with exceptional content and courseware for all ages and levels and a custom platform used by language teachers in more than 10,000 schools around the world.  In this episode, CEO and Founder Ben Buckwold speaks about being the first ESL learning app in the world, knowing when to pivot, and the importance of building great content. From the staff side, we get tips for building a great team, remote morale boosting, and the positive people effects of giving back to the community.  ..read more

Meet David Dang, Social Media and Digital Marketing Expert – who focuses on Instagram content, growth, and reach. His Instagram business page EntrepreneurshipFacts has over 2.2M followers and his personal account over 46k followers – and all this growth was achieved within only a few years. David works with coaches and entrepreneurs around the world including big name clients from Tony Robbins, to Dean Graziosi, Russell Brunson, Patrick Bet-David, Daymond John and more.  In this episode, we cover how to use social media to kick start a business or test a new idea, how to build an audience ..read more

Meet Katie Hartle, Founder and CEO of FriendMatch – a unique company that is exactly as it sounds – think online dating but strictly for platonic friendships instead. In a time where loneliness is at an all-time high, Katie has built a community over 100 countries to help tackle just this, answering the question “How to Make Friends” for more than 5 million people – and counting.  In this episode, we cover the human side of business, how to build a lean start-up, tips for growing a community, and so much more. If you have an idea you believe in – be sure to catch this episode to be inspir ..read more

Meet Cheryl Zealand, Founder and CEO of Cranked Energy Bars – a protein bar company started in a home kitchen and now carried by over 100 Manitoba retailers and set for national expansion. Cheryl speaks with us about not only the business, but about her journey and focus along the way of supporting the community.  If you are starting a food based business from your home kitchen and want to learn to build your brand – tune in to this episode for tips from Cranked Energy Bars!   Listen now online here, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or find us on most major podcast platforms. Prefer ..read more

In this episode of the Start Podcast, hosts Margaux and Matthew Miller speak with married couple and business partners Giovanna Minenna and Scott Russell. This episode covers their growth and diversification in the beauty market, specifically in everything to do with eyebrows. They discuss the resources and mentorship that came from starting a business in Winnipeg, as well as what it was like to appear on Dragons Den. When it comes to starting a business, the Brows by G owners comment on the importance of reviews and customer service, and share some lessons learned. Listen to the full episode ..read more

In this episode of START podcast, the Miller siblings speak with John Sparrow, founder of Go Oil Canada, about his rapid success and ability to franchise across Canada in less than 14 months. John shares about the benefits of cultivating a community, the importance of customer service for retention, and how his life has been impacted since starting his latest business. Listen to the full episode here now or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play or your favorite podcast platform. Find John and Go Oil Online Here: Go Oil Canada Instagram: @gooilcanada Facebook: @gooilcanada Twitter ..read more

On episode 11 of Start Podcast, host Margaux Miller interviews Elizabeth Crawford, Founder of Swish Productions, Swish Model Management, and new co-working space Swish Co-Create. Liz speaks about the organic journey from International Modelling to CEO of multiple companies spurred by passion ..read more