Success Leaves Clues with Robin Bailey and Al McDonald

In this episode, we welcome Karen Craggs-Milne, award-winning certified coach, speaker & global advisor on DEI, gender equality, social impact, social purpose & ESG. She is also the Founder & CEO of Conscious Equality Inc., helping turn your organization's good intentions into successful strategies and initiatives. Karen's list of achievements is outstanding having been recognized as a Top 25 HR Innovator (2022), Top 100 Canadian Professional (2020), an Obama White House recognized Gender Equality Changemaker (2016) and Canadian Global Goodwill Ambassador (2018).She is THE leading "go-to expert" for organizations who are serious about being profitable AND doing good in the world and works across Canada, the US and globally with private sector, government, not-for-profit, academia, local communities and professionals to build their capacity to walk and talk, with impact. Karen shares what drove her to create the Conscious Equality Framework and expresses her passion for encouraging others while sharing the knowledge she has gained over an incredible 20-year global career promoting gender equality for communities, corporations, not-for-profits, programs, policies and governments. She has brought together and curated some of the world's most game-changing conversations on gender equality, and we are thrilled to bring her vision & insight to our listeners.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Returning to the podcast is award-winning sales leader and engaging storyteller Jason Putnam, Chief Revenue Officer at Plum, a talent assessment platform that strips away bias to reveal human potential. They have revolutionized how global enterprises hire, grow, and retain talent.Jason oversees Plum’s strategy, driving revenue generation initiatives and expanding into new markets to meet customer demand.  He is passionate about delivering value to customers, partners, and stakeholders while creating a positive impact through innovation and collaboration. Jason is also a dynamic speaker and presenter, having received multiple awards for his achievements, including the Golden Bridge Globee 2021 Executive of The Year. He discusses some of the biggest factors that lead to corporate success, how embracing AI has the power to make humans MORE human, and how the state of the workplace has completely shifted.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

We welcome seasoned HR leader, Jesse Cheetham, Director of People & Culture at MSP Corp who believes in driving change and delivering impactful business solutions while rejecting stereotypical HR practices. Jesse is a cultural curator with nearly two decades of experience starting, scaling, and transforming organizations across Canada and the United States. As the Director of People & Culture at MSP Corp., a leading tech company in Canada, Jesse is driving growth and shaping the future of the industry. His philosophy is centred around building organizations that prioritize the growth and development of their people. He believes in creating safe spaces where authentic individuals can bring their unique talents to the table, free from ego and limitations. Jesse's passion, experience, and leadership make him a truly inspiring figure in the world of business and human resources.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Joining us today is 'unstoppable' entrepreneur Mallory Greene. She is the Co-Founder and CEO at Eirene, a direct-to-consumer online platform providing Canadians with a simple, compassionate, and modern approach to funeral services.Having previously worked at Wealthsimple as part of their founding team, Mallory was involved in a wide array of responsibilities spanning marketing to HR to communications. She learned what it takes to build a company from the ground up, rally others around a mission, and grow a sustainable business.She joins hosts Robin Bailey & Al McDonald for a discussion sharing some of her secrets of entrepreneurial success, what fuels her to face the challenges of being a female in a leadership role and why you don't need to have all the answers.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

After a decade of passionate commitment, guest Erin Maynes, Founder & CEO at foodiepages is working to help us foster connections that truly matter and to realize that making genuine connections is pivotal for growth and satisfaction.Foodiepages is on a mission to redefine the way we connect with others through the meaningful art of gifting, in order to help us create a deeper sense of meaning and engagement in every gift we give and to act as a reminder to reach out to people in our lives. Their approach is grounded in thoughtfulness and intention, ensuring that each gift resonates with the recipient's values, company identity, or personal milestones.Erin emphasizes the importance of authentic human connections and why we need to address how loneliness has evolved into a cultural epidemic through a combination of societal shifts, and technological advancements. Her company strives to make people feel seen, known and valued in a world where relationships are too often digital first. Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Joining us today is Jafar Owainati, an entrepreneur who is driven by a thirst for learning and growth.  He is the Co-Founder & CEO of Barley, a compensation management software designed to help businesses structure, analyze, and manage compensation across teams. The platform allows managers to visualize pay structures, monitor pay equity analysis, and ensure adherence to location-based pay policies.Jafar describes how his role has evolved from the early days of startup to scaling successful tech companies as well as his multifaceted responsibilities as CEO, spanning from product development and sales to financial matters and strategic decisions. He also explains the importance of separating your identity as a founder from your role and job, in order to better acknowledge personal growth and the desire to face new challenges. Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Guest James Carrick, International Senior Manager at Engage Health Group, has worked for some of the biggest names in International Health Insurance, including Aetna and Aviva. Engage is an innovative, dynamic, ahead-of-the-curve firm expanding its global presence by providing innovative solutions across the evolving global employee benefits market.  Based in the U.K. James has worked within the international benefits arena for 16 years and his ability to adapt to maintain international relationships is one of the best in the business. He discusses his background and experience as an International corporate and SME commercial lead within the industry as well as his approach to consultancy.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Faith Tull is a highly accredited, internationally experienced, and professionally accomplished senior global executive. Her education and accomplishments span human resources management, learning and development, systems design and implementation, as well as project management and she is described as an awe-inspiring leader who puts people at the focus of her HR strategy.Faith is also the author of Beyond These Eyes, a novel about the early years of the youngest of four Jamaican sisters, left behind when their mother immigrated to a foreign land called Canada in 1970. Focused on the vivid and descriptive memories of the author, this great read highlights a heroine’s relentless journey of survival contrasted with the imagery, history and taste of Jamaican culture, customs, and cuisine.She shares her personal journey and the challenges associated with creating a poignant story about her own life that invites readers to relive her difficult and humble beginnings and imparts a significant message of hope against adversity and trauma.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Returning to the podcast for our 150th episode, is Cerys Cook, Chief People Officer at Swift Medical, leading people strategy and operations, employer branding, communications, and team member experiences. Cerys has always held a profound passion for changing the face of HR from the "principal’s office" to being deeply embedded in core company strategy at the leadership table. Specializing in high-growth scaling organizations, Cerys has dedicated her professional journey to engaging directly with founders and CEOs, offering guidance, coaching, and counsel. With a track record spanning two decades, she boasts extensive experience in strategic people leadership across diverse sectors, building award-winning inclusive workplaces, driving performance excellence and growth, and augmenting strong values-based cultures. She shares her thoughts on how she is making a difference in the healthcare industry and why culture is the vital backbone of any successful organization. Welcome back Cerys!Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Special guest Saira Gangji is an independent licensed workplace investigator, a solopreneur, and the founder of hrology, who works with organizations that have had allegations or complaints of discrimination, harassment, violence, misconduct, or a toxic work environment. She has 20+ years of HR experience and 150+ workplace investigations and assessments under her belt. With empathy as her superpower, she is able to treat employees as people, not a process, and approaches each case with a degree of compassion and humanity, a balance of head and heart, and scrupulous fairness.Saira is also the creator of The Workplace Investigation Bootcamp - a step-by-step, self-paced, online course to help HR professionals lead workplace investigations with confidence, ease, integrity, and the best possible outcomes.Saira shares the catalyst that ignited her passion for this career journey and discusses some of the personal challenges she encountered while striving for success.Brought to you by Aria Benefits & Life & Legacy Advisory Group

For over a decade, Jolene MacDonald has known that people with disabilities needed a different work model to be able to give their full potential to their careers. Accessibrand™ is based on Jolene’s 20+ years of knowledge in the graphic design and marketing industry, as well as her 20 years as a successful entrepreneur and award-winning designer. Her own personal disability experience allows her to seek a better understanding of accessibility and advocacy. Accessibrand is a full-service virtual agency that is a collective of professionals that have all been impacted by disability—a team who know what it's like to have barriers and who seek to break those as well as the stigmas attached all while helping businesses become more accessible and inclusive. Jolene addresses what motivates her and her team and why accessibility is so important for everyone!!Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Recognized as one of the top international experts in PDF accessibility technologies, Adam Spencer, President & CEO at Abledocs, is passionate about changing the digital landscape to make it more accessible and inclusive to everyone through investment and development of new and exciting approaches to document accessibility. Their propriety products and industry expertise helps organizations of all sizes build and implement sustainable strategies to ensure their clients can engage with content in a barrier-free way.As a serial entrepreneur, Adam reveals how to spot the tipping point of a company’s success to make the most of its enormous potential as well as some advice on what to do if you're losing your way on the quest to succeed.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Dynamic leader, innovative problem solver, and charismatic public speaker Jeff McLeod has pursued some exciting entrepreneurial endeavours over the last few years but his proudest achievement is his business, JDavis Painting.  Jeff launched this company with the goal of delivering incredible customer experiences while proving that hiring a trade shouldn’t be a nightmare…it should be a fun and exciting endeavour. Jeff got his start in the painting industry while attending university, and also developed a commitment to use business for positive social impact. This evolved from creating student jobs to developing charity events for his community. He fully believes that communication is the key to any great relationship.If you’re keen to understand how a business leader like Jeff thinks about starting a business, embracing the driving force of core values, and doing things differently, tune into this episode!Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Passionate, results-oriented entrepreneur and executive Jared Kahn—Co-Founder and CEO at TechEasy—has a proven track record in developing and executing corporate strategy, change management, operational excellence and stimulating efficiency, and growth. Jared is a problem-solver by nature with multi-dimensional expertise across organizational strategy, marketing, sales effectiveness, operational efficiency, financial planning and P&L ownership and is known for his ability to connect with team members and leaders of all levels. His company TechEasy provides nationwide, on-demand, expert tech and IT support, including computer repair, WiFi Services, smart home installations, TV mountings, and more. Brands like Apple, Google, and Amazon, as well as millions of customers, trust TechEasy to keep them up and running across all their devices.Jared explains how he is able to strike a balance between leveraging technology for efficiency while maintaining an ever-important human touch throughout the customer journey as well as how entrepreneurs can apply this approach to their own businesses. He also discusses how he has approached brand partnerships, and the lessons he's learned about building strong collaborations and strategic alliances that have contributed to TechEasy's growth and success.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

You will meet a lot of people throughout your career. Some will have a massive impact on you, while others may not at all. Today we sit down with Kyle Dennis—Aka 'KD'—who Robin met over 15 years ago. Kyle even helped launch the podcast as one of our first guests. Listen in to hear why both their business relationship as well as their friendship, has endured for so many years. Kyle shares some of the clues to his success, discussing his career journey, his most satisfying moments in business and key learnings along the way including his recent step into the role of National Vice President, Partner Solutions at People Corporation—helping businesses succeed and making a difference in the lives of more than one million Canadian employees and their families by providing employee group benefits, group retirement, wellness, and human resource solutions. Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Ryan Austin is a serial entrepreneur who has spent over 10 years driving improvements in learning and development. In his current role as Founder & CEO at Cognota, Ryan is focused on developing innovative products to help learning teams increase productivity and automate operational processes to create impactful training at scale. Prior to Cognota, Ryan served as Senior Vice President for World Trade Group, an organization that offers live events, online products, and training courses. He also co-founded GoFish Cam, an underwater camera that sits on your fishing line. Cognota is the first and only LearnOps® platform for corporate Learning and Development teams. Their award-winning software streamlines L&D processes such as training intake, project and capacity planning, and content design allowing teams to work more efficiently and effectively while providing access to much-needed data. Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Bill Klehm, Chairman & CEO at eBliss, is an e-mobility, transportation, and business expert as well as a futurist and technology development leader with a focus on sustainably evolving industries through innovation. With over two decades of business leadership experience, Bill has helped launch, grow, and successfully scale a host of companies across the transportation and technology industries. He was an early collaborator at CarFax, where he designed the program that later became the CarFax vehicle history report. As the CEO of Fallbrook Technologies, Bill directed all aspects of the development and successful launch of the NuVinci Continuously Variable Transmission, which was the first viable replacement for geared systems since the bicycle was invented over 200 years ago and is the fastest-growing bike transmission across the globe. At Ford Motor Company, he led the development of the strategy that grew the customer service division over $1 billion in a three-year period. This strategy and implementation were instrumental in ushering the company into the tire business, making it one of the largest retailers of tires in North America. In 2022, Bill launched eBliss, a leader in e-mobility solutions, with the mission to create better-engineered, enjoyable, and more sustainable ways of moving people—and make them truly accessible to all.  Regarded as an innovative thought leader, collaborative business expert, and billion-dollar growth strategist, his expertise has been featured in Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win, Wired, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Leading with empathy and compassion has defined Kristiana Hurley as a Human Resources professional for over a decade. Her journey spans working in customer service, building educational programs, and helping organizations foster safety, inclusiveness and well-being so all employees have the potential for real growth.Kristiana’s approach to working with teams and her natural ability to constantly be curious about processes that impact real people never go unnoticed. She thrives on driving transformation that compliments an organization's mission and values, while always ensuring employees feel seen and heard. Her education, real-life experiences and mindfulness perspective guide her holistic approach and connection with her clients, employees and C-suite executives.Currently in charge of People & Operations at The Kyla Fox Centre, she enjoys the challenge of developing the infrastructure and processes while collaborating with a team of practitioners who are dedicated to providing care to those in need. Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

"Defeat is NEVER an option"... Returning to the podcast today fresh off his recent win at the Fight to End Cancer Charity Gala boxing match, our friend Joshua "THE FIRST AVENGER" Siegal is here! Josh joins hosts Robin & Al to discuss his recent foray into the main ring at the Fight to End Cancer boxing match where he and his wife Julia raised $25,000 for this premium fundraising event. He shares just a few of the million and one life/business lessons he learned from his night in the ring as well as his recent move to 7shifts, joining the two-time back-to-back #1 Best Workplace in Canada.Founded in 2011, the FTEC annual showcase features a group of white-collar men and women with no prior boxing experience. It’s a night of true Olympic-style boxing that is the culmination of months of intense training and fundraising. To date, the charity event has proudly raised over $2 million in support of cancer research, with proceeds going directly to support the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.It Takes a Community to Knockout Cancer. More information about the Foundation can be found at www.thepmcf.caBrought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group

Raquel Binder is a Toronto-based Learning & Development leader with over 10 years of experience in creating innovative learning opportunities. Coming from a background in education, leadership, and program development, Raquel uses a creative approach on her mission to help develop, support, and retain great talent. Her passion is to  support people in stepping away from the corporate ladder and embrace multi-directional career journeys - aka the “career jungle gym.” After working in the non-profit sector for 8 years in a variety of roles, Raquel made the leap into technology, leading the Coaching & Development Team at Jobber, one of Canada’s Top 10 Great Places to Work and a Deloitte Fast 15 winner. She is proud and grateful that every day she gets to listen to people’s stories and help set them up for successful careers. Outside of work, you can find Raquel cooking up a storm, working out, or planning her next trip. Brought to you by Aria Benefits and Life & Legacy Advisory Group