The Unmasked Podcast

My guest today is a Technical Leader and Founder by the name of Saif Abid.  Saif has a very deep interest and experience working with Golang, Distributed Systems, Data Engineering and ML. When he's not working with teams to figure out what to build next or how to build it, he's heads down getting services built and shipped to customers using best in class tech for the problems at hand. Outside of tech a few of his interests include Healthcare, Investing and IoT. Over the years he's had the fortunate pleasure of launching successful products and/or businesses in quite a few of these domains. Most recently his team at ecobee launched Haven - ecobee's Home Security solution. Prior to this, in the capacity of a Lead Engineer and CTO he helped launch SwiftPad to help reduce the wait times and inefficiencies which come with pharmacies. Overall, he's a strong believer in the saying “Purpose, People, Product, Profit” and has continued to stand by it with the teams and products he helps to build.

Brione Wishart is a Toronto based film director, producer and the founder of ARTLEE Creative Agency. His work stems from a love of Cinema, Music, and Storytelling. Known for his ability to create visually engaging content and beautifully crafted work that captures something real and authentic in every subject, Brione's talent for cinematic storytelling is evident in all of his work. His work includes a wide variety of clients such as Nike, Porsche, Samsung, Le Germain Hotels, Bacardi, Huawei, Hard Rock Casino + Hotel, Merry Jane, Capital One, BMW, Hasbro, and The Alzheimers Society.

Erica Rankin is a young Canadian entrepreneur who took a passion and turned it into a business. After being involved in the fitness industry for many years, Erica developed a great amount of love and appreciation for better-for-you foods. She took a look around, and realized Canada is lacking products that are not only plant-based, but have added protein as well, while still containing quality ingredients. Cookie dough is such a nostalgic, fun treat, but the tummy ache and sugar crash that follows it aren't fun. After spending countless hours experimenting in my kitchen, I created Canada’s first better-for-you edible cookie dough with a spin… Launched in 2019, Bro Dough is not only vegan, but contains plant-based protein (derived from peas), as well as natural sweeteners. The product contains half the amount of sugar found in traditional cookie dough, and does not use any artificial sweeteners. Bro Dough was created for consumers who prioritize their health and still want to enjoy a treat, without sacrificing their health or fitness goals. Her vision is to create a world where someone can eat an entire jar of cookie dough and still feel good about themselves. Have your dough, and eat it too!

This week, I sat down with Daniel Francavilla to discuss his journey through building a business, founding a nonprofit organization and using his experiences to empower others to do the same. I was intrigued by Daniel's commitment to maximizing social impact in all the ventures that he built. Daniel's creative agency,  Now Creative Group collaborates with creatives and strategists to provide marketing services to startups, businesses and non-profits. Now’s clients range from startups to TELUS and CIBC. Now has received a Social Good Design Award and a Business Excellence Award. Daniel is also a Partner at King Street Media, a purpose-driven growth agency based in Toronto.   After travelling to developing countries as a student, he founded a nonprofit to help children in the developing world receive an education and to empower local youth to become leaders. Today, ACCESS focuses on supporting youth who are creating their own projects and organizations for positive social change, and offers micro-grants through The ACCESS Fund, hosting Bright Ideas Pitches. He is the recipient of the 40 Under 40 Award.  In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniel partnered with fellow entrepreneurs to launch Maskwell, a company that produces reusable locally designed masks for everyday life featuring high-efficiency air filters while supporting frontline healthcare workers with every purchase.   Daniel has spoken at a variety of events, conferences and workshops within the Toronto startup scene and nonprofit sector. He has also mentored students from high school to postsecondary on starting their own initiatives, businesses and careers. Daniel shares his learnings, tips and experiences on his blog, videos and podcast.

My guests today are the founders of Therapy Better, an online therapy platform that provides users the confidential support of a licensed therapist via zoom. Rehmat Inayatali is pursuing postgraduate education in medicine and surgery and believes that nothing she could ever do, will be as satisfying or significant as learning how to heal others. She thought the best way to bridge the gap between the medical field and psychology is to study them both. Mariam Khakoo will be pursuing post graduate education in the Gaming Industry. She has been suffering from a chronic health condition since the age of 19. The symptoms of her condition were so severe that she had to take a break from her studies for a year which had a massive impact on her mental health. She realized she had struggled to get by with no help and how much more supported would she have felt if she knew that help is available.  Therapy better is a steppingstone into a brighter future for thousands of people. A future for Rehmat and Mariam that is not only career oriented but also aimed at giving back to the community.

After getting kicked out of school twice, Astawa took his education to the proverbial streets by building DxM Creative– an innovative web design agency.   Astawa's story exemplifies success against the odds. By traditional standards, he shouldn't have succeeded. Today, Astawa has led DxM Creative to boast a roster of clients including award-winning entrepreneurs, international non-profits, and (ironically) large universities.   Astawa's unconventional path against the grain taught him many lessons. The most impactful of these lessons being that you don't need permission to start building a business. Astawa shares these lessons regularly with business students and aspiring entrepreneurs through actionable content and personable keynotes.

Shawn Kanungo is a globally recognized innovation strategist. He previously spent 12 years at Deloitte working closely with leaders to better plan for the opportunities associated with disruptive innovation. Shawn is a Partner with Queen & Rook, where he advises leading organizations and executives on disruptive trends, and actively invests in early-stage ventures. His work and interviews have been featured in The Globe & Mail, The Guardian, CBC and CTV. He has been recognized as Avenue Magazine's Top 40 Under 40. In 2021, he was named in Forbes as the “Best Virtual Keynote Speaker I’ve Ever Seen”. Shawn’s content on innovation has garnered millions of views, respectively across LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube & Facebook.

Swish Goswami is a Canadian entrepreneur, author, speaker, and investor. He is the CEO of audience engagement platform Trufan that helps brands generate, segment, and activate first party data. Trufan has raised over $4.1M to date (from several NBA players and venture firms) and has clients like Samsung, Netflix, NBA, NFL, PUMA and thousands of small to medium sized businesses. Trufan has acquired two world class companies: PLAYR.gg and SocialRank. Swish previously worked as a UN Youth Ambassador, a consultant for Fortune 500 companies like Western Union, Google and American Express and a venture capitalist at JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital (founded by NBA player Trevor Booker). Swish has secured a publishing deal with Kogan Page and a sneaker deal with K-Swiss, is the host of the Tech Haus podcast and is an advisor/investor in popular organizations like FaZe Clan, Upstream, and the League of Innovators. He has been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice with over 150M content views and was the co-founder of LinkedInLocal. For his entrepreneurial and philanthropic achievements, Swish was inducted into Plan Canada's Top 20 under 20 and Bay Street Bull’s 30 under 30, recognized as the “Face and Future of Canadian Entrepreneurship” by UPS Canada, and awarded Startup Canada's Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership award.  As a former debater who represented Canada twice at the World Schools Debating Championships, Swish also has a passion for public speaking. He has given three TEDx talks and enjoys speaking under North America’s prestigious bureau Speakers Spotlight. He has spoken around at the world including at Harvard University, Wall Street Journal, STAPLES Center, World Business Dialogue, American Express, IIT Bombay and the United Nations.

Aleem Nasser is a High Performance Strategist, Author, International Speaker and University Lecturer. He has helped over 1500 adults multiply their performance levels with less stress, time and frustration. Aleem has implemented his concepts at The Royal Bank of Canada, The Government of Canada, Deloitte, Accenture, The University of Calgary and Mount Royal University. Over 90% of his clients have reported an improvement in time management, motivation, self confidence as well as a reduction in stress, anxiety, overwhelm and procrastination after applying his "Equation for Success" Aleem wrote "Simple Strategies to Study Smarter" which has been endorsed by university professors, leading authorities on success, industry experts. This book has been highly recommended for all his university lectures.

Mahfuz Chowdhury is a passionate public speaker and bestselling author. Over the last 10 years, he has spoken to 1000's of individuals to help them accelerate their personal development and adapt with the changing world. His book "Project Reinvention" shares his story of how he bounced back from multiple challenges including dropping out of school, racking up 30 thousand in debt and going through painful heartbreak. Mahfuz is also an award-winning marketer at Candybox Marketing, one of the fastest growing digital marketing agencies across Canada. Mahfuz is also a fellow podcaster, with over 100 episodes of the Ride with me podcast recorded from his driver's seat. This summer Mahfuz Chowdhury has been selected to participate in Season 2 of a new international reality TV series called The Social Movement, airing on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, among others!⁣ Instagram: @mahfuzc Website: https://projectreinvention.ca/

Hamza is a multi-award winning marketer & entrepreneur. He’s the Managing Director of Student Life Network, Canada’s most comprehensive resource hub dedicated to helping and empowering millions of students across the country. He co-founded both Splash Effect, a boutique marketing & creative agency, as well as SkillsCamp, a soft skills training company. He is an instructor at Seneca College and Ryerson University, teaching courses on digital marketing and social media. He is a two time TedX speaker and two time author. His second book titled, Leadership Reinvented, discusses how we can foster empathy, servitude, diversity and innovation in the workplace. Through his consulting, writing, teaching and speaking, Hamza empowers people and businesses to transform ideas into action.

Minhas Tejani is a certified education coach at Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centred Coaching in Karachi, Pakistan. After completing his Masters at the Notre Dame Institute of Education in 1998, he climbed the ladder from being a teacher to a principal and further to being an senior education consultant and coach. His book, the transcendent educator, provides a manifesto of enlightenment for those who wish to make a difference. He provides a unique framework that makes use of the elements of Spirituality, Humility, Innovation and Action. My conversation with him was prompted by his dedication to making an impact within the field of education and advancing it to be on par with a 21st century environment.