Managing Strategy and Innovation at Interac, Helping Launch Debit Mobile Payments & Disrupting Digital Commerce

Founding Kronos Fusion Energy, Building Modular Reactors & Attending COP28

After receiving an executive MBA at Harvard, Priyanca Ford became the Founder and executive board member at Kronos Fusion Energy, a startup building a roadmap to the full commercialization and monetization of fusion energy generators by 2032. In this episode we discuss the technology and infrastructure behind the Kronos Fusion Energy Generator, Priyanca’s insights from COP28, and the future applications of fusion energy designs. We also discuss funding and how to be product-centric. Here are Priyanca's action items! 1. Be product-oriented. 2. Fall in love with math and physics. 3. Get into materials science.

Managing Strategy and Innovation at Interac, Helping Launch Debit Mobile Payments & Disrupting Digital Commerce

In this episode we interview Kashmera Self, an industry recognized, forward looking fintech leader with 20+ years of experience in corporate strategy, innovation, and product commercialization. As VP, Strategy & Innovation at Interac, she leads a team in pursuing emerging topics including open banking, artificial intelligence (AI), value exchange, and blockchain to establish the long-term corporate strategy that helps steer the future of financial services here in Canada. We discuss how Kashmera evaluates opportunities on emerging trends, works on strategy development for a large scale company, stays up to date with ever-evolving technologies, and builds meaningful partnerships. She also shares more about her role in launching and expanding Interac Debit mobile payments. Action items: 1. Exercise continuous learning. 2. Anticipate needs and address them. 3. Remember to take a moment to be respectful and kind to those around you.

Co-founding Monday Girl & Generating $50M in Revenue at Uber Eats

Rachel Wong is the co-founder of Monday Girl, which connects Gen-Z and Millennial women with new job, career, and networking opportunities. Previously she worked at Uber to help launch the service in key Canadian markets, and has led multiple teams in strategy and operations. Rachel has also been named a Bay Street Bull 30 Under 30 recipient. In this episode, we discuss how Rachel balanced working at Uber and Monday girl, the process of networking with global brands, and how she keeps her startup platform relevant amidst the changing career landscape. Here are her takeaways: * Take advice with a grain of salt. When giving advice, don’t project your biases onto others when giving other people advice — lead with stories and experience. * Think about how your reputation is perceived. * Pay it forward.

Founding CarbonClick, Switching from Medicine to Engineering & Connecting Firms with Carbon Offset Projects

Today we are joined by Dave Rouse, the CEO of CarbonClick. CarbonClick connects individuals and firms with carbon offset projects at the point of sale. All offsets are certified, and it is the only platform in the world that provides full transparency and "track and trace" to the source of the offset. Carbon Click has helped 1300 businesses and 230,000 individuals take climate action. In this episode we discuss Dave's founder story, why he switched from medicine to engineering, and how Carbon Click calculates the amount a purchase impacts one's Carbon Footprint. We also go over developing meaningful partnerships and Dave's mentorship work with Climate-X. Action items: * Whenever you spend money, think about the emission attached and consider alternatives * Try to transition to a plant based diet * Think about the emissions behind your transportation

Developing Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models @MIT, Enhancing Decision Making in Healthcare & Employing Multimodality

In this episode we sit down with Léonard Boussioux who is an incoming professor at the University of Washington in the Information Systems and Operations Management department. He was a Ph.D. candidate in Operations Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has developed and deployed machine learning and deep learning models to address high-stake challenges, including healthcare operations, pollution management, hurricane forecasting, and ecosystem preservation. We discuss how Léonard decided to pursue advanced mathematics and physics in university, his new focus of developing predictive and prescriptive methods to enhance decision-making in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and climate, and the data he deals with across these sectors. We also go over the significance of multimodality in order to maximize potential from data sources. Here are his 3 action items: 1. Try to have a positive outlook on life. 2. Surround yourself with positive people, and be part of different teams. 3. Be curious and have gratitude for what you receive.