Ep. 026 - Breaking Down The Barriers Around Financial Literacy

In this episode, I chat with Lori Chai - a UX Designer and Co. Lab Alumna, about her experience living and working abroad in Japan (one of my bucket list destinations!).  She shares what drove her decision to transition in a UX career, the state of UX design in Japan at the time and how she started her own co-hosted podcast: Designer Sushi.

For the first episode of this season, Lori was kind enough to be the guinea pig for the This or That segment.

I had so much fun and a lot of laughs recording this episode. Enjoy! 

You can follow Lori's podcast on Instagram: @designer.sushi and on Twitter: @DesignerSushi

Note: This episode was recorded in March 2022. 

Hi everyone! This is the final episode for 2022. I'm hoping to get back into a podcasting groove next year.

I really enjoyed interviewing Ali Shah - co-founder & CEO of TapeReal. TapeReal is a social platform where human connection, authenticity, and meaningful content comes first. I came across his company through Equivesto, the Canadian equity crowdfunding platform. The previous episode (Ep. 041) is an interview with Equivesto's managing director, Alexander Morsink. 

The mission of TapeReal is create a less intimidating space for aspiring creators. It's a place where they can document their journey, grow and evolve.  

In this episode Ali, chats about how the start of his entrepreneurial journey began as a franchisor for Subway. (His dad, banker by profession, became a franchisor for Mr. Sub, when he came to Canada). He then founded several companies before starting TapeReal. We chat about the early days of TapeReal, how it was originally posed as an idea of having a synchronous conversation with someone, before pivoting to focus on asynchronous content. 

We also chat about how social media is integrated into our lives and just how addictive it can be. (Especially TikTok! Since recording this episode, I have revived my TikTok account, but I am barely on it. Maybe that's a good thing?)


LEARN MORE ABOUT TAPEREAL 
Website: https://tapereal.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taperealapp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/taperealapp
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taperealapp/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDGeIIJxe_1Q_C1qQwRHDEw

*Correction: I have been in my current role as a Product Manager at an e-commerce startup for just over a year now. The previous year and a bit, I was working on trying to break into the industry. 


Popping in with a solo episode to share some life updates to explain why I've sort of been MIA.  Hoping to add a few more solo episodes to the mix in the future, including why and how I got into product management. 

FOLLOW THE BACON BITS 'N BYTES PODCAST
Twitter - @baconbits_bytes
Instagram - @baconbitsnbytes
LinkedIn - The Bacon Bits 'n' Bytes Podcast

This episode is not a video episode, but you can check out video episodes (starting at Season 3) on my YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf6EwCOimwNSzH5PDEUdYYw

NOTE: This episode was recorded back in February 2022 

The idea of helping people who never considered themselves to be investors, to be individuals, investing in a variety of different busineses where they could start creating more intergenerational wealth was something that was really meaningful to the both of us - Alexander Morsink , Co-Founder and Managing Director of Equivesto

Equivesto is a Canadian equity crowdfunding platform, that allows all Canadians to directly invest in local businesses and exciting startup companies starting at as little as $100. 

LEARN MORE - equivesto.com

Follow Equivesto on:
Twitter  @EquivestoInc
Instagram @Equivesto

LinkedIn  @Equivesto

Note: This episode was recorded back in the end of August. 

Imagine a world where teachers are doing Tik Tok inspired videos to educate their students and these short-form videos can be accessed by anyone from around the world. 

Beau is CEO & Founder of SOLcademy - a new short-format educational video platform. He is on a mission to improve the quality and availability of learning. He went to Dartmouth College and worked as a software engineer before discovering his true passion for education. He was the first sales leader of GoGuardian, a very successful EdTech startup. He's evangelizing personalized and adaptive learning to achieve his goal of Equity for ALL scholars. He is an avid traveler and spent 2 years backpacking through Africa and Latin America.

"Food is a choice we make 3,4 times a day, what to eat, when we're hungry. We do it every single day of our lives and that is a very personal choice for various reasons." - Kishan Vasani , Co-Founder & CEO of Spoonshot.

Kishan has worked in the food-tech industry since 2011. He is the Co-Founder & CEO of Spoonshot, an AI and food science-powered insights company helping the industry uncover the future of food by predicting consumer needs, trends, and innovation opportunities.Before starting his own venture, Kishan worked in 2 leadership roles for 3+ years at a global online food ordering giant, JUST EAT.

Also since 2008, Kishan has been the Co-Founder & Chairman of One Cause, an education-focused nonprofit that has raised over $1M to date for grassroots institutions.

Website: https://spoonshot.com

Twitter:  @spoonshotx

Connect with Kishan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kishanvasani/

NOTE: This episode was recorded back in May 2021

That feeling when you get to interview the creator of a product you are absolutely in love with. I was beyond thrilled to have James Mulvany, founder of Radio.co, Podcast.co and matchmaker.fm (my fave platform to connect with podcast guests and other podcasters).

Really enjoyed learning about his entrepreneurial journey (he started his first business when he was 16) and about his 30 podcasts in 30 days experience (it was actually more than that). James also shares a lot of valuable advice with respect to podcasting- including how to be a great guest on a podcast and  on the flip side, how to create a great podcast. 

How To Make A Sh*t Podcast article:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamesmulvany_how-to-make-a-sht-podcast-activity-6628598778393870337-yULB

Social Media: https://jamesm.com/connect

Podcast.co: https://www.podcast.co
MatchMaker.fm: https://www.matchmaker.fm

Radio.co: https://radio.co

Amira Polack is the Founder & CEO at Struct Club, an app for fitness instructors who design motion to music - and their fans, starting with spin (indoor cycling) & treadmill running. Amira's career has centered around technology, startups, and social impact and her opinion has been featured in TIME, Forbes, and the World Economic Forum Agenda. She earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and BA at Princeton.

In this episode we chat about both her entrepreneurial journey and fitness journey and how they came together through Struct Club. What's also quite interesting is that we discuss how people have change their fitness routine because of the pandemic.

Find Struct Club on the App Store

Instagram, Facebook & Twitter: @structclub

Connect with Amira Polack at: Instagram: @amirapolack Twitter: @apolack

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdTHKAcx1fezYNgxMI_8a6w

Note: This episode was recorded during the beginning of April 2021. 

After having recently gone through the Product Management track of Co.Lab, I have a conversation with the co-founders Sefunmi Osinaike and Helen Huang on their difficult path to product management and why they want to provide confidence and practical experience for those looking to break into tech. 

Helen is a first generation Chinese-Canadian, as well as an earth scientist turned product manager turned startup founder. After leaving her mark at companies such as Zynga, Microsoft and Github, she's gone on to co-found Co.Lab, a team-based education program for aspiring technologists. Helen is especially passionate about thought diversity, the power of active learning, and building inclusive communities.

Sefunmi is the Co-founder & CEO of Co.Lab, an education program for aspiring technologists to help them break into tech. Sefunmi is a University of Waterloo, Electrical and Computer Engineering alum, and frequently draws from his experiences as an international student from Nigeria. As an avid storyteller, he has authored three books on non-traditional paths into technology.

Website: joincolab.io

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3XmSQsq-WfrwWTNf0Ch2kQ

Twitter and Instagram: joincolab_io

Twitter and Instagram: @heyohelen

Twitter and Instagram: @sefunmioshy