Elle AyoubZadeh is the founder and creative director of Zvelle, an internationally-recognized fashion brand with a mission to inspire people to walk how they want. Elle's journey to starting Zvelle led her across the world from Iran to Dubai to New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Italy. Her designs have been seen at the White House, the UN, and worn by global celebrities and successful women everywhere.

With Zvelle, she is building a platform that challenges traditional fashion narratives. Zvelle shoes and accessories are more than just status symbols. Each of Elle's designs has a story to tell, just like their wearer.

Bio to Come

Karima-Catherine (KC) Goundiam is the founder and CEO of B2BeeMatch, a business matchmaking platform launched in 2020 where small and medium enterprises can connect in order to outsource, scale, network and find clients. B2BeeMatch is a membership-based service that verifies every new member and uses a proprietary algorithm to match businesses based on what they need and what they offer. B2BeeMatch is partnered with numerous major business associations across the world.

KC is also the founder and CEO of Red Dot Digital, a digital strategy and management consulting firm that she launched in 2014 to bring her forward-thinking, data-driven approach to the world of digital transformation. Red Dot Digital works with organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to corporations to government departments and agencies. Red Dot Digital recently consulted on the Global Affairs Canada website and digital communication tools.

KC brings over twenty years of international integrated campaign and project management experience to her work. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she managed digital and social media for Deloitte Canada and its global team, and she directed social media for Ford.

KC is a member of Ontario’s Comité de travail de relance économique, a collaboration between Regroupement des Gens d’Affaires (RGA, Ottawa) and the Club canadien de Toronto (CCTO) that aims to advise the province of Ontario and federal ministers on economic relaunch during COVID-19. In 2019, KC founded Tech Canada Advocates, part of the Global Tech Advocates network. In 2018, KC became the new VP of the British Canadian Chamber of Trade and Commerce. That same year, she received the JoAnna Townsend Excellence Award from the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT).

KC is regularly invited to share her experience and expertise all over the world. In 2020-21, she spoke at a variety of virtual events, including the “Connecting London Tech to the rest of the world via Global Tech Advocates” panel at London Tech Week (UK), the “Women's Entrepreneurship - Going Global” event for the Business Advisory Centre Durham (Canada), and, as the keynote speaker, the “M Power: Inspiring Women in Leadership Spotlight Event” (part of the Women’s Initiative Speaker Series) for M Science (US).

KC does business around the world, including to France and the UK. As well, B2BeeMatch has recently established a number of significant partnerships, including with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and with the global aerospace industry via the Ontario Aerospace Council (OAC). In addition to the other boards she sits on, in June 2021, KC became the Regional Coordinator for Africa with ICC.

Most recently, KC began contributing to The Globe and Mail.

Nora is an unconventional HR expert specializing in the design of technical and creative organizations. After helping Canadian startups like Wealthsimple and Freshbooks grow, she founded Bright + Early, a consultancy of forward thinking HR experts on a mission to craft the world’s best workplaces. Bright + Early has helped organizations like Mozilla, Mejuri, Endy and Kotn build inclusive, people-first organizations. Nora is also a frequent speaker and writer, and serves as co-editor of Early Magazine, a digital publication exploring the future of work. Nora believes that the best people strategies are human first and data informed, with a dash of design thinking.

Emily Mills is a speaker, consultant and the award-winning founder of How She Hustles – one of Canada’s leading influencer brands for diverse women entrepreneurs and leaders.
For more than 10 years, How She Hustles has produced sold-out networking events and digital content including HERstory in Black with CBC and the Startup & Slay entrepreneur series with CIBC, Shopify and Rogers Sports & Media. How She Hustles reaches 18K diverse women on social media across Canada and beyond.

A leader to watch, Emily has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women. She was also one of 16 Canadians appointed to the national committee for Women Deliver, the world's largest conference on the health and well-being of women and girls. She has hosted her own Black women’s roundtable with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and was invited to meet former US First Lady Michelle Obama.

Emily’s experience includes 20 years working in media, marketing and communications with some of the largest companies in Canada, the non-profit sector and as a freelance writer. She studied music, journalism and PR in university at Ryerson and York.

Emily is frequently requested for media interviews, speaking engagements and consulting projects related to entrepreneurship and business, diversity and inclusion and women’s empowerment. Her recent client list includes BDC, Champs Sports, City of Brampton, YWCA Toronto, University of Waterloo and more.

Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @howshehustles.

Michelle Way is the Vice President of Business Banking Distribution at CIBC. She is a dedicated financial executive with over two decades of success growing profits and a reputation for integrity within the banking industry. An innovative and motivational team leader, Michelle has been recognized throughout her career for her deep understanding of the complex operations of banking, which have allowed her to maintain a laser focus on customer experience as she has developed into senior leadership roles. First and foremost, Michelle is passionate about growing effective teams who lean in and support each other to move the business ahead for outstanding results.

Vanmala Subramaniam has been a journalist for more than a decade, with a career spanning television, print and online media. She began her career as a producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, working on various news and current-affairs programs, including the investigative show the fifth estate.

In 2016, she joined VICE News, leading the formation of a new business-focused vertical, VICE Money. Vanmala spent much of her time at VICE, and subsequently at The Financial Post, reporting on the nascent legal cannabis industry, investigating and breaking stories on some of the biggest names in the cannabis industry.

Vanmala joined The Globe and Mail in 2021. She’s broken several stories since joining The Globe, including her reporting on MindGeek that revealed various bidders, including a former cannabis entrepreneur, were vying to buy the controversial owner of Pornhub in the summer of 2021. As the Globe's designated Future of Work reporter, Vanmala will explore a host of workplace issues, including the growing chasm between employers and employees, the rise of unions, and how technological change and immigration trends will reshape the Canadian labour force.

Vanmala hails from Malaysia, and speaks three languages. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, majoring in economics and political science, and has called Canada her home for over 15 years.

Mike is a passionate leader at CIBC Business Banking, with a focus on developing advice, solutions and support that helps Canadian small businesses and professionals achieve their ambitions. He lives in Toronto, but is looking forward to escaping the city this summer to spend time with his family at the trailer, just outside of Peterborough.

Chris Hannay is The Globe's independent business reporter, based in Toronto. Before that, he was the assignment editor in the Ottawa bureau, where he helped direct coverage of federal politics. He launched the Politics Briefing newsletter in 2015 and wrote it every morning for more than five years. In addition to business and politics, he has also written features and won the National Newspaper Award for arts reporting in 2018. He started at The Globe as a summer staffer in 2010.

Josh O’Kane covers Canadian technology news for The Globe and Mail. His tech coverage has earned reporting awards from the International Center for Journalists and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, while his narrative writing has been highlighted by Harvard University’s Nieman Storyboard and Great Canadian Longform. He has extensively reported from Berlin, Halifax, Fredericton and Saint John.

In the past, Josh’s coverage has focused on music, entrepreneurship and Atlantic Canadian culture. All these subjects converged in his 2016 book, Nowhere With You, which examines the career of musician Joel Plaskett through the lens of leaving and staying in Canada's Maritime provinces. It is a national bestseller.

His second book, exploring the story behind an abandoned proposal by Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs to build a technology-laced community in Toronto, and the growing influence of digital giants in the physical world, is scheduled for publication by Random House Canada in late 2022.

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Bob and his team of award-winning professionals and business experts have grown their business to 8 figures with a very specific mission to support the professional and financial needs of small and medium sized businesses.

While practicing what they preach, Bob and his team continue to invest in innovation and growth and are recognised as one of North America’s fastest growing businesses by both Financial Times & The Globe & Mail.

Bob is a regular contributor of business finance expertise to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Globe & Mail, Canadian SME, and many more globally recognized Media sources. But most importantly, Bob and his team are on track to helping 1 million Business Owners achieve their Million Dollar Year by 2040.

Shanon Jhangiani is the Vice President of Commercial Sales for Salesforce Canada. In his role he leads teams across Canada to support the small business segment, and consults with customers to educate, inspire, and help them grow their businesses. Since joining Salesforce 12 years ago, Shanon has also held roles in the growth and middle market segments, which have contributed to his unique perspective on how small businesses can succeed today. During his tenure, he has worked closely with thousands of hyper growth start-ups, CEOs, and thought leaders. Shanon's passion for helping businesses grow through digital transformation began at IBM where he launched his career.

Sarah Efron is an editor, reporter and radio producer based in Toronto. Previously she worked at MoneySense, Financial Post Magazine and CBC Radio.

Sarah’s work involves assigning, writing and editing news stories and features on entrepreneurship. She has an interest in business policy issues such as taxation, minimum wage, labour regulations and small-business financing. Other coverage interests include startups, diversity, workplace issues and the restaurant sector. Sarah also has a keen eye for compelling personal stories from the business world.

Sarah works with the events team to program and host the annual Globe and Mail Small Business Summit, an all-day conference for company leaders. In 2016 she produced and hosted a short-run podcast on entrepreneurship called The Risk Takers.