Mavericks and Machetes

Meet Nate Vogel, a visionary leader who has closely collaborated with industry giants like Gong, Tableau, AWS, and Salesforce.

Join us as Nate shares his invaluable insights on leveraging technology to solve business challenges, the importance of effective enablement for successful transformations, and the impact of leadership by example.

From discussing innovation and AI's game-changing potential to his passion for continuous learning, Nate's expertise and enthusiasm in the tech and enablement space will leave you inspired and eager to explore the ever-evolving landscape.

Don't miss this enlightening conversation with a true trailblazer in the industry!

Join us in this episode as we welcome Marie-Eve, Head of Service & Experience Design at TELUS Health Virtual Care, with 18 years of expertise in the field. Discover the distinctions between Service Design and Experience Design, the key disciplines that form its foundation, and the essential skillsets required for success.

We discuss the future of Service Design, the challenges and opportunities, and dig into Marie-Eve's instrumental role in founding Service Design Canada, uniting professionals in the industry. Don't miss her career advice and impactful experiences that elevated her Service Design skillset!

Meet Natasha Jung, founder of Cold Tea Collective. She’s an influential Asian Canadian leader in business. Natasha shares her experiences of navigating instances of racism and the unique challenges and opportunities of being an Asian Canadian woman in leadership. She emphasizes the importance of representation for Asian voices in business and offers valuable advice on advocating for anti-racism in the workplace and communities. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation that explores Natasha's vision for a more inclusive future and the role of Asian Canadians in fighting against systemic discrimination.

Meet Shawn Kanungo, author of ‘The Bold Ones’, world-renowned keynote speaker and innovation strategist - to explore the world of disruption and innovation. Shawn shares his personal journey of disrupting himself over the past years and offers valuable insights on finding and developing one's identity to thrive in a rapidly changing landscape. From strategies for organizations to proactively plan and pivot in a world of disruption, to advice on personal progression and career adaptability, Shawn's wisdom will empower you to embrace disruption as a catalyst for growth. Join us as we delve into captivating industries ripe for overhaul and discover the untapped potential of value accretion in unexpected places. Get ready for an inspiring conversation that challenges the status quo and opens new pathways for innovation and success.

[Episode Description]

Diversity is a key element across our cities, communities, and of course, work.

It’s the interconnection between us as individuals with distinct identities and within the communities where we belong.

But how do we ensure that everyone finds that sense of belonging, regardless of gender or ethnicity, and has the opportunity to contribute their unique perspectives?

Anita Bhandari, the Chief Human Resources Officer at the City of Burnaby, draws on her own experience as she sits down with Jay Kiew (JQ) to explore exactly that.

[About Anita]

Anita has sponsored the "Burnaby Promise," a commitment all employees have made to put the community first, build great teams, and act with integrity. Additionally, she has played a key role in shifting the organization's culture through the Burnaby Moving Forward program, aimed at making the City an employer of choice while providing the best possible services to the community.

Anita has overseen the mass conversion for unionized employees, ensuring that they are paid for their work and treated fairly, and has conducted a comprehensive compensation review to ensure pay equity with no barriers or biases. She was part of the Senior Management Team that developed the Burnaby Strategic Plan, which aims to create a city where everyone wants to live, and embodies values such as community, integrity, respect, innovation and passion. Anita was also recently selected as a finalist for the 2023 YWCA Metro Vancouver Women of Distinction Awards.

Josue Anderson recently retired at the age of 30. We kick off with a discussion on what Josue's retirement mindset looks like, drawing on lessons learned from the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community - and then spend time digging into purpose and calling as priorities shift for our lives. 

Sasha Tadayoni, owner of Modern Warrior Academy of Self Defence, is currently the #1 ranked amateur kickboxer in BC. Over the past 2 years, Sasha has competed in Kyokushin Karate for Team Canada at the world stage and ranked in the top 8 globally. 

But just 5 years ago, he was paralyzed from the left thigh down, to the point where he couldn't walk. 

This is his story of stepping back from suicide and finding his way back through the art of perseverance.

Suzan Nguyen, author of "One Arm But Not Unarmed", was featured alongside Denzel Washington and Tony Robbins on Yahoo Finance's Top 10 Most Influential People of 2020 list. At the age of 22, Suzan lost her right arm in a traumatic car accident. When one day became Suzan's day one, she took responsibility for her life and decided to be better, not bitter. In this episode, Suzan and I sit down to chat through what it was like have your life changed in an instant - and how to come back from that.

Does being Chinese limit us at home or in the workplace? Vivian Tran, A. Director at Columbia University, talks through what it's like to grow up as an Asian American and how these dynamics constantly clashed throughout Vivian's childhood. Armed with not only her recollections, but also her PhD in business psychology, Vivian walks us through how different cultural dynamics (indulgence, restraint, individualism, collectivism) play a role shaping limiting or enabling beliefs.

After spending 6 years in marketing (brand management) at a Fortune 50 company, Cheryl Chan and her husband, Jesse, wanted to try something new. In 2019, they moved from Vancouver to Amsterdam and Cheryl launched her dream company. Cheryl Chan is the founder of Made on Sundays, a Brand Identity design co..

Cheryl shares what it was like to…

✈️ Make the decision to move from Vancouver to Amsterdam as a couple

🖋️ Start her own design company

🌱Find enablers and a female entrepreneurship tribe along the way

$7,000,000 in Series A funding. 5,000,000 meals delivered. Zero-waste by 2025. Founded in January 2015, FreshPrep is a Vancouver-based meal kit company that helps busy people like you create world-class dinners in minutes. In this episode, I sit down with FreshPrep co-CEO, Dhruv Sood to dig into their 6 year journey as a start-up.

Awareness for the Plant-Based Lifestyle blew up last year. Beyond Meat went public and the Game Changers documentary sparked controversy about whether the plant-based lifestyle for athletes was merely hype - or if it actually helped athletic performance. Not wanting to be misguided by media, I simply dialed a friend, Henry Yeh. Henry is the founder of Sproutans, a non-profit community that advocates and enrolls others into exploring a plant-based lifestyle.

In 2004, William Hung became a worldwide phenomenon after getting roasted by American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul. He quickly amassed a fan-base, signed a record deal and hit the Billboard charts with his album 'Inspiration'. But then Will disappeared. What happened to him? Technical Crime Analyst. Professional Poker Player. Keynote Speaker. In this interview, Will and I catch up on his life after American Idol - and how he turned failure into success. 

-Recorded in March 2020 

I wanted to hear firsthand how small business owners are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this podcast episode, I find myself with the Donut Princess of LA, Mayly Tao👸🏻 We explore... 🌥 how Mayly has adapted her business to face the coronavirus 🍩 what she did to innovate a long standing, multi-generational family business 👩🏻 the rise of anti-Asian sentiment in these times

What’s it like to quit your job, launch a company and sell it for $1.8M? How does making an impact tie into that? Bob Wang and I dive into everything from his start-up to starting a family, from marriage and mission.

Where does grit and drive come from - nature or nurture? How do we find purpose? In this intimate interview, we turn the tables and place the spotlight on our host, Jay Kiew. Unable to shake off this inexplicable desire to aspire for more, Jay opens up on his journey of fighting cancer, losing loved ones - and his calling to change the world. 

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

As we begin to build upon our identities in our teenage years, how do the events that impact us collide with the decisions we make? 

In this episode, Noelle and I dig into the various pillars of his multi-faceted journey as the youngest of 4 growing up, from basketball to b-boy battles, from poetry to powerlifting, from film to faith.

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life] 

I'm joined by Sean McDaniel, the owner, dog trainer, and behaviour consultant of The Dog's Way. 

We talk through the dynamics of the dog training industry, the facts-and-fluff spectrum of training theories in psychology, and how it's natural for dog owners to become confused in knowing who to turn to.

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

What's the real estate market in San Francisco like? We've talked about Vancouver, but now we're machete-ing our way across the border. Jeff Hsieh and his wife Anne own 3 properties (valued at $730,000, $290,000 and $1.01M respectively) - and Jeff is only 29 years old.

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

We've had Brooklyn, our Shiba Inu, for 12 weeks. There were so many points of failure that I thought to myself "Do I just suck at being a dog owner?" I'm joined by Nikki Ivey, leading educator in dog behaviour and owner of DogSpeak. Based out of Nashville, TN, Nikki has trained dogs for the past 25 years. We talk through puppy relationship dynamics of leading and following, building and eroding trust and what to do when you don't know what to do. 

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

It's not every day you meet a rocket scientist, let alone get to interview him. Stephen Lu (M.Eng) has been at Lockheed Martin for the past 5 years, launching everything from submarine missiles to satellites. In an effort to develop himself, he has spent the last 3 years publishing 120 videos on LinkedIn, becoming one of the first people to pilot LinkedIn's Live Streams feature. In this episode, we dig into how he failed to get accepted into Lockheed's Leadership Development Program, and how he saw that as an opportunity to grow. 

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

Ghosts. Hungover Tuna. The desensitization of conversation.

Swimming through the dating sea is harder than you might imagine.

Enter Abbey and Parker, two heterosexual, millennial females, who have spent the last 3 years wading through the waters in Toronto.

As working professionals in an environment where everybody makes great first impressions, but is also quick to jump to conclusions, how are they wading through the currents to find love?

In episode 8, we discuss streamlining the dating cycle to avoid dating fatigue, triggers and deal-breakers, and expectations vs. reality in dating outside your ideal profile.

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

As a newly-wedded couple that recently moved into a new place, my wife and I were trying to decide whether we should get a dog. Enter America's Canine Educator, Tom Davis. Tom runs the Upstate Canine Academy in New York, which has over 165,000 YouTube subscribers, 76,000 Instagram followers and over the past 12 years, Tom has worked with over 8,500 dogs! He is also the host of the No Bad Dogs podcast, which was voted #1 by BlogFeed.

Because my wife and I are two working professionals who live in a small apartment, I wanted to get Tom's thoughts on the critical factors to think through whether we were ready for a dog - or not. What did we need consider? Were there factors that people often overlooked?

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

Would you travel without data? Enter a stranger's house in Sri Lanka? Use Google to make decisions on where to eat?

In this episode, Sara Be and I geek out over finding the magic in traveling solo, having cumulatively traveled to over 65 countries. We swap personal stories (from Myanmar to Budapest), share lessons learned, and explore how social media has changed travel (for better or worse).

[This episode was published via Millennials with Machetes, our former podcast on hacking your way through the thick of life]

In 2018, Canadian housing affordability was at its worst levels in nearly 30 years. Is it possible to buy a house in Vancouver on a single income? In this episode, Jeff Pena, civil engineer, shares how he leveraged some key principles of FIRE to purchase his first house by the age of 24.