Vek Cast

Erica is Cree/Ojibway from Peguis First Nation. She is a proud mother, a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker and entrepreneur. Erica established her media company, Kejic Productions, in 2017 and became a full time entrepreneur fulfilling her passion to share the stories of her community. She started her journey through a program called Just TV, a multimedia program for at-risk youth in the inner city of Winnipeg. Through this program, Erica was able to better her life and gain extensive skills in the media industry. She is the recent recipient of the 2021 Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business Young Entrepreneur Award. 

Along with her passion for storytelling, is her passion to work with Indigenous youth in her community by reconnecting them to their culture and identity. Erica currently runs a cultural program at the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre and mentors youth in video production. The beauty of her culture continuously inspires her work and motivation of sharing the knowledge of her elders for future generations.

Ryan Gill is the CEO of Communo, a curated, membership-based community of

carefully vetted marketing, creative and digital professionals who give and get work

within a sharing economy.

He is the co-founder and past president of Cult Collective, an international engagement

agency, and co-founder of The Gathering, a world-class annual summit that brings

together some of the top CMOs, biggest brands and 1,000 delegates to the mountain

resort town of Banff, Alberta.

Ryan is a thought leader on the sharing economy and was a featured speaker at the

2018 SXSW conference, BC AMA Future of Marketing Panel, Creative Mornings

Vancouver, and the Loeb NYC Speakers Series. He’s interviewed regularly about

entrepreneurial life, the gig /sharing economy and how the “little guy” can win. 

Gill has published two books: "Community Inc" - a guidebook for creative entrepreneurs, and "Fix:

Break The Addiction that’s Killing Brands".

Ryan got his start in digital marketing and his first company, Suitcase Interactive, was a

consistent best digital agency award winner. His tenacity and forward thinking also led

him, personally, to being awarded a coveted place on the auspicious 30 under 30 list.

Over a decade ago, he founded Project Smile, a charitable initiative that sees he and

his employees make an annual service trip to over a dozen impoverished communities

outside of Mazatlan, Mexico. Most importantly, he’s a husband and father of two little

girls. You can follow Ryan on his social channels @RyanGillShares, where he shares

content and business advice for budding creatives and entrepreneurs.

"I am Kyle. People would say that my biggest skill set in the world of entrepreneurship is the ability to create a brand and capture attention. I am ultra passionate about learning, growing meeting like minded people. That is why I was ecstatic when Vek reached out to talk about marketing. Find me on any of the social media things just search: Budo Brothers"

- Kyle Mahadeo

Dr. Mark Szabo, JD, MBA, PhD, is the Complexity Whisperer. His approach to dealing with complex conflicts and issues management is rooted in his research and practice over the last 25 years. His specialty is in complex, large scale, public-facing projects, and he is the author of Fight Different: The Power of Focal Thinking in Systemic Conflicts.

AMPIA award winning filmmaker Ryan Bouman has travelled the world capturing and crafting films for various commercial brands, musicians, businesses and NGO’s . He has shot on location in Colombia, Ethiopia, Burundi, Uganda, Haiti, and throughout the USA and Canada. Starting in the industry with minimal crews and budgets, Ryan used this opportunity to focus on craft over technology, pushing the production value of each project a little further than the last. He has since worked with some of North America’s top brands and is experienced with camera systems from RED, Arri, Sony and Canon.

An authentic desire to communicate the common humanity between people from all countries, cultures and social systems, accompanied by meticulous attention to beautiful and stirring visuals continues to drive his work forward.