Leaders of Today with Ziyaan Virji Ziyaan Virji

Starting her journey as a feminist leader at university in the 80s, Madeleine shares untold stories of over 30 years as an activist, social entrepreneur and author. She is famously known for her venture Aisle (previously known as Luna Pads), G day and her book The Greater Good.



0:00 - Episode Intro
1:58 - Childhood & growing up
4:00 - Mindset influence
6:15 - University Experience
8:00 - Traumatic experiences
10:30 - Taking action at a young age
13:20 - Getting into menstrual products & the world of menstruation18:54 - Break 1
20:05 - First Product Design
23:55 - Sharing with friends and family
25:15 - Convincing people to try
29:50 - Turning it into a business
35:15 - co-founder relationship38:02 - Break 2
38 :54 - Evolving the business & scaling
45:15 - Global impact & change
50:30 - The meaning of impact
56:52 - The Greater Good: Social Entrepreneurship for ordinary people who want to change the world
1:01:15 - Piece of advice & what does changing the world really mean?


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Growing up, Koji found his passion for entertaining from an early age through his father who used to be a juggler. But it was only until his summer before university where he found his love for music. In this episode, Koji shares his journey of he became a professional music producer, started his own event company - Kumo Vancouver and is now on a mission to build a platform for other artists to fulfil their dreams as a creative.

0:00 - Intro
1:34 - Dad inspiration & background
3:15 - Dancing in high school
5:04 - best friend growing up
7:15 - busking at a young age
10:45 - mindset going into university
14:00 - turning point in music
15:55 - keeping up the balancing act
17:35 - relationship with school
21:24 - break #1
22:30 - living in the nightlife
25:45 - maintaining a balanced lifestyle
29:33 - accountability and support system
32:30 - evolution of KUMO
36:44 - diving deeper into the growth journey
40:00 - learning about his why
42:35 - giving back
43:41 - break #2
44:20 - day in the life & inspirations
48:55 - comparing to others
51:00 - Vancouver music & party culture55:05 - building your brand
58:33 - building the community
1:00:50 - piece of advice
1:03:00 - outro

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After going on exchange in Belgium, Niyati realized the importance of Sex Education for youth and the lack of it India - her home country. This inspired her to start her own nonprofit that has empowered over 29,000+ people in India. Niyati's work has been featured and recognized on various platforms like Forbes India, NDTV, TheGuardian and more. She is an author of her own book 'Under the Carpet' and was recently invited to speak in New York at the United Nations Headquarters.

0:00 - Intro
1:15. - childhood story
4:13 - growing up and moving a lot
5:42 - relationship with brother
7:20 - exchange in Belgium
10:00 - should you do summer programs?
12:37 - mindset shift in Belgium
14:00 - mindset coming back to reality
15:55 - the idea for the organization and bringing it to life
19:10 - riding the momentum
22:30 - building a team and the leadership component
27:42 - diving into Pratisandhi
30:35 - Sex Ed in India & schools
34:40 - younger men and masculinity
40:31 - experience of writing a book
45:22 - early on struggles as a non-profit
51:00 - what keeps you going?
54:33 - opportunities from her journey
1:01:00 - piece of advice

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Starting his career as a Basketball player, Kamar Burke (also known as KB) shares with us how he played for the Moncton Miracles and the All-Star team of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL). He also shares how he transitioned his career from starting his own academy, to working as a videographer for famous artists like French Montana, Massari and Tory Lanez and eventually co-founding his own media company Joybox.



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Starting her journey when she was only 15, Vedanshi shares her story of how she started her non-profit organization - Bolt Safety to create safer and more equitable communities around the world!

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

1:00 - background and childhood

2:00 - moving to Canada

3:50 - family life

5:35 - earlier school life

7:00 - BOLT inception

9:50 - continuing after a loss

12:00 - finding your cofounders

14:10 - expanding BOLT

16:38 - think like an entrepreneur

18:28 - what is an “entrepreneur”

19:56 - break #1

20:17 - founder & ceo - solo person & fake it till you make it

23:15 - integrity & work ethic

25:30 - leadership style

27:35 - building meaningful relationships

29:33 - taking BOLT to the next step

31:18 - what is SAFEHUBS

33:33 - how can we all be allies

36:47 - securing funding

38:30 - selling bracelets to make $

40:06 - break #2

41:26 - taking care of one’s self

43:45 - setting priorities

45:55 - dealing with expectations

48:15 - what do awards mean to you?

50:22 - relationship with her sister

53:00 - project LIGHTNING

56:40 - being proud of your culture

58:30 - piece of advice


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Vedanshi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vedanshivala/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vedanshivala/

Growing up in a small town in Canada, Derek shares his story of how he became a finalist in Canada’s most-watched reality TV show (Big Brother Canada) and his journey of how he became a full-time social media content creator.

0:00 - Intro

1:03 - Growing up in a small town

2:50 - Small-town living shaping who you are as a person

3:35 - Being a people pleaser

6:15 - Working in the construction & oil industry

7:30 - hating my job

8:30 - the sum of your closest 5 people

10:00 - moving out and taking that next step

12:20 - big mindset shift

17:00 - relationship with best friend

20:35 - break

22:15 - transitioning into business and reality tv

26:30 - starting first business

33:30 - getting into Big Brother Canada

37:00 - Big Brother experience

46:00 - break #2

47:15 - impact of Big Brother

50:10 - day to day life

56:50 - maintaining success

58:40 - working on mental wellbeing

1:03:25 - toxic masculinity

1:05:06 - understanding your why

1:10:00 - piece of advice

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you subscribe to our channel to help us elevate our mission!

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Derek

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derekjacobkesseler/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@derekjkess