Canada's #1 Community for Entrepreneurs 
Canada's #1 Community for EntrepreneursBraden Parker is co-founder of Casca Footwear, an innovative startup, developing all-day performance shoes for future builders. In the past year, Braden has moved from real-estate asset manager to co-founder of a bootstrapped venture looking to challenge the global footwear giants.
Michael Kehoe is an Alberta-based retail real estate specialist. He is often quoted in the national media as an expert on retail stories. Michael is broker/owner of Fairfield Commercial Real Estate in Calgary.
Mike Morrison is the founder of Mike’s Bloggity Blog, a blog which this year celebrates its 13th anniversary. The blog covers all things pop culture here in Calgary and across Canada. Morrison also runs a series of digital marketing events including SocialEast in Halifax, Next Big Thing and SocialWest, which is now the largest digital marketing conference in Western Canada.
Gifty Serbeh-Dunn founded Shea Butter Market in 2003 to create an all-natural beauty product while supporting widows and their families in Ghana to climb out of poverty. Gifty believes that her business is a force for “good” and by doing business right means that everyone benefits; from the widows in Ghana who make the Shea Butter for a premium price, to the consumers who buy her high-quality products.
Jacqueline Kitzan is owner of Somewear Mobile Boutique Consignment – retrofitting a 1977 Airstream Globetrotter into Edmonton’s first mobile consignment boutique – a high-end and luxury consignment retailer. She is also a communications specialist with Melcor Developments.
Tanya Eklund is a realtor in Calgary and considered to be an industry expert. She is often quoted as a source on real estate stories by the media. Tanya is with RE/MAX Real Estate (Central) and owns The Tanya Eklund Group.
Mark Evans spent 10+ years as a technology reporter with two of Canada’s largest newspapers and has four startups under his belt. Mark brings his unique brand storytelling approach to high growth emerging companies that need to create a leadership position.
Mark provides strategic and tactical guidance to develop effective content marketing and regularly speaks and workshops in various locations. In this podcast Mark talks about marketing that resonates with prospects, customers, partners, and investors – everything from Websites, videos, and infographics to eBooks, blog posts, and pitch decks.
Sharon Hapton is the founder and CEO of Soup Sisters, a charity dedicated to ‘creating a stir’ in communities across North America. Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers have delivered nearly 2 million ‘Hugs in a Bowl’ of nourishing and nurturing soup nationwide to women’s shelters and youth crisis centers. In addition to being a social entrepreneur, Sharon is a best-selling author of the Soup Sisters cookbook series.
Matias Marquez founded Buyatab in 2008. He has since received numerous awards and recognition for his entrepreneurial success, including: being named a BC Business Top 30 Under 30 recipient in 2016; winner of the 2016 EY Entrepreneur of The Year award; and being named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2017. A digital gift card industry pioneer, Matias has been instrumental in driving Buyatab’s growth and customer-focused success. He is also an active advisor to early-stage technology companies. Matias holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Emily Salsbury-Deveaux is an entrepreneur and a retailer. She first opened her fashion store EMMYDEVEAUX as a pop-up location in the West Edmonton Mall in February 2018. The store opened a permanent location in the fall of 2018 on Calgary Trail. She is former executive director of the School of Retailing at the University of Alberta.
