Meet our Advisory Committee: Supporting the development, execution, and inclusivity with our programming.
Vivian Kaye (she/her)
Vivian Kaye is the Founder & CEO of KinkyCurlyYaki, a premium textured hair extension brand for Black women that she bootstrapped to over $6 million in revenue as an immigrant, college dropout and single mom.
As a self proclaimed Gary Vee meets Oprah remix, Vivian is also a business and empowerment expert, as well as a TV, radio and podcast personality.
Through her magnetic energy, Vivian empowers, uplifts and educates her audience into taking action.
Karla Briones (she/her)
Karla Briones is a business strategist that coaches new immigrants, BIPOC and underrepresented business owners on becoming successful entrepreneurs with scalable ventures.
She is the founder of Immigrants Developing Entrepreneurs Academy (IDEA) – an online platform designed to educate and connect newcomers to the Canadian business ecosystem.
She’s a Nation’s Capital Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year award recipient and a TEDx Speaker on the topic of immigrant entrepreneurship.
Marc Lafleur (he/him)
Marc is a University of Waterloo honours graduate who went on to find his niche in entrepreneurship. After co-founding two start-ups in school, Marc co-founded truLOCAL and lead the business to a successful acquisition in 2020 for $16.7M to Emerge Commerce (TSXV:ECOM).
Jace Meyer (she/her)
Jace is a Mètis mother, teacher, artist, entrepreneur, and intrapreneur currently living, working, and playing on unceded Algonquin territory. She’s cultivated an expertise in the co-creation of culturally relevant, place-based STEM education for youth and adults. Her teaching has reached 1.25 Million Canadian youth from coast to coast to coast. In her spare time, Jace consults with youth-serving organizations and is a BMW World Responsible Leader.
Greg MacDonald (he/him)
Greg founded Bathorium and set out to create premium bath soaks that not only give a unique experience for the bather but also a product that the user can benefit from both physically and mentally. Favourite Crush is Northern Sage Recovery and Aphrodite - North America's Largest Bath Bomb!
Manpreet Dhillon (she/her)
Manpreet has over 15 years of diversity and inclusion consulting, leadership coaching, human resources and community development expertise.
Manpreet is a contributing author to Forbes, a twice contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul and a contributing author to the best selling Amazon book—365 Days to the Soul.
