When Vian Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Rude Mama Hot Sauce, first discovered The Forum through Startup Canada, she was immediately drawn to the stories of inspiring women entrepreneurs in its network. 

"Seeing all these strong independent women founders share their stories through The Forum platform, I badly wanted to join. [I wanted] to be a part of this amazing collective and hoped that one day, I would be one of those amazing women entrepreneurs as well.”

That aspiration led Vian to join The Forum Growth Peer Mentorship Program, where she found herself in exactly the right place at the right time. "In the past, I often found myself in groups that were either too advanced or a few stages behind, which, while insightful, sometimes made it challenging to align my learning with my business's immediate needs," she explains.

For Vian, connecting with entrepreneurs at similar stages of growth created an ideal environment for learning and development. "This alignment has accelerated my growth as a business owner, offering tailored insights and fostering a sense of camaraderie that is truly invaluable.”

But what sets this program apart, according to Vian, is the depth of support she's received in tackling business challenges. "They don't just address the surface-level issues; they dig deep into the root of the challenge, offering fresh perspectives that I might not have considered on my own," she says. 

This holistic approach has helped her expand her vision and strengthen her strategic thinking, providing a significant practical impact. "I was able to finally address some critical tasks that had been lingering on my to-do list, such as finishing email marketing flows, refining my hiring process, and optimizing daily operations.”

Beyond day-to-day operations, the mentorship group has also helped Vian think bigger about her business's future. "They helped me see the bigger picture, especially in navigating complex areas like venture capital and funding opportunities, which are essential to the future growth of my business.”

Today, she’s leading Rude Mama Hot Sauce with confidence and clarity to bring authentic Vietnamese hot sauces to spice lovers across Canada. 

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Kristin Hartigan, Owner of Square Key Digital, decided to become a Mentor after an unexpected discovery.

While completing their Mentee profile for The Forum Mentor Program Presented by The Scotiabank Women Initiative®, they noticed an opportunity to serve as both a Mentee and Mentor. "I saw this as an exciting opportunity to dip my toes and give back while also receiving support," Kristin shares.

This dual role gave them a unique perspective and helped them tap into a rich ecosystem of support. As Kristin explains, "I’m at a much different part of my entrepreneurship journey than my Mentees are. I'm able to talk to my Mentor about what’s going on with my Mentees and receive guidance and feedback.

It's really solidified my sense of community and opened doors to new connections and an even deeper community than I ever imagined. It's kept me accountable for some less desirable items on my to-do list and has really broken down some walls that I've had for a long time as an entrepreneur."

The program and the community they found through it has also helped them combat the isolation that often comes with entrepreneurship. "For me, it's really become about not being alone. I'm not an island and I'm not the only one who is experiencing these common challenges of running a business.”

As someone with ADHD, Kristin found that mentoring has also helped them develop crucial skills. "[It enabled me to improve my] listening. As someone with ADHD, I'm always wanting to jump in, give advice, and tell everyone what to do to just fix all their problems. Being a Mentor has really allowed me to practice some skill sets that don't come as naturally to me."

Through this journey, Kristin’s also acquired a deeper understanding of what makes mentorship truly effective. "Learning to guide rather than lead has been the absolute best part of being a Mentor so far. It's been beyond rewarding [to not only watch] my Mentees grow, but grow because they’ve figured out solutions on their own."

As someone who's loved their experiences through The Forum’s mentorship programming, Kristin’s been quick to recommend it to those in their network. "I just love The Forum so very much and I tell every woman-identifying entrepreneur about it (even if they're not Canadian) because it's been such a game changer for me.”

Through Square Key Digital, an “un-agency” that helps its clients streamline their marketing and sales efforts, and their role as both Mentor and Mentee, Kristin shows the power that comes from embracing a comprehensive vantage point.

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Josephine Yam is the CEO & Co-Founder of Skills4Good AI, an award-winning edtech company advancing responsible AI literacy with a mission to democratize AI education. To do this, Skills4Good AI offers memberships to its AI Academy. Members have access to a comprehensive curriculum with over 150 on-demand video lessons, as well as a collaborative community where they can connect, share insights and learn from each other, and cutting-edge experiences like monthly webinars, expert interviews and networking events. 

As Josephine explains, “As the first edtech company to provide responsible AI education in Canada, Skills4Good AI achieved a ‘first mover advantage.’ This has positioned us as thought leaders in the AI education field. The emergence of ChatGPT has further spurred exponential growth in our Academy membership. We have customers across Canada and the U.S. who are passionate about using ‘AI For Good’ and understand that continuous AI upskilling is critical to achieving this.” 

With the mind of a lawyer and the heart of an entrepreneur, Josephine was driven to develop Skills4Good AI to combine her passions while helping to make the world a better place as it adopts and evolves with AI. 

“When I immigrated to Canada from the Philippines, I started my career in Canada as a lawyer with an international law firm on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. My journey took a transformative turn when I attended Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. In one of my classes, a well-renowned professor remarked, ‘If you aren’t changing the world, don’t bother.’ This inspired me to co-found Skills4Good AI to address the lack of diversity and inclusion in our rapidly changing digital world. This drive was fueled by my firsthand experiences of being an outsider in three intersectional ways: I am a woman, a person of color, and a Canadian immigrant.” 

Josephine also found the education and support she received through The Forum to be invaluable in her entrepreneurial journey: “I am immensely grateful for the education I received from The Forum E-Series Program and my incredible Mentor from The Forum Mentor Program, who’s continued to advise me over the years.” 

While few would attempt to argue against the importance of responsible AI adoption today, that wasn’t always the case—and proved to be one of the greatest challenges Josephine faced when launching her business. 

“In 2019, when we began offering responsible AI education, many dismissed AI as science fiction. Convincing people of AI’s potential dangers without proper guardrails was an uphill battle. Despite skepticism, we persevered because we believed AI was a transformational revolution and it was crucial to help people build the skills to thrive in the Age of AI. We continued to develop our AI Academy with intellectual property assets, providing training to those who saw what we saw: AI was coming, and we needed to be ready. 

Today, Skills4Good AI is a pioneering force in Responsible AI education. We’re proud to be Canada’s leading edtech provider in Responsible AI, with the Government of Canada as one of our customers.” 

By democratizing access to AI education and focusing on ethical applications, Skills4Good AI empowers professionals to navigate the ethical complexities of AI and leverage it for the greater good. 

Watch Josephine’s TEDx talk, “How To Right Algorithmic Wrongs” on how we can use AI For Good.

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Gail Lynch is the CEO and Experience Designer of ZERO Cocktail Bar, Canada’s first  non-alcoholic cocktail bar, tasting room and bottle shop experience, located within in Toronto’s historic Cabbagetown district. 

As Gail explains, “We provide access to beautiful, flavourful cocktails for those of us wanting the creativity and delectableness of a traditional cocktail without the alcohol. Our tagline, ‘Come for the Cocktail, Stay for the Chat,’ brings communities together. Our cocktails are crafted using premium non-alcohol spirits and bar mixes created in-house using delectable fruits, herbs and spices. Our customer base is as varied as our drinks: young and young at heart, the sober community, the sober curious, and those looking for something fresh and new.”

To offer its diverse clientele the varied experiences they’re seeking, ZERO Cocktail Bar offers full zero-proof cocktail bar service, team-building mixology workshops and events, cocktail crafting menus for events, restaurants and bars, and a tasting room and bottle shop. 

Gail believes that non-alcoholic cocktails should be an expected and thought-out option at every celebration and event, and says that as a “Black 2SLGBTQIA+ woman, equity, inclusion and community are hallmarks of everything I do.”

Sober living for the past decade, Gail’s journey in building ZERO Cocktail Bar began “To protect my mental health during the pandemic. I built a 2x4 bar with a cement countertop and began experimenting and crafting zero-proof cocktails. I was bored with the same old standard drink options usually available during social events, so I made it my mission to craft cocktails using premium non-alcohol spirits, botanicals and bar mixes. I had no idea that creating this bar would give me the creative outlet to experiment with delicious, in-house recipes using delectable, organic fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.” 

For Gail, accessing financial support has been one of the greatest challenges in starting and growing her business. She’s found it extremely difficult to receive support and education from her financial institution, and funded ZERO Cocktail Bar using her personal finances. 

She’s also noticed that “The support provided by lending institutions, non-profit organizations, and governments often fails to reach the entrepreneurs who need it. Many organizations and governments create a false narrative of support for Black and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities through commercials and announcements. These entities fly the Pride flag high in June and provide support to large organizations as it benefits their own PR. Unfortunately, these supports don’t get to those who are in need.”

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Meggan Van Harten, RGD, and Jennifer Taback, RGD, are Co-CEOs of Design de Plume (DDP), an Indigenous and women-owned creative agency that creates accessible and inclusive design solutions. Working across Turtle Island (Canada and the U.S.), Design de Plume harnesses the transformative power of design to empower communities and weaves Indigenous wisdom and women-led innovation into every project. 

As they explain, “When we originally started the business together in 2009, we wanted to use our gifts of design and have good jobs within a structure that offered more autonomy. DDP has really evolved since then and we’ve moved from simply solving problems to trying to anticipate how changes will affect our work more proactively. We’re trying to look ahead and see how we can incorporate Indigenous perspectives in innovative ways.” 

However, growing DDP into the impressive creative agency it is today hasn’t been easy. “As we grew, we became very aware of the challenges that come with being diverse young women in business. Opportunities for us weren’t the same as other businesses who had similar training and experience. We had great services to offer but our local pool of potential clients didn’t see the value we were bringing to the table. They only saw young women and thought we were inexperienced.” 

To overcome this, Meggan and Jennifer talked about rebranding their business to sound more like the businesses around them. As a part of this process, they removed their pictures from requests for proposal and their website and changed their logo to one that looked less “soft.” 

“It looked great but it didn’t sound or feel like us. So we had a choice, either continue to play the same game by doing things just like everyone else, or stay true to ourselves, take a big risk, and think bigger than we were at the time. We immediately threw out all the branding work that didn’t feel like us, embraced our core values, carried them into every project, and said no to projects that didn’t fit that vision.” 

That decision turned out to be one of the most pivotal moments of growth for DDP, and is what enabled Meggan and Jennifer to find a circle of clients whose values align with theirs. “We’ve grown into a creative agency that has a reputation for creating big impact. We’re proud of the good we’ve done in the world by challenging harmful biases in design and creating inclusive and accessible design solutions that reach people where they are at.”

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Africa Trade Desk (ATD) is a one-stop consulting firm for Canadian and international companies, investors, and entrepreneurs who are looking to do business in Africa. Founded by Susan Namulindwa, ATD is dedicated to increasing trade between Canada and Africa, while also boosting intra-African trade. From helping clients find the perfect international business partner to creating international export strategies, Africa Trade Desk is there to support them in realizing their goals. 

As Susan’s team explains, “The majority of ATD's clients are Black, women-owned and operated businesses. We especially work with companies that work in the supply of clean water, clean energy, ethical supply chain management, and climate change adaptation so as to ensure the longevity of not only these companies, but the communities in which they operate.”

Having grown up as a Ugandan refugee in Kenya before coming to Canada, Susan has also founded two charities, GirlsRunPeriod, which is fighting period poverty in Kenya (and has received the support of the country’s First Lady), and Maama Watali, which supports Canadian Black women with the aim to eradicate gender-based violence. 

A powerful changemaker, Susan is continuously looking for ways to make the world a better place, despite the systemic and personal barriers that have stood in her path. She’s grown her impactful business and non-profits while acting as an advisor to the federal government on their engagement with the African diaspora, and to Black Canadians where she’s provided guidance on the Africa Strategy that is currently being designed by the federal government to help increase access to affordable housing in Ottawa.

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Suzanne Barr Food is “a global village committed to building connections, advocating food justice, and creating global culinary experiences.” 

A former photographer, stylist, filmmaker, producer, and personal chef, Founder Suzanne Barr lasered her focus on her love for cooking when she turned 30–and later went on to become a two-time restaurateur, chef-in-residence at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, and a judge on Food Network Canada’s Wall of Chefs. 

Her love for cooking started when she was a child–but when her mother sadly passed from pancreatic cancer, she found herself again in the connection between her family’s rich cultural history, the memories she shared with her mother, and the healing power of food.

As Suzanne explains, “From our kitchen, we are joined in celebrating the worldly flavors by defining their origins, cooking with love and intention, expanding our diasporic appreciation, and advocating for cultural legacy. Together, we reshape our community by sharing traditions, discovering new customs, understanding the importance of sourcing ethical ingredients and recipe preservation techniques that disband culinary biases and realign connections to our cultural foodways. From enriching online classes to handpicked recipes, how-to videos, and inclusive events, our vibrant community invites you to embrace the power of food, love, and connection.”

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