Canada’s First Intersectional Feminist Business Accelerator
Welcome to the CFC Fifth Wave Flipbook, a one-stop shop to learn all about this unique, first-of-its-kind program and the exceptional participants that comprise its inspiring community. We invite you to browse the pages and take note of these up-and-comers making waves in digital media. Learn about the companies and projects that these forward-thinking women have underway and consider reaching out to do business and collaborate.
CFC’s Fifth Wave Initiative is Canada’s first intersectional feminist business accelerator. The initiative offers a suite of programs and services—designed by women, for women business owners—that speak to the particular needs of entrepreneurs as individuals.
Funded by the Government of Canada through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), the Fifth Wave Initiative is designed to accelerate and sustain the growth of women-owned/ led enterprises in southern Ontario’s digital media sector.
The Fifth Wave Initiative is a highly bespoke program that sets women entrepreneurs up for long-term growth and sustainability. The program weaves intersectional feminist ideals of equity and fairness into traditional business practices and emphasizes a radically inclusive, human-centric approach to strategy and scalable growth.
Fifth Wave’s three programming streams include:
• Fifth Wave Connect: networking events and workshops designed to link participants with business leaders, academics and entrepreneurs
• Fifth Wave Labs: A four-month sustainable business growth and/or scale-up bootcamp
• Fifth Wave Outreach: scale-up activities that support the regional and global commercialization of participant products and/or enterprises
Feminism and feminist are not gender-specific, they are inclusive women are feminists, all feminists are really about worldview.
PETRA KASSUN-MUTCH (PK MUTCH) Entrepreneur, Journalist, Startup Publisher of Liisbeth, and Fifth Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Statistics Canada tells us that women comprise more than half of Canada’s population, but only 16% of our businesses are owned or led by women. Women working in tech have experienced the sizeable gender gap in Canada’s technology sector, and male founders traditionally outnumber female founders in startup companies.
The name Fifth Wave is a nod to the continued evolution of the perception and practice of feminism through the first four waves that some scholars and activists have referenced to describe shifts in feminist thinking. The consideration of these successive waves indicates that there is still much work to be done to address longstanding inequities and brings to the fore a series of ongoing issues.
The Fifth Wave Initiative addresses the significant gaps that women entrepreneurs face in equitable access to capital, and connections and opportunities in the digital media industry. The program created an entrepreneurial space that practiced intersectional feminist values and supported the power and strength of diverse women entrepreneurs. Through community connectivity and conflict resolution, we helped build entrepreneurial resilience and transform institutional settings, power relations, policies and practices via the lens of intersectional feminism and antioppression.
feminist ideals
gender-specific, but inclusive … Not all feminists, and not are women – it’s worldview.
MUTCH)
Startup Professional, Founding
Fifth Wave Initiative’s Executive
After 3 successful years, more than 115 women-owned/ led companies have joined the Fifth Wave Initiative and have participated in Fifth Wave Connect programming. We couldn’t be prouder of our inspirational members that have participated in the program: X through Fifth Wave Connect and X through Fifth Wave Labs Cohorts.
We’ve built an exceptional community of diverse women entrepreneurs, mentors, experts, trailblazers, academics and program partners, plus a highly respected, values-aligned mentor team.
It is our belief that creating this community of like-minded entrepreneurs, who are interested in expanding ideas of value generation (beyond for-profit) and are also interested in a movement towards an informed, pluralistically inclusive, equity and liberation agenda, will have significant ripple effects on society as a whole.
Meet the inspiring women entrepreneurs who joined us for our initial offerings and contributed to strengthening and informing the larger womens’ entrepreneurial ecosystem.
AVA ANIMATION & VISUAL ARTS
Emma López Hechem
BABE NATION FILMS
Lindsay Tapscott
Katie Nolan
MY WINE CANADA
Jackie McLachlan
OYA MEDIA GROUP
Alison Duke
DRIFTSCAPE
Chloe Doesburg
ESSAYJACK (BY WIZE)
Lindy Ledohowski
Ngardy Conteh George
SARAH SELECKY WRITING SCHOOL
Sarah Selecky
INNOVATE BY DAY
Deborah Day
STICKY BRAIN STUDIOS
Sasha Boersma
AVA Animation & Visual Arts is a team of professionals with award winning expertise in projection mapping and interactive content for immersive spaces. A creative team that thrives on creating exceptional visual solutions for live entertainment and transforming events into extraordinary visual experiences with technology, creativity and emotion. Since 2010, they have achieved several international awards, two permanent installations in Mexico and four in Japan. Their studio is now based in Toronto and our clients include international tourism associations, theme parks, light festivals, and private events.
WEBSITE avainmotion.com
SOCIAL LINKS
EMMA LÓPEZ HECHEM Creative Director & Partner
Emma López Hechem is the Creative Director and partner behind AVA Animation & Visual Arts and specializes in Projection Design. Originally from Mexico, she started with a Bachelor degree on Information Design and graduated with honours from the Visual Effects for Cinema and Television postgraduate program at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Canada. She has worked creating graphics and animation for renowned animation and post-production studios in Canada and abroad, among them E! Entertainment, Loop Media Inc., Enter the Picture, Tango Media Group and ETC Canada. Together with her partner Pedro Narvaez started AVA Animation and Visual Arts in 2010, pioneering the field of Architectural Projection Mapping for live events. Ever since they have created award winning works and installations for Mexico, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, United States, U.A.E., Lebanon, Armenia, Romania, Chile, Russia and Canada.
A pioneer in the field of light projection mapping, Emma López transforms public spaces and minds through the power of art.
* Fifth Wave, CFC Media Lab’s feminist business accelerator, teamed up with media partner, LiisBeth — a womxn-led and owned intersectional feminist media enterprise — to showcase its program participants and their companies. Throughout the program, Liisbeth featured several of the women founders, and their businesses, who participated in the Fifth Wave Initiative. Click on the article link featured on select company profile pages to learn more about the inspirational women who chose to develop their companies by employing feminist business practices.
Babe Nation is a Toronto-based boutique indie production company that champions female and emerging voices behind and in front of the camera. Producers Katie Bird Nolan and Lindsay Tapscott specialize in the hands-on creative development and production of character-driven scripted content from a diverse slate of international filmmakers.
WEBSITE babenationfilms.com
SOCIAL LINKS
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
Two funny feminists meet in a boutique. Cue action.
Katie Nolan is a producer in Toronto and a co-founder of the production company Babe Nation Films, which champions female and emerging voices and stories. Babe Nation’s debut feature, The Rest of Us, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival; it was directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, written by Alanna Francis, and stars Heather Graham, Sophie Nelisse, Jodi Balfour and Abigail Pniowsky. Katie was also a producer on the TIFF 2019 feature White Lie, which was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Film in 2020, as well as the Rogers Group of Funds Best Canadian Feature award in 2021. Prior to working full-time with Babe Nation, Katie worked on the Canadian feature film The Grizzlies as an associate producer, and cut her teeth with Montreal-based production company Prospector Films. She is in pre- production on the forthcoming project Alice, Darling (directed by Mary Nighy, written by Alanna Francis), a contemporary feature adaptation of the famous Françoise Sagan novel Bonjour Tristesse (written by Durga ChewBose), and a dark comedy series about female fertility by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, the playwrights and lead creatives behind the TIFF 2018 smash, Mouthpiece. Katie is an alumna of the 2016 TIFF International Producers lab, as well as the 2018 Producers Accelerator with Cassian Elwes. Also in 2018, alongside her producing partner Lindsay Tapscott, she was named one of Playback Magazine’s Top 5 to Watch, and was nominated for the CMPA’s Emerging Producer award.
Co-Founder
Lindsay Tapscott is a producer in Toronto and a co-founder of the production company Babe Nation Films, which champions female and emerging voices and stories. Babe Nation’s debut feature, The Rest of Us, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival; it was directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, written by Alanna Francis, and stars Heather Graham, Sophie Nelisse, Jodi Balfour and Abigail Pniowsky. Lindsay’s other projects include the TIFF 2019 feature White Lie, which was also nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Film, and well as the Rogers Group of Funds Best Canadian Feature award. She is in pre-production on the forthcoming project Alice, Darling (directed by Mary Nighy, written by Alanna Francis), a contemporary feature adaptation of the famous Françoise Sagan novel Bonjour Tristesse (written by Durga ChewBose), and a dark comedy series about female fertility by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, the playwrights and lead creatives behind Mouthpiece. Lindsay is an alumna of the 2019 Rotterdam Producers Lab, and in 2018, alongside her producing partner Katie Nolan, she was named one of Playback Magazine’s Top 5 to Watch, and was nominated for the CMPA’s Emerging Producer award.
Driftscape connects local destinations with visitors via our mobile apps. We focus on local culture so visitors can find the best of what’s nearby. Local destinations get powerful tools to learn about their visitors, at a fraction of the cost of building their own app.
We work with respected cultural organizations like Historical Canada, National Trust for Canada and Heritage Toronto to create a single place for users to learn about where they are from trusted experts.
Our mission is to make local culture easier to discover. We believe that creating a platform where diverse stories can be shared will inspire a greater understanding of the spaces we inhabit and the people we share them with.
Driftscape was built by an experienced team working between Toronto and Waterloo, and was founded in 2017.
driftscape.com
Co-Founder & CEO
Chloe Doesburg is the Co-founder and CEO of Driftscape, a mobile app company whose mission is to make local culture easier to discover. After cofounding the music mapping project Track Toronto she learned of the huge appetite and enthusiasm for location-specific media. She also learned of numerous initiatives creating rich, high quality content related to their community, from their unique perspective. Chloe co-founded Driftscape to match this fantastic (and underutilized) content with this appetite and enthusiasm. She is also an award-winning architect who loves to explore. She knows there are always hidden gems nearby if you know how to look.
EssayJack is an online academic writing software that was acquired by Wizeprep in 2021. It is now part of the Wizeprep suite of tools to help students all across North America get their best grades ever. Its co-founders, Dr. Lindy Ledohowski & Dr. Rueban Balasubramaniam, long believed that mastery over language is a profound equaliser.
When Lindy was teaching Advanced Placement English as a high school teacher she placed a homemade sign above her door that read:
“Analyse the world around you and be empowered.” This philosophy is a core principle underpinning their commitment to education and empowerment that has taken them as educators from high school to university, and to this day, is a fundamental pillar of both EssayJack and Wizeprep.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED
BY LIISBETH MEDIA
An edu-tech startup improves grades – and passes on investors.
LINDY LEDOHOWSKI COODr. Lindy Ledohowski (BA, BEd, MA, PhD) was a high school English teacher and debating coach before becoming an English professor. She has published widely as a peer-reviewed cultural studies scholar, taught teachers how to teach, produced manuals on critical thinking and critical writing, and done consulting work and presentations with organizations such as the British Council and the Business Alliance Sectors. She served nearly a decade on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and is EssayJack Inc.’s inaugural CEO. She is an award-winning educator, writer, scholar, and entrepreneur.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
Innovate By Day is a woman-led social media and digital content company known for engaging online communities and building turnkey, customized solutions for clients. Focussed on serving social enterprises, non-profits, special events, and entertainment and gaming companies, Innovate expertly navigates digital trends on behalf of its clients. Listening to audiences and influencers, cultivating conversations and developing creative, compelling content are its core strengths. Founded in 2010, Innovate By Day has had extensive experience in launching and sustaining digital audiences for a variety of companies and brands. Specializing in comprehensive, strategic marketing, customized digital content, community engagement and paid reach, Innovate By Day has been at the forefront of social listening. Committed to niche, interactive audiovisual content that extends narratives, Innovate By Day generates conversations that give audiences compelling reasons to connect, return, share, and champion their communities.
WEBSITE innovatebyday.ca
DEBORAH DAY Founder & CEO
Deb Day is the Founder and CEO of Innovate By Day, a full-service strategic marketing agency and digital content studio supporting values-based companies. Prior to forming Innovate, Deb produced and directed awardwinning film and television. In 2010, Deb saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between content creators and audiences, and founded Innovate By Day.
With her long history in the entertainment and cultural industries, Deb is known as “the storyteller that the storytellers hire” to build their brands and communities. Deb is passionate about empowering people and their brands. She leverages her experience to lead her team in creating effective creative marketing strategies and engaging digital content for companies, individuals, organizations, and broadcasters.
In 2018, Deb received the Digital Trailblazer by WIFT - Toronto for her leadership in Digital Media. Deb is a SheEO Activator, and a mentor for The Forge, McMaster University’s business incubator program. Deb was a member of the first cohort of the Fifth Wave Accelerator Lab and TAP Toronto.
At My Wine Canada, we’re bridging the gap between wineries and consumers in this country with two specific goals: to provide wineries with alternative and additional sales opportunities, and to provide consumers with greater access to our wonderful domestic wines.
mywinecanada.com
JACKIE MCLACHLAN Founder & PresidentJackie McLachlan is the Founder and President of My Wine Canada.
An avid wine enthusiast and certified wine steward, Jackie is passionately supportive of the wineries and distilleries in this country and the families and communities who pour their hearts into every bottle that they produce.
You will find Jackie steering internal operations and leading the business development and marketing efforts at MyWineCanada.com, judging wine competitions, and writing wine reviews for select publications.
“The definition of success can include more than just profit, by considering the intended and unintended personal, social and environmental impacts of a business - entrepreneurship becomes a means to transform the inequities that exist in greater society.”
EMILY PASCUAL Program Co-Designer & Facilitator, Fifth Wave Labs
Oya Media Group is a Black women-led production company. Our mission is to thrive in the Canadian and International media marketplace and contribute our voice to an underrepresented demographic, concentrating on new forms of socially relevant diverse content. Oya Media Group is owned and operated by Creators/ Producers Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George. Together we have over 40 years of experience in film and TV production. We have worked with non-profit organizations, broadcasters such as CBC, Documentary Channel, Rogers, CityTV, Sundance Channel, NHK, DR, Superchannel, and independent production companies like Maple Rock Media, Shadow Shows, Catbird Productions Chimpanzee Productions, and Take Action Films in the United States and Canada.
WEBSITE oyamediagroup.com
SOCIAL LINKS
Two Black filmmakers found a treasure trove of activist footage – and a company.
ALISON DUKE Co-FounderCo-founder of Oya Media Group, Duke aka “Golde” is a storyteller, in every sense of the word. Duke is known for telling dynamic stories that illuminate history, document the present, and push the culture forward. In 2019, Duke produced and co-wrote ‘Mr. Jane and Finch’, a CBC POV Documentary and CSA nominated film (Best Writing in a Documentary, Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/ Political Film), and also directed ‘Cool Black North’, a two-hour TV documentary for City TV. Current activities see her producing Laurie Townshend’s feature documentary, Mothering in the Movement, kickstarting year 2 of Black Youth! Pathway2Industry, a 3-year initiative to support Black youth access to essential training, mentors, networks, and film industry spaces and developing her feature documentary ‘Bam Bam: The Story of Sister Nancy’. She recently finished post-production on, ‘Promise Me’, a dramatic short inspired by her ‘The Woman I Have Become’ (‘08). Alison also won the 2019 WIFT Crystal Award for Mentorship for her mentorship of young filmmakers and for work with Pathways 2 Industry.
NGARDY CONTEH GEORGE Co-Founder
Co-founder of Oya Media Group, Ngardy Conteh George is an award-winning filmmaker, a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Fellow and grantee, and recipient of grants from the Toronto and Ontario Art Councils and the Canada Council for the Arts. She is committed to working with marginalized, and often unheard communities, especially those that represent the rich cultures and complexities of the African Diaspora. Her films include short documentary ‘Dudley Speaks for Me’ (Best Canadian Presentation, Caribbean Tales Int’l Film Festival, 2016), award-winning Sundance Documentary Film Fund supported feature-length documentary ‘The Flying Stars’ (Best documentary –BronzeLens Film Festival, 2015) and most recently TV hour ‘Mr. Jane and Finch’ commissioned by CBC Docs POV and nominated for two CSA’s: Best Writing in a Documentary and the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Film. She is currently working on her first cinematic 360 VR documentary project, ‘Wa’Omoni Rising’ with funding from the Bell Fund.
Sarah Selecky Writing School is an online creative writing school that approaches writing as an art, and also as a contemplative practice. We believe that skill comes from study, that inspiration comes from love, and that both are necessary.
WEBSITE
sarahseleckywritingschool.com
SOCIAL LINKS
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY
PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
A feminist writer found a different way of sharing stories—and her own writing school.
SARAH SELECKY FounderSarah Selecky is the author of the novel Radiant Shimmering Light and the short story collection This Cake Is for the Party, which was a finalist for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize, and longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. She earned her MFA from the University of British Columbia. In 2011 she founded the Sarah Selecky Writing School, which has become a creative community for more than 13,000 writers from around the world. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
Sticky Brain Studios is a company that designs smart experiences that make you think. We help companies connect with audiences by creating interactive games, apps, and digital content. Since it formed in 2013, the Sticky Brain team has delivered over 50 games and digital products for clients.
We also develop our own IP inspired by new twists on traditional structures, stories, and experiences.
Sticky Brain Studios is a team of bright, quirky people from all walks of life. We look for talented professionals who bring a little something else to their work than the status quo. Sticky Brain Studios is a collaborative environment, and we value the diverse opinions, thoughts, and ideas from everyone on our team.
stickybrainstudios.com
SASHA BOERSMA Co-Founder
Co-founder Sasha Boersma not only manages projects and oversees business at Sticky Brain Studios, she champions the values that make it such a special feature in the Canadian gaming and media landscape. She is passionate about storytelling, equity, and whimsy and she has successfully carved space for a studio where she can combine all three.
Her investment in new approaches to business and partnerships has led to various other digital content initiatives that recognize and fill current gaps in the market, including mentoring five emerging BIPOC/ LGBTQ+ talent in television, books, comics, and technology. Besides Sticky Brain Studios, she also co-founded Possible Futures Studio, which creates interactive content around stories that would otherwise be lost to history.
How a digital content company is off-lining patriarchy.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA WEBSITEACHIMOSTAWINAN GAMES
Meagan Bryne
B4BRAND
Hermine Mbondo
BLACK FOODIE
Eden Hagos
CLOSED CAPTION SERVICES
Brooke Woboditsch
LITTLE ENGINE MOVING PICTURES
Maria Kennedy
PITCH BETTER
Adeela Carter
Amoye Henry
SISTERHOOD MEDIA
Samah Ali
SUNSTAR WORLDWIDE STUDIO
Sonia Godding Togobo
Achimostawinan Games is an Indigenous owned and operated video game company dedicated to developing Indigenous games for an Indigenous audience (and the world) while also helping Indigenous artists and communities develop interactive and digital content.
At Achimostawinan Games, we strive to create stories that speak to you. After all, Achimostawinan means, “Tell us a story” in Cree. We believe in crafting original Indigenous stories for everyone.
WEBSITE achimogames.ca
MEAGAN BRYNE Founder
Owner and project leader Meagan Byrne [ pihtawikosisân (Ont Métis)] is a graduate from McMaster University, with a B.A honours degree in English Literature, and from Sheridan College, with a B.A in Game Design. Byrne has worked on educational gamification and apps, as a game designer and gamification specialist, first at Sheridan College Centre for Teaching and Learning, then at TVO Kids, before taking on the role of the Digital + Interactive Coordinator at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. After developing and setting up the iNDigital Space, a showcase for Indigenous interactive media, Meagan has chosen to take over Achimostawinan Games full time as Narrative Mechanics Designer and owner.
New to Canada but not new to business, Hermine Mbondo turned her obstacles into opportunities.
B4brand is a bilingual English/French, multicultural, storytelling-driven marketing agency for purpose-driven brands. We help brands that take a stand on values connect with conscious consumers by creating crossplatform content to bring brand stories to life online and offline.
B4brand believes that marketing has a greater purpose than consumerism. Our vision is to empower consumers so that they can make informed purchasing decisions based on a genuine connection of shared values with brands, enabling conscious consumerism.
WEBSITE b4brand.ca
HERMINE MBONDO Founder
Entrepreneur, storyteller, globetrotter, foodie, and social impact advocate, Hermine Mbondo is a woman with many strings to her bow. She holds a Master’s degree in Management from SKEMA Business School, has lived in 3 different continents and worked in France, the United States and Canada.
With over a decade of international marketing experience under her belt, working in communications, trade marketing and branding across both agency and client side, Hermine Mbondo decided in 2017 to use her proven marketing expertise for the greater good and founded B4brand, a storytelling-driven marketing agency for purpose-driven brands. In 2020, Hermine Mbondo was recognized for her work and the impact she is making as a recipient of Canada’s 100 Black Women to Watch Award. In 2021, she launched the Global Impact Hub, a onestop learning hub for social impact entrepreneurs to connect, educate, empower, and amplify diverse voices.
She volunteers as a board member at the Alliance Française Toronto, a civic and social organization that promotes bilingualism and the richness and diversity of Francophone cultures and she occasionally teaches marketing and social media at La Cité, the largest Frenchlanguage college of applied arts and technology in Ontario.
BLACK FOODIE is a versatile media platform and creative agency sharing the food stories of the diaspora through original production, sponsored content, and digital activations.
With a strong digital presence and an online following of over 100 000+ foodies, our content has reached millions of viewers since launching in 2015.
WEBSITE blackfoodie.co
Eden Hagos is a celebrated host, food writer, and founder of BLACK FOODIE, a media platform and creative agency. An Ethiopian-Canadian with a passion for exploring the African diaspora, she’s focused on changing the global conversation around Black food culture.
From broadcast television to digital media, CCS is Canada’s frontrunner in full-spectrum media accessibility, providing closed captioning and descriptive video services for broadcasters, producers, educators, governments, production houses, festivals and more.
WEBSITE closedcapserv.com
Brooke Woboditsch is a mixed-heritage Indigenous, media and broadcast professional who specializes in accessibility and television production. She is President and owner of CCS in Kingston.
CCS is a vibrant business providing accessibility to many of the major broadcasters in Canada, municipalities, content producers and filmmakers by providing fast, reliable service in closed captioning and audio description.
In addition to running her business, Brooks is an Activator with SheEO and participates in the Lift Collective’s Indigenous Women’s network.
Brooke is also working on multiple productions that tie into her goal of amplifying Indigenous story lines.
It took a global pandemic to expose the dire need to improve digital accessibility for people with disabilities. Closed Caption Services is helping address the gap.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIALittle Engine is an award-winning media company that develops, finances, produces and distributes original, innovative TV series, feature films and interactive content for an international audience of the young and young-at-heart.
littleengine.tv
MARIA KENNEDY Co-Founder & Executive Producer
Maria Kennedy is co-founder and owner of Little Engine Moving Pictures, an award-winning, creator-driven media production company specializing in live-action CGI hybrid kids and family series for an international audience, where she oversees all business and creative aspects of its original properties. She constantly aims to push the envelope with bold, innovative and uplifting storytelling that has a positive impact on young audiences. Since 2014, she has secured over 5 million dollars in financing for Little Engine’s series and digital content, and has worked with Canadian funding partners TVO, CBC, SRC Radio-Canada, TFO, Knowledge, SuperChannel, OMNI, Canada Media Fund, Shaw Rocket Fund, COGECO, Bell Fund, Rogers Telefund and Ontario Creates. Maria has produced TV series, feature films, commercials, branded content, and companion Interactive websites and games. Her debut series Now You Know was licensed to over 100 territories worldwide. Maria is a Youth Media Alliance board member, and a strong advocate for LGBTQ, diversity and gender parity in front of and behind the screen.
Pitch Better uses market research and analytical insights to help diverse entrepreneurs make better business decisions.
WEBSITE pitchbetter.ca
After a decade-long career in criminal law with the Ministry of the Attorney General in the Ontario Court of Justice, Adeela decided to take a leap of faith, leaving her 9-5 to pursue her passion for business and entrepreneurship. She is the founder of The Carter Strategy Group. A global consulting firm that specializes in strategic planning and business development for entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporate clients.
As a full-time entrepreneur with extensive experience in network marketing, Adeela has led widely successful teams helping other entrepreneurs meet and exceed their personal and financial goals. She has also worked with influencers and personal brands by creating specific marketing campaigns relevant to their business objectives and their goals. Adeela is Trinidadian-Canadian and a mother of two. She is unapologetic about her hustle and makes it a point to invest in self-love.
Amoye is a millennial entrepreneur and small business consultant. She is on a mission to help scale growth based businesses led by unique founders, usually the underdog. In 2018, she was named one of Canada’s top 100 Accomplished Black Women.
Through enticing pitches and building strong brand partnerships, she helped to secure approximately $5M in funding for local entrepreneurs, start-ups and community organizations. In addition to running Pitch Better, she is the co-founder and Executive Producer of the AfroChic Cultural Arts Festival.
Since its inception in 2010, AfroChic has created opportunities for over 350 local and international artists, entrepreneurs and cultural practitioners. As one of the youngest and only diverse students, she is currently completing her Executive MBA at Ivey Business School where she is on track to graduate in June 2021.
ADEELA CARTER Co-FounderSisterhood Media is a business dedicated to producing and distributing films, podcasts, and other forms of digital media to audiences from minority groups. Our mission is to develop projects in-house and license films from Canadian filmmakers to distribute through our subscription video-on-demand streaming service, Sisterhood Media TV, host free screenings with our series Movie Night, and teach industry knowledge to emerging filmmakers.
WEBSITE sisterhoodmedia.net
A new Canadian streaming platform features art from racialized artists for racialized audiences.
Samah Ali is a distributor and film programmer hailing from Toronto, Canada. She is the founder of Sisterhood Media, a production and distribution company streaming films on their platform, Sisterhood Media TV. She also programs for Academy Award qualifying festivals Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, DOC NYC, and Hot Docs Film Festival. She is also the programmer for Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
A filmmaker launched her own company to explore the stories of Africa and its diaspora.
Sunstar Worldwide Studio is a media production company that specializes in delivering world-class video content across social media and broadcast platforms. Our goal is to create video content that informs, entertains and enlightens audiences of the vastness of the Black Canadian experience.
We want to bring this unique experience across the world!
WEBSITE sunstarworldwidestudio.com
Samah Ali is a distributor and film programmer hailing from Toronto, Canada. She is the founder of Sisterhood Media, a production and distribution company streaming films on their platform, Sisterhood Media TV. She also programs for Academy Award qualifying festivals Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, DOC NYC, and Hot Docs Film Festival. She is also the programmer for Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
ART COLLISION
Candice Houtekier
FITIN
Catherine Chan
FRIDAY THINGS
Stacy Lee Kong
HIBNB
Elizabeth Becker
PEEPS MAGAZINE
Anya-Milana Sulaver
SPRINGBAY STUDIO
Jane Ji
THE GREEN LINE
Anita Li
THE OPS COLLECTIVE
Nana Moore
Art Collision is a creative studio, specializing in strategy, content, design, and web development. We partner with art organizations to develop their online presence, boost their e-commerce and execute and manage their digital strategy. Our work is fueled by passion and deep engagement with content resulting in strategic and beautiful ways to tell stories and connect with audiences across various media.
Candice Houtekier is a metaverse explorer since 2016. She immigrated from France to Canada to do an MA in Art History, and a minor in video game studies at the University of Montreal, Canada. As a futurist, she collaboratively explores and constructs new virtual realities to develop, transform, and enrich the international art market. She founded Art Collision in 2019 to engage art practices with cutting-edge technology.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIALike many early-stage founders Houtekier said “Yes to everything”. Including the metaverse.
CANDICE HOUTEKIER Founder
WEBSITE artcollision.ca
We’re dedicated to helping Canadians find physical fitness and mental health solutions - quickly and easily. Our goal is to provide a complete resource for any kind of fitness, physical health, or mental wellness class. By helping people see the opportunities available, we hope to empower them to make the choices that are right for them.
WEBSITE
fitin.io
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES
POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
The number of women venture fund partners and women-led venture funds are at an all time high. But raising money is still a grind for women entrepreneurs.
CATHERINE CHAN CEOCatherine is a long-time lover of running, has competed in kettlebell competitions, and has her Grade 4 sash in Kung Fu. She is a graduate of The University of Western Ontario Master of Arts program, and spent a few years in marketing in the entertainment industry before getting into management. Since then,
Catherine has been a successful retail store manager, sales manager and training manager.
Stemming from a desire to try a new yoga class, and frustrated by how long it took to find the right class in the right place at the right time, she was inspired to found FitIn - a platform designed to help people find and be inspired by the amazing number of fitness experiences available out there.
As a mental health advocate, Catherine works to educate, inspire and connect people by helping them improve their brain health through physical exercise, fitness, and movement.
Friday Things is a new media brand for millennial and Gen Z women that launched in January 2020. It provides its audience with intersectional cultural analysis on topics including entertainment, celebrity, politics, technology, fashion, food and internet culture—and situates those pop culture happenings in a greater context that includes issues of race, gender, ability, class, sexuality, etc.
Friday’s mission is to use entertainment journalism to spark conversations about deeper issues and provide racialized and otherwise ‘marginalized’ readers with content that centres them. Our goal is to evolve into a full-fledged media brand that can give equity-seeking groups a place to share their own perspectives and insights.
WEBSITE
fridaythings.com
STACY LEE KONG Founder and Editor
Stacy Lee Kong is a writer, editor and the founder of Friday Things, a weekly newsletter that delivers smart takes on the week’s biggest pop culture stories — or at least, the ones she can’t stop thinking about. Her bylines have appeared in publications including Maclean’s, the Globe & Mail, Reader’s Digest and enRoute. She has worked at some of the largest magazine brands in Canada, including Flare, Canadian Living, House & Home and Chatelaine. She’s also an instructor at Centennial College in Toronto.
HiBnb is a Canadian cannabis hospitality service dedicated to helping the cannabis community explore, experience and share what they love by facilitating Canada-based accommodations and tourism experiences that include cannabis.
WEBSITE hibnb.ca
ELIZABETH BECKER Founder
Elizabeth has worked in Cannabis since 2017, dabbling in payment processing, insurance, and for a legacy entrepreneur as Head of Business Development. Over the past year and a half she has researched and developed her way to engagement in the Canna- Tourism sector, within a network of cannabis professionals, ensuring the emergence of a fully compliant and robust player on the Canadian Cannabis landscape.
Before working in Cannabis, Elizabeth enjoyed a rich career in writing and directing film and television. Elizabeth’s Master’s thesis at the American Film Institute addressed the absurdity of the illegality of marijuana at a time when few people were discussing the topic. After engaging in film production in LA, Vancouver and Toronto, finally landing as a writer/director in kids TV, Elizabeth is now a cannabis advocate and a passionate entrepreneur developing a platform that will galvanize a global community.
When a cannabis enthusiast saw a gap in a modern day gold rush marketplace, she seized the opportunity.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIAPeeps is an independent magazine that shares stories that put context before events. We work with social science researchers, primarily ethnographers, from around the world to develop their peer-reviewed findings into narratively engaging stories, pairing their writing with world-class photojournalism and design. Our editorial and design team, comprised of cultural analysts and designers driven by cultural theory, assure that the same rigor applied to the production of the original research is upheld through translation to a popular readership and through design. The result is a deeper dive into the whys of the whats that you read about every day in an information resource that is accountable, ethically produced, and verified (and a damn fine read!).
WEBSITE
peepsmagazine.caSOCIAL LINKS
ANYA-MILANA SULAVER Publisher, Executive Editor
Anya-Milana’s professional experience spans three decades and includes substantial work as a documentary broadcast producer and filmmaker where she was responsible for cultivating partnerships and securing financing for multiple nationally broadcast television series. Peeps is the culmination of AnyaMilana’s professional and academic work, allowing her to bring advanced cultural theory into practice to share ethically produced, engaging stories about people and culture around the world. She is an innovative, seasoned production executive whose passion for information integrity and culture have driven her career.
Springbay Studio is an award-winning educational game development company based in Toronto Canada. So far we’ve created three video games and received 9 awards from prestigious organizations, including the Best app for teaching and learning from the American Association of School Librarians. Our gameiBiome-Ocean was recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme as one of the world-class games in its research. Our mission is to nurture an eco-focused mindset through gaming. We are proud to be the only one in Canada that focuses exclusively on environmental challenges.
WEBSITE
springbaystudio.comSOCIAL LINKS
JANE JI Founder
Jane Ji is an award-winning game designer and producer. In tandem with her team, she created the award-winning kids mobile game series iBiome. As a co-founder of Springbay Studio, Jane created the iBiome series in 2014 to educate children and create a generation that cares about conservation and climate change. Her first game in the iBiome series, iBiome-Wetland, produced many notable awards, including Best STEM app 2015 from the American Association of School Librarians. Her second game in the series, iBiome-Ocean, has been featured by Apple’s iTunes Store worldwide a few times, and has been recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme. In her newest game, iBiome-Changing Ice, Jane invites kids to play with climate change scenarios, setup their goals to reduce their eco-footprint, and use AR technologies to track their sustainable real life choices.
LIISBETH MEDIAHow a game designer creates games to nurture and promote eco-activism.FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY
Meet three indie media mavericks who are challenging the patriarchal definition of journalism in Canada.
The Green Line is a new local outlet that investigates the way we live to produce journalism that helps young Torontonians survive and thrive in a rapidly changing city. It’s a resource that helps gen Zs and millennials take action on issues that matter to them and their communities.
By investigating the way we live, The Green Line gets to the root of the issues that impact Torontonians the most. We collaborate with journalists and creators from the communities we serve to report on local solutions that target the sources — not the symptoms — of the biggest problems facing our city.
Toronto has a layered history and lots of collective knowledge; that’s why we meet locals in the digital and physical spaces they already inhabit to surface stories that actually matter to them. Our goal? To redefine the city’s identity by centring the people and places that are the driving force behind Toronto’s culture and sense of community.
Through humor and how-to journalism, we encourage locals to invest in Toronto’s future by breaking down complex stories in a relatable way. Through in-depth reporting, we equip Torontonians to take action on the issues they learn about in The Green Line.
WEBSITE thegreenline.to
ANITA LI Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Anita Li is a longtime journalist, news entrepreneur, media consultant and educator. Currently, she is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Green Line, a local Toronto-based news outlet.
Anita has a decade of full-time experience as a multi-platform journalist in three markets: Toronto, New York City and Ottawa. She started her career as a reporter and editor at Canadian legacy publications, including The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and CBC. After that, she worked in strategic, managementlevel roles at American digital media outlets, such as Complex, Fusion and Mashable. Most recently, Anita was director of communities at The Discourse, a publication that fills in gaps in news coverage for underserved communities. As a writer and reporter, she has been published in New York Magazine, Poynter, Policy Options and other publications across North America.
Anita is an expert in community-driven journalism, audience engagement, journalism entrepreneurship, consumer revenue business models, newsroom diversity, media ethics and journalism innovation; she’s spoken on these topics in press interviews and at conferences worldwide. Anita is a member of the 2020-21 Online News Association board of directors, as well as an alum of the inaugural 2016 Poynter-NABJ Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media. She also co-founded Canadian Journalists of Colour, a rapidly growing network of radicalized media-makers in Canada, in 2018.
Monetize your expertise.
Boost your revenue and earn passive income with our done-for-you course creation and funnel building services.
Ops Collective helps creatives and service providers create profitable online courses in less than 30 days. We are your shortcut to creating a revenue stream with the knowledge you already have. Add a new revenue stream to your business with ease. Let our team of educators, graphic designers, copywriters, and tech experts do the heavy lifting. All you need is your knowledge. We’ll do the rest.
theopscollective.com
NANA MOORE Director
CPA turned Launch Consultant, Nana Moore has helped trailblazing entrepreneurs grow thriving online businesses with automated marketing funnels, launches, courses, and automated systems. She’s spent over a decade managing millions of dollars for large world renowned corporations and leading high performance teams. Her diverse experience in corporate leadership roles and the digital marketing online space provides her with a unique vantage point of understanding the implications of marketing and operational activities across one’s entire organization. As a self-proclaimed tech nerd she can be found creating winning launches and courses at theopscollective.com.
For Moore, keeping overheads down by designing and implementing a frictionless, flow-based business model and finding clients are critical factors for a successful business.
ADANI PICTURES
Jessica Adams
Rua Wani
CANOPY KIDS
Nyla Obaid
CHANGE CREATES CHANGE
Jillian Walsh
GIFTING SENSE
Karen Holland
LUCKY ONE PROJECTS
Cassandra Rudolph
MOXIE PRODUCTIONS
Bonnie Anderson
REALITY REALNESSS
Chantele Francis
WINDOW DREAMS PRODUCTIONS
Rabiya Mansoor
Shreya Patel
Adani Pictures is a Toronto-based TV and digital production company, helmed by producers Jessica Adams and Rua Wani. Adani has an active development slate, having won funding from the highly selective Bell Fund (Slate Development Program) as well as Ontario Creates’ Interactive Digital Media Fund. As a proud women- and immigrant-led company, Adani Pictures’ mandate is to tell progressive stories that capture the zeitgeist, and reflect perspectives from underrepresented voices and communities. WEBSITE adanipictures.com
Jessica Adams’ global footprint and vision imparted in the work she produces comes innately from having spent her life around the world. Born in Luxemburg, she is a UK, French and Canadian citizen; and currently resides in Toronto. Jessica brings her vast knowledge, experience, and insight from the feature film space to Adani Pictures. Through her company JA Productions, she has presided over both domestic productions and complicated international coproductions. Her films have premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, had representation by Memento, UTA, and Elevation; sold to Showtime and Hulu; and starred talent such as Richard Dreyfuss and Felicity Huffman. She has been nominated as one of 5 Canadian Producers to Watch at Cannes 2018; one of the top 25 producers in the 2018 Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices cohort; and one of 5 Established Producers for the competitive CMPA IndieScreen Awards at TIFF 2019. Her Producing credits include feature films The Space Between, Astronaut, Tammy’s Always Dying, Ariel, and Something You Said Last Night.
RUA WANI ProducerCo-founder Rua Wani is a former TV development executive who has worked on celebrated Canadian scripted series such as Orphan Black (BBC America, CTV Sci-Fi), The Next Step (CBBC, CBC Gem), Killjoys (Syfy, CTV Sci-Fi), X Company (CBC), and Cavendish (CBC). She has assessed and polished TV scripts by top screenwriters, and strategized partnerships between projects, creative teams and broadcasters in Canada, the US, and the UK. Having extensive experience working with writers, directors, agents, broadcasters and distributors in Canada and internationally, she has a keen eye and deep understanding of the creative content and partnerships required to bring projects to fruition. Rua has been selected to the 2022 cohorts of the National Screen Institute’s On Demand Access Program, a producer lab focused on Canada-Europe co-production; BIPOC producer lab Reelworld Producer Program; and BANFF Spark, an accelerator program for women media entrepreneurs. Rua is the founder of a scholarship for emerging BIPOC creatives, a frequent film festival juror, and speaker at industry panels and events. She is also a part-time Professor at Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelors of Film and Television program.
Canopy Kids is a secondhand ship, as well as a collection of services and subscriptions to help your family thrive.
All the things we do - we do with love: Love for your families, our communities, and most importantly, the world we live in.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
canopykidsworld.com
NYLA OBAID Founder
Nyla Obaid is the founder and owner of Canopy Kids, as well as a proud mom to three young kids. After a decade-long career in marketing, including the last five years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Nyla decided to pursue full-time entrepreneurship in 2021. She also teaches marketing courses at George Brown College and Humber College. In her (very limited) free time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, trying new beers, and slow travelling.
Thrifting does more than keep you in style and save you money – it also builds community.
WEBSITE
Jillian Walsh, RD, RP(Qualifying) is the founder and Team Lead at Change Creates Change. She is a Family-Centred Eating Disorder Specialist who helps parents and carers to stop spinning out and start digging into eating disorder recovery with their child. She specializes in working with families who have a child living with an eating disorder - who want to support their child in eating disorder recovery without burning out.
Change Creates Change Eating Disorder Care is a women-run private practice that provides specialized eating disorder care to children and youth living with an eating disorder, as well as their families.
WEBSITE changecreateschange.com
SOCIAL LINKS
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
Gifting Sense helps children get ready for all the personal finance decisions that lie in their future, by teaching them how to think before they buy. Our workshops and tools allow children to experience first-hand that thinking before buying is a powerful and rewarding, not boring, life skill.
Personal finances are no different than team sports, to “win” you have to be both offensive (earn) and defensive (spend wisely). We teach kids how to practice strong financial defence. And when children learn how not to waste money, families experience increased harmony, improved financial well-being, and the knowledge that they are helping protect the planet. It’s a win-winwin.
So let’s give today’s youth what has to be one of the best gifts ever: the habit of thinking before buying. We’ve made it easy and fun to do just that!
giftingsense.org KAREN HOLLAND Founder
Karen Holland is the Founder of Gifting Sense; a Social Entrepreneur who believes thinking before buying is the cornerstone of financial literacy. She believes we can create a future where none of today’s school-aged children will ever lament they were never taught about money.
She has a Masters Degree in Economic History from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario.
She worked as an Analyst (in Human Resources, Sovereign Risk, Financial Institutions, and Corporate Treasury) for the Royal Bank of Canada before having a family. She has been working on the Gifting Sense Project since 2015.
WEBSITELucky One Projects is a production and editing company that works with brands, artists, influencers and creative entrepreneurs to make better video content, faster from anywhere in the world. We believe in democratising the filmmaking process and putting more women and marginalised bodies in front and behind the camera.
SOCIAL LINKS
A people-first and feminist-led business, Lucky Ones – a media production company – strives to move away from traditional patriarchal and hyper-capitalist structures and instead lead with care and transparency.
CASSANDRA RUDOLPH Founder
Cassandra Rudolph is a director, editor, and photographer, focused on telling stories through colourful, emotional and cinematic photography and video. Twelve years into her creative career and she finds herself turning towards community building and visibility activism. In addition to her creative work, she founded [Working Title], a grassroots collective of Toronto photographers and filmmakers who collaborate on creative projects and work to improve the visibility of marginalised genders and bodies.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIAMoxie Productions is a full service video production company operating in Toronto offering expertise to turn ideas into reality. We provide the tools and services to produce eye-catching, and professional content that captures audiences. With the combination of a seasoned team and high-level production methods, we take a project from conception through to post-production in a fun, creative and efficient manner.
WEBSITE
moxieproductions.ca
SOCIAL LINKS
Bonnie Anderson is the founder of Moxie Productions, a full service video production company located in Toronto. Since founding the company Bonnie has produced, directed and edited over 200 projects for clients ranging from city of Toronto, UHN Hospitals, to Canadian music artists. Bonnie has also produced/directed/ edited 3 web series and 5 short films, which have showcased in film festivals in Canada, the United States and Europe. Bonnie has also produced award winning stage plays, the last one being Judas Star Supersong at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2018.
Bonnie began her artistic career as a theatrical lighting designer. She worked for such companies as Theatre Passe Muraille and the Shaw Festival. After many years behind the scenes, she ventured onto the stage as an actor, where she has appeared on stage, film and TV. Bonnie has been studying improv for the past ten years. The tenets of improv have helped her tremendously in her work as a creator. Bonnie is one of three co-hosts and creators of the online talk show SNAK.
The Waitress, one of many feature scripts Bonnie has written, was hatched while Bonnie was working in a very busy restaurant and wished she had a gun. The Waitress went on to win the Toronto International’s first PITCH THIS! Contest.
Bonnie is an ACTRA member and lives in Toronto with her bass playing husband.
BONNIE ANDERSON Founder
Reality Realnesss is a digital broadcast network streaming from Youtube, Twitch, and Facebook, dedicated to providing live, and on-demand episode recap shows, for reality television programming. Each recap is an opportunity to have nuanced conversations, as we look at human behaviour through the lens of reality television.
CHANTELE FRANCIS Founder
Chantele Francis Owner and Lead Host of Reality Realnesss. Chantele has a lot of experience under her belt, in a variety of education that supports her fascination with Human Beings, and how they behave in the world. She is a working Actor. A Certified Hypnotherapist, & Intuitive Life Coach, who also reads Tarot Cards, and Astrology Birth Charts. She also considers herself to be a Reality TV Junkie, and is considered to be a “go to” expert for many Reality TV shows. Chantele is fascinated with how Reality TV is a microcosm for society, and how it offers a springboard for important conversations.
Window Dreams Productions is an awardwinning production house that specializes in impact production that is ready for the global market.
We shed light on underrepresented stories that break the mold and go beyond what has been traditionally seen on screen.
WEBSITE windowdreams.ca
SOCIAL LINKS
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
The Lisa LaFlamme story showed us patriarchy is still erecting barricades for women. Is going indie the answer?
Rabiya Mansoor, co-CEO (she/they), is a Pakistani-Calgarian comedian, writer, actor, producer, and recovering lawyer. She’s helped develop shows at CBC Gem, 9 Story, Big Bad Boo, and more. She’s a writer for WildBrain’s Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, Shaftsbury Kid’s POV:Me, her own web series Sexcapades (Adani Pictures), and she has story coordinated for the upcoming Du Me a Favor (Crave/New Metric Media). She is also a teaching assistant for the 2022 BIPOC TV and FIlm Kids TV Intensive, which she graduated from in 2020. Her proudest accomplishment is that she has helped secure over half a million in financing since 2020.
Her sketch comedy troupe, the Don Valley Girls have their upcoming first sketch revue as part of Why Not Theatre’s RISER Toronto 2022 Festival and she is an alumnus of Second City’s Bob Curry Fellowship for emerging, diverse comedic voices. If you got this far, her bank password is Yugioh!.
SHREYA PATEL Co-FounderShreya Patel, founder, co-CEO (she/her), is a model turned actress, filmmaker, writer, and a mental health advocate. She’s the graduate of the Second CIty Conservatory. She’s the leading actress in Strangers In A Room, Vivid, and The Intersection that explores themes of mental health. Her debut documentary, ‘Girl Up’, about domestic human trafficking was partnered with Toronto International Film Festival and the Civic Action Summit. During this pandemic, she has gathered 66 countries on 6 continents and made a documentary called Unity showcasing the plight of the human spirit. Her music video directorial debut, Freedom Dance has over 1.2 million views on YouTube. Rolling Stone India reported about it. She is an honoree of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women of Canada, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, Women’s Achiever Award for Youth Leadership.
CURATE CONCIERGE
Jenn Hazel
PERSPECTIVE SQUARED
Melanie Grad
Ruth Wylie
POLLINATE NETWORKS
Christy Pettit
TRUE2SOUL NETWORK
Keda Edwards Pierre
UNTANGLE MONEY
Kristine Beese
Curate Concierge is a boutique support firm for socially minded entrepreneurs. Founded by Jenn Hazel back in 2015, the company started out as an interim solution to the very real needs of life as a single parent. Over time, it grew into an incredible network of owners and professionals that are building a whole business community together.
Curate Concierge helps socially minded entrepreneurs build usable, scalable systems and match them with flexible pros for realistic, sustainable scaling and growth.
With their foundational planning services, systems & operations builds, they help owners find custom solutions for their business growth.Their network of professional freelancers are on hand to implement plans, provide specialty skills and flexible work.
Jenn Hazel is the owner and founder of Curate Concierge. She started in business back in 2015 when she was looking for an interim solution and a way to support her daughter while finishing school and switching careers. Soon, the temporary gig turned into a vibrant client list, and her business was accidentally born.
Today, Jenn has a business that allows her to balance her life and live bigger. As an advocate at heart, she helps amazing women build businesses that positively impact their lives and communities, and it doesn’t get much better than that.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIAMore than 745,000 people died in 2021 from overwork that resulted in stroke and heart disease, according to the WHO. Jenn Hazel has apps for that–and more.
Perspective Squared Digital is a video production company with a focus on content strategy and storytelling. From discovery to the final deliverable, we offer strategic planning and direction, script writing, project management, and full production services.
As digital content marketing specialists, we develop and produce impactful videos for all sectors and platforms. Our services include live filming, editorial, 2D motion graphics, and 3D animations for any screen size.
We pride ourselves on the details. We listen, collaborate, and create meaningful content to connect brands with their audience. We travel the world helping our clients tell stories and uniting people with different perspectives.
WEBSITE theperspectivesquared.com
Melanie Grad and Ruth Wylie bring empathy and flexibility to Perspective
Squared through their approach to strategy, creative, and production.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA
As the head of the creative and production team Ruth collaborates with an amazing team of thinkers, creators, relationship builders and can-doers, in partnership with our clients, solving their business challenges.
It’s her mission to capture the spark that drives our clients and excites them most about what they’re doing, and then translates that into content that connects with audiences and helps their brand stand out. Anticipating what stakeholders may need early on Ruth marshals the necessary resources to ensure the success of all projects.
Ruth has worked extensively in the production world with video, live events, and social media experience. Her client experience ranges from large to small in size of organizations and across corporate and non-profit sectors, as well as broadcast production.
MELANIE GRAD Co-Founder & Chief StrategistMelanie leads our strategy development team with a passion for helping clients discover the best creative and targeted narratives for their communications goals. She helps our team to offer innovative solutions and craft the best messaging for productions. For over 20 years Melanie has been writing, producing and directing productions that have aired on TV, in movie theatres, at events, on social media, and global marketing campaigns. With her roots in journalism, Melanie brings a unique and authentic voice when helping clients tell their story. Her diverse writing background and production experience in English and French ensure that all business objectives are met, key messaging is hit, and the target audience is engaged.
Ruth Wylie (left) and Melanie Grad (right).Pollinate gets people together to get important things done. Our cross-pollinate.ai technology is an empathetic and flexible system for matching pairs and groups for mentoring and collaboration. Our matching predicts success! It is housed in a supportive, fully accessible platform.
CHRISTY PETTIT Founder
For 25 years, Christy has provided innovative leadership, expert advice and successful implementation of effectiveness best practices in companies worldwide. She consistently creates strategies that make a lasting difference within businesses, often doubling the value of their internal resources. An original thinker, Christy’s career has involved supporting billion-dollar clients through transformation, mentorship and leading initiatives to increase employee engagement and success while decreasing overall costs.
Christy started her career as an organizational development consultant at a large hospital group in 1994. She was an Executive Vice President responsible for the consulting and measurement division at global training and development organization Eagle’s Flight for more than a decade, before co-founding ODScore in 2008. She relaunched ODScore in 2019 as Pollinate Networks Inc., a cloud-based organizational effectiveness platform for enterprise transformation and growth.
Mentorship sounds great, but often misses the mark. Why?
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH MEDIA WEBSITE pollinate.netA career in policing for a Black woman leads to liberation— and a new business.
True2Soul is the all-in-one online space to find - or be found fortransformative healing, meaningful connection, impactful learning and holistic development.
True2Soul brings together a diverse and curated network of wellness professionals and the communities they serve. We provide our Community with a safe and inclusive space for advocacy, wellness professionals, meaningful connections, a social platform, workshops & support. We deliver to our Professionals a burgeoning community, business support, professional development, teaching & speaking opportunities, career transition guidance & an online marketplace. We focus on Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Mental Wellness & Trauma Recovery Support (which includes Racial Trauma) and Resiliency Development.
WEBSITE
true2soul.com
KEDA EDWARDS PIERRE Co-Founder & Executive Producer
Keda is a multi-passionate socialpreneur and founder of True2Soul Network. Inspired by her experiences of living, learning, working and socialising in unsafe, inequitable and oppressive spaces, Keda developed True2Soul as an inclusive online sanctuary for transformative healing, conscious business, accessible education and meaningful connection. True2Soul is the culmination of Keda’s healing journey, her diverse professional history and training, and her 30-year history of service that ranges from shelters to executive roles in board governance. She’s built the community and professional network on the pillars of Social Consciousness, Passion, Integrity, Authenticity, Quality of Service and Product, Solid Reputation and the Concept of Enough. Believing that transformation requires community, robust engagement, a willingness to speak the truth and act in the face of inequity and adversity, Keda weaves the themes of Connection, Healing and Resiliency throughout True2Soul and all of her endeavours - with a reminder to: “Be True to You”.
FIFTH WAVE COMPANY PROFILE SERIES POWERED BY LIISBETH
Untangle Money is the place where women gain the confidence and clarity they need to start investing. Personal finance is women’s #1 source of stress and Untangle Money reduces women’s financial anxiety by 30% on average.
The Untangle Money MINI Money Plan is a budgeting tool linked with a retirement calculator that explains cash flow, investments, and key financial concepts (rate of return, cost of living, inflation) and how they impact you. We use real words, streamlined and simplified approaches, and we provide the right amount of insight. Set the foundations to develop a completely new relationship with your own money.
As the CEO of Untangle Money Kristine helps women understand what they can afford, and that they will be okay financially. She is a passionate feminist and believes that a key pillar of gender diversity lies in the realm of money and the power it holds. She aims to revolutionize the conversation around women and wealth, by removing the stigma that women shouldn’t talk about money.
Kristine has international experience working in the engineering, capital markets, and wealth management industries. Within capital markets she has worked in equity (equity research), debt (fixed income, rates, repo), and funding positions in both Canada and the UK.
Kristine holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business and an Engineering Physics degree from Queen’s University and a Professional Engineer designation. She represented Western Canada at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in the Senior Pairs category. She is also a member of Mensa.
WEBSITE untangle.money
You can be an entrepreneur committed to fairness and equity while running a successful for-profit business. Building a successful business doesn’t require you to oppress peopleor clients, customers, community, the environment - in the process.
NATALY DE MONTE Former Director, CFC Media Lab
ACUVISE CONSULTANCY
Aska Patel
acuvise.ca
ARTDOG STUDIO
Lucy Drumonde
artdogstudio.ca
ALTERNATIVE FOOD NETWORK
Esther Garfin
alternativefoodnetwork.com
ATLAS STUDIO
Denise Davis-Gains
atlasstudio.com
BIG BANG BEIGE
Arti Kaushal, Lizzie Short
bigbangbeige.com
CERES PRODUCTIONS
Rebecca Davey ceresproductions.ca
CULTURE CREATES
Caitlin Troughton
Tammy Lee
culturecreates.com
DIVA FILM PRODUCTIONS
Natasha Vassell
divafilmproductions.com
CLEARLY BLONDE PRODUCTIONS
Anne Marie Scheffler
annemariescheffler.com
DEFAR MEDIA Lu Asfaha
defar.media
ED FILMS
Archita Ghosh
edfilms.net
HOP TO IT PRODUCTIONS
Susan Black Nation
hoptoitproductions.com
IDEA CENTRAL Jill Rosenberg
ideacentral.ca
DESIGN OFF THE BOAT
Sisa Lleses
designofftheboat.com
CROSSFIELD HOUSE PRODUCTIONS
Sheronna Osbourne
Tisha Reid
crossfieldhouseproductions.com
EATSLEEPRIDE
Marina Mann
eatsleepride.com
DIGITAL 55 Lauralee Sheehan
digital55studios.com
INEFFABLE VIEWS
Daniela Amoafo-Danquah
Monica Amoafo-Danquah
ineffableviews.com
FOODPRENEUR LAB
Janice Bartley
foodpreneurlab.com
KANNON FILMS
Emilie Martel
kannonfilms.com
KIDDIENOMICS
Stacy Brown
kiddienomics.com
KAREN NG-HEM INC.
Karen Ng-Hem knghem.com
LIGHT THE GIRL PRODUCTIONS
Carin Moffat
Linda A. Palmieri lightthegirl.com
MEGHAN WARBY PRODUCTIONS
Meghan Warby meghanwarby.com
NEEDSLIST
Natasha Freidus needslist.co
LIGHTOUCH
Beatriz Zanatelli lightouch.ca
MESSAGE PRODUCTIONS
Dena Pitter
NOTEBOOK PRODUCTIONS
Claire Ross Dunn clairerossdunn.com
LAUGHING CAT PRODUCTIONS
Emily Schooley
laughingcatproductions.ca
LUXSOS
Lorena Leon luxsos.ca
MY DIGITAL KITCHEN
Valerie Azinge
mydigitalkitchen.ca
MACKINLAY MEDIA
Lauren MacKinlay
mackinlaymedia.com
MY WELL SELF
Brenda Ahenkorah
mywellself.ca
NOYADESIGNS
Christina Gwira
noyadesigns.com
OBVIOUS ALLEGORY
Maddy Falle
obviousallegory.com
KATE COLLINS Products with Purpose Inc.
ANNE MARIE MADURI Maduri & Associates
IRENE MUKASA Autodesk Technology Centers
DEEPTA RAYNER AnalytiCX
MAUREEN DOOLUB Arcane - Account
MONA MINHAS Morisee Ventures
SUZANNE STEIN OCAD University VALERIE FOX The Pivotal Point
DOOLUB Services
FRANCES SCHAGEN Business Owners Success Club
ANA SERRANO OCAD University
WARREN COUGHLIN Jumpstart Promotions Inc.
CAROLINE MANGOSING VINTA Gallery
ALEX BROWN Ramsay Inc.
NICK DEMARTINO Nick DeMartino Consulting
SHANNON PESTUN Pestun Consulting Inc.
CV HARQUAIL FeministsAtWork
NATALY DE MONTE Former Director, CFC Media Lab
EDNA SIMMONS Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Independent Consultant
NEELAM AZMAT Grand Challenges Canada
EMILY PASCUAL Program Co-Designer & Facilitator, Fifth Wave Labs
CHLOE TSE The Feminism Project
ORLA GARRIQUES Inner City Films
AARON WILLIAMSON Program Co-Designer, Founder & CEO, Goal17 Inc.
NGARDY CONTEH GEORGE
Oya Media
ALISON DUKE
Oya Media
SAMAH ALI Sisterhood Media
PETRA KASSUN-MUTCH LiisBeth Media
Fifth Wave Profile: Petra Kassun-Mut ch
CATHERINE CHAN FitIn
CASSANDRA RUDOLPH Lucky One Projects
For the startup world, the notion of a feminist accelerator is a new one. New, but long overdue. Especially given how much the world has changed in the past 10 years.
Successful enterprises today are forward-thinking. They operate and develop products and services in a way that centres justice, humanity, equity, diversity, inclusivity, and feminist leadership practices. They leverage a gender lens to develop products and services to increase market potential and sales. Today’s profitable, resilient enterprises have moved past the ‘Hero’s Journey’ approach to entrepreneurship. Instead, they take up an ecosystem-based and relational approach to business development and sustainability.
And yet, despite the aforementioned list of changes, the world has, in other ways, not changed. Research continues to show that women, especially BIPOC, and 2SLGBTQIA women founders face cultural bias and additional systemic barriers when it comes to raising growth and network capital, especially in technology-related fields.
The Fifth Wave Initiative set out to create a feminist theoryinformed space and program to help founders create next gen, fair profit, successful enterprises. It also provided opportunities for founders to explore, design and implement ways of leading, growing, working, operating and communicating with their customers that are rooted in anti-oppression. Over the past two hundred years, feminism has advanced and improved the rights and lives of diverse women and other gender marginalized folks. Feminism is not just trying to advocate for female participation, but modelling the way forward for the next generation of product/ service design and enterprise operating practices for all genders. Business is not just about profits - it’s about participating in the creation of a better world in which all beings, including the planet, can flourish.
Our work has advanced the development and refinement of accountable, supportive and generative spaces for diverse cohorts of women entrepreneurs. By radically shifting the bar and definition of success, the Fifth Wave Initiative has created a unique venture creation and growth support practice through ongoing reflection, learning and insights.
In Fifth Wave Labs, we emphasized the concept of intersectionality, and promoted equity and fairness, as well as broadened the definition of value creation - to go beyond pure economic considerations. Today’s enterprises need to create value for the community and the planet.
Fifth Wave’s ongoing impact will be felt in how this exceptional community of women founders chooses to employ and spread these new insights through their enterprises.
Through our self-reflective journey and collective research, our focus is not only on correcting inequities in feminist business support and practice, but also on modelling a way forward that leads to more inclusive and ethical business practices, both in Canadian digital media and beyond.
“We are very proud of the Fifth Wave Initiative’s legacy as Canada’s first intersectional feminist business accelerator. Ultimately, the program is responsible for the creation of a larger, more sustainable and more robust entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in Canada’s digital media industry.”
MAXINE BAILEY Executive Director, Canadian Film Centre
