Resume

Various Companies

Angel Investor

Various Locations, March 2020 – Present

• Receive weekly dealflow, with 3 portfolio companies at unicorn status (e.g., Loom) and 1 achieving successful acquisition within
  24 months.
• Scout for 10+ funds, including SHL Capital, and provide advice for ~20 entrepreneurs through the Founder Institute by attending
  their business calls, listening to pitches and planning, and offering appropriate feedback.
• Mentors 5+ entrepreneurs from all levels of success on a consistent basis through providing analysis and coaching throughout
  multiple stages of their projects.
• Grew a deep track record of success, investing with top VC firms like Founders Fund, 8VC, Softbank, SV Angel and others
  through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

MakerKids

Makerspace Coordinator | Co-Executive Director | Co-President | CEO

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2013 – August 2023

• Championed the growth of MakerKids Inc, an edtech company offering coding, robotics, and Minecraft classes internationally,
  from its early days to a 5200%+ increase in revenue and recognition from major media outlets such as Forbes, Fox, and NBC.
• Raised $550K+ in venture capital from investors and secured clients such as Twitter by organizing outreach on company pitches,
  sharing deck developed in-house, and establishing partnerships with brands such as Intel and Mozilla. Sold company.
• Oversaw strategy, marketing, sales, HR, finance, and operations, leading teams of up to 20 professionals and improving team
  efficiency by 20% to deliver projects faster and with higher customer satisfaction.
• Managed the product development of a new registration software and worked with a team of engineers & designers to achieve a
  500% increase in leads.
• Designed and implemented a cloud-based website structure to resolve issues, improving customer experience and satisfaction by
  30%, reducing manual work by 50%, and boosting overall sales by 20%.

National Speakers’ Bureau

Public Speaker

Various Locations, May 2011 – Present

• Accepted representation from the National Speakers’ Bureau, taking keynote speaking engagements at MakerCon Europe,
  Humber Convocation, and more.
• Participated in a panel with Peter Thiel and addressed audiences at TEDx, Maker Faire Bay Area, SXSWEdu, and Cultivating
  Women Leaders Forum.

Forbes, MAKE Magazine, Venturebeat, etc.

Writer

Various Locations (Remote), January 2000 – Present

• Published articles in Forbes, MAKE Magazine, and Venturebeat, among others, with one Forbes article receiving 1M+ views and
  featuring in Forbes’ Most Read and Top Trending Stories, LinkedIn Today, and New York newspapers.
• Self-published 5+ books, gained representation from a literary agent, and secured a deal with a major publisher (Dundurn Press).
• Wrote a 10-minute play, a full-length musical, and a virtual mini-musical that were featured in the InspiraTO Festival, the
  Toronto Fringe Festival, and the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Koru Labs, Inc.

Founder/CEO

San Francisco, CA, May 2011 – May 2013

• Founded Koru Labs and successfully obtained a spot in Startup Chile, an incubator program to stimulate entrepreneurship in
  Chile, and was featured in a Harvard Business School case for outstanding performance.
• Initiated multiple projects such as Founder2Founder (an incubator program), Python classes, Getkoru.com (a skill-trading
  platform), Needmapper (an SMS-based disaster recovery tool), and marketing consulting for tech companies such as Atmel.
• Provided specialized career coaching and assisted 5+ clients in securing jobs at major companies such as Google.

Procter & Gamble

Assistant Brand Manager (Tide)

Ontario, Canada, September 2010 – May 2011

• Directed commercial efforts for P&G’s largest brand, Tide, managing diverse, multi-functional agencies, executing business
  models and marketing strategies in a $10M budget, and raising household penetration by 1.7 points after 10 years of decline.
• Piloted the biggest launch in 25+ years for P&G Canada, delivering 80%+ market share in the unit dose segment and exceeding
  US results by double digits.
• Spearheaded the digital strategy for all Fabric Care brands, resulting in 240%+ increase in Tide CA Facebook fans, and was
  selected by senior leadership to lead a task force aimed at enhancing creativity in the organization.

Shopper Marketing Intern (Loblaws Team)

May 2008 – August 2008

• Created a custom tool to measure ROI of shopper marketing programs for P&G retail partners.

Queen’s University, Department of Marketing & Communications

Marketing Assistant | Special Projects Assistant

Kingston, Ontario, Canada, May 2007 – January 2009

• Contributed to the creation of a Marketing Process document to improve client understanding and engagement.
• Acted as a project manager for the university’s in-house advertising agency, assisting in producing marketing material by acting as
  a liaison between designers and on-campus departments.
• Contributed to the success of projects through managing tasks such as copywriting, editing, design, desktop publishing,
  photoshoots, and research, as well as developing social media strategies for use by the university.

EDUCATION AND VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

Volunteering

• Serves on the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) Professional Advisory Committee, advising on the future of
  education with senior leaders from Microsoft and Pearson Education. (January 2018 to Present)
• Sat as a Board Member for the Geneva Centre for Autism (Nov 2020 – April 2021, Toronto) & Entrepreneurs’ Organization
  Accelerator Toronto (January 2016 to January 2017)

NASA Ames Research Park

Mountain View, CA, August 2012

Singularity University Global Studies Program

A program created by NASA and Google founders, featuring renowned faculty such as Vinod Khosla and Jean-Michel Cousteau

• Selected from 3000 applicants as 1 of 80 students to participate in the program, which focuses on using cutting-edge technologies
  to address global challenges such as poverty, water cleanliness, and global education.
• Earned a scholarship for $20k+ and won an Android app challenge, receiving $2k.

Self-Education Programs

Silicon Valley, CA, December 2011

Shadow, Interviewer, and Self-Starter

• Chosen as 1 of the top 6 finalists from hundreds of applicants to shadow angel investor/founder of 500 Startups.
• Built a self-education program involving learning at 5+ companies (Kiva, Causes, Ashoka, Stanford d.school, Launchrock, Dojo).
• Orchestrated interviews with the founders of Airbnb, Square, Getaround, and other companies and investors for career advice and
  salient insight into the business world.

Queen’s University

Kingston, Ontario, April 2010

Bachelor of Commerce, 3.7 GPA, Graduated with Honors

Awards: D.I. McLeod Dean’s List Scholarship, Thomas Nugent Memorial Award, Case Awards, Academic Entrance Scholarship

Extracurricular Activities:

• Conducted independent research, co-wrote an article on marketing to millennials with marketing professor Ken Wong (member of
  the Marketing Hall of Fame), and presented findings at a research conference.
• Placed 2nd in Latin MOOT Corp Competition (international business plan competition in Brazil for MBA students) while an
  undergraduate student.
• Served as Co-Chair for Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, Canada’s largest international undergraduate business plan
  competition, establishing partnerships with Dragon’s Den & National Post and securing funding and judge approval.

PROFICIENCIES AND AWARDS

Technical:

Python, Flask, Django, JavaScript, Node, React, TypeScript, NextJS, HTML, CSS, Natural Language Processing,
Machine Learning and Deep Learning Algorithms in PyTorch, OpenAI/GPT3, Google Cloud Natural Language, Hugging Face
Transformers (and other NLP libraries), AWS, GitHub, Heroku, Git, Visual Studio Code, and Google Colab, Figma, Miro

Alumni Hall of Excellence

September 2022

Hillfield-Strathallan College

IEEE Toronto Outreach Award

November 2018

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Toronto

Honorary Degree

June 2016

Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning

Jury Captain

2015

for Core77 Design Awards, received Blue Ribbons at Maker Faires, completed Next Founders program

Bronze, Silver, and Gold-Level Awards

2004 and 2006

Duke of Edinburgh Organization (Gold presented by Prince Edward)