Few months ago, we had this idea of bringing the whole online tech community together to start the conversation around startups and technology we said, “What if we could….”? What if we could host an online conference that is not a week long and brings out the best of the best? We are pleased to bring this new format to help you accelerate your project or career. Growing your network is super challenge in this new Covid era and we hope to change this with our online event. In this edition of Smash Conference, we are bringing you some incredible speakers and moderators. Without further ado let’s check out the topics, speakers, and moderators
PR Strategies to Create a Real Buzz
This session is led by Christina MacDonald Sikand and moderated by Maryam Zaidi.
Speaker Bio: Christina MacDonald Sikand
Christina MacDonald Sikand is the Director of Public Relations at Remitr, the Toronto-based fintech for business payments. Previously she worked as the Head of Community at Toffee Insurance and in Public Relations at Transferwise. She’s based out of New York and is passionate about storytelling, building brands, and creating community.
Fun Fact:
Christina spent two and a half years in India.
Moderator Bio: Maryam Zaidi
Maryam is a UX Researcher at a product design firm, called You X, based in Toronto. Previously, she’s worked at Women’s College Hospital where she’s helped with research and design for their first patient-facing sexual health website. She loves writing, talking, and thinking about design systems; how they’re built, how they break, and the people that maintain them.
Fun Fact:
Maryam spent 5 years of her life based in Saskatchewan (and saw Ed Sheeran in Concert there!). Before her life in Canada, she was born and raised in England!
How to land a dream remote job
This session is led by Erica MacDonald and moderated by Linna Zhou.
Speaker Bio: Erica MacDonald
Erica MacDonald is the Talent Acquisition Manager at TWG – a digital consultancy based in Toronto. She has worked in various talent roles over the past 9 years including Toronto based recruitment agencies, Talent Acquisition Sourcing Partner (IT) at TD Bank, and in Talent & Growth Operations for a Toronto based startup in the travel tech industry. She’s an East Coaster who technically lives in Toronto, but is currently embracing remote work flexibility and literally working from home in Nova Scotia.
Fun Fact:
Her first job was on a lobster boat where she put the rubber bands on the lobster claws, she worked and traveled across Europe and Asia for 3 years, and is passionate about people and what makes them want to do the work they do. Disclaimer: she is not proficient in Excel, in spite of what some resumes have claimed.
Moderator Bio: Linna Zhou
Linna graduated from University of Waterloo with a degree in Bachelor of Science. She is very enthusiastic about data and integrating tech to turn it into meaningful insights to propagate better strategies. She is a lifelong learner and always excited about new technologies.
Connect Here:
Linkedin URL
What is the future of work?
This session is led by Mylene Tu and moderated by Gillian Wu.
Speaker Bio: Mylene Tu
Mylene Tu is a social entrepreneur who builds ventures with impact in mind. She is the CEO of Lumaki Labs, an EdTech startup that builds software to make work-integrated learning easier. Previously, she ran FEM in STEM a social enterprise to empower young women in STEM and has been recognized for her work as a Top 25 Woman of Influence and Woman of Inspiration. Outside of entrepreneurship, Mylene is a 3rd year Management engineering student at the University of Waterloo and loves all things product and design.
Fun fact:
Mylene was a former varsity track athlete for the University of Waterloo and still enjoys running on her free time.
Connect Here:
Website: https://www.lumakilabs.com
Moderator Bio: Gillian Wu
Gillian Wu is a UX Design Fellow at Code for Canada. She is currently working with the government to improve public participation tools for national energy projects. She is also helping facilitate digital transformation within the Canada Energy Regulator. In the past Gillian has worked in the enterprise, agency and startup space.
Fun fact:
Gillian has traveled to more than 12 countries (one being to the edge of the world in Argentina).
Connect Here:
Website: https://gillianwu.com/
Operating and Working Remotely in a Digital Default World
This session is led by Linsay Moran and moderated by Alvin Meledath.
Speaker Bio: Linsay Moran
Linsay Moran is the Co-Founder of Unwrapit, a gifting platform to help companies and event organizers create extraordinary gift experiences, virtually, without wasting resources on swag or other promotional goods. Previously she was the VP, Business Operations at Pliteq, an engineering company manufacturing high-performing products made from recycled car tires. She spent many years supporting Canada’s female leaders when she managed Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards. Linsay lives outside of Toronto, loves connecting with new people, and fostering great relationships among the teams she works with!
Fun Fact:
She lived in London (UK) for a few years.
Moderator Bio: Alvin Meledath
Alvin Meledath is a Client Success & Campaigns Lead with Bell Canada & Wonsulting. He has also completed 3 Master’s Degrees and is a huge advocate for learning and building relationships. He is also the Co-Founder of Customer Buds a community for students and early professionals who want to get into client-focused roles. Passionate about entrepreneurship Alvin has been involved with Foundersbeta, Enactus & StartUp fuel supporting the community of startups and creators.
Connect Here:
Linkedin URL
That is a wrap for our first series! Interested in getting involved with our community? Let us know here or become a member here.
About the Author
Eric is founder of FoundersBeta with a wealth of expertise in startups, building high-performing teams, and product development. He is a top ranked tennis player and always up for a conversation about startups. Connect with Eric here.