Welcome With Karim Kanji

Ian Chalmers is the Creative Director of Pivot Design Group and an avid collector of watches, mobile phones, wearables and a pre-historic hammer.

Steve Hulford has a dream of getting paid for traveling the world. And so far, he’s done a great job of fulfilling this dream. First as a competitive swimmer, then as a filmmaker, and now with Filemobile.

This past week I sat down again with Mark Farmer. For the second time. He was on the show back in Episode #2. In this episode we chat about all things social media. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Dan Demsky is a former intern and producer at Toronto’s CFRB 101 radio station. He is also the co-founder of two successful startups: Biz Media + Hitsu Socks. We both share a love of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

Laura Casselman is a Toronto-based PR professional. She is also involved in local and national politics. Currently, she is the NDP candidate in the federal riding of Scarborough Guildwood. During this conversation we discuss Laura’s entrance in local politics as well as her decision to run for office.

Mike Boon, aka Toronto Mike, joined Karim Kanji in studio for this latest episode of the podcast, Welcome! Mike is a podcaster, blogger and one of Toronto’s most unheralded boosters. We chatted about Mike’s 13+ years of blogging and his 3+ years of podcasting. And we also talked about all things Toronto!

Farid Kassam joins Karim Kanji in studio for this latest episode of the podcast, Welcome! Farid is an active mentor, advisor and angel investor in early stage technology companies. Presently, he spends his time in big data, healthcare and Blue Jays baseball. Many would also call him a rocket scientist.

Uncle Neil joins Welcome! host Karim Kanji in Girth Radio studios at Toronto’s Pacific Junction Hotel. Neil and Karim discuss Neil’s eclectic musical background including the time Neil met guitar legend, Jeff Healey.

Kevin Kennedy joins host Karim Kanji in studio on the latest episode of Welcome! Kevin is the creator of Tall Boys Craft Beer House in Toronto and Co-Founder of event marketing company SwingMan Live. He is also the creative brains behind Pitch Talks: A new Speaker Series for Baseball Lovers.

In early July I sat down with Gregg Tilston just as he was leaving Flight Centre as it’s global head of social media. Gregg is one of my favourite people and, as always, I had a great time chatting with him. Especially about his time as touring musician in Canada.

On today’s episode, Karim Kanji speaks with author and entrepreneur Hessie Jones. You can follow Hessie Jones on Twitter at @hessiejones You can follow me on Twitter at @karimkanji Among other things we talk about: -nude paintings -business school where Hessie majored in Business -One of her first jobs was with the Girls Guides of Canada -Her role in launching the first Air Miles Direct Mail program and Esso Extra loyalty program -How she started playing the cello to bond with daughter -Hessie was employee #20 (ish) with Yahoo! Canada -Launched Yahoo! Answers in Canada -What her former Yahoo boss said when Facebook came into Canada! -What was right (and wrong) with Jugnoo -Her new startup: ArCompany -her co-author Daniel Newman and Hessie write a new marketing book called Evolve! Marketing (as we know it) is Doomed! -The value of mentorship

On this episode #5 of Welcome, Karim Kanji welcomes social media sales professional Andrew Jenkins. During this episode we chat about: The time Andrew worked with Mickey Rooney and also made a phone sex documentary called Telewhore. Andrew worked for a menswear company selling clothes online. e-commerce – 1995 When he discovered e-commerce and helped to create online catalogues for retailers in USA. Went to Rotman to complete his Executive MBA – wanted more tools in his tool kit Worked as head of social at RBC Spends time teaching at OCAD as well as digital strategy at UofT.

A lover of digital and coffee. Asker of good questions. Sleuth of business problems. Identifier of emerging trends, consumer insights, impacts of digital upon consumer behaviours. Laurie Dillon Schalk is my guest in the Welcome! studio.

Mark has worked in digital and social media since graduating school from Canada’s East Coast. He has worked for companies such as Earth Day Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum, Intuit Canada and now York University. We also both teach in the social media marketing certificate program at George Brown college in Toronto.

Back in 2010 I started a podcast called SMS on Perpetual Radio Networks. The show was mostly about social media and featured guests such as Mitch Joel andDave Fleet. Earlier this year I came to an agreement with Girth Radio to launch a new show on their burgeoning radio station. I'm calling the show Welcome! Welcome! is going to be a show featuring many of Toronto's (and anyone who visits Toronto) innovative and creative people. Expect to hear conversations with digital strategists, musicians, entrepreneurs, city builders, artists and many more. As I re-learn my hosting and interviewing skills and learn new production skills I am inviting a number of my friends on the program. My first guest was Karim Awad. Karim is an entrepreneur, designer, teacher, artist and award winning deejay. He's up to some amazing things. Some he was able to reveal on the show. Others you'll have to watch out for.