Invested in our new reality
with Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh
This new podcast features honest conversations with Ottawa’s entrepreneurs and business owners. Every episode welcomes a local leader to the mic. They’re sharing their experiences – hardships and triumphs. How do they manage to persevere? Listen in to find out.
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Digital Main Street: Karen Marcotte on using creativity to adapt to changesAs a relatively new entrepreneur, Good Eats Cafe owner Karen Marcotte has learned a few things in a short amount of time. Leaving a stable career in mechanical engineering to take a chance on a café, she knows all about risks. Having faced many challenges which forced her to shift her business model before the pandemic, she’s now navigating her business through COVID-19, Karen’s story is one of resilience, staying creative and embracing change. November 27, 2020 | 16 minutes |
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S3 E3 Digital Main Street: Karen Marcotte on using creativity to adapt to changes As a relatively new entrepreneur, Good Eats Cafe owner Karen Marcotte has learned a few things in a short amount of time. Leaving a stable career in mechanical engineering to take a chance on a café, she knows all about risks. Having faced many challenges which forced her to shift her business model before the pandemic, she's now navigating her business through COVID-19, Karen’s story is one of resilience, staying creative and embracing change. November 27, 2020 | 16 minutes |
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S3 E2 Digital Main Street: Soloman-St. Lewis on staying sustainable during these times If there’s one thing entrepreneur Resa Soloman-St. Lewis has taken away from 2020, it’s that nothing is guaranteed and you have to be ready to adapt to change. Learn more about how she pivoted her popular Ottawa restaurants Baccanalle and Capital Fare Café over the course of this pandemic and why she became a Digital Main Street Ambassador.. November 24, 2020 | 17 minutes |
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S3 E1 Digital Main Street: helping you future proof your business Season 3 of Invested in Our New Reality will focus on Digital Main Street, a new program to help businesses reach new customers, build or improve their website, create a marketing campaign, and find innovative ways to boost revenue - all at no cost to the business owner. It's Invest Ottawa and the provincial and federal governments' ways to help businesses make it through these difficult times. In our first episode, Paula Hopkins explains more about the program and what it can do for entrepreneurs.. November 16, 2020 | 12 minutes |
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S2 E10 Area X.O: driving the future of Ottawa tech Invest Ottawa President & CEO, Michael Tremblay, joins Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh to talk about Area X.O, Ottawa's futureplex of innovation and collaboration. Find out how the facility will help Canadian SME's and attract multinationals to our region as well as drive the development of future tech. October 23, 2020 | 16 minutes | |
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S2 E9 Komal: developing resilience and investing with impact She’s an interviewer, impact investor, and resilience educator. In this episode, Komal Minhas talks about how she has grown in the face of adversity caused by the pandemic, lessons learned through the people she interviews, and offers concrete advice for women looking to start their own business. October 2, 2020 | 23 minutes | |
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S2 E8 Keeping networks fast and secure: Gigamon With so many workers shifting to a work from home model, digital transformation during COVID-19 put networks to the test. Gigamon, a worldwide leader in network visibility, analytics, threat detection and response, is helping companies and organizations respond. President and COO, Shane Buckley, talks to Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh about how COVID-19 has affected Gigamon's business and explains why the company is expanding its international footprint into Ottawa with a new R & D centre. September 18, 2020 | 13 minutes | |
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S2 E7 The push for a COVID-19 vaccine: VBI Vaccines Jeff Baxter, President & CEO of VBI Vaccines talks about research being done in Ottawa toward the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, and how companies and governments around the world are working together in unprecedented ways as the world anxiously waits. September 11, 2020 | 20 minutes | |
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S2 E6 Causing disruption through gender, race and tech. Ellie Ardakani, an accomplished geoscience advisor and award-winning energy-tech entrepreneur, talks about disruption. How her company is disrupting the way the oil and gas sector uses data, how the pandemic disrupted the company’s path, and how she is tackling the realities of being a woman in a male-dominated field, and an immigrant facing systemic bias. August 28, 2020 | 20 minutes |
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S2 E5 How COVID-19 changed market research. Erin Kelly, CEO of Advanced Symbolics Inc., talks about how market research changed during the pandemic, how her company is disrupting the way it's done, and how entrepreneurs can use the insights they have to decide when to stay the course and when to pivot. August 21, 2020 | 19 minutes |
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S2 E4 #NavyInnovation. The Royal Canadian Navy has existed for over 100 years, but technology and innovation remain integral to its survival – and to the safety and security of the people who serve in it. In this episode, Shav is joined by Lieutenant Commander John Faurbo to discuss collaboration and modernization in one of Canada’s most venerable institutions. August 14, 2020 | 17 minutes |
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S2 E3 Sport, concussions and tech: How Neurovine is changing the game. Ashleigh Kennedy, founder and CEO of Neurovine talks about concussions and how her technology aims to empower concussion patients by measuring brain health and optimizing their recovery process. August 7, 2020 | 15 minutes |
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S2 E2 Howie Kahn, Food for Thought. Howie Kahn is a best-selling author, journalist and successful podcaster focussed on the food industry. He talks restaurant re-invention & re-opening on the latest episode of Invest Ottawa’s popular new podcast Investing In Our New Reality. July 31, 2020 | 16 minutes |
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S2 E1 Russel Coltess: I am held to the standard of not being able to fail. Sweatcrew CEO Russell Coltess talks about adapting his business model through COVID-19, his experiences as a black business leader, and what has to happen to truly move the needle on racial bias and diversity in the workplace. July 24, 2020 | 16 minutes |
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S1 E7 Cynthia Labelle, Syntronic R&D Canada. Cynthia Labelle, Vice President Of Engineering at Syntronic R&D Canada talks about the challenges of doing R&D during a pandemic and the key to successful communications during a crisis.. June 12, 2020 | 16 minutes |
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S1 E6 Andrea Winter, Martello Technologies. Andrea Winter, VP, People at Martello Technologies talks about the critical role of HR departments during a crisis such as COVID-19 and how organizations can put the "human" back in Human Resources.. May 29, 2020 | 16 minutes |
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S1 E5 Sheena Brady, Tease Tea. Sheena Brady, Founder and CEO of Tease Tea talks about her business journey, how COVID-19 affects women entrepreneurs, and what companies should focus on now to ensure they can thrive post-pandemic. May 22, 2020 | 20 minutes |
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S1 E4 Laura Mindorff, COO, Wicket + industrial. Laura Mindorff, COO of Wicket and industrial, talks about the impact of COVID-19 on her companies, and what new approaches being taken now are here to stay post-pandemic. May 15, 2020 | 15 minutes |
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S1 E3 Derick Cotnam, Owner, My Catering Group. An honest discussion with Derick Cotnam, owner of My Catering Group, about how COVID-19 has affected his business and how he plans to ramp back up when he's able. May 8, 2020 | 15 minutes |
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S1 E2 Kelly Gregoire, TryCycle Data Systems Shavone Hasfal-McIntosh talks to TryCycle's VP of Operations, Kelly Gregoire, about how the company is helping doctors, therapists, and clinicians reach people in treatment for addiction, substance use, mental illness, depression or trauma through this pandemic. May 1, 2020 | 13 minutes |
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S1 E1 Michael Tremblay on how Ottawa businesses are tackling the impact of COVID-19. Invest Ottawa's President and CEO talks about how Ottawa businesses are evolving in the face of the new realities brought on by COVID-19 pandemic. April 24, 2020 | 17 minutes |
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S1 E0 Invested in our new reality teaser. Welcome to Invest Ottawa's new limited-edition podcast, providing honest observations about how leaders from Ottawa’s business community are navigating our new reality during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. “Invested in our new reality” will provide a platform for business leaders to share their experience of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and offer authentic observations and practical advice on leading through this crisis. April 22, 2020 | 32 minutes |
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About the host
Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh
Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh is the Diversity and Belonging lead at Shopify, where she leads a team that supports the organization in attracting, growing and retaining a diverse array of people with a focus on groups historically underrepresented in the tech space. Shavonne sits on the Board of Directors for Invest Ottawa, the lead economic development agency for knowledge-based industries in Canada’s Capital as well as Manifesto, a non-profit organization that inspires, develops, and amplifies diverse communities of young people through the arts, culture, and media. She believes in the power of galvanizing community, fostering culture, and ensuring that all people feel included, valued, and heard.
About the podcast
Invested in Our New Reality
Launched in the spring of 2020, Invested in Our New Reality is a dynamic new podcast hosted by Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh. The podcast features business leaders offering honest observations about navigating our ever evolving reality. Through intimate discussions, each episode provides a space for the Ottawa business community to speak candidly about the challenges and opportunities they’ve faced during these unprecedented times and aims to arm listeners with practical advice on how to innovate and thrive into the future.
Sponsors step up
Great companies have stepped-up in this time of need, including many of our corporate sponsors and community partners.
Explore the insights, toolkits and resources they’ve made available:
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Sponsors step up
Great companies have stepped-up in this time of need, including many of our corporate sponsors and community partners.
Explore the insights, toolkits and resources they’ve made available:
Shoebox enables hearing care around the world. It creates, sells, and supports products that help clinicians identify hearing loss. The maker of Shoebox, Clearwater Clinical, hit a huge milestone in 2018 when they entered a strategic partnership with international hearing device company 
Transforming our data-driven world takes talent, and MindBridge is where it’s happening. This is where you’ll take artificial intelligence to enable and inspire humans to do more and be better. Our people, our customers, and our investors agree: No one else is accomplishing what we’re doing with data-driven AI right now. 
Tehama is enabling the digital workplace of the future. 150 companies are using Tehama. 600,000+ hours of IT services delivered. Zero breaches. The company’s head office is in the heart of the highly desirable Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa where you have your pick of the best of Ottawa’s cafes, restaurants and shops. Prefer to work from home? Tehama offers remote working options and flexible core hours. Join a team of the best and brightest and enjoy competitive salaries, benefits and a commitment to YOUR long-term success. 
Spartan Bioscience aspires to unleash the power of DNA testing for everyone. Like the Spartan warriors of Ancient Greece, our smart, hard-working, and honorable team members get things done. Learn