Shows
A Seat at the Table#24 - Josefine Quack: Iterative Design and Brick-Laying RobotsIn this episode we have the pleasure of being joined by Josefine Quack, an engineer at the Amsterdam-based Monumental, a company building brick-laying robots. It's exactly what it sounds like, and the robots are honestly futuristic to see in action. In this episode, Josefine shares her thoughts on building projects: pick the ones you don't feel ready for, and fun can be a valid reason!We also discuss some specific stories from Monumental, like how camera calibration works and how their engineers have had to work to adapt to the construction environment. 2025-06-2734 minA Seat at the Table#23 - Mona Ismail: Building AI to navigate the information landscape and perspectives from a multicultural upbringingMona Ismail is the co-founder and CEO of Arca, a VC-backed startup helping people curate the internet to tailor it to their interests. In this episode, Mona shares how growing up as a Somali in Finland shaped her personality and perspective - specifically how the Finnish honesty combined with the Somali fearlessness helped her as a founder. đź’ŞShe also shares how Acra (very creatively) got their first users. And finally, we discussed Mona's advice on raising from venture capitalists, and dealing with the toughness of being a founder!This episode is packed with practical advice on...2025-05-2956 minA Seat at the Table#22 - Kasia Gurgul: Optimizing Leadership and Creating InfluenceKasia is the Founder of Mindquest Global and an experienced executive coach. Kasia has a background in digital innovation, having led various projects across global organizations. She transitioned into executive coaching and has since worked with leaders across Asia Pacific and North America.In this episode, we discuss strategies for leading a team and bringing out the best in people. Kasia shares insights on how to foster engagement, and on the power of conversation. Learn more: LinkedIn2025-04-1447 minA Seat at the Table#21 - Iza Ding: Social Polarization, Climate Change Perception, and the Power of StoriesIn this episode, we chatted with Iza Ding, an associate professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Her research is focused on areas such as bureaucracy, the environment, climate change, and nationalism.She holds a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and a B.A. in Political Science and Russian and Eastern European Studies from the University of Michigan. She has conducted field research in China, Germany, and Mongolia and is currently a Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.In this episode, we talk about the stories we tell ourselves, and...2025-03-031h 07A Seat at the Table#20 - Jaiya Varshney: Developing Organic Stretchy Fibers & Teaching Entrepreneurship in NairobiJaiya is the cofounder of Tydra Labs, which is making the textile industry more sustainable by creating organic stretchy fibers as an alternative to petrol-containing Spandex.
In this episode, Jaiya talks about her journey to founding Tydra Labs, and how she’s scaling it - including conducting customer interviews and crushing pitch competitions.Â
We also discuss why petrol-containing Spandex poses such a big problem, and the impacts of fast fashion.
Jaiya also shares insights from her trip to Kenya as part of UBC’s Sauder School of Business, where she taught entrepreneurship in Nairo...2025-02-0448 minA Seat at the Table#19 - Thaleia-Dimitra Doudali: ML for resource management and Greek Women in STEMThaleia Dimitra Doudali is an assistant research professor at the IMDEA Software Institute, where she researches computers and machine learning, focusing on resource management. She is also an executive member of Greek Women in STEM, where she’s helping create inclusion in academia.Thaleia’s notable distinctions include winning the Cesar Nombela grant and the Juan de la Cierva fellowship and being invited to attend the Rising Starts in EECS workshop.In this episode, Thaleia shares her journey in electrical engineering and computer science and walks us through her pioneering research on leveraging AI to maximize the effi...2024-12-2056 minA Seat at the Table#18 - Jill Pestana: STEM Communication, Lithium Ion Batteries, and Navigating HarassmentJill Pestana is a battery scientist, YouTuber, and consultant. She was previously the lead of the North American Battery team at Accenture, where she consulted on projects all across the battery supply chain - from raw materials, to recycling, to manufacturing. Jill has a YouTube channel, Across the Nanoverse, where she explains technical battery topics in a super easy-to-understand and engaging way.
She also just officially started her new company, Pestana Solutions, which offers technical consulting!
In this episode, we talk about Jill’s journey into the battery field, starting with her experience growing up in...2024-11-0155 minA Seat at the Table#17 - Marisa Murray: Goal-setting, the Chemistry of Emotions and Being IteractiveIn this episode we chat with Marisa Murray: an author, TedX speaker, and founder of the executive coaching company Leaderley.
Leaderley is a company that advises companies and individuals to help them achieve their leadership development goals. Prior to starting Leaderley, Marisa worked at both Bell and Accenture, among other companies in the chemical engineering space!
In this episode, Marisa describes her journey transitioning from chemical engineering to the business world.
She shares how you can leverage the chemistry of your body to achieve flow state, manage stress, and set better goals.
2024-10-0751 minA Seat at the Table#16 - Aneta Londa: Moonshot Pirates, Building Brands, and Empowering Youth to Change the WorldAneta Londa is the founder and Chief Buzz-Creator of Moonshot Pirates, an organization which helps young people build solutions for the world’s biggest problems. They are empowering youth in over 150 countries to create a sustainable future!
In this episode, we discuss how Aneta built Moonshot Pirates, and she shares stories of the people who went through the program.
Aneta shares her view on imposter syndrome, and how it can empower us. We also talk about Aneta’s experiences being a mother and an entrepreneur, with her husband as her co-founder!
Wh...2024-09-0951 minA Seat at the Table#15 - Jess Takimoto: Bridging the Confidence Gap, Creating Habits, and Dance FitnessJess Takimoto is the founder of Shine Fit, a dance-based fitness studio in Toronto. Previously, she majored in Business at Queen’s University and taught fitness classes. There, she evolved her teaching style, and that eventually led to the founding of Shine!
Jess is also a content creator and has a YouTube channel with an impressive 199 videos - discussing confidence, university, and of course, fitness.
In this conversation, Jess elaborates on her journey to entrepreneurship, and shares empowering frameworks to help build your confidence. We discuss goal setting, how to make habits that truly stick, an...2024-08-0954 minA Seat at the Table#14 - Nancy Dalakoura: International Physics Competitions, Philosophy and Navigating University AdmissionsNancy Dalakoura is a physics enthusiast, having participated and excelled in various national and international physics competitions. In 2022 her team placed first in the International Young Naturalists’ Tournament (IYNT), a competition of scientific debates and experiments. From there she went on to represent her country in the International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT), a prestigious event for experimental physics.
Seeing a lot of new students entering these competitions yearly, not knowing the process or having preparation material, she wanted to play a role in supporting them. This is why she founded SciBridges, an educational non-profit aiming to democratize access to...2024-08-0248 minA Seat at the Table#13 - Isabella Grandić: Solo Travelling, Global Logistics and Problem SolvingIsabella Grandić is a 20-year-old innovator, researcher, traveler and so many more things that can't be put into words.
She is passionate about using technology to scale standards of living and has worked on projects in maternal mortality, cellular agriculture, women’s health taboos, secondary education in a technological world, early childhood development, urban loneliness, and climate action. (Whew!)
And, while solo traveling to different places in the world, she is pursuing her BS in biochemistry at the University of North Carolina as a Morehead-Cain Scholar!
In this conversation, Izzy shares stories and adv...2024-07-2353 minA Seat at the Table#12 - Annie Garofalo: Finding a Cofounder, Having Hard Conversations and Navigating Relationships65% of companies fail because of co-founder issues. This inspired Annie to found Confidante, which is a company that works with founding teams to prevent this.
Even if you aren’t thinking about finding a co-founder right now, Annie’s principles can be applied to team formation in general. Having a good team dynamic can not only make the work way more enjoyable but can increase your probability of success!
In this conversation, we touch on seeking clarity (not alignment) in conversations, Annie’s framework for cultivating healthy cofounder relationships, the ideal number of decisi...2024-06-1655 minA Seat at the Table#11 - Christine and Tolis Lerios: Creating serendipity, the importance of soft skills, and fostering open communication
Christine Lerios is a startup veteran with over two decades of experience running operations and marketing efforts for small businesses in the technology, finance, healthcare, and non-profit sectors.
Her early career was centered around marketing, but since then, Christine has become a consultant, and mentor and embarked on many entrepreneurial adventures alongside her husband, Toli Lerios - including being on the team that founded Alabama's first residential treatment center for eating disorders.
Tolis, Christine’s husband, is a former mentor, serial entrepreneur, engineer, and past co-founder of various successful start-ups that later on went on to be...2024-04-101h 15A Seat at the Table#10 - Miranda Nover: Battery Manufacturing at Tesla and First Principles ThinkingIn our 10th episode, we spoke with Miranda Nover, a cell product developer at Tesla. What this means is that she’s working on product development on the 4680 cells, which are the ones that are in the Tesla EVs!
Previously, Miranda studied Mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and was a research assistant working on generative AI.
In this episode, we discussed first principles thinking: why it's important and how to do it. We also talked about Miranda's experience at Tesla, and what makes it such an innovative company. And finally, we dove quite deep into th...2024-02-081h 00A Seat at the Table#9 - Mia Rath: Hydrogen, Hardware, and Building a Seed Stage Startup in the Heart of SFFor the 9th episode of A Seat at the Table, we spoke with Mia Rath, the CTO and cofounder of Lumindt, an energy storage startup based in the heart of San Francisco. They are currently in their Seed stage, and they’re using hydrogen to help balance out the intermittency of renewables to empower the clean energy transition.
In this conversation, we dove into the technicalities behind hydrogen as an energy storage medium, as well as what Lumindt is doing differently. We also discussed the process of taking an idea from paper to reality, and what it’s li...2024-01-071h 01A Seat at the Table#8 - Kristina Arriaga: Building Ethical AI with Meta and Overcoming Victim MentalityIn this episode, we sat down with Kristina Arriaga, a human rights advocator particularly interested in free speech, freedom of religion or belief, and international human rights for girls and women.
The U.S. Congress appointed her to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2016, and during her 3-year tenure, she met with high ranking government officials to advocate for human rights in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey, and many other countries.
Kristina is on the board of trustees on the Oversight Board at Meta, and this will be the first...2023-12-1656 minA Seat at the Table#7 - Danielle Strachman: The 1517 Fund and Advice to Young FoundersJoin us as we sit down with Danielle Strachman, a VC and founder! Danielle is on the founding team of the Thiel Fellowship, which is a two-year program that gives one hundred thousand dollar grants to young people wanting to skip or stop school to build new things.
She is also the co-founder of the 1517 fund, a venture capitalist firm that backs dropouts, renegade students & sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages of their companies. They’ve funded companies like Loom, Luminar, and Lambda. And if that wasn’t enough, Danielle has also founded Innovations Academy, which is an inn...2023-11-2440 minA Seat at the Table#6 - Chandhana Sathishkumar: Following your Curiosity and Embracing "Done > Perfect"Join us as we talk to Chandhana, a TKS alumnus who has explored a variety of fields ranging from bioplastics to BCIs. Chandhana is currently working on scaling her bioplastic (that costs less than one dollar!) but is also following her curiosity through university.
Chandhana sheds light on how to decide what projects to work on, and the benefits of trying different things. She explains how the point of projects is to litmus test - if you aren’t learning and you aren’t enjoying it, maybe it’s time to move on. She also talks about the im...2023-10-1155 minA Seat at the Table#5 - Noel Hurst: Scaling from 0 to $1 Billion as an IntrapreneurNoel is a Las Vegas based intrapreneur who worked at Zappos, and scaled a company they acquired, 6pm.com, to 1 billion dollars in revenue per year. Crazy, right?! She is also a past TKS director (just keeps getting better 🤩). Noel is now working on a software company called CodingScape.
In this episode we discuss scaling, building brands by creating emotion, being an intrapreneur, and being ok with breaking things. Noel shares tons of actionable advice that goes right to the root of what being an intrapreneur and scaling means. She also explains who should be an intr...2023-09-161h 01A Seat at the Table#4 - Helen Raso: Creating the Future of EducationHelen is the head of school at Holy Trinity School (HTS), which is a K-12 independent school based in the Toronto area. As the head of school, Helen is focused on creating innovation in the school system, transforming it from the industrialized system that we see into a place that will empower young people to tackle the problems in our future world.
In this episode, we talk about Helen’s view on education, as well as what should be changed - the “ideal day.” One of our favourite things about Helen is how in touch she is with t...2023-09-0942 minA Seat at the Table#3 - Dr. Shini Somara: Becoming your Authentic SelfDr. Shini is a podcaster, youtuber, author, tedX speaker, and much more. She is sharing her knowledge and passion in STEM through various forms of media to make it accessible to others. Previously, she worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics during her doctorate in mechanical engineering.
All her life, she has been working towards becoming an engineer, overcoming challenges such as stereotypes, mathematics, and external pressures.
In this episode we discuss Shini’s journey of seeking her authentic self, and pursing the path that felt “right” to her. We discuss work life balance and working smart, as wel...2023-09-011h 06A Seat at the Table#2 - Jennah Dohms: Taking the Unconventional PathJennah Dohms is currently working at The Knowledge Society, a human accelerator program for teenagers. Before this however, she lived many different “mini-lives.” From wanting to be a lawyer to educating Syrian refugees, she then began working at an anti-human trafficking non-profit, and eventually switched to working at a Christmas light startup.
Jennah truly embodies what it means to take an unconventional path. Her story is incredibly inspiring, despite all the twists and turns, she remains guided by her north star of unlocking human potential.
In this episode we discuss Jennah’s perspective on taking an unc...2023-07-011h 02A Seat at the Table#1 - Sanskriti Deva: Quantum Computing, Building Connections and Overcoming Imposter SyndromeSanskriti Deva is a quantum computing researcher, engineer and current intern at IBM. She is also the youngest person ever elected in the UN national council. Despite her young age, she has accomplished some remarkable things. Among others, she is the founder of InventSTEM, an organization working on STEM accessibility and STEM education throughout the world.In this episode, we talk about her journey with quantum computing and the UN. Sanskriti shares advice on various pillars of everyday life, like battling imposter syndrome and building self confidence, establishing connections and taking action.2023-06-1946 min