Shows
Coffee With Digital TrailblazersBuilding Smarter Organizations: Transforming to Intelligent Operations
10 Memorable Insights
Matthew Frye: “Intelligent operations today is really speaking to visibility and control across the field and back to the office… automating frontline data collection, connecting data and workflows and dashboards to decision makers, and really reducing those manual handoffs that can cause problems.”
Joanne Friedman, PhD: “Operational intelligence is kind of table stakes these days for large manufacturing organizations… It means agentic AI. It means AI that can provide real-time feedback on equipment, predictive maintenance windows, and spare parts management.”
Martin Davis: “Imagine a maintenance supervisor walking through a plant using a head-up display that instantly identifies mac...
2025-03-211h 01
Dear Rach & SophSeason 2, episode 7 - Craft booksThis week we talk about writing craft books. Rach loves them - indeed, she collects them, and if you watch this episode on video you’ll see the collection. She’s also read a lot of them. Soph have not read too many but likes what she's read thus far. Possibly the most important information we could convey in this post is the list of books mentioned in the episode, and this is it in the order of mentioning:Save the Cat! by Blake SnyderSave the Cat! Writes a Novel by Je...
2024-10-201h 02
Nearly VerifiedEP21 Swish Goswami - How our role is changing in the data economyIt feels pretty corny to go out and say this, but this episode literally changed my life. Just about 5 months ago I got to interview Swish Goswami, who is one of the co-founders and the CEO of Trufan. Trufan is a tech startup in Toronto that helps brands generate segment and activate first and third-party data to information that you directly get from your followers, whether it's email, phone number, mailing address, and the data that they're providing to you through Instagram or Twitter based on their activity and how they're engaging with you.
In this episode, Swish...
2021-10-2745 min
Nearly VerifiedEP20 Mike Morrice - Ushering a sustainable future for the Waterloo regionMy last podcast episode was posted 5 months ago. Finishing school + moving to a new city + starting fulltime work has really slowed me down on doing this, but I am very happy to get back into it :) More episodes coming soon!
Mike founded Sustainable Waterloo Region and piloted Canada’s first Green Economy Hub while completing a double degree in business and computer electronics at Laurier in 2008. Within five years, the Hub had engaged companies employing 14% of the region’s workforce, all committed to setting and achieving voluntary climate goals.
Mike also spearheaded the creation of Clim...
2021-10-1251 min
Nearly VerifiedEP19 Blair Forrest - From Student to Founder, E-Commerce EditionWelcome back to another episode of Nearly Verified! This week I get to sit down with a good friend and super successful guy that is recently graduated from Laurier University. Blair Forrest has been a serial entrepreneur since he could remember.
Whether it was a lemonade stand, garage sale, or selling on amazon, Blair has always tried to make the most of whatever side hustle he could get his hands on. Within the past 36 months, Blair has started AMZ prep, which is a full-service marketplace provider for companies looking to sell on Amazon and online. He has...
2021-05-0443 min
Nearly VerifiedEP18 Hala Taha - Entertainment, Podcasting & EntrepreneurshipHala Taha is the host of Young and Profiting Podcast, frequently ranked as a #1 Education podcast across all apps. Hala is also the CEO of YAP Media, a full-service social media and podcast marketing agency projected to generate over $1M in revenue in its first year. She is well-known for her engaged following and influence on Linkedin, and she landed the January 2021 cover of Podcast Magazine.
Hala started her career in radio production while in college at HOT97 on “The Angie Martinez Show.” Later, she launched an entertainment news blog site, “The Sorority of Hip Hop,” where she led...
2021-04-0633 min
Nearly VerifiedEP17 Chris Walker - Tackling B2B Marketing at Its CoreChris Walker, the CEO of Refine Labs, is changing the way B2B firms generate demand for their business. The landscape of advertising, and communicating your brand is transforming and refine labs is dedicated to easing that transition for businesses around the world.
On this episode of Nearly Verified, I get to chat with Chris Walker about the state of marketing on the B2B level, diving into why the traditional methods of marketing are failing. We dive into the importance of valuing the right metrics, trial and error with marketing strategy, and much more.
Chris is an expert in...
2021-02-2339 min
Re-Solved Mysteries: An Unsolved Mysteries PodcastListener Short Stack 21You write it we read it! Today we update you on the case of Micheal Joy Garecht. We also hear a couple of spoooooooky ghost-y stories, learn a bit about MR and look for information to help solve the murder of Matthew Deets. Episode Notes: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/22/us/michaela-garecht-murder-charge-trnd/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Andy_Puglisi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Joan_Risch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Mountain_murders https://wjon.com/sherburne-county-authorities-asking-for-help-finding-missing-person-video/ https://www.twincities.com/2017/04/27/officials-id-body-recovered-sunday-in-mississippi-river/ https://www.fox9...
2021-01-2837 min
Nearly VerifiedEP16 David Meltzer - Taking Control of Your Time & EnergyDavid Meltzer is the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing and formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh (“Lee”) Steinberg Sports & Entertainment agency, which was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire.
His life’s mission is to empower OVER 1 BILLION people to be happy! This simple yet powerful mission has led him on an incredible journey to provide one thing…VALUE. In all his content, and communication that’s exactly what you’ll receive. As part of that mission, for the past 20 years, he’s been providing free weekly training to empower others to be happy.
David moves very v...
2021-01-2519 min
Nearly VerifiedEP15 Sofy Carayannopoulos - Giving First-Year Students the Toolkit for SuccessThis episode I got to have Sofy Carayannopoulos on the podcast to chat. Sofy is an associate professor at the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. She currently designs, coordinates and teaches introductory business strategy courses to classes of over 200 undergraduate students, as well as a PhD class.
She holds an MBA and a PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Schulich School of Business at York University, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce and Economics and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. Her award-winning cases have been published and distributed b...
2020-12-2843 min
Nearly VerifiedEP14 Devyn Kelly - A Conversation With the SU PresidentThis episode I get the chance to chat with Devyn Kelly who is the Student’s Union President here at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has had her hands full with adjusting to a completely different type of University semester. Her mission is to be the voice for the student body, bringing our concerns to the administration in an attempt to see change.
She has been involved all over campus during her time at Laurier prior to this full-time role as president. She was a campus ambassador, hiring and recruitment coordinator and Board Member for the SU to na...
2020-12-0753 min
Nearly VerifiedEP13 Jonathan Palmar - Diving into Video Marketing & LinkedinJon is the Chief Experience Officer at Shay Rowbottom Marketing, who I had on for episode 6, and previously was working with his Father’s forensic accounting company. Backtrack a little more, Jon was training and working with the WWE at the age of 18 to be a professional wrestler which unfortunately did not pan out.
Instead, he took that energy, that charisma, and those camera skills to LinkedIn, and now helps other creators and entrepreneurs master the skill of video marketing.
We dive into what it means to start creating content for yourself or your business, wh...
2020-11-0543 min
Nearly VerifiedEP12 Blake Pearson - Inside a Career in Tech SalesThis week, I interviewed Blake Pearson who is a Sr. BDR at Salesforce. Salesforce.com, inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management service and also sells a complementary suite of enterprise applications.
Blake actually worked as a BDR where I did my first internship, but we just missed each other there. I heard so many great things about him I thought I’d go ahead and interview him!
This was a cool one because as an assignment for my 4th-year sales management class, we have to...
2020-10-2126 min
Nearly VerifiedEP11 Ken Jackson - The Art of Teaching to 1000's and Being Empathetic With StudentsFor those of you who don’t know, Ken Jackson is an economics professor here at Laurier, where he teaches a range of economics classes from your beginner micro and macro courses, to the economics of sports and poverty as well.
Ken has his undergraduate degree and PhD in economics from the University of British Columbia and has been working for Laurier since 2008.
On a personal level, Ken is such a genuine and kind person to chat with. Something that I really wanted to learn about was how he gained the skills to teach to 1000’s of...
2020-10-1440 min
Nearly VerifiedEP10 Marcel Morgenstern - Entrepreneurship in the Wine IndustryMarcel Morgenstern is an entrepreneur and small business owner in the wine industry within the Niagara region. He is a wine expert, a marketing creative, a father, soccer fan and above all an all-around nice guy. Marcel is a close family friend and family business partner, so it’s awesome to have someone familiar come onto the show and chat about his experiences as an entrepreneur.
Marcel has been very vocal in the wine community within Niagara and even jumped on the opportunity to make the “Restaurants of Niagara” Facebook page when the quarantine lockdown hit, which is now...
2020-10-0552 min
Nearly VerifiedEP9 Last20 - Solving The World’s Plastic Problem, One Road at a TimeThis episode I have fellow Laurier students Lauren and Lucas Barnes chat about their social enterprise Last20!
Founded by Lucas and Lauren in 2018; they began as a sustainable clothing brand - Last20 Apparel. Their products are sourced from plastic bottles that would have otherwise ended up in our landfills and oceans, 6 plastic bottles in every shirt.
In 2019, they reviewed their operations and brainstormed industries that could benefit from upcycling plastic waste, they knew there was much more impact to be generated and this was the pivotal moment for the organization to focus on sustainable pavement!
2020-09-2153 min
Nearly VerifiedEP8 Troy Osinoff - The Roller Coaster of Entrepreneurship & Finding Pain PointsTroy Osinoff is the Co-founder of JUICE, an NYC-based digital marketing agency credited by Facebook as being a top 1% agency and fastest-growing in NY, where he has helped clients such as Kenneth Cole, Paris Hilton d scale successful multi-platform marketing campaigns. Prior to JUICE, Osinoff helped a bankrupt shoe company reach profitability, grew a Grammy award-winning recording studio, created a viral media site called Make A Dare (which was featured on Dr. Phil), co-founded a media company with 1.7M visitors daily and created a viral Tumblr that was turned into a nationally sold book
Osinoff also leads...
2020-09-1444 min
Nearly Verified7 Episode Curse: Reflecting On Starting Nearly VerifiedI heard that there is a 7 episode curse when starting up a podcast. That 7 episode mark is where a lot of shows lose steam and fizzle out. I thought it would be fitting to take a second at episode 7 and reflect on what I've started here with Nearly Verified.
I take the time to look back at my 6 guests and share what our conversations meant to me, and what I took away from them. Also, I wanted to share a few key takeaways from starting a podcast in general.
I also needed to send a...
2020-09-0817 min
Nearly VerifiedEP6 Shay Rowbottom - Seeing Potential In Yourself & Sharing Your StoryShay Rowbottom is the Queen of Linkedin, a marketing wizard, an expert in video, a storyteller, a new podcast host, and overall just a passionate person whose energy is contagious. She has worked with companies such as Petco, Yahoo and Buzzfeed, creating viral video content generating 10 of BILLIONS of views over her career. In this episode we discuss content creation, leaping into new experiences, and breaking down societies shame culture.
Shay is such a genuine human being and I want to thank her so much for the time she took to come and speak with me as w...
2020-08-3150 min
Nearly VerifiedEP5 Mark Metry - The Power of Meditating & Working Towards a Better YouToday we have on Mark Metry, who is a phenomenal dude that has accomplished a ton at 23. He is on Amazon Prime's TV Docuseries "The Social Movement" attempting to solve some of the world's biggest problems.
Mark is also the host of the Global Top 100 podcast called Humans 2.0 featured by Forbes, NASDAQ, and Yahoo Finance as the "Top 21 Growing Podcasts you must listen to in 2019." Mark's show has been listened to over 10 million times and features the greatest leaders of our time and frequently converses with Billionaires, Professional Athletes, and New York Times Bestselling authors for a s...
2020-08-1852 min
Nearly VerifiedEP4 Carol Leaman - Utilizing Axonify During COVID & The Importance of CultureThis week I have the pleasure of speaking with Carol Leaman who is the CEO at Axonify. What is Axonify you may be asking? It is an online learning and communications platform built for frontline employees which are more important than ever now and is used by giant companies around the world such as Walmart, Bloomingdales, Rogers, and Longos to name a few.
Carol has an undergraduate degree and masters from the University of Waterloo is a decorated entrepreneur in the tech space having a successful track record of past CEO roles, as well as she sits o...
2020-08-1148 min
Nearly VerifiedEP3 Buster Scher - Creating a Basketball Empire & The Rise of Sports CardsBuster Scher is the 19-year-old that has created a basketball empire on social media. He is founder of Hoops Nation, host of the Buster Show, and unfortunately a life long Knicks fan. He has hosted various shows for the NBA and done online consulting for hip-hop artists and NBA legends.
On this episode, we talk about the rise of sports cards, Buster's path to social media stardom, as well as tips for young people looking to chase their passions.
Congrats on reaching 1M followers on Insta man!
Buster's Instagram:
...
2020-07-3138 min
Nearly VerifiedEP2 Sam Lister - Starting From Scratch and Constantly LearningThis episode I have Sam Lister come on to chat! He is a 20-year-old LinkedIn phenomenon that started creating videos on his phone to document his journey of entrepreneurship, and inevitably people started catching on. He is the founder of Blnk Slate media, host of the Starting Blnk podcast, and a keynote speaker. At the age of 18, Sam got his first client from his Linkedin content and the rest they say is history.
2020-07-2254 min
Nearly VerifiedEP1 Quinten Allums - Writing Your Story & Building CommunityHe is a creative storyteller, entrepreneur, podcast host, TEDx speaker, E-sports enthusiast, and probably one of the most transparent and genuine people I have followed online. Quentin Allums or Q has founded several companies with Uran Misfit Ventures and the Strange on Purpose Studios being the most recent. Q has been creating content for years, building up his skills as a public speaker, community builder, leader, and business owner. Q and I dive into topics of building community, taking the first steps in writing "your story" and the importance of patience along the way.
2020-07-1458 min
Nearly VerifiedWelcome to Nearly VerifiedHi! My name is Matt Puglisi and welcome to the Nearly Verified Podcast. To give you some context about the name and theme of the pod, my mindset behind it was pretty simple. I feel like a lot of people, myself absolutely included, can get carried away with the idea of success. For some it could be making a ton of money, reaching a specific job title, or even getting verified on social media. The idea behind Nearly Verified is to learn about and most importantly enjoy every piece of the puzzle leading to that success!
2020-07-1402 min