Behind Greatness by Inspire North

Born in Toronto of Syrian descent, Jay split his life of education among Canada, Syria and the USA. Coming from a family of medical practitioners, Jay was also able to see his first live surgery at 6 years of age. We hear about his travails in his path to become a doctor in Canada - a story not so uncommon. And we also hear about his dedication to his patients and to his personal mission of helpin...

We sit down with Hazel Henderson, a world-renowned Futurist, Activist, Producer, Founder and an economic Iconoclast. We follow Hazel from her upbringing in Bristol, England with a Naturalist mother and a Corporate executive father. She left England as a young woman and soon started her working career in NYC. She found her power in calling for large corporate interests in seeing the value in the ot...

Scott is currently leading Uninterrupted Canada, an entrepreneurial adventure in partnership with Lebron James & Maverick Carter. As one of Canada's top Sports Executives who oversaw billion dollar budgets, Scott spent his time with us discussing the importance of mentorship, networking and collaboration rather than his work. Game on! As a young red-headed Moore, we hear about his exploration with...

Born in France of Sardinian parents, little Rita emigrated to Toronto where she grew up believing she was American for a while. As a child with a joie de vivre, she found inspiration in others who lived without judgement towards others and who gave for their community. As a young woman starting her career, she found that if she faced barriers head-on and with a smile she could reap great learning....

Colleen grew up in Rostock, Ontario (between Toronto & Detroit) where community was everything and farm-work for her was a outlet for fun and creative exploration. Even in this idyllic space Colleen found balance with her desire to "hussle" and grow her natural inclination for business and for working with people. Although strong in the sciences as a high-schooler, she found a path in business tha...

Richard started his journey training as a swimmer in the rainforests of British Columbia isolated from civilization. Having beat out most of his compatriots as a competitive swimmer, he went on to compete at the Olympic, PanAm and Commonwealth games as a young man. Having returned home he put his efforts into his books to gain designation as a CPA and subsequently as a tax lawyer in Montreal. In t...

We return with the 2nd part of our discussion with Anthony DiIorio, who was our guest previously on episode 45. Anthony brings us though his journey with the founding of Ethereum – a leading global crypto platform that helped show the world the power of decentralized economic decision making. We discuss creating wins for all stakeholders, the need for collaboration, making impact to change the wor...

Dr. Cicoria grew up in Upstate New York, a rambunctious boy with a streak of independence, enjoying life as a "free range chicken". At the behest of a coach and of his father, he enrolled in a military college. But from there he decided to pursue a career in science and medicine and a story peppered with a string of "God winks". At 42, he was hit by lightning. His heart stopped and he left his bod...

Rob joins us from Toronto where he currently spends his time working as a senior leader in the NHL (National Hockey League). A natural story teller, Rob brings us through his journey as an only child of a Croatian father and Jamaican mother, and growing up playing with the neighbourhood bullies and forming life-long relationships, to playing hockey at competitive levels, to the heart-breaking spli...

We sit down with Riane Eisler, an accomplished researcher, author, professor and public speaker. Residing in Southern California, Riane briefly describes her experience as a Holocaust survivor as a little girl and her voyage to North America. In this discussion we break away from our tradition approach to conversation as we focus on Riane's life's work: ie. on Partnership systems. We discuss domin...

Tim grew up in rural California where he attended the only non-accredited highschool in the state. But this didn't dissuade him from pursuing an early goal to work in the Film Industry. Taking advice from a mentor to cut his academic teeth in an unrelated field of study in college before entering film school, Tim unknowingly entered the working world of film production with another acquired skill...

Tony joins us from Houston, Texas. He shares with us his upbringing in a family with musical pedigree where his parents taught him the value of using his imagination to build and to create. He was tasked to learn the violin as a young boy and he did - but he took exception to practising it. He learned soon thereafter that his curiosities instead lay with actually composing music. We follow Tony on...

Ryan joins us from rural New Brunswick, in Atlantic Canada. Coming from a line of hard-working potato farmers, a very young Ryan thought about how he could continue the family business, but doing it his own way. Bringing home the point to us that the journey is what matters, we hear about 100lb Christmas tree shearing machines, sleeping in a truck travelling across the US to bring back contracts,...

Valentino joins us from Manchester, England where he acts as a Curator and Lecturer at of one of Europe's leading edge Schools of future storytelling: the School of Digital Arts (SODA). Originally from Rome, Valentino lost himself in his formative years after the sudden death of his father, until he started to consume what he left for him: his movie collection. Convinced as a teenager that he want...

Born and bred in Southern California, Troy gives us a glimpse of growing up in a musical family. His father and uncle who formed the duo the "Brothers Johnson" had profound influence on music in the 70s and 80s. Born in the 1980s, Troy also took to musical creation immediately, preferring to spend time even as a small child and pre-teen in a music studio above all. His world took a turn while he w...

Sue was born and bred in Buffalo, New York. She developed a desire for a career in healthcare and pursued studies in NY and North Carolina and when her life took a turn, so did she. Off to Arizona for no reason at all and very little money to her name, she started a journey with a little bit of Billy Joel and whole lot of hustle. After volunteering quite a bit of time at a clinic, her employer and...

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Kelly attended 10 different schools as a child until settling in Welland (Niagara region) for highschool. She lived in a chaotic household but lived it the best way she could – with a heightened sense of responsibility, "buttoned-downness" and an acute need for high-achievement in school and sports. Breaking out to get an education in another part of the country, she...

As a youngster growing up just outside of Toronto, Anthony lived in an entrepreneurial environment. His father, an inventor, instilled in him the importance of being curious, asking questions and breaking through. With authority never sitting right with him as a boy, he chose to explore his own path as a young man after a brief stint in the family business. His path was not short of probing, stumb...

Marjorie joins us from Sedona, Arizona. She grew up in a family where the wonder of music, art and literature defined much of her existence as a young girl. Armed with a natural intellectual curiosity and a profound admiration of both musical expression and scientific exploration, Marjorie embarked on both early on in her studies. As a young scientist she was inculcated by the materialist dogma of...

Matt grew up in New York in a close-knit family who encouraged him to both dream big and to keep his eye on the pragmatic. We discuss his proactive search for his passion as a young man as he bobbed and weaved through a brief but explosive stint as an aspiring boxer, an early marketing career working in Times Square and with a side-hustle as a sports agent. When the dust settled, he sat down with...

We sit with Alison Coville, in Toronto. Alison was born and bred in Ontario, Canada. She found her passion in the retail business as a teenager. Se dove head first into this journey until she reached the pinnacle of her industry. Undeterred by the fact that she was navigating within a professional world that lacked female mentors, she drew from her experience living in a family where gender didn't...

Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris joins us from Honolulu, Hawaii. Elisabet grew up in Athens, New York and as a child was actively encouraged to explore the biological world around her. She went on to attain a Masters in Fine Arts, History & Languages and then a PhD in Evolution Biology. For decades, she has been an internationally known evolution biologist, futurist, professor, author, speaker and consultan...

Joshua Cassidy is a 3 x Paralympian and is preparing for his 4th Paralympic games in Tokyo. He is a 31 x racing champion with world record times at the 2012 Boston Marathon. The oldest of 10 children, he spent his first 5 years in hospital fighting a non-congenital cancer – and won. Having a family where affection and love mattered as much as discipline and finding your own way, Josh faced the wor...

Today we chat with Julie Yoo in Toronto. Julie is the owner of I Miss You Vintage and was recently chosen for the front cover of a national business magazine as representative of all small business owners: all dubbed "CEO of the year". Julie catapulted the scope of her business from local to global as an adaptive response to the pandemic in early 2020. A lover of art and history, she married these...

We are joined by Rob Zepp. He currently works at the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA). Before this, Rob was a professional hockey player in both Europe and in the NHL, taking the crown as the oldest rookie in the NHL since 1927 to win in his debut. Rob brings us through his journey as a young boy with a dream to be a professional athlete and then living this dream on another cont...