Mission Critical with Lance Chung

Register to attend the Veuve Clicquot BOLD Woman Award virtual ceremony: https://www.veuveclicquot.com/en-ca/bold-woman-award-canada-ceremony-2021 Kayla Grey is an award-winning journalist who became the first Black woman to host a flagship sports highlight program in Canada when she made her Sportscentre debut in 2018. She’s since done everything from covering the Toronto Raptors NBA Championship...

Psychedelics are making a big comeback from their controversial history thanks to major breakthroughs in their ability to treat a range of mental health disorders—opening the doors to a future of incredible possibilities. In today’s episode, Lance speaks with Ronan Levy, co-founder and executive chairman of Field Trip Health, a therapy and research centre that uses ketamine (yes, ketamine)-enhance...

Finding and harnessing happiness was an effort that many tasked people themselves with throughout 2020. At the forefront of this campaign? Influencer and social media’s unofficial Chief Joy Officer, Donté Colley. Known for his infectious TiKTok videos full of encouragement and signature dance moves, Donté established his platform (which now boasts over one million followers) to bring more positivi...

It can be objectively stated that drag queens are masters of marketing and are some of the most impressive entrepreneurs out there. In addition to RuPaul's core tenets of a winning queen—that is, charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent—they also possess all of the traits that we often associate with entrepreneurship, like resilience, agility, and resourcefulness. Today’s top drag queens are not on...

Since 2005, Reddit has been a pioneer in building passionate online communities. The company’s mission is to instill a sense of belonging amongst its users—to empower them to share information, have authentic conversations, and drive change. There’s no better recent example of how digital communities can influence transformational change than the GameStop stock-buying frenzy that occurred in early...

Denzel Spencer (you may know him by his stage name Roy Woods) is a rapper, singer, and songwriter signed to OVO Sound. Known for his signature R&B and hip-hop sound, the Canadian artist has already accomplished what many would only dream of in his early twenties. But despite his success and having the support of the biggest names in the industry today, Roy understands what it’s like to struggle as...

Reformation is a popular women’s clothing brand with a mission to bring sustainable fashion to the masses. What started out in 2009 as a vintage clothing store quickly evolved into a fashion brand with a core focus on making people look great without hurting the environment in doing so. Since 2015, Reformation (or “Ref” as they’re colloquially known) has been carbon neutral and aim to be climate p...

We've learned many lessons from the pandemic but perhaps one of the biggest takeaways is the impact of burnout on our wellbeing and mental health. Arianna Huffington is no stranger to burnout culture. Back in 2007, the media mogul reached a breaking point when she collapsed from sleep deprivation and exhaustion after working 18-hour days building her news website, The Huffington Post. It was this...

From the coffee shop on the corner to the real estate agent that your friend keeps referring you to, family businesses are everywhere and have a significant impact on our economy. But running one can be a complicated matter, especially when the line between personal and professional boundaries is so easily blurred. Entrepreneur Manjit Minhas can certainly speak to the nuances of running a family b...

Talking about money can often feel taboo when it should feel empowering. Let's face it, personal finance remains an uncomfortable topic to broach for many. When Michael Katchen arrived on the scene back in 2014 with his new fintech startup Wealthsimple, he had lofty dreams of simplifying our relationship with money. Fast forward six short years and Wealthsimple has become a certified unicorn compa...

Over the years, the collecting and trading of sneakers has grown from past-time hobby into multi-billion-dollar global industry. Thanks to a passionate community of enthusiasts (or sneakerheads) the art of collecting kicks has fueled a category that is now considered a rising asset class. In this episode, Lance chats with Scott Cutler, CEO of online marketplace StockX, about "hype," redefining the...

Dating at the best of times can be an awkward experience. So how does one find romance during a pandemic? On today's episode, Justin McLeod, founder and CEO of online dating platform Hinge, joins us to talk about love and data. Described as a dating app designed to be deleted, Lance chats with Justin about Hinge, digital courtship in the age of a pandemic, and how he's using data to crack the code...

What does it mean to embrace your culture? To reclaim your cultural identity? On today’s episode, Lance chats with James Jones (otherwise known as Notorious Cree) about connecting with and celebrating your culture. With a social media audience of over 2.5 million followers, James is applying a modern use of technology and social media to depict Indigenous culture and traditions. And what he is tea...

What does it mean to win? For Nick Nurse, head coach of the Toronto Raptors and the Canadian men’s national basketball team, victory is measured in more ways than one. On this episode of Mission Critical, Lance chats with Nick about what it takes to create a championship-winning team. Under Nick's guidance, the Toronto Raptors famously won the NBA Championship in 2019, marking the first time a Can...

In a time characterized by "fake news" and conspiracy theories, it feels like we've reached a boiling point with our current culture of doubt. But misinformation (and the spread of it) is not a new phenomenon. One could even argue that it has existed for as long as the study of science, itself. In this episode, Lance chats with Greg Brown, one-half of the social media sensation that is AsapSCIENCE...

Since the dawn of humanity, humans have been enchanted and spellbound by the art of storytelling. Today, in a time characterized by the democratization of media, our ability to share stories has never been more powerful thanks to technology. Leading the charge of the next generation of storytellers is Wattpad, led by co-founder Allen Lau. They’ve helped launch writing careers and have adapted user...

Travel. At some point this year, we’ve all probably daydreamed about our next big trip—the next adventure to go on after the pandemic is over, the people we would go with, the sights to see, and, of course, the food to eat. It’s no surprise that, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit. It begs the question: how—and when—will we as a society feel...

How important is optimism in a time where everything seems to be in a general state of chaos? One could argue that entrepreneurs are inherently optimistic given the nature of the business, what with the number of hurdles, uphill battles, and rate of failure that entrepreneurs often experience. District Ventures CEO and Dragons' Den investor Arlene Dickinson understands this well. In today's episod...

Fashion has always been about commentary. No one knows this better than Byron and Dexter Peart, juggernauts of the fashion industry who cut their teeth building their minimalist lifestyle brand, WANT Les Essentiels, into a global empire before departing to start something new. That something was Goodee, an online marketplace that focuses on “good people, good design, and good impact.” In this epis...

Joey Zwillinger is the CEO and co-founder of Allbirds, a San Francisco-based material innovation company that specializes in making the world’s most comfortable shoes (and now, apparel!) More importantly, they’re a company on a mission to tackle what Joey calls the biggest problem of our lifetime: climate change. In this episode, Joey and Lance talk about sustainability, activism, and whether comp...

As the world has collectively witnessed, tackling a pandemic like COVID-19 requires lightning-fast agility in order to disseminate critical information to key decision-makers. No one understands this better than Dr. Kamran Khan, epidemiologist and founder of BlueDot, a Toronto-based social enterprise that harnesses artificial intelligence as an early warning detection system for infectious disease...

Mississauga-born Maitreyi Ramakrishnan beat out 15,000 other girls when she landed the lead role of the Netflix original series Never Have I Ever, a groundbreaking show that tells a coming-of-age story focusing on family dynamics, relationships, grief, and friendship through the lens of an Indian-American household. In this episode, Maitreyi chats with Lance about representation, identity, and lea...

Entrepreneurs are built to withstand incredible pressure. As a result, they know a thing or two about supporting one another as a community. Michele Romanow is a serial entrepreneur, an investor on Dragons' Den, and co-founder of the world’s largest e-commerce investment company, Clearco. In today’s episode, Lance and Michele talk about equity and equality, humility, and how entrepreneurship can b...