Artist & entrepreneur Breannen Allison founded Thimbleberry Designs; she creates one-of-a-kind beaded fashionwear. She talks about how coming to know her Cree & Métis heritage led her to found Thimbleberry & how art, family, culture, sustainability & truth & reconciliation combine in her business.

More from Breannen in this episode:

• The discovery her family made when her grandmother passed away & learning about their history
• How Breannen learned beading, its traditional role & modern role in her business
• The power of blending art, culture & business to reshape historical legacies & honour family & traditions
• What inspires Breannen artistically & how she creates wearable pieces
• How Thimbleberry addresses upcycling & environmental sustainability
• How artist networks & deliberate consumers can support Indigenous artists & economic & cultural resurgence
• Truth & reconciliation; why truth before reconciliation

Thimbleberry Designs is on Facebook & Instagram & on the Thimbleberry website from this fall.

Photo used with permission, ©Breannen Allison 2021.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode.

Jessica Ketwaroo-Green is a social policy expert, consultant & award-winning intersectional gender equity advocate. She chats on the ELAT framework she created to help organizations & companies move from diversity to inclusion.

More from Jessica in this episode:

• How Millennials and Gen Z are changing expectations around companies & social values
• Why diversity alone can’t help retain many employees like young racialized women
• Why challenges around hiring & employee retention still exist in highly diverse workplaces
• What organizations & companies can do to promote inclusion as well as diversity
• What the ELAT framework is about & how putting into practice the skills of engagement, listening, action and thanks can help
• Advice for companies & organizations interested in diversity & inclusion
• Advice for young racialized women in the workforce

Connect with Jessieket Consulting Services here

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music.

central-1.amazonaws.com/Transcript+CrosspolliNation+Creativity+Uncertainty+and+Change+with+Janice+Francisco+part+2.pdf">Transcript available here.

Founder of Bridgepoint Effect, Janice Francisco talks creativity in the face of continuing uncertainty. What organizations, leaders & employees can do to move forward & shift away from anxiety driven thinking to creativity at a time of prolonged uncertainty & ambiguity.

More from Janice in this episode:

• Bridgepoint Effect’s work to help teams collaborate more effectively in person & remotely
• The importance of knowing our purpose, pursuing immediate wins & shorter planning horizons in the face of uncertainty
• The difference between innovation under duress & creative innovation in a positive state
• How to cultivate creativity understanding that we live & work in challenging times
• Why continuous learning is an essential skill now & for the future

Connect to BridgepointEffect.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode and Frederico Bottos for imagery above.

Bridgepoint Effect’s 7 Day Creative Challenge  is FREE with the code “crosspollination” for the first 18 listeners May 17-31 2021. Click the link & click “Buy for $27 USD” to enter the code.

central-1.amazonaws.com/Creativity%2C+Uncertainty+%26+Change+with+Janice+Francisco+part+1.pdf">Episode Transcript

Founder of Bridgepoint Effect, Janice Francisco talks creativity in the face of continuing uncertainty. What organizations, leaders & employees can do to move forward & make decisions at a time of prolonged uncertainty & ambiguity.

More from Janice in this episode:

• Bridgepoint Effect’s work to help teams collaborate more effectively in person & remotely
• What offices might look like in the near future: remote, hybrid & physical spaces
• What might change & the challenges organizations are facing now
• What innovation looks like at a time of continual change, pivots & adaptation
•  The difference between innovation under duress & creative innovation in a positive state
• Why emotional agility, regulation & trust are essential skills during the pandemic

Connect to BridgepointEffect.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode and Katie Moum for imagery above.

Educational designer & podcast host Natalie Vardabasso talks innovation & education. She tells us why elements of our education systems may be outdated & how changes in educational theory & in the wider world are driving a need for new approaches.

More from Natalie in this episode:

• Her cross-pollinating path from performing arts to teaching & education
• How she became an educational designer & specialize in special education
• About her education podcast, #educrush & cutting edge topics in education
• How learning is changing in schools & what’s driving that
• How the pandemic is also driving innovation in education
• What education, business & other fields can learn from each other
• About equity, creativity & assessment in education
• Advice for people with students in school now

Connect to #educrush.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode and  for imagery above.

Business author, associate partner at Stratygzer and intrapreneurship expert & consultant, Dr. Tendayi Viki chats on his newest book, Pirates in the Navy, on how companies can innovate better.

More from Tendayi in this episode:

• What he’s learned about intrapreneurship over decades that innovators and company leaders need to know
• Why it’s important for companies to innovate & where they can start
• Why innnovation is learnable & how organizations can structure, manage & measure it so it’s not a random process
• The most important skills for intrapreneurs & key differences between intrapreneurs & innovative entrepreneurs
• Why innovation needs to create value & what value looks like in different circumstances
• How governments, NGOs & non-profits can develop innovation initiatives
• What the pandemic has changed & what companies can do about it

Connect to Tendayi Viki.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode and Annie Spratt for imagery above.

Entrepreneur Connie Stacey talks about the value of unique perspectives & outside ideas, growing her business, Growing Greener Innovations (Grengine), manufacturing scalable electric power systems & a mission to bring power to the world.

More from Connie in this episode:

• Growing Greener Innovations’ global mission to address energy poverty
• How Connie’s IT career led to a business manufacturing battery systems
• How the Grengine batteries work & what makes them different
• How outside perspectives can give you an edge through new insights & new ways to create value
• Crowdfunding strategies & limits for startups
• Differences in fundraising as rare women entrepreneurs in deep tech
• Why Growing Greener Innovations is taking an international approach in selling products in +12 countries
• Why & how the company’s business culture is unique & prizes inclusivity & curiosity
• Why first customers are so important & how to find them
• The company’s approach during the pandemic

Connect to Growing Greener Innovations.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode and Riccardo Annandale for imagery above.

More from Marcie & Alicia in this episode:

• Defining diversity – why it means different things to different people
• Why diversity on its own isn’t enough & why inclusion is critical to realizing its benefits
• How EDI benefits innovation & creativity in organizations
• How Marcie & Alicia work on EDI with organizations
• GBA+ (gender based analysis+) in integrating gender & other forms of diversity into program & policy design; what it is & why it’s important
• The business case or the moral case; which of the two or both are needed to truly move the dial on EDI?
• The pandemic & unequal impacts
• Where we are on EDI in our region
• What (Ex)clusion podcast is about & what you can find out from it

Some resources mentioned in this podcast:

How Diversity Can Drive Innovation – Hewlett, Marshall & Sherbin

McKinsey report The Power of Parity

Connect to (Ex)clusion podcast, Marcie and Alicia.

Thanks to Zapsplat.com for music in this episode.

More from Omar in this episode:

• How Pandemic University found success as a professional development program for writers & journalists
• How the pandemic has affected the newspapers, magazines & book launches
• Creating a “sticky” program with a community & social enterprise-like approach
• Innovating a business model around a niche audience, freelance instructors, in-depth classes & a multi-sided platform
• Gamification & a game show graduation
• About Omar’s upcoming book, Praying to the West

Connect to Pandemic University & Omar Mouallem.

Thanks to ZapSplat.com for music in this episode.

Chrissy Gow is the Director of Content Marketing at Eventmobi, an event software management company. She explains what they’re doing to pivot in the pandemic & how they’re  helping customers deliver more engaging, interactive & engaging meetings, conferences & trade shows.

• how Eventmobi innovated its business model & pivoted to stay viable
• the impact of the pandemic on the event planning industry
• online & hybrid trends that we can expect for conferences & meetings over the coming months
• how to reduce “Zoom fatigue”, use gamification & interaction to make meetings & conferences more interesting, & interactive for participants
• the challenges & benefits of online events for event planners
• how pausing to listen closely to customers allowed Eventmobi to respond & pivot in how it served event planners
• the new product & ways that Eventmobi is working with event planners to develop engaging online events
• how the company’s internal processes & operations shifted to accommodate remote work, roll out & test new features
• the new capabilities & collaborations Eventmobi developed & what’s stayed the same

Contact Chrissy Gow & Eventmobi here.

Thanks to Zapsplat.com for music in this episode.