Amplify Your Business Limelight: Telus Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator Pitch Party

For this special episode of Amplify Your Business, we’re filming at the Telus CSW Pitch Party, where we were fortunate enough to interview three amazing up-and-coming businesses in the Telus Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator who are doing amazing things in Edmonton and globally to bring safety and wellness to the workplace.   Lance’s first interview was with Christy Canida, the Senior Director of Product at AlchemistX, and one of the coaches of the Telus Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator. From San Francisco, this is Christy’s third year as a coach for the Telus CSW Accelerator.    Next up was an interview with Antonio Visconti, the CEO and Founder of Sobereye, an organization looking to increase workplace safety through real-time impairment detection, which uses a pupillometer to detect potential impairment due to fatigue, illness, alcohol, and legal, illegal, and prescription drugs. Sobereye is a subscription-based proactive safety solution that includes testing devices, cloud-based enterprise software, and training and support. To learn more, visit www.sobereye.com   Lance’s third interview of the evening was with Akanksha Shelat, the co-founder and CTO of Mind-Easy. Mind-Easy is a digital mental health benefits platform that provides culturally sensitive mental health resources to organizations and their workforces. 90% of Canada’s therapists are caucasian, leaving a gap for many people of other races, cultures, and ethnicities who may not fit into the eurocentric, one-size-fits-all solution that a caucasian therapist may provide. To learn more, visit https://www.mind-easy.com/    Next in the hot seat was Ghalia Aamer, the founder, and CEO of TalkMaze. TalkMaze is working to instill confidence in children between the ages of five and 17 through public speaking and debate training. They do this through their platform that connects students with real-time instruction and coaches, along with asynchronous and gamified activities that help them build confidence. To learn more, visit https://talkmaze.com/  Lastly, Lance got to catch up with Ling Huang, the president, and CEO of Technology North, Digital Services. Ling was a member of cohort number two of the Telus Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator.   00:00 - Intro 01:12 - Christy Canida - Senior Director of Product, AlchemistX - Christy, can you tell me a bit about the Telus CSW Pitch Party and what you’re trying to accomplish with this accelerator? 01:39 - Out of the 20  businesses taking part in the accelerator, how many of them are not in Alberta? 02:19 - Why is it important to support businesses that have aspects relating to community, safety, or wellness? 04:18 - Were you involved in the first two cohorts of the Telus CSW Accelerator? 05:11 - Antonio Visconti, CEO & Founder, Sobereye - Where are you from and what’s the name of your business? 09:45 - Is your product in the market already? 10:39 - How can people connect with you who may be interested in deploying your product at their workplace? 11:36 - Akanksha Shelat, Co-founder & CTO, Mind-Easy - Where are you from and can you tell me a bit about your business? 12:26 - How does Mind-Eye offer culturally sensitive mental health resources? 13:10 - What role does technology play in Mind-Easy? 14:24 - What stage is your business at currently? 14:51 - What are you trying to receive out of the Telus CSW Accelerator? 19:18 - If someone wanted to connect with you, how can they do that? 20:25 - Ghalia Aamer, Founder & CEO, TalkMaze - Where are you from and can you tell me a bit about your business? 20:58 - What stage of your business are you in right now? 21:19 - What challenges do you think you’ll face with TalkMaze? 22:26 - Is there a lot of gamification involved in TalkMaze? 23:45 - If someone wanted to learn more about TalkMaze, how could they connect with you? 25:25 - Ling Huang, President & CEO, Technology North Digital Services -  Tell us a little bit about your business. 25:49 - Can you tell us about your experience being a part of cohort #2 of the Telus CWS Accelerator? What did you get by being a member of it? 27:11 - When you came into cohort #2, was your business already up and running? 31:27 - What are the biggest challenges in growing your business? 32:55 - If I gifted you a million dollars today, what would you do with it?