Tag Archives: entrepreneur

Samantha and Erin – Innovative Engagers

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Who are you?

I’m Samantha Juraschka a fourth year student at Bishop’s University and my partner Erin Pollon graduated last spring from Bishop’s. We recently launched an online magazine Uconversation.com. We created this online magazine out of frustration as students. We wanted a way that we could gain experience while still in school, network and hear advice from people that you could relate to (alumni).

What do you do for fun?

Most of our fun these days are spent on our computers, especially up to launch date. We get excited over new technology… we are huge followers of techcrunch and mashable. Erin loves anime cartoons and I am obsessed with youtube especially Conan O’Brien clips. We both played varsity soccer here at Bishop’s so we try to run and play sports when we can separate ourselves from our laptops.

What is your favourite community? Why?

Our favourite community is the Bishop’s community, which is really filled with stories students and fellow alumni are dying to hear about. These stories are what inspired us to Uconversation because we think students can benefit enormously from hearing from alumni and get inspiration for life ahead.

What are your superpowers?

Both Erin and I have two very diverse powers which make us quite a dynamic duo in the superpower realm. Erin is all about action and endurance, sometimes I wonder if she works in her sleep. I myself would consider myself to have daydreamer powers where I am able to think about creative ideas and see the big picture.

How do you use them to build community?

We use these skills to reach out to alumni and share their story with the rest of the Bishop’s community. We hope our website allows more students to reach out and talk to alumni and start networking the moment they step onto campus.

My Three Favourite Things About Samantha and Erin Are…

1. Entrepreneurial Spirit. Combining storytelling, higher education, mentorship, advice, and even a job portal just makes good sense. If not great sense. Being able to create your own work – as recognizing gaps/problems and turning them into opportunities/solutions – is one of my favourite things about twenty-first-century world-changers (people). With their endurace and creativity, Samantha and Erin are carving out some interesting territory in a dynamic social space.

2. Building Online Community. Through storytelling, uconversation.com connects people, ideas and opportunities in an innovative and engaging way. As I manipulate encourage my coming-of-age cousins to attend Bishop’s University, they will be able to get a powerful sense of what community – particularly BU community – means by exploring the stories and connections of this online space.

3. Leveraging The Awesome. Bishop’s University is awesome. Everyone knows this. But not all of the school’s students and alumni leverage such awesomeness in their daily lives. Samantha and Erin have made much of their university experience, the friends and connections that it earned them, and the awesome sense of community that Bishop’s provides. I can’t wait to see how this supercool project evolves over time.

Raise a toast, ladies!

As told by John Horn…

Bill Starr – The Life Lister

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Who are you?

Bill Starr is a founding partner and CEO of My Life List LLC (www.mylifelist.org), a Boston-based new-media company. He is a graduate of Bishop’s University in Quebec and is originally from Rothesay New Brunswick, Canada. Starr is an avid life lister, having lived in four countries, qualified as a Canadian Chartered Accountant, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef, leaped the world’s highest Bungee and white water rafted two of the world’s most challenging rivers in Costa Rica and Zimbabwe. Most recently, he completed his 2nd Rolex Sydney Hobart Ocean Race aboard a former round-the-world Volvo 60.

What do you do for fun?

Running a start-up is pretty time consuming and I hate giving the standard, ‘I love what I do’ line, but having spent 15+ years in corporate finance and accounting I needed a new challenge, something that mattered to me something that can be fun. Running a startup is not for everyone so it has to be fun and the people I have built around me are keeping it fun for me.

Other than having fun at work, I am an avid offshore sailor. I love being on the water with good mates making a racing yacht go fast. Top speed so far is about 35MPH on a Volvo 60 surfing waves off coast of Tasmania.

What is your Favourite Community? Why?

I know I am totally biased, but I spend most of my time engaging with the MyLifeList.org community. Our site is the premiere social network for goal achievers and leads the next generation of social networks by focusing on what matters. People need somewhere to go with more depth of engagement than discussing what someone had for lunch, sending shallow b-day wishes or to monitor the activities of ex-lovers. We have more than 100,000 member goals and stories on the site so plenty of inspiring discussions, including my going to Bishop’s University story.

What is your Superpower?

I would have to say vision and persistence. Creating a new community like MyLifeList.org has been challenging for multiple reasons. So many would have us follow what already exists. Why not create a facebook app or why not sell to Google. So uninspiring and misses the depth we are trying to establish within our community. I love this quote as it sums up how we view what we are doing. “When all think alike, then no one is thinking.” — Walter Lippman

How do you use it to Build Community?

The fact that our site exists is a testimony to using my vision and persistence to get this far and keep going. A key benefit of the MyLifeList.org community is that the site allows you to meet people by goal. The challenge for most people is finding those who have accomplished their specific goal. Our site connects people to those who have accomplished every major life goal. If you want to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro or run the Boston Marathon you can engage with people who have done it. It is the quality of connections on our site that keeps people coming back and sharing what matters.

My Three Favourite Things About Bill Are…

1. Talking in the Third Person. John Horn knows that this phenomenon was made popular by Michael Jordan in the early ’90s. Bill Starr – in his answer to the “Who Are You?” question – makes it cool and popular today. And, that’s right, I just compared Bill to Michael Jordan. In all seriousness, what I like most about Bill’s next generation of social networking is that it lives up to one of my favourite community-building quotes: “we are the application of our intention.” A lot of people say they’ll do things. Leaders are the ones who actually do them. Speaking of which, way to clean out your garage, Uncle John!

2. The Bishop’s Connection. Of course a busy, successful, visionary entrepreneur in Boston had time to be interviewed by the Daily Gumboot – I mean, they all do, right? Not really. Even though we’re kind of a big deal, the Gumboot doesn’t typically get interviews with folks of Mr. Starr’s ilk. But Bill and I both went to Bishop’s University. This means that he is a class act alumnus who is willing to help fellow alumni and answer ridiculous questions. Bill’s project – MyLifeList.org – reflects a true sense of community that we both share. From Boston to Vancouver, the purple pride of Bishop’s University connects folks who would otherwise be strangers who would never talk to each other and who also probably went to McGill or Queen’s.

3. Love of Lists. My Life List is about goal-setting, adventure and community. The List by John Horn is about life, the universe and everything…as I see it. So, Bill and I both love lists and are really good at making them. Bill’s list-making is just plain better, though. Because the ones he makes – and encourages others to make – inspire life and world changing actions to be taken my people who connect through a vibrant online community.

…as told by John Horn

Emily Jubenvill – Green Thumb and Mind

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Who are you?

I am Emily Wren Jubenvill, although known to my Grandmas as “Picklesnerp,” my mother’s hippy influence is apparent in my name and life. As an green spaces advocate, permaculturist, guerrilla knitter and gardener, environmental scientist, entrepreneur, veloist, traveller, and lover of marine invertebrates and magnolias I keep my days fairly busy and live through my passions.

2. What do you do for fun?

I just spent an amazing nine months living, working, and studying on farms in New Zealand and Australia. Why? “For fun!” is the easy answer, but to study permaculture, and learn more about the wonders of growing food and animal husbandry gets down to the nitty gritty of it.

Leaving the rolling pastures and Kauri forests behind, I’m back in the urban jungle of Vancouver. Staying in touch with my growing roots at my community garden plot in Nelson Park, and volunteering with the Vancouver Public Space Network as Green Spaces Coordinator.

Pedal power is a constant theme in my life as my main mode of transportation and fun. This Spring I decided to up the ante and join the Ride to Conquer Cancer. I remember my step-grandfather’s fight against cancer when I was a very young child. I did not understand what cancer was; I thought that there was a bean stalk growing inside him that made him sick. Now I understand that cancer is more complex then a bean stalk, and it certainly will require more then a firm tug to uproot a cure. Raising money for cancer research and support services at the BC Cancer Foundation, the challenge will be two fold – physically (over 300Km ride in two days!), and before I even hit the road I’ve committed to raising $3200 in the three months… that’s about $35 a day! Of course I can’t do it without the support of friends, family… and Daily Gumboot readers! If you want to pitch in $10 to help thousands of families facing the battle against cancer this year, and help prevent men, women, and children of the future from facing this horrible disease then you could give a donation.

3. What is your favourite community and why?

I love the communities of microorganisms that live in our soil, and make it such a fertile and productive place. Although hidden from the naked eye, and a tough crowd to get cozy with, these guys really know how to work together to get things done. They’re all for long term diversity, atmospheric carbon reductions, and very supportive of each other and their neighbours . Although each species may go through population booms and busts, they work in cycle with their plant companions to make sure that nutrient exchange is most efficient.

If you’re more interested in the human persuasion, then I have to give props to the Vancouver Public Space Network “community”. It’s made up of the most passionate, energetic, supportive, hard-working individuals who literally “get it done” because they’re doing what they love – engaging with and  improving ever facet of our community’s public spaces.

4. What is you super power?

My energy and enthusiasm. I’ve been told it can be infectious. I like the idea that I can brighten someone’s day with a simple smile or by simply looking at the bright side of a seemingly crummy situation. Or turn apathy into involvement by adding a little spice and excitement to the mix.  I think the power of hope is wildly underestimated, and I think that it’s an awesome super power.

5. How do you use it to build community?

I’m always out talking to people about what they love and what twists their noodle, then I try to make a connection between their sweet spot and whatever is already happening in the community – it’s about building bridges, expanding networks, and helping people realize that they have a stake in what is going on in their community and the world at large.

My three favourite things about Emily are…

1. The Farming Business. Few people can thoughtfully and realistically and seamlessly float between the world of urban natural capitalism and farming as viable career options. Somehow, some way, Ms. Jubenvill does it with ease – don’t be surprised if full-fledged Jubenvillian farms spring up all over the Vancouver cityscape in the years to come.

2. Social media before it was cool. I’m not saying that Emily invented Twitter, but she didn’t not invent Twitter. Ms. Jubenvill taught me a heckuvalot about The Internets before things like “social media” were used as viable agents to engage people about  important ideas involving this poor little planet of ours.

3. Storytelling with a Purpose. Emily gets down to business with thoughtful efficiency. She also has a million stories about ten million interesting people, places and things. Most importantly, Emily can make every story she tells relevant to her current projects, the people she meets, and the natural and cultural landscapes in which she finds herself. Her ambition and potential know no bounds, and Emily herself is a fantastical story with a myriad of purpose. She’s one to watch this decade!

- As told by John Horn…