A Seat at the Table (Annie Zountsa and Sasha Przybylski )

Dr. Shini is a podcaster, youtuber, author, tedX speaker, and much more. She is sharing her knowledge and passion in STEM through various forms of media to make it accessible to others. Previously, she worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics during her doctorate in mechanical engineering.

All her life, she has been working towards becoming an engineer, overcoming challenges such as stereotypes, mathematics, and external pressures.

In this episode we discuss Shini’s journey of seeking her authentic self, and pursing the path that felt “right” to her. We discuss work life balance and working smart, as well as strategies Shini has found to have helped her, including meditation. We also discuss Shini’s method for communicating clearly, and how to make knowledge accessible for everyone. This episode is filled with mindsets and insights that are sure to resonate with anyone trying to become more authentic to themselves.

Where to find Dr. Shini:

Crash Course Physics: Crash Course Physics Preview - YouTube

Latest Book: Engineers Making a Difference: 9781804660270: Books - Amazon.ca || Engineers Making a Difference (engineers-making-a-difference.com)

Personal Website: Dr. Shini Somara - Home (drshinisomara.com)

In this episode, we sat down with Kristina Arriaga, a human rights advocator particularly interested in free speech, freedom of religion or belief, and international human rights for girls and women.

The U.S. Congress appointed her to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2016, and during her 3-year tenure, she met with high ranking government officials to advocate for human rights in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey, and many other countries.

Kristina is on the board of trustees on the Oversight Board at Meta, and this will be the first time she’s spoken about her work there publicly!

In this conversation, we talk about various mindsets that have helped Kristina, as well as her work on the Oversight Board, and discuss what it means to have ethical artificial intelligence.

Sanskriti Deva is a quantum computing researcher, engineer and current intern at IBM. She is also the youngest person ever elected in the UN national council.
Despite her young age, she has accomplished some remarkable things. Among others, she is the founder of InventSTEM, an organization working on STEM accessibility and STEM education throughout the world.
In this episode, we talk about her journey with quantum computing and the UN. Sanskriti shares advice on various pillars of everyday life, like battling imposter syndrome and building self confidence, establishing connections and taking action.

Join us as we talk to Chandhana, a TKS alumnus who has explored a variety of fields ranging from bioplastics to BCIs. Chandhana is currently working on scaling her bioplastic (that costs less than one dollar!) but is also following her curiosity through university.

Chandhana sheds light on how to decide what projects to work on, and the benefits of trying different things. She explains how the point of projects is to litmus test - if you aren’t learning and you aren’t enjoying it, maybe it’s time to move on. She also talks about the importance of working on things you are genuinely curious about and following what excites you.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is the done > perfect mindset. Chandhana completely embodies this mindset, and she shares some specific advice for people on how to develop it. From creating artificial deadlines to the concept that it is never too late to start, this conversation will inspire you to just start. Just start on that project you’ve had in mind for a while. Publish that article, ask that person for a warm intro. Just do it.

Where to find Chandhana:

LinkedIn: Chandhana Sathishkumar | LinkedIn

Personal Website: chandhanas.com

Jess Takimoto is the founder of Shine Fit, a dance-based fitness studio in Toronto. Previously, she majored in Business at Queen’s University and taught fitness classes. There, she evolved her teaching style, and that eventually led to the founding of Shine!

Jess is also a content creator and has a YouTube channel with an impressive 199 videos - discussing confidence, university, and of course, fitness.

In this conversation, Jess elaborates on her journey to entrepreneurship, and shares empowering frameworks to help build your confidence. We discuss goal setting, how to make habits that truly stick, and much more!

Where to find Jess:

Take a Shine Fit class here!

Jess' Instagram

Shine Fit's Instagram

Noel is a Las Vegas based intrapreneur who worked at Zappos, and scaled a company they acquired, 6pm.com, to 1 billion dollars in revenue per year. Crazy, right?! She is also a past TKS director (just keeps getting better 🤩). Noel is now working on a software company called CodingScape.

In this episode we discuss scaling, building brands by creating emotion, being an intrapreneur, and being ok with breaking things. Noel shares tons of actionable advice that goes right to the root of what being an intrapreneur and scaling means. She also explains who should be an intrapreneur. Finally, we talk about “paths,” and intentionality of choosing where you are going.

Where to find Noel:
LinkedIn: Noel (Cusimano) Hurst | LinkedIn
Slack: @Noel Hurst

In this episode we chat with Marisa Murray: an author, TedX speaker, and founder of the executive coaching company Leaderley.

Leaderley is a company that advises companies and individuals to help them achieve their leadership development goals. Prior to starting Leaderley, Marisa worked at both Bell and Accenture, among other companies in the chemical engineering space!

In this episode, Marisa describes her journey transitioning from chemical engineering to the business world.

She shares how you can leverage the chemistry of your body to achieve flow state, manage stress, and set better goals.

And finally, she gives an overview of the frameworks she’s written about in her books, and describes how to be “iteractive.”

Where to find Marisa:

Leaderley: https://www.leaderley.com/

Books: https://www.leaderley.com/books

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murraymarisa/?originalSubdomain=ca

TedX Talk: https://youtu.be/k5_A6IGJESA?si=7-Ve9UuilLdAvPow

Jill Pestana is a battery scientist, YouTuber, and consultant. She was previously the lead of the North American Battery team at Accenture, where she consulted on projects all across the battery supply chain - from raw materials, to recycling, to manufacturing. Jill has a YouTube channel, Across the Nanoverse, where she explains technical battery topics in a super easy-to-understand and engaging way.

She also just officially started her new company, Pestana Solutions, which offers technical consulting!

In this episode, we talk about Jill’s journey into the battery field, starting with her experience growing up in a STEM-centered household, then onto her experiments with fuel cells, and finally batteries.

Jill shares the resistance she faced being a woman during her time at university, and her advice and experience overcoming that.
And finally, we end the conversation off with an engaging demonstration of how a lithium ion battery works, and why we even chose that chemistry!

Where to find Jill:

Personal Website
Across the Nanoverse (YouTube)

65% of companies fail because of co-founder issues. This inspired Annie to found Confidante, which is a company that works with founding teams to prevent this.

Even if you aren’t thinking about finding a co-founder right now, Annie’s principles can be applied to team formation in general. Having a good team dynamic can not only make the work way more enjoyable but can increase your probability of success!

In this conversation, we touch on seeking clarity (not alignment) in conversations, Annie’s framework for cultivating healthy cofounder relationships, the ideal number of decision-makers on a team, and balancing kindness with competency. Aside from just cofounder relationships, Annie’s frameworks and advice are applicable to any kind of relationship. And since the world is run on relationships, not rules, this is a very impactful skill that can unlock so many possibilities for you.

Where to learn more:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-garofalo/
• Website: https://www.confidante.info/
• Podcast - How I Met My Co-Founder: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-met-my-co-founder/id1723885564
• Resources for Co-Founders: https://confidante.substack.com/t/resources-and-research

• Essential Co-Founder Conversations: https://confidante.substack.com/p/partnership-agreement-cofounders
• Watch Outs When Choosing a Co-Founder: https://confidante.substack.com/p/6-biggest-mistakes-choosing-a-co
• Healthy Founding Teams: The Sound Relationship House: https://confidante.substack.com/p/the-sound-relationship-house-for-cofounders

Nancy Dalakoura is a physics enthusiast, having participated and excelled in various national and international physics competitions. In 2022 her team placed first in the International Young Naturalists’ Tournament (IYNT), a competition of scientific debates and experiments. From there she went on to represent her country in the International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT), a prestigious event for experimental physics.

Seeing a lot of new students entering these competitions yearly, not knowing the process or having preparation material, she wanted to play a role in supporting them. This is why she founded SciBridges, an educational non-profit aiming to democratize access to international science competitions for students all over the world.

Nancy is also interested in art and philosophy and is an incoming freshman at Stanford where she’ll be pursuing both of her interests in physics and philosophy this coming fall.

During this episode Nancy guides us through what the IYNT and IYPT are, talks to us about her curiosity for the intersection of physics and philosophy: quantum mechanics, narrates her journey of taking the risk of not sitting the Panhellenic exams and focusing on studying abroad and pursuing her passions and so much more!

Where to find Nancy:

SciBridges Instagram

Personal Instagram

For the 9th episode of A Seat at the Table, we spoke with Mia Rath, the CTO and cofounder of Lumindt, an energy storage startup based in the heart of San Francisco. They are currently in their Seed stage, and they’re using hydrogen to help balance out the intermittency of renewables to empower the clean energy transition.

In this conversation, we dove into the technicalities behind hydrogen as an energy storage medium, as well as what Lumindt is doing differently. We also discussed the process of taking an idea from paper to reality, and what it’s like to be right in the heart of the startup world. We touched briefly on how to find your cofounder, and it was amazing to hear Mia share many stories from their journey so far! 🚀

Where to find Mia:

LinkedIn

Lumindt

Jennah Dohms is currently working at The Knowledge Society, a human accelerator program for teenagers. Before this however, she lived many different “mini-lives.” From wanting to be a lawyer to educating Syrian refugees, she then began working at an anti-human trafficking non-profit, and eventually switched to working at a Christmas light startup.

Jennah truly embodies what it means to take an unconventional path. Her story is incredibly inspiring, despite all the twists and turns, she remains guided by her north star of unlocking human potential.

In this episode we discuss Jennah’s perspective on taking an unconventional path, as well as mindsets that have helped her along her journey. From creating systems to support you in tough times to having a bias towards action, this conversation is packed with actionable insights.

Join us as we sit down with Danielle Strachman, a VC and founder! Danielle is on the founding team of the Thiel Fellowship, which is a two-year program that gives one hundred thousand dollar grants to young people wanting to skip or stop school to build new things.

She is also the co-founder of the 1517 fund, a venture capitalist firm that backs dropouts, renegade students & sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages of their companies. They’ve funded companies like Loom, Luminar, and Lambda. And if that wasn’t enough, Danielle has also founded Innovations Academy, which is an innovative school based in San Diego.

In this episode we discuss Danielle’s journey into the VC world as well as her experience working with both the 1517 fund and the Thiel Fellowship. Danielle shares stories of young founders, as well as actionable advice, in her easy-going, engaging way.

Useful links:

- 1517 fund - ⁠Paper belt on fire

In our 10th episode, we spoke with Miranda Nover, a cell product developer at Tesla. What this means is that she’s working on product development on the 4680 cells, which are the ones that are in the Tesla EVs!

Previously, Miranda studied Mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and was a research assistant working on generative AI.

In this episode, we discussed first principles thinking: why it's important and how to do it. We also talked about Miranda's experience at Tesla, and what makes it such an innovative company. And finally, we dove quite deep into the battery tech that powers it all. We covered different chemistries, the tab-less design, dry cell manufacturing, and different form factors.

Where to find Miranda:

LinkedIn

Helen is the head of school at Holy Trinity School (HTS), which is a K-12 independent school based in the Toronto area. As the head of school, Helen is focused on creating innovation in the school system, transforming it from the industrialized system that we see into a place that will empower young people to tackle the problems in our future world.

In this episode, we talk about Helen’s view on education, as well as what should be changed - the “ideal day.” One of our favourite things about Helen is how in touch she is with the students: her vision for the future of education is centered around what would be best for the learners themselves.

Where to find Helen:

HTS: Home - Holy Trinity School (HTS)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-pereira-raso-a5814918

Instagram: https://instagram.com/hts_headofschool?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==

Isabella Grandić is a 20-year-old innovator, researcher, traveler and so many more things that can't be put into words.

She is passionate about using technology to scale standards of living and has worked on projects in maternal mortality, cellular agriculture, women’s health taboos, secondary education in a technological world, early childhood development, urban loneliness, and climate action. (Whew!)

And, while solo traveling to different places in the world, she is pursuing her BS in biochemistry at the University of North Carolina as a Morehead-Cain Scholar!

In this conversation, Izzy shares stories and advice for traveling solo and what it has taught her. She also talks about her time in Burundi and how it led to her work in global logistics and supply chains. We also discussed finding yourself - and methods to do that. Izzy’s energy and authenticity made this conversation so enjoyable!

Where to find Izzy:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabellagrandic/

Thaleia Dimitra Doudali is an assistant research professor at the IMDEA Software Institute, where she researches computers and machine learning, focusing on resource management. She is also an executive member of Greek Women in STEM, where she’s helping create inclusion in academia.
Thaleia’s notable distinctions include winning the Cesar Nombela grant and the Juan de la Cierva fellowship and being invited to attend the Rising Starts in EECS workshop.
In this episode, Thaleia shares her journey in electrical engineering and computer science and walks us through her pioneering research on leveraging AI to maximize the efficiency and sustainability of computer systems.
Thaleia also talks about the importance of mentorship and fostering intentional relationships while discussing how her educational journey in different continents and involvement in Greek women in STEM led her to that realization.

Links:
Personal Website
LinkedIn
Greek Women in STEM - Website

Jaiya is the cofounder of Tydra Labs, which is making the textile industry more sustainable by creating organic stretchy fibers as an alternative to petrol-containing Spandex.

In this episode, Jaiya talks about her journey to founding Tydra Labs, and how she’s scaling it - including conducting customer interviews and crushing pitch competitions. 

We also discuss why petrol-containing Spandex poses such a big problem, and the impacts of fast fashion.

Jaiya also shares insights from her trip to Kenya as part of UBC’s Sauder School of Business, where she taught entrepreneurship in Nairobi.

Where to find Jaiya:

LinkedIn
Tydra Labs
Eco Odyssey Challenge

Aneta Londa is the founder and Chief Buzz-Creator of Moonshot Pirates, an organization which helps young people build solutions for the world’s biggest problems. They are empowering youth in over 150 countries to create a sustainable future!

In this episode, we discuss how Aneta built Moonshot Pirates, and she shares stories of the people who went through the program.

Aneta shares her view on imposter syndrome, and how it can empower us. We also talk about Aneta’s experiences being a mother and an entrepreneur, with her husband as her co-founder!

Where to find Aneta:

Moonshot Pirates

LinkedIn

Instagram

Christine Lerios is a startup veteran with over two decades of experience running operations and marketing efforts for small businesses in the technology, finance, healthcare, and non-profit sectors.

Her early career was centered around marketing, but since then, Christine has become a consultant, and mentor and embarked on many entrepreneurial adventures alongside her husband, Toli Lerios - including being on the team that founded Alabama's first residential treatment center for eating disorders.

Tolis, Christine’s husband, is a former mentor, serial entrepreneur, engineer, and past co-founder of various successful start-ups that later on went on to be acquired by companies such as Microsoft or private equity!In this episode, we discussed leaving doors open and creating serendipity while learning to tolerate discomfort and uncertainty. We also talked about cultivating transferrable skills and how to foster open communication in relationships.