Natasha Makhijani : Pioneering innovative new approaches to executive search

Natasha Makhijani is not your average headhunter. As CEO of Oliver Sanderson Group, Makhijani is pioneering innovative new approaches to executive search while breaking down barriers as a purpose-driven Asian woman business leader.

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from City, University of London and a Master’s from DePaul University in Chicago, Makhijani began her recruitment career on the Graduate Scheme at Hays in 2000.

“Among a team of 200 I was the only female, so I had to learn to hold my own in a very traditional maledominated culture,” she recalled. “I learned about everything from blue and white collar in the logistics and supply chain space, all the way up to operations directors, logistics directors, and supply chain directors.”

Fast-tracked into management roles, she achieved four promotions in four years and took a team from billing £10,000 to £80,000 a month. In her words, Makhijani grew “from a baby recruiter to a senior manager.”

“I absolutely loved Hays. It was a really great training ground, and for me it was the foundation for my recruitment journey. I was a top biller, and I had found my niche.”

From Hays she moved to Michael Page, and quickly gained recognition as a “super biller”. Working on a hybrid desk across permanent and interim leadership roles, Makhijani was given responsibility for growing Michael Page’s Public Sector division from its offices in London. She was the company’s number one biller in HR across the UK, and her success was rewarded with a place on the high-flier’s trajectory. But Makhijani always felt that there was another path for her career and having set up executive desks at both Hays and Michael Page, she set her sights on establishing a business of her own.

Natasha said: “I come from a very entrepreneurial community, and I always felt that there was something more out there. People questioned whether it was the right thing to do, but I took the risk. I knew it was the right thing to do, and I have never looked back.”

Oliver Sanderson was born in 2011, and what began as one lady and a laptop has grown into an international business at the cutting edge of executive search. “I left a great job, sold my car to consolidate my savings, and set up an office in the dining room,” she recalled. Within a couple of years she had built an international executive search firm with a dedicated research team. “Things have snowballed – we’ve made exceptional progress.”

Oliver Sanderson has built up a strong track record in recent years, having placed CEOs and senior leaders at FTSE 100, FTSE 350, and Fortune 500 companies. Specialising in both permanent and interim executive placements across a wide range of sectors, Oliver Sanderson provides clients with an end-to-end executive search process, harnessing the experience and creativity of its research team to solve complex recruitment challenges.

Oliver Sanderson’s Permanent Practice offers end-to-end executive search and consultancy. With a team of experienced consultants and researchers, the firm breaks the mould by providing a genuinely consultative and bespoke partnering model, helping clients achieve their ambitions by attracting, developing, and retaining high calibre business leaders.

A typical executive search process begins with abriefing, and Makhijani’s team prides itself oharnessing its experience and market insight to fully understand the unique challenges and business needs of its clients. Following the briefing, Oliver Sanderson’s research team typically carries out a multi-faceted search of the marketplace using a range of innovative resources. In addition to the traditional methods of targeted mapping, profiling, and headhunting, Oliver Sanderson draws from its pioneering mobile apps.

New technology has been central to Oliver Sanderson’s rapid growth, and Makhijani is a pioneer of digital innovations in executive search and recruitment. She co-founded Snapp CV & Snapp Resume, the world’s first mobile job board with voice technology capability and Amazon Alexa connectivity. The app currently has a database of over 25 million candidates in the UK and the USA, with over 250,000 positions listed on its mobile job board, and its directors are looking for Serious A funding as they look to expand further into the USA and India.

After the success of the Snapp suite, which includes Snapp Resume US & Global, Snapp CV UK, and Snapp INView video interviewing software, Makhijani recently launched a dedicated Oliver Sanderson Executive app. Designed and created by her in-house tech team, the app provides digital solutions at every stage of the appointment process, featuring introductory candidate and client profile videos, fingerprint and password-protected online NDA signatures, digital candidate packs, integrated job applications, and video interviews.

With digital platforms increasingly prominent in the executive search and recruitment industry, Oliver Sanderson is leading the way with its Executive app and integration with Snapp CV, harnessing the power of modern technology to discover and connect with the next generation of business leaders.

A series of world events has brought diversity and inclusion to the forefront of the corporate agenda, and
Makhijani has drawn from her unique experiences as an Asian woman CEO to build an inclusive culture at Oliver Sanderson. “Being a BAME woman CEO in the recruitment industry has not been easy, but I’ve always seen it as a strength. I have always been unique, slightly different. Most importantly, I have had to be extremely assertive to get where I am today.”

Makhijani is passionate about tackling diversity and inclusion challenges with her clients, and is currently
establishing a charity with a team of industry leaders to address a range of issues related to race equality, disability, and gender.

In addition to the launch of her new charity, Makhijani has an ambitious vision for the next five years.
Planning an expansion in Oliver Sanderson’s Europe and U. S. operations, she is open to new investment opportunities to support these ambitions. The launch of the company’s new JustInterims division is central to her plans. (Justinterims.com)

Recognising the need for strategic interim leaders to help steer businesses through periods of change, the team identified the value of a dedicated executive interims division. JustInterims at Oliver Sanderson now specialises in finding high calibre business leaders for interim appointments, particularly in interim Board Practice, Business Change, Organisation Development, and HR Transformation projects.

“The only certainty in business is change,” Makhijani observed. As her firm continues to expand and evolve, Oliver Sanderson is poised to remain at the forefront of an evolving industry.

About Oliver Sanderson:

Oliver Sanderson is an executive search firm with a difference, combining experience and expertise with innovation and fresh thinking.

The firm specialises in finding talent at board and senior leadership level for FTSE 100, FTSE 350, Fortune 500, and PE-backed businesses. Placing permanent and interim positions across a wide range of sectors, Oliver Sanderson has built up a strong track record of c-suite appointments.

With its suite of digital apps and its powerful diversity and inclusion work, Oliver Sanderson is leading the way in discovering the next generation of business leaders.

Exclusive Interview with Nicole Martin Founder of HR Boost LLC

Que: Brief us about the overall operations of your company.

Ans: We offer small and midsize businesses HR services on an ala carte, project or retainer basis. We meet our clients wherever they are on their journey to be an employer of choice and at their pace and budget. Our shared services approach allows us to build HR departments from scratch and align them to business strategy. While we see great value in the middle market, we do have some larger companies that augment their internal HR teams with strategic project initiatives from our team. Software is not HR. And HR is more than payroll and benefits. Building a high-performance culture that drives innovation and profitability requires leaders at all levels. HR infrastructure can uphold the Culture Invitation and once it is strategically aligned and reinforced a company can create workforce alignment empowering leaders to innovate amidst even the toughest climate in business.

Que: How did your company come into existence? What was the idea behind its genesis?

Ans: I left my employer back in 2010. I was on a mission to work for another CEO that desired to build a Best & Brightest® Company to Work For. When I branched out, I initially began as a Consultant. As I learned what HR Outsourcing was and considered what I knew HR to be, I found a niche delivering HR as I know it. The idea of full-service HR is something small businesses might think they don’t need, but we feel they deserve it. Every person deserves joy and purpose through their work, and we feel companies that enable this will prosper and grow with a competitive advantage through their people.

Que: Kindly elaborate on your company’s unique products or services.

Ans: Given we are not your Broker, your Attorney or a 1-800 number. We believe HR expertise is essential to any business as they grow their enterprise. Our Shared Services approach allows businesses to access strategic HR at their pace and budget all while taking a holistic approach to integrating a culture plan that enables their strategic and/or operational plans as a business.

Que: Please talk in detail about the featured person/ CEO/President/Founder of your company. Kindly elaborate on his professional and personal life.

Ans: You’ll notice it instantly. Nicole Martin, CEO and Founder of HRBoost®, loves what she does, and she does it remarkably well. “I’m the accidental entrepreneur,” said Nicole, “I looked back after starting my own business and said, ‘I started a business. Whoa!’” Nicole didn’t set out to create HRBoost. She simply followed her passion to help clients understand the importance human resources can play in developing a strong business. Today Nicole is a successful entrepreneur and an HR industry innovator who is dedicated to helping small to mid-size business realize their potential through their employees.

A self-professed “country girl in disguise,” Nicole Martin grew up in Montana, where, she says, “Everyone knows you and greets you on the street.” Nicole was also lucky to have a great mentor early in life: her mom. “My mother is highly spiritual, and she raised me with the philosophy of being happy,” said Nicole. “She always believed in that you are a special person—she ingrained that in me—and you are capable of anything.”

At the age of 18 Nicole was ready to start proving her mom right. She left Montana and moved in with her godmother in Libertyville, Illinois. Right out of high school, Nicole got a job as a receptionist at a pre-Y2K firm where she found her passion quite by accident. “They were hiring all these computer experts from overseas, but when they arrived, the company just put them in the reception area because they didn’t know what to do with them,” recalled Nicole. “It was just inhumane.”

During the same time, Nicole was working on a training program for a college human resources class. “I wanted to help these guys out in the hallway, so I just marched into the director’s office and asked him if he wanted to see the training program I created for school.” When Nicole was finished with her presentation, the director created a human resources department for the site, hired a manager and moved 18-year-old Nicole from reception to human resources.

Nicole has been building HR departments from the ground up ever since. What makes her approach so unique, she says, is that she begins with the business’ vision and creates HR programs that are completely integrated with that vision. From the hiring process to annual reviews, the programs Nicole creates are designed to further the business, boost productivity, and help employees understand why and how their contributions are meaningful.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there in the business community. These big businesses are coming into small to mid-size companies, and they are offering something that they call full-service HR, but it’s not. It’s tactical HR. It’s just taking care of payroll, benefits, database stuff. It’s not the strategic integration that helps a business thrive and perform.” Nicole explained.

Today, Nicole Martin does her best to represent her industry, not just as a senior executive, but as a public speaker, thought leader, blogger, board member and volunteer. As an ambassador for 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For™, she is helping Chicago business to see all the benefits a fully integrated human resources department can bring. “If you go into a business and they are a 101 Best and Brightest Company to Work For™, you can feel it. You would see on the people’s faces, the authenticity, the honesty, constructive criticism (which is level of respect) not complacency where managers actually think something in silence and don’t communicate it,” explains Nicole.

But Nicole’s brand of full-service integrated HR provides more than just a corporate culture boost or a good office vibe. She links HRBoost’s services directly to profitability time and time again— and she’s got the analytics path charts and the logic models to prove it.

Que: What makes your company stand out from the rest of its competition?

Ans: We deliver skilled talent to our clients. We also believe they need both strategic and tactical resources at the same time. One human is not ideal as there are various cognitive abilities to optimize HR strategically. We believe our shared services approach to the middle market is the PEO Alternative. And yes, the middle market needs an alternative.

Que: What kind of challenges has your company faced in its initial days of establishment and what are the struggles it is going through now?

Ans: Like any business, talent is critical to growth and skilled talent is critical to our business. As a result, we have reinvested in our talent and our approach to not only acquire talent but enable it. We have also been careful to listen to our clients, their experience, and ways we can better serve them. Our flexibility and custom approach to how we work with clients, has fueled our growth and success. The challenge will always be access to capital, both financial and human. As the business grows, those challenges just increase in scale.

Que: Kindly describe the current industry scenario that your company is catering to.

Ans: We are providing access to HR expertise that is not typically accessible in the middle market. Most of our executive level talent would not work for a small business full time. It is our unique shared services approach that keeps our talent engaged while providing services to our clients at their pace and budget. The convenience approach of consumers is not lost on business owners and we feel our approach caters to our customers desire to want what they want, when they want it and how they can afford it.

Que: What technological updates have been adopted by your company to enhance its operations?

Ans: We have invested in internal systems in recent years but remain system agnostic with our clients. Even though everyone has embraced technology and enabled talent with technology, we must always remember human interaction it essential. Furthermore, the technology should strive to drive efficiency but only people can make it effective. Systems do not innovate themselves.

Que: What advice would you like to give the young entrepreneurs and start-ups that are willing to enter in the industry that you are catering to?

Ans: Looking back, I worked and attended school simultaneously. I feel it is imperative to get hands on experience doing what you seek to learn. Make sure it brings you joy before investing time, energy and dedicating your life to it. Enjoy the journey and be prepared to learn, unlearn and relearn.

Que: What does the future hold for your company in terms of growth?

Ans: We practice what we preach. Which means we accept passive talent interest, and we pipeline our own talent. Usually, when we have a need, we do not have to post an ad and wait. We usually have someone ready to go and waiting for the call. This is essential to our continued growth. What has been interesting during the pandemic is the out of state interest we have received from HR talent. It has us thinking. After all, we do believe in open sourcing talent, especially now.

Que: In this ongoing pandemic, how are you catering to different industrial forums and trade communities to help survive in these difficult times of Covid-19? How are coping up with the challenges it has brought?

We find that local chambers are leaning on us to provide guidance and resources to their members. Businesses are seeking clear guidance and from trusted resources. We have also developed and provided free content from our HR experts that anyone can access on our website. The nuances of employees and business requirements has shaped a world in “HR Triage”, as we call it. Information is critical at a time where there is so much confusion. In addition, skilled talent was being displaced and many businesses did not want to let talent go. Meanwhile, other business defined as essential, had to keep employees working while facing the fact that some employees were no longer willing to come to work. This created unique challenges for businesses who had been operating with an employer first mentality. In recent years, the market shifted to an employee’s market and skilled talent will choose where it wants to work. In some cases, the greatest competition going forward will be the skilled talent that decides to put on a shingle for themselves. For those that kept running, despite it all, the compliance and risk factors were evident. We just knew we could help small businesses thrive and we started in our own back yard. In March for example, the Cares Act came out and literally changed laws within HR industry, the financial industry and in tax legislation. While everyone was trying to learn the new framework, businesses were striving to operate in this new environment. We took it up on ourselves to develop policy, standardized template documentation, FFCRA Instructions and guidance for all businesses with less than 500 employees. We priced it for a one-time fee of $149.00 and immediately, businesses were finding it. We are continually sensitive to the climate of the small business community and as a result, our content and resources aim to resource them. Collaboration is also critical across industry to enable the shifts we are experiencing in real time. As we look to 2021, mental health is critical. We believe well being is going to be a key performance indicator for businesses that thrive in staying productive long term. Creating unique ways to employ talent is not as simple as “work from home”. Globally, talent is seeking to move around, and businesses is sure to create new, unique ways to serve their customers. All of us play a role in the future of work. The most important thing, is talking with people close to your business, your community and that means also taking time to ask your employee’s are you are doing.

LUXE DIGITAL NOW : Pioneer in Creating Digital Marketing and Technological Solutions for Luxury Industry

LUXE Digital Now LLC is a luxury digital marketing and technology solutions company. It specializes in the beauty industry overview and innovates, designs and strategizes the best delivery in digital marketing and technology solutions. The company features building social media campaigns, e-commerce and content management platforms that strengthen businesses. LUXE Digital Now creates campaigns and content that move people. The company develops strategies and experiences that elevate brands and engage consumers. LUXE Digital Now develops branding that exudes the best. The company creates technologies that execute data and elevate mobile apps. LUXE Digital Now specializes in the beauty, luxury, fashion and technology industries.

Leading with a Commitment to Deliver Digital Solutions

Jacqueline Hudson is the CEO, Founder and owner of LUXE Digital Now. She is an award-winning visionary marketing executive with 10+ years of creative content expertise within digital marking platforms. Jacqueline was recognized by Forbes Magazine and is an AMA award nominee. She is one of the outpacing competitors and is delivering results
for top-named clients in the US. Jacqueline was named among Top 40 under 40 by Top 100 Magazine for a digital marketing expertise. She was featured in Top 50 Women of 2019. Jacqueline is the winner of the Top 50 Tech Leaders Award 2020. She is one of the inspirational speakers at the BCMA (Branded Content Marketing Association), the world’s most prestigious association for content in the Public Relations industry. Jacqueline is also a digital marketing executive and AI data technology solutions, strategist and developer. As a successful leader, Jacqueline’s most prominent experience has been lecturing to 14 countries about the digital marketing industry.

Learning to Succeed Amidst Challenges

acqueline believes that challenges come and go, but a leader of any company should face it. Building LUXE Digital Now’s reputation was the success of the firm, especially in the technology arena. She thinks that establishing clients was also of prominence.

Living the Life to be an Example

Jacqueline opines a leader should possess the strength, vision, and determination to move forward not just as an individual, but also as a leader. Being an inspiration to colleagues and employees is a vital success of leadership.

Excelling with Data Technology Solutions

LUXE Digital Now has contributed a lot of innovative technologies to the beauty and luxury agencies across the globe. Some of the data technology solutions involve AiDAS, the company’s smart mirrors and software development for the cosmetic industry. LUXE Digital Now has blazed the trail for innovation in technology.

Disruptive Technologies, a Necessary Challenge

Jacqueline presumes that disruptive technologies are a necessary challenge to the industry as LUXE Digital Now continues to develop the tech for today’s innovation and the impacts it has on companies. She believes that the role of a leader in disruptive technology is to keep the industry reflective and innovative to impact on the correct sector as technologies continue to evolve in the future.

Insight into the Future

Jacqueline sees LUXE Digital Now as the purveyor and successor in the industry of technology led by great female leadership. LUXE Digital Now might as well take on new technologies such as space exploration AI and deeper tech for space, e-commerce and holographic AI technologies in future.

Advice to Emerging Leaders

Jacqueline asks leaders to always believe in themselves and the innovation of successful leadership. She adds that leaders should trust the innovation for the industry as a whole, as they continue to move forward towards the future.

Management

Jacqueline Hudson, CEO/Founder/Owner, LUXE Digital Now

Rishika Lulla Singh: The Young, Dynamic and ever so Charming Entrepreneur, Taking Eros STX to New Heights

The team at Eros STX is always focused on mapping opportunities and diversifying itself by delivering several industry firsts as it continues to grow in the global entertainment market

Filled with vigour, creativity, and intentions to serve the world, Rishika Lulla Singh, the Co-President of Eros STX Global Corp is setting a new parameter in the entertainment industry. She is a high achiever and multi-talented, second-generation business leader with a highly evolved knowledge content.

An alumnus of the University of California, where she completed her post-graduation and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in South Asian Studies and Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Her passion for creative content along with the entrepreneurial skills led Ms. Lulla to become an integral part of Eros’ growth story.

Journey to Becoming a Global Leader

Eros STX Global Corporation is a leading global company in the entertainment industry, which co-produces, acquires and distributes films in multiple formats worldwide. We are one of the oldest companies in the Indian film industry to focus on international markets and we believe we are pioneers in our business.

Eros’s legacy of entertaining the masses is a well-trod territory and since inception, Eros Now, South Asia’s leading streaming entertainment service owned by Eros STX Global Corporation (NYSE: EROS), a Global Entertainment Company, developed deeper relations with the audience through its captivating content. One of their initial originals titled ‘Smoke’ was even handpicked to be premiered at the prestigious platform of MIPCOM at Cannes. The series received a stand ovation by the audience combining the global entertainment fraternity including distributors, broadcasters as well as executives from the global entertainment industry. This whole experience was a huge motivating factor.

Creative Offerings that Diversify the Organization

Eros’ wide-ranging slate of movies appeals to Indians as well as a global audience. Indian movies, especially Bollywood, have a massive fan base across countries and Eros has been one of the biggest entertainment studios in the country. Bollywood movies like Vicky Donor, Ra.One, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Love Aaj Kal, to name a few, have been entertaining movie buffs worldwide.

Eros Now, the premium OTT platform of Eros STX Global Corporation is a global video-on-demand service catering to more than 205.8 million registered users and 33.8 million monthly paying subscribers worldwide with the promise of offering endless entertainment through its varied product features – video in HD, multi-language subtitles, movie downloads, and high-quality original drama series. The OTT platform is well-known for its massive Bollywood and Indian movie library consisting of 12,000+ titles, originals, short-format content Quickie, music and more. Eros Now also caters to all key markets by offering content in 9 languages (Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali). They recently announced the launch of Eros Now Prime, a category which will showcase international content in partnership with leading studios like NBC Universal. Also, our merger with STX further enables the brand to deliver Indian content in 150+ countries while also catering to the massive audience for Hollywood content in India. The merger between the leading entertainment entities brings the best of Hollywood content to India and also offers the best of Indian entertainment to the global audience.

Greatest Accomplishments

Following the launch of Eros Now in 2015, there have been various accomplishments that the platform underwent, and in the process – it entered new markets, achieved millions of users, and offered pioneering services. The journey has been overwhelming.

Some of the mega achievements include – Eros Now garnering over 205.8 million registered users and 33.8 million monthly paying subscribers worldwide. Eros Now is the first Indian OTT platform available on Apple TV. The partnership with Microsoft in September 2019 led them to offer the audience next-generation online video platform. In November 2019, Eros Now entered a strategic alliance with YouTube Music & Google to provide consumers with a massive music library in conjunction with their premium film and other programming.

Eros’s Journey so Far and Future

In July 2020, the parent company of Eros Now, Eros International Plc, merged with the international studio – STX Entertainment. STX Entertainment is Hollywood’s fastest-growing independent entertainment powerhouse with presence in over 150 countries. With this merger, their aim to deliver star-driven premium feature films and episodic content across a multitude of platforms to the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing global markets, including the United States, India and the Middle East. The objective of the company has always been to consistently strengthen their reach in significant markets and deliver content that will connect with the increasing audience base for online video streaming which is diversified across genres and taps consumers through various demographics and geographies.

Leadership Principles

Rishika believes, as a leader, it is crucial to connect with your team and be relatable also at the same time build trust within your team and the organization. She says, “Trust flows both ways – you trust and empower your team, and at the same time, your team builds confidence in your leadership to achieve the goal.”

Another essential thing as a leader is always to listen – you learn more and can have a remarkable impact with an open mind and ear.

Collaboration is another significant aspect, as a leader to join forces inside and outside the organization. Always be curious, it never killed the cat, just took the cat to a different dimension! The ability to prioritize.

Build a team around you that is smarter than you – if you are the most intelligent person in the room, there is a problem!

New Ideas

The pandemic has disrupted the way the entertainment industry operates. Technology will be the key to deliver quality. Eros has always been a frontrunner in adopting new technologies to offer the best consumer experience. They recently also announced an alliance with Epic Games to use its Unreal Engine across production slate, paving the way for real-time technology throughout Indian entertainment.

Success Look Like

Success is measured in impact – how much of an influencer and disruptor can you are in your space. Further, Rishika usually analyzes how much this impact will drive positive social change and create a revolution.

The “Secret Sauce”

Success comes from the ability to drive the desired outcome in any circumstance which can only happen if the leader is inspiring while providing clarity.

Leadership Style

Rishika Lulla is empathetic, a good listener. She learns from people, and that is because she keeps an open mind and ears to new ideas, and that makes him curious as well.

One Characteristic of Leader

The ability to inspire. An inspired team births impossible dreams into a reality.

Best Advice Received

Know where you are going so you can learn and enjoy the journey.

The Driving Force

“Sheer love and passion for entertainment! We at Eros represent the massive global audience that truly loves entertainment and believe in delivering the best consistently to existing and potential consumers worldwide.”- Rishika Lulla Singh

FATIMA AL SHIRAWI: TEAM MOTIVATION DURING CRISES

When the question of what color is comes to your mind, millions of definitions arise, Color psychology is one of the most important sciences that started gain presence in the corporate world since late 1980’s. I founded my company in 2008 to simply the understanding of Color Theory and how to use it to our advantage in our day to day lives.

The Gracious F is the leading color solutions consultancy in GCC, dedicated to assisting people and organizations in benefitting through the power of Color Science and Psychology, based in Dubai, it has assisted a variety of individuals and businesses and holds a Portfolio of national and international organizations.

Successfully combining color psychology in all spectrums of individual re-branding and self-development, to businesses that are looking to enhance their awareness and strategy through color solutions in branding & marketing, Luxury Retail training, PR, Workshops, or residential and corporate interior design.

My core values are focused around ,Empowering women to be educated and to be their best self individually and professionally, serve the community and support local and youth talent, Learning every day, developing and helping my team to grow and exceed in their individual and professional lives.

Color psychology does not only help organizations in increasing their revenues, but also their teams Strengths and weaknesses, the color theory allows us to understand core personality of individuals, through the four-color groups which are used for personality profiling. With the know-how of which personality group your team members belong to, leaders can communicate with their team in their language and use their personality know how tools to enhance their productivity and efficiency. The knowledge of which color personality groups my teams belong to has been a crucial benefit for me as a leader and entrepreneurs to be able to take care of their mental wellbeing and motivation, during these difficult times with a uncertainty within all their surroundings.

Mostly all companies and leaders are currently facing lack of motivation, anxiety, depression, and There are tips which I would like share with all entrepreneurs in how to focus on team wellbeing and motivation

Use of the primary psychology on daily bases to create balance, red for Strength, Yellow for creativity, Blue for focus and Green for Balance
Train your team to take one hour per day to do something that makes them happy for themselves
Cleary communicate your expectations as a leader in these difficult times and give them more realistic goals to achieve during this time to avoid mental exhaustion
Take advantage as leaders to take this time in re-structuring departments that need more attention, research within your industry, and find new ways of achieving revenues in the new era.
When it comes to working remotely, this challenge for employee and for the employer, have certain colours around your desk space or whenever you are sitting to work from to maintain efficiency and motivation. Main three colors are: Red, Yellow & Blue.

ANAIDA DETI, A RENOWNED DENTAL PROFESSIONAL DEDICATED TOWARDS BLESSING PEOPLE WITH HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Filled with vigour, creativity, and intention to serve the world, Anaida Deti is a reputed and registered dental professional, driving the helm of DentalX as the CEO. DentalX Dental Clinic offers excellent and affordable oral health care and dental treatment options in North York, Toronto. There is multi-lingual staff of dentists and dental professionals that speak your language, including English, Spanish, Albanian, and more. Anaida is ambitious, principled and likes to help people. She aims to make every visit to her clinic an all-around positive experience – she wants all her patients to leave with a fresh, healthy smile.

SERVICE PORTFOLIO

DentalX is dedicated to delivering the best possible dental health and treatment options with affordable rates and ample time for your visits. They take the fear out of dental treatments by offering people relaxed appointments, kind and caring staff, and with a focus on education and prevention, as well as maintenance. DentalX has amazing staff that truly care about the patients. Besides, the multi-lingual staff is highly educated and experienced professionals who put the patient’s comfort and health first. List of services offered at DentalX:

Teeth Cleaning: Regular Teeth Cleaning is a preventative oral hygiene procedure where plaque and deposits are removed from teeth.

Teeth Whitening: Advanced LED teeth whitening procedure – Whiten and brighten your teeth for a pearly white smile in just one visit.

Root Canal Treatment: In extreme cases of tooth decay, the removal of the pulp tissue is performed to prevent future infection and save the tooth.

Wisdom Teeth Extraction: For some people, wisdom teeth impaction can sometimes happen resulting in extreme pain and gum inflammation.

BEGINNING OF A PROMINENT LEADER

Anaida Deti and her husband, John Dine, moved from Albania to Canada in the past decade. That time, they had only a few hundred dollars with them and a big dream of building something theirs. Anaida spoke no English and her school meant nothing here, so she had to start everything from scratch. She worked seven days a week while going to school full time.

After a few years of finishing school and getting her licence as a registered dental professional, she took the foundation of DentalX in 2013. Initially, DentalX started with only Anaida, booking appointments in her car and seeing patients in the late afternoons or Sundays after she worked all day for other dental offices. Now she has an award-winning dental clinic, in North York with 12 staff members.

Anaida’s aim was to give back to the community and educate patients on the importance of dental health. For this, she founded Mission Kind (Kids In Need of Dentalcare); to help children aged 6-16 obtain much needed dental work at no charge. Her passion and dental expertise have garnered her media coverage on Rogers Daytime Television, Sirius XM Radio’s What She Said, and GlobalTV, CTV, CP24, CTV NewsChannel, Newtalk1010 and more. She has been featured in the Toronto Star, Elevate, Parents Magazine, Focus Magazine and more. She is the dental blogger for Huffington Post, Thrive Global and Inside Toronto. Her blogs are usually featured on Oral Health Group website.

Little Eyes with Big Dreams

Since childhood, Anaida wanted to be a dentist, an orthodontist to be specific. Dentistry was something that had always fascinated her. This does not mean that she wasn’t terrified to go to the dentist! Sure, she was, but she also found it very interesting. Little Anaida used to say that when she became a dentist, she would help all the people who were scared like her, to actually look forward to their dental appointments. Now she sees kids looking forward to their dental appointments, adults as well.

“I remember thinking: one day I will have my own clinic. People around me called me a dreamer and said I was crazy, but guess what, they were wrong! Never give up on your dreams, no matter what others may say”, Anaida proudly shared.

Daily Routine of the Wonder Lady

Anaida shared, “My day starts at 7:30 am with getting me and the kids ready for school. After dropping them off to school, I go to the office and take care of daily tasks. I see patients and perform all duties as a dental professional. I have to manage the office and also take care of the payroll, hiring staff, dealing with patients and different problems as they arise. At the same time, I also get involved in marketing my clinic. I overlook all things that happen in the office. Usually, my workdays are 12+ hours long, Monday to Saturday. After work, I have a lot of things to do at home with the kids, and housework. I never go to sleep before midnight. I am quite busy and don’t have much time to do anything else. I have my plate full with my family and business.”

What Makes DentalX Unique?

DentalX helps as many people as they can with their oral/dental health and the most important thing for patients to look forward to their dental appointment. Here are some major factors that make DentalX stand out:

Anaida and her team focus more on the preventative side of dentistry by offering longer dental appointments which include oral hygiene instructions in a more extensive way including visuals as well.

The office looks different as well; it gives patients more like a spa feel than a dental office.

They offer different relaxing techniques for the patients making the dental appointment more relaxing and less scary.

They specialize in seeing nervous patients that do not like going to the dentist. Our warm environment and techniques make them more comfortable.

Imparting Wisdom

Anaida believes that nothing comes easy, if you work hard and put your mind to it, everything is possible. She says being successful is subjective to everyone. She loves what she does and every morning she cannot wait to go to the office and start her day. The best part is to do what you love and get recognized for it.

Jewels in the Crown

Anaida Deti of DentalX has been awarded the Business Women of the Year Awards
DentalX awarded with the Corporate Vision Magazine Most Influential Leader in Healthcare 2020 – Toronto
Anaida has been honoured with the Stevie Awards for Women in Business 2019
She has been recognized as Bronze winner for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada
Anaida Deti is honoured to receive the 2019 Woman of Inspiration Indigenous Leader Award
Anaida Deti, of DentalX, is proud to be the 2019 Urban Hero Awards – Business Category winner, People’s Choice
The company has been honoured with the 2019 CEO World Awards
2019 Women in Business & The Professions World Awards
Anaida Deti wins the 2019 Gold Stevie Entrepreneur of the Year in the Health Products & Services category
DentalX wins the 2019 Stevie Company & Organization of the Year in the Health Products & Services category
2019 The Winner Awards for International Business Excellence in New York City.
Anaida Deti of DentalX has been selected as one of the 2019 RBC Top 75 Canadian Immigrant Awards Finalists

Nancy Zeffman: Musings of a Co-Founder of a fashion start-up

My background is in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi; Eileen, my Co-Founder, has a background in fashion working for Nicole Fahri. We have been firm friends for a long time, having met at the school gate when our children where little. We felt that our complementary backgrounds, skill sets and characters were perfect to start a business together.

We launched Cucumber Clothing almost three years ago, in September 2017 and it has been a roller coaster ride ever since! Sometimes, you can get so bogged down in the day-to-day that you forget to pat yourself on the back and acknowledge what you have actually achieved. We hope that Cucumber will go from strength to strength, but either way, we have launched a label that is a recognised brand and has customers all over the world.

I think that to launch a brand takes three main characteristics; determination – if you want to go for something, you have to give it your all and see it through; organisation – there is always so much to do and not all of it can be done at once; which leads me on to…prioritising – and this means in a personal capacity too. You have to learn to prioritise yourself sometimes so that the business can be supported by two mentally and physically fit happy co-founders.

The foundation of Cucumber happened organically. I love to work out, as does my co-founder Eileen. We also love to wear our gym kits and found ourselves hardly changing out of them as the materials used are so comfortable, crease-free and easy to care for. They keep us cool and dry as we go about our busy lives, whether that’s trail running, downward dogging in hot yoga, jumping for the ball in basketball, walking the dog or popping to the local shops.

Our light bulb moment came when we realised there must be a way to reproduce this, but with a material that looked as gorgeous as it felt. We wanted to replicate all the qualities of anti-crush, cooling, stay fresh and comfortable clothing, but in more stylish, everyday luxury pieces that we would want to reach for time and time again.

We are both mums who have seen our children flee the nest; we had some more time on our hands and thought that Cucumber could fit neatly into our lives. Looking back, we were so naïve. We both gave up our other work commitments and it has been full steam ahead with Cucumber taking up every waking hour – an action packed journey of shifting priorities, meeting some incredible people and a huge learning curve; but mostly it has been lots of hard work and fun.

We launched with a very small collection of just six pieces of nightwear in two colours. We were truly overwhelmed by the response we had to our products and quickly realised that there was a real gap in the market for performance, luxury fabrics that work with your body. This led us to develop ourselves into a fabric-led fashion brand, for use 24/7 not just for sleeping in. We provide women with solutions for their super busy lives, whether day or night, at home, at work, or globetrotting.

Being a tiny start-up on a shoe-string budget, we have learnt to look at things differently and find innovative ways to achieve our goals. Unconventionality is what we stand for, both in terms of how we get things done and in what we are doing. We see ourselves as educators – teaching women that technical fabrics that keep you cool and fresh can also be sustainable and fabulous to wear. So many women initially feel that human-made fibres by their very nature cannot be sustainable and cannot feel luxurious. We are here to bust that myth! We are not the scratchy nylons of the 70s; we are beautiful, luxuriously soft fabrics with all the added benefits of modern technology.

Of course, our latest challenge is the challenge that now faces the whole world. We have some amazingly loyal customers and we hope that the world can get back to normal soon. These are uncertain and difficult times for everyone.

We have had to learn some hard lessons along the way. For example, quite early on, we decided to try and outsource our fulfilment (picking, packing and shipping to the customer). We pride ourselves on brilliant customer service – we personally answer every email and actively encourage feedback. Fielding out this part of our business was nerve-wracking as this was the first time we had no control over part of our customer’s experience with us. We were horrified when we began to receive complaints of wrong garments received, double orders sent out and boxes marked ‘shoes’ (we only do clothing)! It was a month-long, very expensive experiment with endless firefighting, but it underlined to us the value we place on customer service.

The ‘team’ is just the two of us (although we are excited to be hiring our first extra pair of part time hands soon) and we try to make our work mantra ‘kindness’. Everything we have created with Cucumber has been helped along with large doses of kindness from others and our interest in sustainability and circularity stems from trying to ensure that we leave the world a better place.

From the very start, we wanted to be mindful of the world around us. We realise that producing anything leaves a carbon footprint, but we are trying to make ours as light as possible, whilst supporting the local economy. We are not perfect, but with every new collection, we are getting that little bit better – no small feat for a tiny start-up fashion brand.

mYngle: Going Beyond The Realm Of Traditional Education With Digital Learning

mYngle is a globally established, unique platform offering online language education with personalized course plans. It is focused on innovating the traditional world of education by delivering a truly customer oriented solution. mYngle, under the leadership of Marina Tognetti- founder, has been offering Effective learning process incorporating industry topics & building employees’ skills since inception.

When mYngle was started, it was a pioneer in live online language education, amongst the first to provide one-to-one teaching of all languages over the internet. The platform offers customized language training programs through video conferencing in 45 different languages anytime, anywhere. Here, lessons are one-on-one, with highly qualified native coaches and related to the job-position of the learner. The virtual classrooms enable learners to take classes 24/7.

mYngle is the perfect solution for busy professionals who need language training to be successful in their international business, and for Companies that want great learning results and a transparent and controllable learning process to make their investment a success.

More About the Leading Lady

Marina Tognetti is a tech entrepreneur, founder of mYngle.com. She like challenges, in everything she does. She also believes that entrepreneurship, especially in tech, allows us to look far ahead, innovate, change traditional business models, and disrupt industries.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world. This probably best summarizes my vision of leadership as well as of my outlook in life. That is also why I choose entrepreneurship, even if later in my career, as it allows me to really make a difference,” asserted Marina.

The passion for entrepreneurship came later on in Marina’s career. She built first a successful career by large multinationals, Procter & Gamble, Philips, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group, and eBay; living and working in different countries, and got an MBA from INSEAD.

It was when working as a consultant on a project on internet strategy that she first saw the potential of the internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way people buy/sell/interact. She had to be part of that! That was the driver to start an innovative company as mYngle.

Hurdles On The Way

Marina said, “The main challenges were not at the beginning, but were when we had to ‘pivot’ from the initial business model to a completely different one. We had launched mYngle as a marketplace, something I knew very well from my previous eBay experience. We thought we got it all: funding, lots of Awards and PR, a very motivated team. But something in the business model was not functioning as we expected. We listened to our customers and they gave us the new direction, and they gave us the new direction, from an open marketplace to a quality global online school, from B2C to B2B. That is the mYngle that you see now.”

Marina’s biggest lesson here was that “Change is an essential part of being an entrepreneur.” That was the key to the success of mYngle. Success as an entrepreneur in fact is not a straight line. The truth is that in most cases, what you start out to do will not be what you’re doing when you are ultimately successful. You’ll discover that things you expected to work well don’t work at all. You’ll stumble into things that you didn’t expect to work that will. You’ll have to be able to adapt. It is how you deal with uncertainty and change that sets you apart.

“Entrepreneurship is jumping from a cliff and learning how to fly at the same time.”

Achievements and Rewards

Building a business from scratch is always challenging, building a tech start-up disrupting an industry as traditional as that of education, is exponentially more challenging. There are all sorts of resistances of an immature market you have to bypass: from the stereotypes consumers have in their minds to the (conservative) opinions of people. Now, online language education is setting the standards in terms of quality and flexibility. And mYngle has been part of that.

For these reasons, mYngle has also won numerous awards as recognition for its contributions to online education. Immediately at the start (2008): Accenture Innovation Award, European Ventures Summit Award, Benelux Venture Summit Award, and more later on. Besides, Marina Tognetti received numerous awards as founder and CEO of Myngle, such as 50 most inspiring women tech leaders in Europe, 50 most inspiring women in the Dutch technology sector, Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All, and many others.

Leadership and Innovation

This is an era of fast and drastic changes- technology, the volatility of the market, talent development. This affects the role of a modern leader, which must be able not only to adapt but also to anticipate and ride the positive trends.

The characteristics of a good leader nowadays are therefore similar to that of an innovative entrepreneur. A leader must have a strong Vision, to set the direction and anticipate and navigate challenges. This also means being able to ‘Think out of the box’, adapt and change to keep the business successful. A leader must not be afraid of taking (calculated) risks in order to anticipate trends and steer the company also in turbulent waters. Last, but not least, must be able to build an organization that is also agile. That requires developing people that think and not only do ‘’jobs’’, employees that are entrepreneurs, fostering a culture of experimentation.

The future ahead, professionally and personally

“It is in my nature to want to constantly improve, and it is in the nature of an entrepreneur to always seek new opportunities or areas of development. The future for mYngle will surely hold new challenges, as we keep on innovating and being ahead of the market,” Marina proudly shared.

“I also have a strong idealistic part. I believe each of us can make a difference. So, for me personally, it will also be time to let the idealistic voice inside speak. I walked this path and learned a lot. That brought me in a privileged position, where I can implement new ideas that can make a difference. I can now use my skills to make the world just a little bit better,” she further added.

ELLEN VOIE: EMPOWERING WOMEN IN TRUCKING INDUSTRY THROUGH HER VENTURE

An internationally recognized speaker and a businesswoman with a sustained passion for woman empowerment, Ellen Voie is one such dynamic lady in the business world who has been encouraging and supporting women in the trucking industry.

The Women In Trucking Association, under the capable supervision of Ellen, has established its position as an industry leader to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, to remove obstacles that might keep them from succeeding, and to celebrate the successes of its members. After forming in 2007 with the support of a passionate leadership team, highly engaged members, and committed sponsors and partners, this non-profit organization has made an impact globally.

In 2012 Ellen was recognized by the White House for being a “Transportation Innovator Champion of Change.” This distinction gave the organization a higher level of both credibility and visibility in the trucking industry.

THE INSPIRING JOURNEY

Ellen started her career in 1978 when she was hired at a steel fabricating plant in central Wisconsin. She worked in the drafting department, designing material handling equipment, such as steel pallets, bins, and racking. In 1979 she was transferred into the Traffic Department. She earned a diploma in “Traffic and Transportation Management,” and later became the Traffic Manager.

In her personal life, Ellen married a professional driver, and they started their own trucking company. Besides, she did free-lance work as a transportation consultant, ran a small carrier, raised two children, and attended college to earn her bachelor’s and then master’s degree in communication.

After twenty years, her marriage ended. Ellen accepted the position of Executive Director of Trucker Buddy International, where she led the program for six years. Then, she was recruited by Schneider National to lead their retention efforts. Her job was to initiate corporate-level programs designed to attract and retain non-traditional groups, which included female professional drivers.

At the time, she was completing her pilot’s license, and she belonged to an organization for female pilots. It struck her that there wasn’t a similar group for women in the trucking industry, so she started one.

That was in 2007 when the Women In Trucking Association was formed!

DIFFERENTIATING FACTORS

As a member-based organization, their goal is to listen and provide the needed resources. For an association, this typically means information such as best practices, research, and as much data as possible. In 2007, there was very little data in the trucking industry related to gender. In fact, many trucking companies didn’t even track the percentage of female drivers or managers hired. The organization’s focus is to listen and learn and then provide the resources their members need to create a more diverse culture.

COMPANY’S FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

In thirteen years, the Women In Trucking Association has grown to about 5,200 members in ten countries. One of their goals is to expand into more international economies, to have a greater understanding of how to attract and retain women in other nations. Not all challenges are the same. For some, such as India, it might be cultural, and for others, such as in Western Australia, it might be due to the nature of the challenging terrain. They are also working to create more local and regional groups by forming chapters.

HURDLES IN THE PATH & THE BIGGEST FAILURE

“The goal during turbulent times is to be adaptable. We need to make decisions in an agile way so we can be proactive instead of reactive. For example, we decided to cancel our annual conference and to change it to a virtual event. This created a challenge to deliver the needed and desired content without compromising the interaction. We are all getting better at virtual meetings. However, it still removes the personal connections we make at an event, and our goal is to ensure our attendees feel included, educated, and entertained enough to want to come back next year”, stated Ellen.

She doesn’t look at any actions as failures; she views them as learning opportunities. There are decisions she has made that have turned her in a different direction, but that’s part of the journey. She can’t think of anything she could have or would have done differently.

THE “SECRET SAUCE” and “VISION” IN LIFE

Ellen proudly said, “As a leader, my approach is to lead by example. I work hard and expect our team members to work hard, as well. Since we are a virtual organization with remote staff, it makes it more challenging to motivate and support, but we do that through consistent interaction. More importantly, we hire people who can work independently and who are self-motivated. We don’t count hours, and we don’t over manage. Instead, we treat each individual as an adult and measure outcomes instead of hours. This makes work-life balance easier when our team members choose their workdays and establish their own schedules. Outcomes are the goal, not timesheets or check-ins.”

Ellen’s vision, or perhaps her superpower, is that she looks ahead to the future. She sees the opportunities to create change and grabs them. She does not let anyone tell her she can’t succeed! Ellen is driven when it comes to looking forward and making the industry a better place.

NEW IDEAS

New ideas as a CEO include creating more opportunities for various demographic or professional groups to learn from our expertise. For example, female professional drivers could be segregated by whether they work in teams or solo, owner-operators or company drivers, or by the type of freight they haul, such as flatbed, automotive, dry van or refrigerated. Ellen loves to see more of an individualized approach to these connections.

BEST ADVICE RECEIVED

Ellen Voie shared, “The best advice I ever received was to move out of my comfort zone. Each one of us needs to test our limits to see what we are capable of accomplishing. Without pushing ourselves, we’ll never experience the sense of accomplishment that comes from the challenge. I have sky-dived, Bungee jumped, and learned to drive an 18 wheeler, fly a plane and ride a motorcycle.”