The Virago Podcast Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:23:21 -0400 https://www.buzzsprout.com/1279268 en-us © 2026 The Virago Podcast yes 810a95d6-e98d-5e74-8ec8-0dc1ded3e82a Tashika Gomes episodic false Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) Tashika Gomes https://storage.buzzsprout.com/yhqqn4kyt8ny3u556o09yaullxeh?.jpg The Virago Podcast Amanda Pope - Starting a successful business in your teens, living with purpose and what to do when you can’t pick just one career Amanda Pope - Starting a successful business in your teens, living with purpose and what to do when you can’t pick just one career Amanda Pope is an ambitious entrepreneur, TV host on Cable 14, and news journalist on ELMNT FM reporting breaking news, sports and weather live on air for Toronto and Ottawa. 

Amanda also has a passion for health and wellness, and is currently studying holistic nutrition at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. She is combining her love for health, personal growth and faith into a coaching business and podcast called Thrive and Shine. Her mission is to empower women to thrive in all areas of life. 

Amanda is passionate about business journalism and startup companies as well. She created her own brand as the former producer and host of Cable 14’s Generation Z, the editor of the Generation Z Hamilton online blog and podcast, and the event manager of the monthly Generation Z Hamilton networking events. She also started her first business at the age of 16 called Living With Purpose, which helped seniors to age gracefully. 

Furthermore, Pope is a former business reporter for City Matters on Cable 14, a researcher for CBC, and lifestyle reporter intern for Global News.

Connect:
Instagram: @amandapope
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-pope-5780b8100/

]]> Amanda Pope is an ambitious entrepreneur, TV host on Cable 14, and news journalist on ELMNT FM reporting breaking news, sports and weather live on air for Toronto and Ottawa. 

Amanda also has a passion for health and wellness, and is currently studying holistic nutrition at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. She is combining her love for health, personal growth and faith into a coaching business and podcast called Thrive and Shine. Her mission is to empower women to thrive in all areas of life. 

Amanda is passionate about business journalism and startup companies as well. She created her own brand as the former producer and host of Cable 14’s Generation Z, the editor of the Generation Z Hamilton online blog and podcast, and the event manager of the monthly Generation Z Hamilton networking events. She also started her first business at the age of 16 called Living With Purpose, which helped seniors to age gracefully. 

Furthermore, Pope is a former business reporter for City Matters on Cable 14, a researcher for CBC, and lifestyle reporter intern for Global News.

Connect:
Instagram: @amandapope
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-pope-5780b8100/

]]> Tashika Gomes Buzzsprout-6118399 Wed, 28 Oct 2020 23:00:00 -0400 3355 1 7 full false Kimberly Irwin - The importance of haircare for seniors and the challenges and triumphs of mompreneurship Kimberly Irwin - The importance of haircare for seniors and the challenges and triumphs of mompreneurship Kimberly Irwin is the founder of Haircuts on Wheels, Toronto’s number one hair care company for seniors and people with disabilities. Haircuts on Wheels brings mobile hair care services to seniors at home, in the hospital or rehab, and in retirement residences. Their team of stylists is trained in senior’s haircare and they come to you. They understand the challenges that come with aging and ensure their entire team is trained to provide exceptional hair care experience in every situation. Every day their stylists help seniors and people with disabilities look great and feel cared for, uplifted and highly respected. Kimberly is also the proud mother of three beautiful children.

Connect: 
http://www.haircutsonwheels.ca
Kimberly@haircutsonwheels.ca
@haircutonwheels

]]> Kimberly Irwin is the founder of Haircuts on Wheels, Toronto’s number one hair care company for seniors and people with disabilities. Haircuts on Wheels brings mobile hair care services to seniors at home, in the hospital or rehab, and in retirement residences. Their team of stylists is trained in senior’s haircare and they come to you. They understand the challenges that come with aging and ensure their entire team is trained to provide exceptional hair care experience in every situation. Every day their stylists help seniors and people with disabilities look great and feel cared for, uplifted and highly respected. Kimberly is also the proud mother of three beautiful children.

Connect: 
http://www.haircutsonwheels.ca
Kimberly@haircutsonwheels.ca
@haircutonwheels

]]> Tashika Gomes Buzzsprout-5992705 Wed, 21 Oct 2020 01:00:00 -0400 3218 1 6 full false Farzia Khan - Habits & routines of a serial entrepreneur and why we need more women in STEM Farzia Khan - Habits & routines of a serial entrepreneur and why we need more women in STEM Farzia Khan is a Senior Manager of Employee Tech Experience at the Bank of Montreal. She primarily focuses on bringing innovative technologies to the workplace that will improve the technology experience for 45,000 employees. As a strong advocate of women in tech, Farzia sits on a Women in STEM Council of Ontario Tech University, Chair of the Women in Tech Initiative at BMO, and also founded the first and largest student-run hackathon in Canada called Ellehacks. This led to nationwide recognition, winning multiple awards, and features in the local newspaper. As an upcoming leader in the service robotics space, this past year in partnership with Global DWS, she led Robocon which the world's first virtual hackathon on service robotics. 

Farzia is also the Founder of MyGuideBox, which is a subscription service that delivers boxes of curated educational materials on topics that are not normally taught in school such as: investment, personal finance, mental and physical health, nutrition, career development, relationships, digital marketing, and personal branding among other topics. The goal is to help students accelerate their learning process and grow as an individual. 

Farzia runs the mentorship program LIFT and the blog TopStudentAdvice which helps students navigate through the student life successfully with topics ranging from career advice to study tips for high school and post-secondary students.



]]> Farzia Khan is a Senior Manager of Employee Tech Experience at the Bank of Montreal. She primarily focuses on bringing innovative technologies to the workplace that will improve the technology experience for 45,000 employees. As a strong advocate of women in tech, Farzia sits on a Women in STEM Council of Ontario Tech University, Chair of the Women in Tech Initiative at BMO, and also founded the first and largest student-run hackathon in Canada called Ellehacks. This led to nationwide recognition, winning multiple awards, and features in the local newspaper. As an upcoming leader in the service robotics space, this past year in partnership with Global DWS, she led Robocon which the world's first virtual hackathon on service robotics. 

Farzia is also the Founder of MyGuideBox, which is a subscription service that delivers boxes of curated educational materials on topics that are not normally taught in school such as: investment, personal finance, mental and physical health, nutrition, career development, relationships, digital marketing, and personal branding among other topics. The goal is to help students accelerate their learning process and grow as an individual. 

Farzia runs the mentorship program LIFT and the blog TopStudentAdvice which helps students navigate through the student life successfully with topics ranging from career advice to study tips for high school and post-secondary students.



]]> Tashika Gomes Buzzsprout-5667610 Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:00:00 -0400 3181 1 5 full false Hayley Mullins & Sarah Cox - Why mums know best, skin to skin and self soothing for adults Hayley Mullins & Sarah Cox - Why mums know best, skin to skin and self soothing for adults Hayley Mullins is an Infant Falls Expert and the inventor of the Joeyband, which she created after an awful incident where her baby fell to the floor. From that experience, she became entrenched in the issue and now works alongside global Key Opinion Leaders, including the Joeyband® advisor and WHO breastfeeding consultant Linda Smith, to eliminate the issue. 

Sarah Cox is Certified in Kangaroo Care and is an Experienced Business Builder who has worked with Canadian, US, EU and U A E markets in both start-up and corporate environments. She has a wealth of experience in selling to the largest US hospital systems, home care providers, insurance companies, distribution companies, as well as the leading Health EMR/ERP software organizations. 


Info:
Website: https://joeyband.com/
Instagram Hayley: https://www.instagram.com/the_joeyband
Instagram Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahm.cox  




]]> Hayley Mullins is an Infant Falls Expert and the inventor of the Joeyband, which she created after an awful incident where her baby fell to the floor. From that experience, she became entrenched in the issue and now works alongside global Key Opinion Leaders, including the Joeyband® advisor and WHO breastfeeding consultant Linda Smith, to eliminate the issue. 

Sarah Cox is Certified in Kangaroo Care and is an Experienced Business Builder who has worked with Canadian, US, EU and U A E markets in both start-up and corporate environments. She has a wealth of experience in selling to the largest US hospital systems, home care providers, insurance companies, distribution companies, as well as the leading Health EMR/ERP software organizations. 


Info:
Website: https://joeyband.com/
Instagram Hayley: https://www.instagram.com/the_joeyband
Instagram Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahm.cox  




]]> Tashika Gomes Buzzsprout-5546323 Mon, 21 Sep 2020 23:00:00 -0400 3240 1 4 full false Hannah Cree - Catalyzing social change in uncommon ways through business, writing and speaking Hannah Cree - Catalyzing social change in uncommon ways through business, writing and speaking Raised in an entrepreneurial family, Hannah Cree’s career naturally began at a young age with a lemonade & cherry stand. She proceeded to receive 2 Youth Initiative & Community Achievement Awards from the Premiere of B.C. for her leadership in the 1st ever Surrey Youth Opinion Polls and the subsequent creation of 5 Surrey Youth Centres, which are still there today.

For 20+ years, Hannah’s career in Alberta has focused on peer education models, specifically in entrepreneurship and social innovation. She is a certified trainer in Team Building, Facilitation, Public Speaking, Anger Management, Conflict Resolution, Self– Esteem, Communication & a Master Graduate of Leadership. Most recently she completed her certificate in Board Governance for Small & Medium Enterprises from the University of Alberta, and the Canadian Mental Health First Aid Certificate. She has built and delivered programming through high schools, accelerators, coworking spaces, startup organizations, and angel investor groups. 

Hannah is a fierce advocate for using capitalism for good - to solve the world's most pressing social issues. She is the co-founder of CMNGD (COMMONGOOD) which employs people facing poverty through a sustainable commercial laundry service. Their mission is to elevate people out of poverty by creating radical connections through meaningful work. They have employed over twenty-two thousand hours at a living wage, & moved 8 individuals out of homeless shelters. CMNGD has been awarded the Social Enterprise of the Year - by both Startup Canada and Calgary Chamber of Commerce. They are also recipients of the Trico Foundation Award and one of SheEO’s 2018 Canadian Ventures. 


]]> Raised in an entrepreneurial family, Hannah Cree’s career naturally began at a young age with a lemonade & cherry stand. She proceeded to receive 2 Youth Initiative & Community Achievement Awards from the Premiere of B.C. for her leadership in the 1st ever Surrey Youth Opinion Polls and the subsequent creation of 5 Surrey Youth Centres, which are still there today.

For 20+ years, Hannah’s career in Alberta has focused on peer education models, specifically in entrepreneurship and social innovation. She is a certified trainer in Team Building, Facilitation, Public Speaking, Anger Management, Conflict Resolution, Self– Esteem, Communication & a Master Graduate of Leadership. Most recently she completed her certificate in Board Governance for Small & Medium Enterprises from the University of Alberta, and the Canadian Mental Health First Aid Certificate. She has built and delivered programming through high schools, accelerators, coworking spaces, startup organizations, and angel investor groups. 

Hannah is a fierce advocate for using capitalism for good - to solve the world's most pressing social issues. She is the co-founder of CMNGD (COMMONGOOD) which employs people facing poverty through a sustainable commercial laundry service. Their mission is to elevate people out of poverty by creating radical connections through meaningful work. They have employed over twenty-two thousand hours at a living wage, & moved 8 individuals out of homeless shelters. CMNGD has been awarded the Social Enterprise of the Year - by both Startup Canada and Calgary Chamber of Commerce. They are also recipients of the Trico Foundation Award and one of SheEO’s 2018 Canadian Ventures. 


]]> Tashika Gomes Buzzsprout-5477989 Wed, 16 Sep 2020 23:00:00 -0400 4396 1 3 full false Emily Bland - Growing your own food without soil or sunlight using hydroponic kits Emily Bland - Growing your own food without soil or sunlight using hydroponic kits Emily Bland is the CEO of SucSeed, which is a Newfoundland based company that creates low-cost, cleverly designed hydroponic grow kits for growing your own food. SucSeed exists to bring hydroponics into classrooms, homes and communities to encourage a simple and easy environmentally sustainable practice that is delicious and rewarding. To date SucSeed gardens are used in over 600 classrooms across Canada, educating 15,000 students each year. Among many other accolades, Emily has been named top 30 under 30 in sustainability, top 30 under 30 innovators and HSBC’s Woman Leader of Tomorrow for Atlantic Canada for her work in agriculture and sustainability.


]]> Emily Bland is the CEO of SucSeed, which is a Newfoundland based company that creates low-cost, cleverly designed hydroponic grow kits for growing your own food. SucSeed exists to bring hydroponics into classrooms, homes and communities to encourage a simple and easy environmentally sustainable practice that is delicious and rewarding. To date SucSeed gardens are used in over 600 classrooms across Canada, educating 15,000 students each year. Among many other accolades, Emily has been named top 30 under 30 in sustainability, top 30 under 30 innovators and HSBC’s Woman Leader of Tomorrow for Atlantic Canada for her work in agriculture and sustainability.


]]> Tashika Gomes Buzzsprout-5375377 Wed, 09 Sep 2020 22:00:00 -0400 3013 1 2 full false Suzanne Tyson - Converting loyalty points into tuition and student loan payments Suzanne Tyson - Converting loyalty points into tuition and student loan payments In 2013, Suzanne Tyson combined all of her previous career experience to conceive, develop and launch HigherEdPoints.com, the only company in the world to enable the conversion of existing loyalty points into funds for higher education. Her efforts with HigherEdPoints have directly assisted students and parents’ funding over $2Min tuition payments and student loan repayments. HigherEd Points is the largest source of private sector educational funding for all students: no essays required! Recognizing that it takes a village to raise a mind™ and indeed a village to fund an education, Suzanne also created the Ways to Pay for School seminar to provide students and families with information on all available sources of funding, before, during and after post-secondary. The seminars cover every other type of educational funding—RESPs, scholarships, jobs and everything in between.


]]> In 2013, Suzanne Tyson combined all of her previous career experience to conceive, develop and launch HigherEdPoints.com, the only company in the world to enable the conversion of existing loyalty points into funds for higher education. Her efforts with HigherEdPoints have directly assisted students and parents’ funding over $2Min tuition payments and student loan repayments. HigherEd Points is the largest source of private sector educational funding for all students: no essays required! Recognizing that it takes a village to raise a mind™ and indeed a village to fund an education, Suzanne also created the Ways to Pay for School seminar to provide students and families with information on all available sources of funding, before, during and after post-secondary. The seminars cover every other type of educational funding—RESPs, scholarships, jobs and everything in between.


]]> Tashika Buzzsprout-5071472 Wed, 19 Aug 2020 22:00:00 -0400 3605 1 1 full false