Missed this week's Summer Impact? Here’s a recap! 

This week’s summer camp was all about sparking change and generating radical ideas. Ideas come from understanding who you’re solving the problem for which requires you to flex your creative muscle and take a human-centred design approach. 

Our Keynote speaker, Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite, spoke about the process of ideation and provided us with the best tips. He taught us that the best ideas are the ideas that others care about. It might not start with the “BIG IDEA”, but it does start with the little ideas and building on those. It’s about being present in the moment and understanding what is the most impactful solution for your audience. In the end, his number one tip is to be curious, find that big wave, and get focused on that idea that will serve you really well! 

A panel took place with The Knowledge Society (TKS) team to learn all about how to bring your ideas to life. The team emphasized the importance of professional connections. Cold calling connections can be a powerful tool for seeking opportunities and being part of something bigger that you are passionate about. Focus on something that hasn’t been done before, and find gaps in existing solutions! TKS introduced “Moonshot Thinking” which is an ambitious, exploratory, and groundbreaking way of thinking and solving problems. 

Leah Coss, founder of Build a Biz, held a mini challenge for creative ideation sprint. She taught us how sprint ideation can push you to efficiently and creatively brainstorm by using Miro Boards. Decision making is one of the most important roles as an entrepreneur and using a “creative ideation sprint” will help expedite the decision making process and make it easier to prioritize the best ideas. 

It was a very jam-packed day of summer camp! Here are some takeaways for you:

• Be curious and dive into new areas for ideation!
• Focus on the big waves and impactful solutions.
• Find ways to push your creativity efficiently by using Miro Boards.
• Cold call potential connections to seek opportunities for yourself and your impactful solutions.

What a great third week of Summer of Impact! We can’t wait to see you for LAST Week of Summer of Impact: Week 4 - Spark Your Story! Want to join us live? It’s not too late! Click here to register if you haven’t already!

Who joined us this week? 

Ryan Holmes

Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite, is a Canadian computer programmer and internet entrepreneur. He is famously known as the founder and CEO of Hootsuite, a social media management tool for businesses with more than 18 million users. He began developing Hootsuite in 2008 through his agency, Invoke Media. He is also the founder of League of Innovators, a charity with the goal of building entrepreneurial acumen for youth, from discovery to acceleration.

The Knowledge Society (TKS) 

Kim Parnell, The Knowledge Society (TKS) Director, is a serial entrepreneur that has been involved in a wide variety of ventures - from organizing conferences & events to TV hosting & production to founding, and later successfully exiting, a commercial cleaning company. Kim’s most recent venture was co-founding the data architecture startup Truebase. Using the internally developed, open-source data notation “Truth”, Truebase works with many different types of companies across Canada, the US and Australia, to create highly structured data models in the form of ontologies. These ontologies are used to power various business systems such as knowledge graphs, semantic networks, intuitive search, recommendation engines and various machine learning models. Kim loves working with creative & curious individuals, specifically, the young ambitious ones. She has served as an entrepreneurship coach for organizations such as YES (youth entrepreneurship arm) and as a mentor to the startup incubator, Founder Institute. She works closely with educational institutions like Georgian College (Big Data Analytics Program) as an industry advisor and helps provide students with real-world project experience. She is a frequent speaker on technology topics and shares much of her entrepreneurial journey on her various social media accounts.

Selina Liu, TKS innovator and researcher,is a 17 year old researcher and innovator diving deep into the intersection of brain-computer interfaces, neurological diseases, and genetic engineering! She is pursuing her Honours Bachelor of Science at The University of Toronto and has recently created Anthozoas, a moonshot company with the mission to genetically engineer coral zygotes to be resistant to the effects of rising water temperatures. She is currently a lead researcher at Medicine4Youth and an event coordinator at Youth Medical Action Potential.

Astha Dhyani, TKS innovator and researcher, is a 16 year old innovator and researcher in the field of neuroscience and brain-computer interfaces. She has consulted for companies and organizations such as Instacart and the United Nations, and has worked on developing her own moonshot company called Revalysis, which aims to reverse spinal-cord injury induced paralysis through gene therapy and antibodies. She is currently working with OpenBCI’s ganglion board to control laptops through her brainwaves, as well as working towards getting her I.B. Diploma at Harold M. Brathwaite Secondary School. 

Uma Darbha, TKS innovator and researcher, is a 17  year-old neuroscience nerd, and is currently researching a section of neuroscience called Optogenetics. In the past, she has worked on projects like using piezoelectric materials to harness energy from earthquakes, and she has also been a student researcher at a couple neuroscience labs across North America since 2020. She is currently super interested in how we can use optogenetics to examine the human “consciousness” in terms of metacognition and memory! You can check out her portfolio here. 

Leah Coss 

Leah Coss, founder of Build a Biz, is on a mission to change the way we value people in society starting with the way we educate our youth. To prepare today’s kids for a future filled with Artificial Intelligence, Technology and Ongoing Change, she has built platforms and education methodologies that promote the development of Essential Human Skill Development in children and youth.

Get Connected on Facebook

The League of Innovators’s Youth Entrepreneurship Community allows you to connect with others, network, and be involved with a supportive community!

We'll share resources all week on Facebook and reminders for our Innovation Challenge - submissions are due August 5! Join the group here!

Mentorship Session

Attend live sessions happening on Thursdays at 2pm PST with fellow peers and learn straight from entrepreneurs to support your journey. You can expect all the mentors to share their experiences and knowledge with you as well as expand on specific topics or challenges that you may encounter.  

Click here to join the Mentorship hour! 

Don’t forget to check out the mentorship guide here! 

Thanks for joining us this week! See you next week!