What does Maureen Palmer do? Having many roles, it was hard to answer that question, until her daughter came up with an apt description – “knowledge translation.” And as a creator of documentaries which take time to make, that knowledge translation has to anticipate what the public wants to talk about months from now. To her, this is key to being successful and a big reason to keep her eyes and ears open.

How does one become an ambassador? For US ambassador to Canada David Cohen, it depends on what kind of ambassador you are – and yes, there are different types. And there is more to being an ambassador than simply diplomacy; it is also about maintaining a high-morale team that is proud to represent the United States and facilitate trade between American and Canadian companies.

Dr. Sam Aparicio of BC Cancer, studying medicine was always the plan, but research became his passion. Unbeknownst to him, research also involves many skills that didn’t expect, such as grant-writing, which he had to learn along the way. This led him down other side pathways, such as starting a biotech company to commercialize some of the findings in the genomics field.

Cruz Gamboa’s path to being an executive coach started with a love of finance. Through building his experience and moving up the ladder in the financial departments of different companies, it made him realize that a large part of financing is treating it like a “sales job” and that these experiences made him more well-rounded – this gave him valuable insight leading to his current job as an executive coach, teaching others to use their experiences to get a step up in their careers.