Getting help with and getting assessed for mental health can be difficult – Jason Morehouse seeks to change that with HiBoop, a tool that helps professionals improve the quality of their treatments. To get started, he had to get an understanding of technology and how to leverage it with good developers and passionate product builders, and wrap it up with awareness among people who are in charge of the brand.

What does Gavin Dew do for a living? He jokes that even his wife doesn’t know. But to him, his work is to get complicated major projects built in difficult situations. Those situations may be politically difficult or controversial, but that does not scare him. To him, anything worth doing is hard – to him, that is “interesting and fun.”

Mohammad Doostmohammadi’s work days are long – to him, it is not always a bad thing because his work is his passion. “I am doing what I enjoy,” he says. “It’s my life.” He sees himself as an inventor and entrepreneur, finding ways to turn various forms of electronic and mining waste into recycled materials. To him, his passion drives the fun in running his start-up – in fact, passion is vital in order to succeed.

Nick Bostrom’s job is to think about humanity – after all, as a philosopher in a complex world that has the rise of artificial intelligence, there is a lot to think about. When he started out in his career, academia was the only field where he could do that kind of work. But in today’s world, his work at the Future of Humanity Institute has gained importance as society starts to question how humans work with technology and artificial intelligence, and what that means to being human.

Alex de Vries’ role as a “digiconomist” started as a hobby, combining her history with economics with a passion for digital economy. In his role, he provides warnings and cautious advice on those getting into cryptocurrency. This was a far cry from his younger days, when he had no idea what he wanted to do – but keeping his options open paid off.

When Jeanette Jackson took over a clean-tech accelerator called Foresight, it was a team of two. Today, that number has grown to 50. To get there, she had to start with a hands-on strategy, doing everything from ideas to pitching them. Over the years, she transitioned into the leadership role that she serves today. Her biggest advice to others is to get a handle on fine details such as numbers for financials and keeping track of projects’ progress.

There is no “normal” day when you work in government. That is what Brenda Bailey has learned as British Columbia’s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation. In fact, she sees her job as a real-life crash course on British Columbia.

Cyber security matters – but how do you get into it? For Dominic Vogel and Christian Redshaw, they didn't start in cyber. But over time, they learned to love it enough to make it their full-time venture.