Brenda Halloran’s father was an entrepreneur before the word even existed. In this episode, Halloran talks about how her dad’s influence inspired her to be entrepreneurial in all of her pursuits.
“I grew up with this amazing man who was an entrepreneur, a self-starter, nobody ever gave him a dime, he just did it for himself … I grew up with that type of thinking, and that fun of [asking] ‘what is technology and what can it do?’ ”
Halloran is the CEO of the WEK Effect Inc., a Waterloo-based e-commerce startup that aims to engage millennials in philanthropy, giving back, and making a difference in their communities. Halloran is also the former mayor of the City of Waterloo and the recipient of the 2016 Adam Chowaniec Lifetime Achievement Award.
In this episode of Startup Canada Podcast, host Rivers Corbett chats with Halloran about the WEK Effect, what it’s like to be a mayor-turned-CEO, and the friendship she forged between Waterloo and the city of Chongqing, China.
The Startup Canada Podcast Show is a production of Startup Canada, a grassroots, entrepreneur-led movement to bring together, celebrate, and give a voice to Canada’s entrepreneurship community. On the podcast, award-winning entrepreneur host Rivers Corbett speaks with the movers and shakers of Canada’s entrepreneurship community to give a glimpse into the future of business, and share insights on everything from social innovation to the future of work, investing, and why we need to think bigger to take our businesses global. Join Rivers Corbett for new episodes every Tuesday airing at 10 AM ET for lessons, trends, and opportunities in entrepreneurship from Vancouver to Fredericton; and Israel to Peru.
You can find every episode of The Startup Canada Podcast Show at www.startupcan.ca/podcasts/.