Get to know our members in their current season of interests and work.

Mary Cruz:
I hail from Melbournetown Australia. Home of the best coffee in the world and less known for its very erratic weather (but true). I’ve been a marketer for over 14 years, having split my time living in Melbourne, London, Amsterdam and now Toronto. I like it here, but I do miss real beaches.

Recent Loves:
I recently finished watching Seasons 1 and 2 of Mindhunter on Netflix. I’m a little obsessed with true crime and I love how it digs into the psychology of criminals rather than the usual forensics drill. I also love that Jonathan Groff plays a preppy FBI agent after being the comedic talent in Frozen and Hamilton.

I’m currently reading Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. Again, this one is about human behaviour (is there a pattern here?) and it’s fascinating. I recommend it if you want to gain some insight into your own biases, and why and how people make incorrect judgements even when they appear to be sufficiently informed. Go MG.

Finally, Jojo Rabbit is worth the cinema ticket. Taika Waititi is brilliant.

Projects:
My marketing strategy work lately has been focused on persona workshops for correct audience targeting. Persona development is a very early step in marketing strategy and it blows my mind when people start building companies without doing it. I’ve been thinking about creating a formal workshop, but TBD.

Creative Inspiration:
One of my favourite IG accounts is @newyorkercartoons. The content is always very truthful and humorous, and there’s genius in its simplicity because it hits the right chord. Other cartoonists I like are @tangosleepless and @metromonster who are equally clever.

Kickstart Motivation:
My great grandmother used to say something like ‘don’t delay what you can do today’, and this piece of advice has avoided a lot of stress for future me!

Get to know our members in their current season of interests and work.

Krister Bagnkop:
Native of Denmark, who have spent the past 6 years living abroad. Moved to Toronto in 2018 with my wife Sinduja, and we are dreaming of adding a little pupper to the family soon. Tech Product & Delivery professional, with experience in corporate innovation and digital consulting. Currently focused on trying to help beauty industry freelancers succeed through our platform Blushlist.com.

Recent Loves:
On sentiments:
My wife and I just came back from Europe, where we went to have our civil wedding ceremony in my hometown in Denmark. It was a fantastic party in a beautiful old barn that is going to be torn down in a couple of weeks. We got to have the last party ever to be held there!

To go:
Since we spent three years living in France, one of our favourite places to shop in Toronto is the Cheese Boutique by South Kingsway.

To read:
I am usually reading a couple of books at a time because I quickly get bored. Right now, I am reading a very odd pairing—The 5am Club and Why We Sleep. One tells me to get up at 5am and the other tells me to get at least eight hours of sleep every night…

In Progress:

For the past four months, I have been working on creating the MVP of a marketplace webapp connecting clients to makeup artists called Blushlist. We are currently doing beta testing with the makeup artists, and focusing on trying to understand how we can bring them value outside of connecting them with clients. Our first immediate goal is to have them see us as a better alternative to creating their own website, which some of them do to help streamline their clients’ booking requests. Then, we want to add on features to help them easier manage their overall business, and in that way, build the supply side of the marketplace.

Aside from that, I am, by the way, also looking for work in the digital product space. Should anyone know of any opportunities in Product, Scrum, or Innovation Roles, I would be happy to hear more!

Favourites:

As I am not that big in design, I will go for one of my current favourite musicians: Ben Howard. My wife and I danced to his song “She Treats Me Well” at our wedding.

Kickstart Motivation:
A few quotes I keep above my kanban board at home.
“Perfection is the enemy of Progress.” & “Done is better than perfect.”