Stephanie Ostler became an entrepreneur at At 12 years old. Being too young to get a job she convinced her dad to invest $200 for a button press, from which she launched her first company, Red Buttons. She started by making buttons for local bands and quickly expanded into clothing. Oblivious to how impactful this experience would be on the rest of her life, she took her budding business full time after graduating high school. Devil May Wear has sold internationally through independent retail stores and has had up to three brick and mortar locations in Vancouver and Victoria.

The company was founded on principles of local textile production and sustainability -- cutting and sewing the majority of the products here in Vancouver. She has shared her passion for sustainability and through TEDx SFU, and continues to mentor youth in pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities through YELL. Steph has run for city councillor, and is currently the president of the Granville Island Business and Cultural Association, the co-chair of the Christmas Shop at Hycroft, and works as a buyer in the film industry.

Naghmi is an educator, a researcher, a designer, and an architect. Her research work involves studying the designers’ use of digital media in design exploration. For her doctoral research, she studied the search patterns of designers using a large number of design alternatives. Her research informed the framework for interface design of future creativity support tools. She is also passionate about research work in community-driven design concepts and has been involved in various workshops exploring the domain. You can read more on Naghmi’s research here.

Naghmi loves to teach, and share her knowledge and expertise with her students. She is a seasoned academician who has been teaching in various capacities at various institutes for the past 12 years. At SFU, she teaches IAT106 and Make Change Studio. 

Naghmi was also involved in various entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups. Her first foray into business started with a small boutique during her undergraduate time. She established the boutique from the bottom up into a profitable business, which was later acquired by another clothing franchise. Later she started a tutoring academy focusing on providing individualized educational services in STEM topics to high school students. The business while being a commercial success, also provided Naghmi the opportunity to understand the nuances of pedagogy and the importance of a mentor to shape a student’s life.

She graduated with a Gold Medal and won the Mehdi Ali Mirza Award (2007) for excellence in architectural education. During her higher education here in Canada, she co-founded two companies. Warp is a high-concept fashion brand that fuses modern technology with traditional leather craftsmanship to make handbags for women with a cutting-edge style. Naghmi worked with Warp for 3 years and left to complete her Ph.D. studies. Making HER Future was conceived during her Ph.D. education and is a not-for-profit. Its vision is to provide young girls in our community with equal opportunities and to spark a curiosity in a tech-focused learning experience that is immersive and engaging. She is also working on starting another design based startup “ParaXplor” focusing on fusing technology with industrial and architectural design concepts to daily life products. 

Naghmi volunteers for various community organizations with a vision for social change, including but not limited to TCF Canada and Canada Urdu Association.