Getting A Job: What They Don’t Teach You in University

Kahlil Ashanti is an award-winning American actor, writer, and entrepreneur who's best known for his critically acclaimed NY Times Critics Pick autobiographical show, Basic Training.

Today, Ashanti’s career sits at the crossroads of entertainment and technology. He currently works in a business development role for Indiloop Media, Inc. and Houston Productions LLC. 

His ability to craft a story, create opportunities, and maximize audience engagement has resulted in collaborations with PostSecret.com, Caesars Palace, The Pussycat Dolls, Cirque Du Soleil, HBO, The Weinstein Company, Diddy/Bad Boy Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, and more.

Kevin Falk is a Canadian entrepreneur who has spent 20 years in the software industry. In addition to advising and being involved with many successful start-ups, he has founded several technology companies, including dl Systems, Vivonet, Autoprise, Epdio and Cognotiva.

Falk is the original architect and designer of Halo POS, the hospitality industry’s first SaaS POS product, which he designed and programmed in 1999.

Falk was Vivonet’s COO and chief product strategist. He was responsible for the company’s technology direction and innovation and operations until 2012. That year, Vivonet was performing over $1.5B in transactions.

In 2003, Falk co-founded Autoprise, a provider of web-based collision shop management systems, which was sold to CCC Information Services in 2006. The same year, he created Zata, a sales intelligence platform for the retail and hospitality industries.

In 2012, Falk co-founded Cognotiva, a company that is working to understand health and wellness data relationships that enable people to make lifestyle decisions that will help them achieve their desired well-being outcomes.

Falk studied anthropology at University College of the Fraser Valley and systems analysis at BCIT. In 2007, he was named on Vancouver’s “Top 40 under 40” list.

Ray Torresan is a venture capitalist and marketing specialist who raises money for early-stage companies. He was founder and partner of institute B, a prominent Vancouver-based social enterprise incubator. He now spends his time working as partner of Zero Degrees Consulting Inc., a consultancy focused on second- and third-round financing.

Torresan started in the technology sector in 1998, when he co-founded and managed MindfulEye, Inc., an artificial intelligence company whose technology became a standard for determining the meaning and implications of information disseminated online. Prior to MindfulEye, Torresan was president of Torresan|TCI Communications, one of Vancouver’s best-known public relations companies. Torresan personally managed stakeholder communications programs for many of BC’s major organizations.

A recipient of a National Award of Excellence from the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) for his work in corporate communications and reputation management, Torresan received his APR (Accredited Public Relations Practitioner) from CPRS and is a former director of its Vancouver chapter. He is also a Certified Advertising Agency Practitioner (CAAP) accredited by the Institute of Canadian Advertising.

Torresan has served as director of St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and is a past director of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (Vancouver chapter). He currently sits on the board of Alterrus Systems Inc., a public company in the agriculture industry, and volunteers as an advisor to various young, socially minded enterprises. He graduated from BCIT’s marketing management program in 1983.