Profound Impact’s Sherryl Petricevic will be a panelist in an upcoming GEDI Exchange webinar on the workforce of tomorrow. A workforce with relevant skills is the “air supply” on which Canada’s economy of the future will depend. But how to ensure alignment between employee education and the job market? Our guests this month use current student and alumni data to help colleges, universities, research institutes, and social profit organizations strategically optimize the type and content of the programs and services they deliver to the communities they serve.
Profound Impact and 1Mentor use data-driven insights to find and understand the key indicators for workplace progression and opportunities to improve candidate success. This information in turn is used to evaluate programming content and delivery, which is all the more important as it becomes increasingly critical to be “students for life”: many jobs today didn’t exist 10-20+ years ago, and the pace of change is accelerating, particularly in technical fields. It’s time to use the latest and greatest analytical tools and artificial intelligence techniques on the education system itself.
Happy New Year and welcome to the first 2022 edition of Profound Connections!
I hope that you all had a restful holiday season. With a new year underway, the team here at Profound Impact™ can’t wait to share with you what we have planned for 2022 but before we do that…let’s look back at 2021.
To close out 2021, our team launched a new initiative: 12 Days of Impact, designed to encourage people and organizations to contribute their time, resources and talents to help address local challenges. Our 12 Days of Impact calendar outlined daily challenges that focused on spreading the giving spirit during the holiday season. Not only did our team members at Profound Impact contribute to these daily challenges, but as an organization, we took it one step further.
Through our efforts, we were able to give back to organizations doing vital work in our greater community. Additionally, based on the social media engagement and votes of our followers, Profound Impact was able to support Actua, Canada’s largest STEM outreach organization. Profound Impact’s contribution will support the delivery of impactful hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) experience to youth across Canada. Many youth including Indigenous youth, girls, and at-risk youth face barriers that prevent access to education opportunities. Through Actua’s national inclusion and diversity programs, they are hard at work to remove these barriers.
Now on to 2022…coming in March is International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022 with the theme #BreakTheBias. We are thrilled to once again be working with the Women in Communications and Technology Waterloo Region Chapter (WCT WR) and 18 other organizations representing this vibrant community to present during the month of March several IWD 2022 events and amplify over 10 other events in celebration of women in the Waterloo Region.
For more information on this event and additional exciting news from our team, read on and enjoy this edition of Profound Connections!
An accomplished entrepreneur, respected mentor and ambassador for the University of Waterloo, Ivan Yuen has cemented his legacy in the software development industry. Yuen is the co-founder of Wattpad, an e-reading and storytelling platform that has amassed millions of users worldwide. Founded in 2006 with a friend and former co-worker Allen Lau, Wattpad has quickly become a global entertainment company, with over 90 million readers, writers and filmmakers connected through the power of story. While Wattpad’s success is in large part due to the commitment and perseverance of Yuen and Lau, Yuen credits the University of Waterloo’s co-op program for giving him the tools and resources needed to discover his niche in the tech sector.
Yuen enrolled in the University’s computer engineering co-op program in order to gain real-world industry experience and make professional connections. He spent the first portion of his co-op working in hardware design at some of North America’s top firms including IBM and AMD. While these work placements helped Yuen to further develop his professional experience, it wasn’t until he switched to a role in software engineering at a startup company that Yuen found his true passion. The smaller teams, quick turnaround times and ability to see the impacts of his work instantly were the most gratifying elements of software engineering in a startup environment. “Hooked from that point on,” Yuen would take these valuable work experiences and chart his own path in software development, ensuring that training and mentorship were paramount in his endeavours.
Now the Chief Strategy Officer of Wattpad, Yuen is passionate about providing leadership and guidance to those he recruits for various positions within the company. He “demystifies ideas about software startups” and offers honest, first-hand accounts of his successes, failures and opportunities for the future. While hiring and retaining the right talent is important to the success of his company, Yuen is incredibly inspired when Wattpad employees transition from their roles to start their own venture. He believes that giving emerging tech talent the training and confidence to pursue their own interests has a powerful multiplier effect and is essential for facilitating the growth of the tech ecosystem across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
In addition to employee mentorship and promoting expansion of the region’s tech industry, Yuen’s platform, Wattpad, has been tremendously important to the advancement of writers, storytellers, filmmakers and many more creative professionals whose voices may never have been discovered. Before Wattpad existed, traditional publishing companies were essentially gatekeepers, determining what authors or stories had enough merit to move through the system and onto store shelves. Only those with access and opportunity had any chance of finding success as an author or storyteller—often leaving racial, ethnic and other minority groups without a platform to share their unique experiences. Wattpad challenged and changed this established industry dynamic. The platform empowered those who were otherwise excluded from traditional publishing avenues, enabling those in marginalized communities and young aspiring writers to share their perspectives with a limitless audience. It enabled authors to mix different story genres with important themes of gender, sexuality and race without judgement. It has fundamentally changed the course of modern publishing and given prominence to a diversity of voices, stories and issues that have historically been ignored.
Wattpad’s success has quickly expanded into the entertainment industry, with movie and TV producers constantly discovering new writers who have published their work on the platform. Recent examples of stories that have been made into movies or TV shows include After, a romantic drama written by Wattpad author Anna Todd and acquired by Paramount Pictures for film adaptation. The Netflix hit The Kissing Booth also started as a novel published on Wattpad by Beth Reekles, who was only 15 years old when she was discovered. Its commercial success has led to the production of a trilogy of films. With over 100 stories currently in different stages of film or TV show development, Yuen is hopeful that many Wattpad authors will have their works showcased at movie theatres or on major streaming platforms in the future.
Looking ahead, Yuen and the Wattpad team will continue to leverage the power of new technology including blockchain to give writers and content creators greater control over access to their work. Readers will also have the opportunity to contribute to their favourite authors, garnering rewards along the way. As the company further expands into new territory, Yuen will continue to mentor and inspire young tech talent to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the region.
You can view some of Yuen’s accomplishments in the image below:
Do you have an impact story to share? Reach out to us at connections@profoundimpact.com for a chance to have your story featured in an upcoming newsletter!
Happy holidays and welcome to the December edition of Profound Connections!
I hope that you all have enjoyed being a part of the Profound Impact™ community this year and have benefitted from our regular Profound Connections newsletters.
The season of giving has arrived — and with it, we are reminded of the importance of giving back to our local communities. This is an opportunity for all of us — whether it be through donating our time, in-kind items or funds — to give back to those in need. Our team believes deeply that encouraging small acts of generosity can have big impacts on those who experience undue hardship. Read on to learn more about how we have chosen to make an impact this giving season.
Building on the global #GivingTuesday movement, we launched Profound Impact’s 12 Days of Impact campaign on November 30, designed to encourage people and organizations to contribute their time, resources and talents to help address local challenges. For the last 12 week days, our team has committed to daily challenges that focus on spreading the giving spirit.
Further, our team has been running a special 12 Days of Impact giveaway on our social channels. For every entry (like, comment, share or follow) that our 12 Days of Impact Instagram giveaway receives from November 30, 2021 – December 15, 2021, Profound Impact will commit a $1 donation to Actua Canada — Canada’s largest STEM outreach organization preparing youth to be innovators and leaders.
As our campaign wraps up later today, we will be announcing shortly the final amount that will be donated to Actua Canada as a result of our community’s engagement.
Before we draw 2021 to a close, we challenge you to do something that will make a difference in your community. Download our 12 Days of Impact calendar here and participate in our daily challenges at any point using the hashtag #12DaysOfImpact!
Thank you for your continued engagement and your ongoing support. From our team to yours, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.
A born innovator with exceptional leadership skills, Sohail Ramzan has made his mark on the international tech community. From working with multinational software companies, Oracle partners and global multilevel marketing companies in Pakistan and the Middle-East, Sohail is now a technical program manager with Profound Impact™, leading a team that is building the company’s solutions including Connection Impact, an engagement and interaction platform; Career Impact, a career trajectory tool to provide actionable insights by analysing alumni career data; and soon to be released Research Impact, a data-driven tool that assists research universities and institutions to achieve their goals of increasing the effectiveness of their research staff.
Born in Pakistan, Sohail completed his MBA at Hamdard University in 2003 before pursuing a career as a software engineer. As time passed, Sohail continued to climb the corporate ladder, becoming a software development manager and then a project manager for companies in South Asia and the Middle East. In 2016, Sohail and his family decided to immigrate to Canada, where he continued to explore opportunities to advance his tech career. Sohail joined the Profound Impact team in 2019 as Technical Program Manager, where he has been building the organization’s diverse and talented workforce while inspiring product innovation.
A true advocate of career growth and team culture, Sohail brings compassion, communication and flexibility to his role, embracing a diversity of perspectives that ultimately leads to successful team outcomes. He was recently named a Timmy Award finalist for Best Tech Manager for his role in leading geographically distributed teams through unexpected challenges while inspiring performance and growth. Sohail’s stewardship and expertise has contributed greatly to Profound Impact’s success.
Sohail credits his family for giving him the inspiration and drive to pursue his professional goals. Sohail’s son was born with spina bifida, a neural tube defect that affects the spine. Despite the physical disability, his son has thrived in Canada. He is an ambassador for WeCare Canada, an organization that provides life-changing programs and services for children and youth with physical disabilities. A true advocate for children with special needs, Sohail’s son also represented Easter Seals Ontario by participating in fundraisers, radio commercials, telethons and other events to generate awareness and raise money for special needs children. His son’s ability to demonstrate this type of leadership at 13 years of age inspires Sohail in his professional journey to leverage the power of technology to make a difference in the world. Sohail is working on his first book about accessibility and inclusiveness, planned to be launched in 2022.
Through his work at Profound Impact, Sohail is using his skills and expertise to lead the development of the company’s products including the Connection Impact platform, which functions as a digital community helping people become aware of undiscovered relationships. Through those relationships, the platform helps to accelerate connectivity and inspire collaborative solutions to difficult global problems.
One of the most important organizational changes implemented by Sohail since joining Profound Impact was his decision to change the development model from being outsourced to being built in-house. Sohail hired his own team and began building the platform internally, which optimized performance, improved efficiency and expedited timelines. Sohail is also leading the creation of Profound Impact’s visualization tools such as the academic ancestry tool, which combines private and public data using artificial intelligence to create linkages between alumni. This tool has the capability to trace back hundreds of years, demonstrating the global impact of one’s educational ancestry.
Key to Sohail’s success has been his ability to inspire creativity amongst his team while facilitating collaboration and communication. Sohail rallies his team to produce high quality results, while creating an environment that avoids burnout. He celebrates his team’s successes, encourages career advancement through the attainment of certificates and new credentials, and frequently supports causes that his team is passionate about.
What keeps Sohail motivated is leveraging the power of data to make a difference in the world. His impact, both tangible and intangible, is quite significant. Sohail is incredibly proud of the effect he has had on younger people he has trained in the industry. Over his 18 years in software development management, Sohail has taught many people who have gone on to successful careers with multinational companies. His passion for mentorship and commitment to product innovation have made Sohail a true innovator, committed to leveraging the power of data and technology to inspire global change.
Sohail holds many technical certifications including: AWS Certified Solution Architect (CSA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Project Management Professional(PMP) and PRINCE2 Practitioner.
You can view some of Sohail’s accomplishments in the image below:
_______________
Do you have an impact story to share? Reach out to us at connections@profoundimpact.com for a chance to have your story featured in an upcoming newsletter!
Profound Impact, in partnership with Shawna Reibling, Knowledge Mobilization Officer at Wilfrid Laurier University, set out to better understand how Research Service Offices (RSO) across Canada communicate grant opportunities, partnerships and research policies.
The team investigated various approaches, tools and processes / technology that Research Service Offices use to communicate to their stakeholder groups (researchers, professors, staff, faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students). Through interviews, a common pattern emerged from the educational institutions we met with around communication of opportunities and research matching. To learn more, Profound Impact and WLU partnered on a national survey to gain a deeper understanding of how research service units and staff communicate funding opportunities to faculty.
LOCAL TECH STARTUP PROFOUND IMPACT™ PARTNERS WITH GIVING TUESDAY TO KICK-OFF THE 12 DAYS OF IMPACT CAMPAIGN
The 12 Days of Impact Campaign is Profound Impact’s way of inspiring acts of kindness and generosity throughout the community that builds on the Giving Tuesday movement
WATERLOO, ON | NOVEMBER 30, 2021 — Profound Impact™ Corporation, a Waterloo Region-based tech company offering a suite of digital engagement and impact measurement tools, is launching its 12 Days of Impact campaign – encouraging small acts to create big impact. Building on the global #GivingTuesday movement, the 12 Days of Impact campaign is designed to encourage people and organizations to contribute their time, resources and talents to help address local challenges.
“The team at Profound Impact believes that encouraging small acts of generosity can have big impacts on those who experience undue hardship,” said Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, Founder and CEO of Profound Impact Corporation. “We hope that by engaging our team in a calendar of ‘good deeds’, we can inspire the collective power of individuals and businesses to do the same, amplifying the resulting impacts.”
The small team with big hearts at Profound Impact makes a start internally by matching their team’s contributions to charitable organizations and sharing fun challenges to engage everyone in giving. Externally, Profound Impact organized a social media contest aimed at providing underrepresented youth opportunities to engage in STEM programming, something Sherry Shannon-Vanstone and her team are passionate about.
As a next step, Profound Impact challenges others to take part in the 12 Days of Impact campaign, sharing your acts of generosity and kindness through #12DaysOfImpact. These acts include donating food or funding to a local food bank, buying a toy for a community toy drive, helping a neighbour in need, cooking a meal for someone in need, donating warm clothing and paying it forward to a stranger. No action is too big or too small and collectively, we can make meaningful contributions to the betterment of our community.
“The holidays can be a particularly difficult time for vulnerable members of our community,” said Shannon-Vanstone. “We hope that through these small acts of generosity, we can inspire others to give back (in whatever way they can) making a positive impact during the holiday season.”
Profound Impact connects great people to do great things by providing a unique and transformational digital community to measure the worldwide impact of an organization and by facilitating and accelerating connectivity to inspire collaborative solutions to difficult global problems. Profound Impact offers a next-generation digital community and interaction platform, helping universities and colleges, research institutions and social impact organizations accelerate connectivity, inspire collaboration and measure their impact. In September of this year, the Profound Impact team debuted their new career trajectory solution, designed to help institutions and enterprises find and tell their impact stories through alumni career trajectory data.
Please join the Profound Impact™ team as we kick off #GivingTuesday with our 12 Days of Impact campaign.
Click the image above for a larger version – free to download and share! Just right-click on the image to save it.
On Day 1 of Impact, #GivingTuesday (Tuesday, November 30th), we will be launching a giveaway in support of one of the three following organizations (@girlswhocode, @actua_canada or @waterloomath) that all do incredible work to introduce young people to the world of STEM, and you can help us chose the winning organization. For every entry into our contest (like, share, comment or follow), Profound Impact will be donating $1/per entry to one of these organizations.
Please cast your vote before the end of the week (Friday, November 26th) by engaging with our post throughout our social media channels. The organization that receives the highest level of engagement will be selected and announced on Giving Tuesday when we launch our giveaway!
We hope you will join us on #GivingTuesday and we challenge you to help us make an impact on the other 11 days. Please let us know about your impact efforts – we’ll be keeping track of our collective impact and will give everyone an update on how we’re all making a difference.
Welcome to the November edition of Profound Connections.
The past few weeks have been an exciting time for our team at Profound Impact™.
We are proud to announce that our very own Sohail Ramzan, Technical Program Manager, was selected as the Toronto Region’s Best Tech Manager for the 7th annual Timmy Awards. Sohail’s contributions to Profound Impact have been immeasurable and we are thrilled that his talent and leadership are being recognized through this prestigious awards program. Congratulations, Sohail!
In addition, Sherryl Petricevic, our Business Development Consultant at Profound Impact has been named a recipient of the 2021 Leading Women, Leading Girls — Building Communities Recognition Award from MPP Laura Mae Lindo. This recognition program acknowledges and celebrates women-identified Kitchener Centre residents who have demonstrated exceptional leadership to improve the lives of others and who have made substantial contributions to the community.
Also new this month — I am thrilled to have been elected to CANARIE’s Board of Directors. It’s an honour to be joining such an esteemed group of professionals, all of which bring unparalleled expertise in technology, innovation, finance and academia. More on these announcements below!
This week is an exciting one as we celebrate National STEM Day (November 8) and Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 8-14). Here we are, 20 months since COVID-19 emerged, and we are working harder than ever to reboot our economies for a better, more sustainable and equitable post-pandemic world. These two national and global events signify how we can be rethinking our approach to build back stronger and regenerate growth.
This past Monday, we had the opportunity to watch a special screening of the 3M produced documentary film “Not the Science Type” by the 3M Women’s Leadership Forum in celebration of National STEM Day. I invite you to watch the preview here. And don’t forget to check out the tens of thousands of activities, competitions and events hosted by millions of people all over the world in celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Thank you for your continued engagement and support.
Profound Impact is working on visualizations for the history of an idea. We have two visualizations that we wish to share with you on the underlying security ingredients for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Please check this out and let us know what you think.
