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CAROL BESLER
Journalist
Carol Besler has written and edited stories about watches and jewelry for Forbes, The Robb Report, Watch and Culture, Hollywood Reporter, Nuvo, Watch Time, Watch Journal, Journal Haute Horlogerie, The Globe and Mail, A Blog to Watch, Chronos (NA), Revolution, Watch Your Time (for The New York Times), Fashion Magazine, Haute living, Fairmont Magazine and Patek Philippe Magazine. She is the editorial Director of Tufts Custom Publishing, and was the editor-in-chief and publisher of Canadian Jeweller magazine for 16 years.
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COLIN POTTS
Horologist & Watch Enthusiast
Colin is an avid watch enthusiast, collector, writer and horologist. He is the founder of the Jakob Eitan luxury watch brand and owner of watchoffthecuff.com, a watch repair service based in Milton, Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Horology Society of New York in support of advancing the art and science of horology.
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GEORGE SULLY
Watch Enthusiast & Entrepreneur
Multidisciplinary designer, entrepreneur, and activist are all different ways one can begin to describe George Sully. Based in Toronto, with an impressive worldwide network, Sully has established a collective of multifaceted companies that leverage him as an innovative player in the world of multimedia content creation and fashion design. Celebrated CAFA Change-maker Award winner, George Brown honorary degree recipient, and FGI Visionary Award Winner, Sully is also known for his collaborations that include but are not limited to DHL, EBAY, Disney, Hudson’s Bay, and Mercedes Benz. Sully is also a Bata Shoe Museum inductee, creator of Black Designers of Canada, co-founder of House of Hayla, and creator of the breakout brand Sully & Son Company. He loves to share his entrepreneurial experiences and his sense of fashion, inspiring others to pursue their passions and embrace their unique styles.
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HAKIM EL KADIRI
Founder of ELKA Watch Co.
After 25 years working for the watch industry, I think it was time to fly by my own and reinvent myself! I have always admired entrepreneurs, people who created a company, who made it grow and who lived this role with passion, I myself was what is called an intrapreneur, it’s a priori the same thing, it’s a function that allows you to take decisions with responsibilities, that allows you to develop with passion, because you are fully involved in your projects – but I did it in a large group; which gives us a lot of room for manoeuvre in a certain sense. I dreamt of developing my own brand but above all I wanted a brand with a story, truth & credibility. I chose to call it by my nickname, ELKA ; When I wanted to protect the name, I realised that a brand called Elka Watch had already existed but had disappeared around the 60s & 70s precisely during the timeframe that I have chosen to base my designs on. This defunct Elka Watch was named after Eduard Louis Kiek from Amsterdam. I looked through its archives and realised that the brand had strong designs and had worked closely with other big names in the watch industry such as Ulysse Nardin, Heuer, Rolex, Minerva, to name only a few. So, without reviving the brand, I wanted to pay a tribute to this old Dutch brand with my first 2 series. Since I love the 60s, the products and the aesthetics of that era I have decided to make it my design line for this and future collections. End of the 60’s was the beginning of the design of modernity, everything was allowed without restriction, because everything was to be created, pop art, cars, fashion, architecture, television, interior design, music, space conquest… In this period, there was a diversity of forms, of ideas, the creators did not have any restriction except in technologies and materials which were not all mastered yet
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@IAN_COGNITO
Watch Enthusiast
Joining Instagram in 2012 as an early-adopter, I slowly noticed that my photos of watches received more attention and engagement. It was around 2015 that I decided to post about watches exclusively and grow my collection. The passion for this hobby has allowed me to work with many microbrands and established brands like Hamilton, Oris, and Citizen.
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MARC LIJOUR
Web3 / Startup Expert
Startup Founder | Co-Founder & Board Member at La French Tech Toronto | Co-founder DeFi Toronto | IEEE Canada Blockchain Lead Marc Lijour is an entrepreneur, researcher, and educator on a mission to unlock human potential through technology and innovation. After a teaching career culminating at the Ontario Ministry of Education, Marc led industry transformation and innovation initiatives in all types of organizations, working with startups and bleeding-edge technologies to create a massive disruptive impact for people, planet, and wealth.
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DR SAMANEH SOLEIMANI
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Marketing and Tourism Management
Samaneh is a self-motivated researcher with a multi-disciplinary background in marketing and tourism management fields. She has a solid experience in applying qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methods. Samaneh holds a PhD in Business and Management from University of South Australia (UniSA). Samaneh’s research and teaching interests cover a broad range of consumer behaviour, marketing, tourism destination marketing and developing niche tourism products. Samaneh was awarded a University of South Australia President’s Scholarship, School of Management/Marketing Scholarship and top-up Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science Scholarship to investigate the niche market of astrotourism. In this research, she integrated visual astronomy with tourism marketing to answer how to develop this niche market in Australia. She was an invited speaker at the professional learning event ‘Shared Sky, Space: STEM and Art’ at “68th International Astronautical Congress Adelaide”. Prior to joining AIB, Samaneh was working at University of South Australia, Flinders University, University of Technology, Sydney, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science and Kaplan Business School as a research associate and sessional lecturer. She was working on several projects including Cultural tourism and festivals, Entrepreneurship ecosystem, Social entrepreneurship in the context of tourism enterprises, Tourists’ behaviour in festivals, and consumption of healthy beverages options in the hospitality industry. Her teaching philosophy is to ensure students’ meaningful learning experience through linking curricula, pedagogy and assessment to the real-world examples. Throughout her teachings, she engages her students to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills by incorporating experiential learning that links the course materials to real-world problems. Samaneh believes that utilising online learning systems promotes learning in a more integrated approach by allowing students to work individually and collaboratively and enabling teachers to provide more tailored and specific interactions with students.
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THOMAS J. SANDRIN, MBA
Watch Enthusiast & Entrepreneur
Thomas J. Sandrin, a luxury watch industry veteran with 16+ years of experience, relocated from Paris to Canada. he excelled as canadian brand manager for Hamilton watches, part of Swatch Group, and holds an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.