The Sacrifice That Built My Foundation
By the time I reached Grade 3, my mom had managed to do something that felt like a huge step forward for our family. She found us a small two-bedroom house not far from where my kokum lived. It wasn’t big, and it certainly wasn’t fancy, but for us it represented stability after a […]
The Day Everything Changed
There’s a story I often share that happened long before I understood what leadership or resilience even meant. It’s a story from my childhood. And in many ways, it’s the reason I’m standing in rooms like this today. Because statistically speaking, I shouldn’t be here. There were many moments in my life where things could […]
From Selling T-Shirts Out of My Backpack to Building a Purpose-Driven Brand
In 2011, my life was changing quickly. Around that time, I met the woman who would become my wife. Soon after, we welcomed our first child, our son Keanu. What I didn’t realize then was that this chapter of my life—one filled with uncertainty and financial hardship—would eventually lead to the creation of one of […]
The Gift That Changed My Future
By the time I reached Grade 3, life had begun to shift for my family. My mom had managed to get us into a small two-bedroom house. It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t big. But after everything we had been through—shelters, uncertainty, sleeping on floors—it felt like a new beginning. When we moved in, my mom […]
The Teachings From My Kokum That Shaped My Life
After my mom made the difficult decision to leave the life we were living, we didn’t immediately find stability. We moved from place to place—women’s shelters, interval houses, and temporary spaces in cities like Saskatoon and Prince Albert. My mother had taken us out of an unhealthy environment, but she had nowhere permanent to go […]
The Day My Mother Changed Our Future
Growing up on a northern reserve in Saskatchewan, I believed the life around me was normal. I thought poverty was normal.I thought addiction was normal.I thought households where children were lucky to have one parent present were normal. When you grow up surrounded by something every day, you don’t question it. You simply accept it […]
Why Your Leadership Matters More Than You Think
I want to start with something I truly believe: You were chosen to be here. That’s not by accident.That’s not coincidence. Every single person in this room—every person reading this—has something within them that got them here. A gift.A strength.A story. Sometimes we overlook it. Sometimes we question it. But it’s there. And often, it’s […]
The Power of Belief, Failure, and Ripple Effects
When I was in Grade 12, there was someone in my life who saw something in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself. My high school volleyball coach. He used to challenge me—not just on the court, but in life. He’d say,Kendal, you should go to university. And I remember thinking, “University? This guy’s […]
My Mindset Started to Shift
The Weekend That Changed My Life People often ask me, “Kendal, when did your mindset start to shift?” For me, it goes back to a simple invitation. “Why don’t you come spend the weekend with us?” I said yes without really knowing what I was stepping into. I hopped on my friend Johan’s bus that […]
From Survival to a Dream: The Ripple Effect That Changed My Life
What if I could give back the same way Johan’s family gave to me? I didn’t know how. I had no business training. No mentors. No blueprint. Just a dream. So at night, I went to workshops to learn how to write a business plan. The day my son was born, I submitted that plan […]