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As I reviewed other alumni articles, I noticed that most were about business successes.  In that regard, I have been lucky - I started my company from the trunk of my car and it grew to over two billion in sales. I discuss how I did that in my TedX talk. However, this article is about another side of me.  Although I am still very active in business as the CEO of Danby, I am now at the point in my life that I need to give more back.

Written by Janelle Santi, Velocity Marketing Assistant.

How do you build a company that straddles the worlds of hardware, software, and materials science? We sat down with Voltera, a Velocity Garage startup and recent winner of the California Pitch Alumni Event, to hear their story, and the unique challenges they've faced along the way.

This past winter, I completed my first co-op term as the Communications and Marketing Assistant for Alumni Relations. I feel like through the course of my time here, I have developed a deeper grasp of the written and interpersonal communication skills that are needed to succeed in both my academics and pursuing a career in the future.

Self-driving cars are quickly becoming the next frontier in the automotive world, and two recent students from the Velocity Residence are developing a vehicle with its own unique spin. Varden Labs is building an autonomous shuttle for university campuses, and the company is on a roll.

In preparing this post, I have read dozens of other alumni contributions to this site. If this blog is any proof, we all have fond memories and sentimental stories which we have carried with us since our time at the University of Waterloo; stories which have, somehow, shaped who we have become.  As a theatre artist and researcher, I have a love of stories. I am interested in how we share them, but more importantly, how through this sharing, we can connect to places, communities, and to each other.

A question that I have gotten a lot since my fashion debut on the national reality TV series, Project Runway, is how I made the jump from a tech career on Wall Street, to working in the fashion design industry? Well, why don't you see for yourself in the video here?

How do you speak or learn English quickly and fluently? Would you consider taking an online English speaking course or public speaking classes? Would you consider enrolling in Toastmasters, GRE Vocabulary, ESL sessions, presentation skill training, or even a course on English communication skills training and techniques that claims to transform you into an English guru?

Five years ago, I founded Oopsmark to create the things I wanted to see in the world - mostly consumer products for bikes, bodies, or homes.

While she may not have coined the phrase, I often think of my undergraduate years at the University of Waterloo when I hear Joni Mitchell sing the line, “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

I often get asked why I founded my start-up, uCiC (you see I see).  For me the answer is simple, I want to work on something that would help break down barriers in our world. The value of being connected across geographic, social and language barriers is something I have seen first-hand and it goes back to my time at the University of Waterloo.