Chatter That Matters

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Chatter That Matters *THE OFFICIAL PAGE of CHATTER THAT MATTERS* podcast, hosted by Tony Chapman, presented by RBC.

Scott Stirrett grew up in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a hockey town where he never fit in. Bullied, struggling in school, an...
09/10/2025

Scott Stirrett grew up in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a hockey town where he never fit in. Bullied, struggling in school, and privately wrestling with his sexuality, he felt like a misfit destined to sit on the sidelines. Instead, those early struggles became the foundation for his life’s work.

Scott left a prestigious role at Goldman Sachs to start Venture for Canada, raising more than $80 million and helping over 10,000 young Canadians embrace entrepreneurship. Now, with his book, The Uncertainty Advantage, he shows how to go beyond resilience to antifragility—how actually to thrive because of chaos.

Scott shares how small wins build confidence, why wide and deep networks are essential, and how rethinking risk is the key to growth. His story is proof that the very things that make us feel different can become our most significant edge.

And at the close, Alan Depencier, Chief Marketing Officer, Personal and Commercial Banking at RBC, will discuss their deep commitment to supporting Canadian entrepreneurs with the resources, mentorship, and capital they need to succeed.

Hear the full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5SzQzYmDdx036hIkAJezZc?si=VJiQwAlUR-WNjzaeLB7knw

08/10/2025

There are four days in one.

That’s how Dragons’ Den investor and Clearco co-founder Michele Romanow measures time.
She says the only real advantage a startup has over a big company is speed, the ability to move, test, fail, and try again before noon.

Big companies have money, teams, and reputation.
Startups have urgency.

It’s that relentless pace, the “four days in one” mindset, that turns ideas into momentum and momentum into change.

🎧 Listen to Michele’s full conversation with Tony Chapman on Chatter That Matters. It's a masterclass in grit, speed, and doing what others won’t: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DlGup6gLcY31blXso88T6?si=2XzAKFwIQ1-UwjNBUpeGXQ

Do you move fast enough to outpace the world around you?

07/10/2025

The future of funding isn’t about who you know , it’s about what your data shows.

When Michele Romanow built Clearco, she didn’t want founders judged by charisma, credentials, or who they knew in the room.
So she built a system that looked only at performance data, revenue, growth, and metrics, not pitches.

The result?
1. Half of Clearco’s portfolio turned out to be women.
2. A third were minorities.
3. And a quarter had never gone to university.

It wasn’t a diversity program. It was simply what happened when bias was taken out of the equation.

Michele says she learned that true innovation isn’t just about creating new products — it’s about building fairer systems.

On Chatter That Matters, she shares how speed, grit, and story shaped her journey from Dragons’ Den to redefining how entrepreneurs get funded.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Tony Chapman on Chatter That Matters, a reminder that when you bet on possibility, you change who gets to play the game: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DlGup6gLcY31blXso88T6?si=2XzAKFwIQ1-UwjNBUpeGXQ

Would funding look different if we all made decisions this way?

06/10/2025

We forget numbers. We remember stories.

Michele Romanow says she can’t recall a single statistic from a pitch last week, but she still remembers The Princess and the Pea. Because stories live where data can’t: in memory, emotion, and meaning.

In a world obsessed with metrics, Michele reminds us that the most powerful thing you can share isn’t your growth chart, it’s your why.

People might give you an hour of their time, but your story is what earns their belief, their trust, and their commitment.

🎧 Listen to Michele’s full conversation with Tony Chapman in this episode of Chatter That Matters: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DlGup6gLcY31blXso88T6?si=2XzAKFwIQ1-UwjNBUpeGXQ

What story will people still remember about you?

05/10/2025

Most founders overestimate the value of a “perfect idea” and underestimate the value of momentum.

Michele Romanow says successful entrepreneurs “do what unsuccessful people weren’t willing to do.” They’re scrappy — willing to clean toilets, make cold calls, or figure out the unglamorous details that actually move a business forward.

Her lesson? Stop waiting for the big idea. Start small, execute fast, and iterate until it works. Innovation isn’t born from planning — it’s forged in motion.

Link to full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DlGup6gLcY31blXso88T6?si=VEx2Qr69TjaYOvC9vsBYmQ

This episode was taped in front of a live audience at Canavision, which is a fantastic conference made possible through ...
02/10/2025

This episode was taped in front of a live audience at Canavision, which is a fantastic conference made possible through the vision and creativity of Randy Rowe. My guest is Michele Romanow, one of Canada’s most fearless entrepreneurs, a Dragon, a disruptor, and a mentor who built seven businesses before the age of 35 and changes the way founders access capital.

From launching a sustainable coffee shop at Queen’s University, to cold-calling chefs and starting a caviar company, to co-founding Clearco and providing over $5 billion in funding to 10,000 companies, her story is proof that entrepreneurship is less about waiting for the perfect idea and more about diving in, scrapping, iterating, and moving faster than the giants around you. Michele is all in.

In this conversation, Michele opens up about resilience, speed, and scrappiness, the difference between ego and conviction, and why storytelling is the real currency of entrepreneurship. She also speaks candidly about becoming a mother and how that shifts her perspective on the world we’re building for the next generation.

Alan Depencier joins the show to discuss small business and why it matters to you, to me and to RBC.

If you’ve ever wondered what it truly means to go “all in” on your ideas, your business, and your life, this conversation will light your way.

Hear the full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DlGup6gLcY31blXso88T6?si=035e8d6d8a284fc9

01/10/2025

“We’re not just a beauty company, we’re an operations and logistics company. If we don’t get that right, we don’t have a business.”

In this clip, Jenn Harper, founder of Cheekbone Beauty, shares the hard truth most entrepreneurs learn the long way: vision and creativity can spark a brand, but ops, finance, and product-market fit keep it alive.

Her advice:
1. Know what you don’t know
2. Find the right partners
3. Never underestimate the unglamorous side of building a company.

🎧 Hear Jenn’s full journey on Chatter That Matters. Link in bio/description.https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lHYEtE1vSnpRVsF1i381O?si=q_oNLPl6Q9CMMLhk27Y-3Q

🧡 Today, on Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we honour Indigenous voices driving change — including J...
30/09/2025

🧡 Today, on Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we honour Indigenous voices driving change — including Jenn Harper, founder of Cheekbone Beauty.

Two months into sobriety, Jenn had a dream of three Indigenous girls covered in lip gloss. That dream became Cheekbone Beauty, one of the first Indigenous-owned beauty brands carried by Sephora.

Jenn didn’t just create a beauty company. She built a movement rooted in Indigenous values, proving that entrepreneurship can be more than profit, it can be purpose, representation, and healing.

And today, she’s giving back once again.
📍 Cheekbone’s For Future Generations Pop-Up (Queen St. West, Toronto | 4–7 PM) donates 100% of profits from a special set to Indigenous student scholarships.

✨ Jenn’s story is powerful, emotional, and a masterclass in resilience and leadership.

🎧 Hear the full story, from sobriety to Sephora and from grief to growth, in conversation with Jenn Harper on Chatter That Matters: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lHYEtE1vSnpRVsF1i381O?si=yQfG7vdoRvSQ27-WRsKf-g

29/09/2025

For Jenn Harper, founder of Cheekbone Beauty, entrepreneurship isn’t only about lipsticks and balance sheets. It’s about showing Indigenous communities — and especially young women — that entrepreneurship is a path they can choose, one rooted in respect, principles, and purpose.

In this clip, Jenn shares why she believes every person, family, and company should define their own set of values — almost like a mantra for living. Because when respect and humility guide our actions, society shifts.

That belief is at the core of Cheekbone Beauty. More than a beauty brand, it’s a platform for representation, impact, and teaching the next generation that business can be both successful and principled.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Jenn Harper on Chatter That Matters to hear how sobriety, Indigenous teachings, and the long game of entrepreneurship shaped her journey: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lHYEtE1vSnpRVsF1i381O?si=OJS00t5oS_CGK6LzFBOftQ

28/09/2025

In 2014, Jenn Harper made the decision to get sober. Two months later, she had a dream that would change everything: three Native little girls, their faces covered in lip gloss.

She woke up and wrote the first lines of what would become her business plan — to create beauty products and use the profits to give back to her Indigenous community. That moment, paired with the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report in Canada, marked the beginning of Cheekbone Beauty.

For Jenn, entrepreneurship wasn’t just a career move — it was a path to healing, a new “addiction” to replace the old one, and a way to prove that business can exist for more than profit. Cheekbone became her vehicle to blend social impact, Indigenous values, and beauty innovation into something bigger than herself.

Her story is a powerful reminder that some of the most meaningful companies aren’t born from market analysis or trend forecasts — they begin with lived experience, resilience, and purpose.

🎧 Hear Jenn’s full story — from sobriety to Sephora, grief to growth, and everything in between — in this week’s episode of Chatter That Matters: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lHYEtE1vSnpRVsF1i381O?si=n4JaqGvyTy-4eW25UmNexw

Dropping in on the grand kids.
27/09/2025

Dropping in on the grand kids.

I love the famous Walt Disney quote, Dream it and Do it. It is also the battle cry for Entrepreneurs and Artists as they...
25/09/2025

I love the famous Walt Disney quote, Dream it and Do it. It is also the battle cry for Entrepreneurs and Artists as they seek sponsors, support and a paying audience. But what if an idea came to you in an actual dream, and that dream manifested into a destiny that touched your entire universe?

In the rawest days of her sobriety, Jenn Harper had a dream of three Indigenous girls wearing lip gloss. Her subconscious became her living quest, one that allowed her to reclaim her indigenous roots, conquer her addictions, carry her through the heartbreak of losing her brother, and fulfill her dream by create Cheekbone Beauty. This business brings beauty to our world in so many wonderful colours-shades of survival, purpose, resilience, and purpose.

Jenn Harper

Hear the full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lHYEtE1vSnpRVsF1i381O?si=gNDZVhnPS0yYeMiCEWOqeQ

To look at the creativity of Cheekbone Beauty and this extraordinary entrepreneur: https://www.cheekbonebeauty.com/

To learn more about Jenn Harper, 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Ones To Watch Award Winner: https://www.womenofinfluence.ca/2020/09/22/meet-jenn-harper-founder-and-ceo-of-cheekbone-beauty-cosmetics-inc-and-2020-rbc-canadian-women-entrepreneur-awards-ones-to-watch-award-winner/

To learn about RBC's Truth and Reconciliation: https://www.rbc.com/newsroom/news/article.html?article=125905

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