The good dozen
Winston's team has compiled a list of the most inspiring people to keep on their radar for 2024, to start the year in style. There's something for everyone. Read in order or out of order, each person on this list is hot in his or her own way.
Studio Mals
Creative Agency, hand-made stop motion expertise
What inspires me about them? Lots of stuff, but mostly how crazy these guys are about VERY HIGH quality handmade craft. Everything, from their advertising shoots, is made from hand-created stuff, shot in stop motion. It's completely mind-blowing to see them at work. Proof that art is also in the method and in trusting the creative process.
Photo credit: Studio Mals
Drowster
Photographer
Drowster is an inspiring photographer who paints wonderful portraits of the places he visits, the events he attends and the people he meets. Rarely have I seen such authentic photos that speak with such simplicity. His recent show covers take us right into the amphitheaters. It's as if we're there ourselves, and we get a unique perspective on the human and accessible side of the artists Drowster has photographed. I'm currently leafing through his latest book: Saisons de Montréal, which lets me discover and rediscover my native city through the seasons. His way of taking us on a journey through time to places we've explored time and again touches me every time. His podcast is also a source of wonderful encounters and touching, striking discussions.
Photo credit: Drowster - VALLIER
Bob Clagett
Entrepreneur, youtuber, trainer, engineer - I Like to Make Stuff
It's been 10 years since Bob Clagett, a friendly computer engineer and father of four, posted his first video on his YouTube channel I Like To Make Stuff, a channel dedicated to the art of do it yourself. Over the past few years, the channel has grown and Bob has built a community of Sunday woodworkers and self-confessed geeks around him. A veritable medium-sized business, I Like To Make Stuff now produces online training courses for all enthusiasts wishing to learn new skills and tap into a new area of their brain. Bob is a tireless creator and a positive, upbeat personality. He exemplifies the best of YouTube.
Photo credit: I Like To Make Stuff
Claudia Lépine
Talent & Culture Director at Nexus innovations - HR expertise
Claudie Lépine is Talent & Culture Director at Nexus innovations, a software development company. Of course, there are 3,000 other inspiring HR Directors, but Claudia stands out for her disarming authenticity. Where others fail in their ability to connect with their target audience, Claudia reveals herself unfiltered, sharing her successes, discoveries and learnings. She tackles topical issues, just as she occasionally goes off the beaten track by tackling subjects such as hypersensitivity in the HR world. Claudia is also involved in a number of projects and aspires to have an impact beyond her role at Nexus. That's why she created the AspiRH retreats, which bring HR professionals together away from the hectic action of their daily lives.
Photo Credit: Claudia Lépine
James Ellis
Employer brand expert
In our relationships, there are too few people who can tell us the truth without making us cry. That's the strength of James Ellis. An internationally recognized expert on the subject of employer branding, he manages, with humor and not a little delicacy, to make us realize how the world around us is full of examples (or rather, counter-examples) of empty phrases, beige concepts and forgettable experiences. He even manages to make us realize that we're participating in this one-size-fits-all madness in the mistaken belief that we've got the tagline of the century. With him, the no bullshit mode is always on, and we give ourselves a chance to really offer something distinctive.
Photo Credit: James Ellis
Marina Totino
Videographer, photographer, digital artist and miniature creator
Marina Totino's short films, photos, digital creations and miniature worlds are captivating. This Montrealer discovered her passion through her film courses at Cégep and then at Concordia University. Storytelling is her passion. She creates every set and object that forms part of her stories, and it's completely fascinating to see the worlds she can project us into. Her nostalgic side is depicted in every one of her works. She has created breathtaking visuals for the series Le fin fond de l'histoire available on Crave, covers for the band LoveJoy and several miniatures for film shoots. She enjoys documenting the making of her projects on Instagram (Marina Minis). Her content is funny, accessible and completely surreal. It always fascinates me to see and discover home-grown talent.
Photo Credit: Marina Totino
Strange Bird
Artist, stencil artist, sculptor
Everyone's heard of Banksy, the anti-capitalist artist who stencils his way around the world. Well, I think I've found one of his emulators: Belgian artist Strange Bird. I came across his work on a boulevard in Brussels. A happy coincidence! If, like Banksy, he uses stencils, he also makes use of trompe-l'œil, creating stencils on paper mixed with sculptures that he sticks together in the street. What really gets me about his trompe-l'œil is the question of perspective. It's only by changing your position that you can see the whole of Strange Bird's work. The further away you stand, the less complete your view of the finished product. To grasp its full complexity, you have to get up close. Whether this is the artist's intention or not, I see it as a clear message: you can't understand the world from afar, you have to get closer, even if it means totally immersing yourself in a new and unfamiliar universe.
Photo Credit: Marc-André Amyot
Jenny Ouellette
Cofounder of Bon boss
Bon boss is a business consulting firm whose mission is to help organizations create better workplace experiences through healthy management. The goal: to highlight Quebec organizations that stand out for their organizational culture and practices, their employee and manager experience, and their community spirit. Imagine the scenario: you're looking for a new challenge, you're a little burned out by toxic corporate cultures, and you've come across a good boss. It's reassuring to know that the image of the companies we present to you has been tested and verified by the employees within them. In fact, one of our team members has already found the right job by consulting this site in the past. Finally, we can't overlook the audacity of co-founder Jenny Ouellette in saying loud and clear what everyone else is thinking. She's a breath of fresh air, and embodies the change we're hoping for in the world of work.
Photo Credit: Jenny Ouellette
Alexis Krauss
Singer-songwriter - Sleigh Bells, speaker, activist
Sleigh Bells is an electro-punk band led by singer Alexis Krauss. To the uninitiated, the duo's music sounds like an infernal tap dance in a laser explosion. And that's all there is to it. A raging, feminist and terribly catchy music that gives the band an enviable reputation on the alternative scene. But far from the stage, Alexis Krauss is an activist for equal access to education for racialized teenage girls in the New York suburbs. Alexis's program focuses on female empowerment through rock climbing, an activity that develops mental and physical skills for young girls, as well as introducing them to a natural space otherwise inaccessible to them. On a personal note, Alexis gave birth to her first child the same week I became a father, and her pregnancy and maternity diaries are disarmingly powerful and authentic.
Photo Credit: Alexis Krauss Instagram
Juliette Bélanger-Charpentier
Author, content creator and activist
Juliette was one of my literary discoveries of the year. I discovered her on social media a few years ago through her engaging content. Juliette's words speak volumes about the place of women in our society. She campaigns for the cause of domestic violence, and is carving out her place as an author with the publication of Bleus et joies in April 2023. This novel contains reflections on body acceptance, mental health, feminicide and more. These are all subjects that deserve more space in our media, in our writing, and Juliette's gentle, precise way of putting them into words is just right. I'll never get bored of women with heart and the right words.
Photo Credit: Xavier Cyr
Pierre-Étienne Chamard
President, DX mobilier évènementiel
DX mobilier has specialized in event furniture rentals in the Quebec City and Montreal regions since 2006. Its president, Pierre-Étienne Chamard, is an inspiring entrepreneur who is definitely not afraid of a challenge. In the aftermath of the pandemic, he boldly turned his company around to make it even more relevant to its target clientele. The company's purpose is anything but ambiguous. When you consider that organizing an event is one of the most stressful professions, DX responds with its desire to simplify everything that surrounds the rental of event furniture. Better still, it sets itself apart from the competition by being the first company to implement the 0 fail promise, which guarantees that there will be no fails in its service. When it comes to bold messaging, it doesn't get much better than this.
Photo Credit: Pierre-Étienne Chamard
PJ Vogt
Journalist, podcast host - Search Engine
New York journalist PJ Vogt may have only been hosting Search Engine for a few months, but he's a well-known figure on the podcast scene. A true master of storytelling, PJ has been telling stories for a living for the past decade. It was the Reply All podcast that brought him to the attention of a wide audience, as this weekly podcast was the figurehead of the Gimlet platform dedicated to a new way of practicing journalism. Each week in Search Engine, PJ answers a question. Sometimes banal, often intriguing and occasionally downright taboo, this question is answered by the host with humanity, sensitivity and intelligence. PJ is a journalist like no other. And because a little chauvinism never hurt anyone, we should mention that he's a McGill graduate.
Photo credit: Search Engine
