Celebrating YEG's startup ecosystem

We strengthen the YEG business community with opportunities to expand networks, deepen relationships,
and celebrate success within our local startup community.

Awareness is key to building our vibrant, healthy, and thriving startup ecosystem. We do this by promoting champions to the greater community to build deeper connections.

Our school of thought. What started as just an idea has become something so much more because we all share so many things in common.

01

Stay curious

We are entrepreneurs at heart with a burning desire to collaborate and solve problems.

02

Be respectful

We embrace diversity of thought and celebrate our unique contributions.

03

Do good work

We work hard on innovative business challenges in sustainable ways.

Our Team

Meet the awesome people behind the awards. We believe a stronger startup community is only possible when we learn, grow and collaborate together.

2026 Members

Abigail (Abby) Douglass

Passionate about building community and creating spaces where startups can thrive. Committed to fostering a more inclusive and diverse ecosystem, where everyone in YEG’s startup scene feels seen, valued, and celebrated!

Saahil Rachh

Edmonton Enjoyer! Loves working with people and supporting initiatives in the city.

Jo Flowers

I love process efficiency and sharing how to do that with others!

Kyle Alies

Building communities and making connections, helping Edmonton stay connected one handshake at a time!

Cesar Rojas

Impact, impact, impact. Helping to build a better and more innovative home/YEG.

Heba Iftikhar

Loves supporting student founders and fueling the next wave of innovation in YEG!

Kirsten Sokolovski

Love this community. Love this city. Driven to connect, spotlight, and strengthen Edmonton’s startup talent.

Zhen Jiang

Creative marketing/design person with a background in professional services marketing. Here for the ideas, community, and seeing cool people build cool things!

Jo Hobbs

I love process efficiency and sharing how to do that with others!
Erika Hudon-Kaide

I’m lucky to work with cool people, and I want to meet more cool people!
Dale Schaub

Sponsorship

Dale Schaub runs the pre-accelerator program at NAIT’s business incubator, the Mawji Centre.
Emily Marino

YEG Superfan

I love to build things! Excited to contribute to the community and celebrate with everyone.
Diane Jeon

Big fan of YEG 🏙️, its people 🫂, and the things that they create 🚀
Viktor Yatsyk

I'm someone who loves building businesses and sharing knowledge. I'm always excited to learn new things and teach others along the way
Steven Lin

Outreach Worker

Passionate about youth empowerment and supporting leaders to work towards their own goals.
Jonah Tetz

I empower startups by streamlining workflows and automating systems.
Mara King

Transforming ideas into visual stories that inspire and ignite change!
Nastia Naumets

Product & design enthusiast, fueling innovation forward
Carly Livingstone

I spend my days matching kind, ambitious, smart leaders with great tech startups and scale-ups. Then I watch them accomplish very cool and important things together.
Anastasiia Lutchenko

Driven by curiosity, I strive to innovate, inspire, and make a meaningful impact wherever I go.
Braden Richards

Passionate about finding creative ways to make the world a little bit better every day.
Iryna Antich

Passionate about product and marketing; I love transforming ideas into impactful products
Abbie Stein-MacLean

I lead Capital City Pilots by day and do my best to support the YEG startup community by night.
Cory Sellar

Service Provider

Passionate storyteller of Edmonton's innovation community, and esports enthusiast.

Join our team. Apply to be part of something truly amazing as a general, organizing, and steering committee member today!

The 2022 Judges: Meet the YEG Startup Community Awards adjudication committee.

Shalon McFarlane

Service Provider

Radha Saikia

Customer Success

Ruth Spetter

Marketing Consultant

Christian Tokarski

Entrepreneur

Brandon Kwong

Edmonton Chief Organizer

Lan Tan

Entrepreneur Enabler

Barbara MacKenzie

Service Provider

Adam Danyleyko

Service Provider

Want to help celebrate our boldest risk-takers?

2025 Show Sponsors: We're thrilled to have all of these amazing sponsors helping us make it happen!