Crystal Pite

46, born in Terrace, BC, and currently living in Vancouver, BC: Crystal is an award-winning dance choreographer whose work has been performed internationally. Her critically acclaimed production Betroffenheit premiered at the 2015 Pan American Games with both the Observer and the Guardian calling it the “best dance performance of the year.”

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Daniel Saks and Nicolas Desmarais

31, Nicolas was born in Montreal, QC, and Daniel was born in St. Catharines, ON; both now live in San Francisco, CA: Nicolas and Daniel are disruptors and innovators in the tech industry, starting AppDirect out of their San Francisco apartment at the age of 23. Named one of “America’s Most Promising Companies” by Forbes, AppDirect entered unicorn territory in 2015 with a valuation exceeding $1 billion.

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Ilya Sutskever

31, born in the USSR and currently living in San Francisco, CA: Ilya is the world’s leading scientist in artificial intelligence research and currently runs OpenAI, a non-profit organization founded by Elon Musk. Ilya’s passion is to advance digital intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

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Jesse McCleery

38, born in Winnipeg, MB, and currently living on Galiano Island, BC: Jesse is the founder and head chef of Galiano Island’s famous “forage to table” restaurant, Pilgrimme, rated #2 in all of Canada. Since beginning his culinary career at the age of 15, Chef McCleery has cooked in some of BC’s top kitchens.

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Kate Harris

35, born in Guelph, ON, and currently living in Atlin, BC: Kate is a Rhodes scholar, writer, and world adventurer. Named one of Canada’s “Top 10 Adventurers” by explore Magazine, Kate will release a travel narrative in early 2018 titled Lands of Lost Borders, about her journey from Istanbul to the Himalayas on the fabled Silk Road.

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Katherena Vermette

40, born and currently living in Winnipeg, MB: Katherena is an Indigenous Red River poet, novelist, filmmaker, and advocate for the equality of Aboriginal peoples. Her work has won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry and made the shortlist for both the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

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Liane Thomas

46, born and currently living in Toronto, ON: Liane is the owner and executive producer of Skin & Bones, an award-winning production house whose recent work for SickKids Foundation’s “VS” campaign has been applauded for defying traditional narratives surrounding illness.

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Maria Qamar

26, born in Karachi, Pakistan, and currently living in Toronto, ON: Maria is a Desi pop artist whose work both celebrates and satirizes the experiences of first-generation Pakistani-Canadians living in the West. Despite growing up in a home that looked down upon careers in the arts, Maria has created work that resonates with other first-generation Canadians, and has been featured by Vogue, the Toronto Star, and the BBC.

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Matthew Romeo

26, born and currently living in Toronto, ON: Matthew is Canada’s longest-running hip-hop radio show host and the DJ for Drake’s OVO. Once homeless, Matthew now DJs at exclusive events for Warner Brothers, Michael Jordan, and the Toronto Raptors. Matthew’s current focus is to give back to the world by motivating and inspiring a younger audience.

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Mustafa Ahmed

21, born and currently living in Toronto, ON: Mustafa is a poet and spoken-word artist based in Regent Park, Canada’s first inner-city housing project. In addition to being named poet laureate for the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and joining Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s inaugural youth advisory council, Mustafa has worked alongside great Canadian talents including Margaret Atwood and The Weeknd.

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Nathalie Bondil

50, born in Barcelona, Spain, and currently living in Montreal, QC: Nathalie is the first female Director and Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and is a recipient of the Order of Canada. Under Nathalie’s leadership, the museum has welcomed more than million visitors two years in a row—an unprecedented accomplishment for any museum in Canada.

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Rawi Hage and Madeleine Thien

53 and 43, Rawi was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and Maddie was born in Vancouver, BC; both now live in Montreal, QC: Maddie and Rawi are celebrated fiction writers whose work has received top honours in Canadian literature, with Maddie’s critically acclaimed novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing recently bringing home both the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award.

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Roxanne Joyal

40, born in Winnipeg, MB, and currently living in Toronto, ON: Roxanne is CEO of Me to We, an innovative social enterprise and lifestyle brand that donates half its net profits to non-profit partner WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, of which Roxanne herself was a founding member.

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Stéphane Tétreault

24, born and currently living in Montreal, QC: Stéphane is a musical prodigy who plays a 300-year-old Stradivarius cello. He began taking lessons as a child and, by the age of 10, knew he wanted to play professionally for a living.

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Steve Moore

44, born in Mississauga, ON, and currently living in Nanaimo, BC: Steve is one of the most talented full-body tattoo artists in the world. He began drawing as a child and has been tattooing others since 1993 as a means to connect and communicate with the world around him.

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Tanya Taylor

32, born in Toronto, ON, and currently living in New York, NY: Tanya is a young fashion designer whose pieces have been worn by celebrity fashion icons including Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau.

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Will Gadd

50, born in Colorado Springs, CO, and currently living in Canmore, AB: Will was the first person to ice climb Niagara Falls, and he is the current world distance record holder for paragliding. Despite these impressive titles, however, Will’s main goal is to continuously ask questions and learn about the world.

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Andre De Grasse

23, born in Scarborough, ON, and currently living in Phoenix, AZ: Andre is a Canadian Olympic sprinter who won silver at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, and he is the reigning 100m and 200m Pan American champion, reigning 100m and 200m NCAA men’s champion, and current Canadian record holder for fastest time in the 200m.

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Mosha Lundström Halbert

30, born in Toronto, ON, and currently living in Long Island, NY: Mosha is a Fashion Director for Footwear News magazine and recently launched her own line of luxury winter coats, Therma Kota, with her mother Linda Lundström and sister Sophie Lundström.

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Scotty Sussman aka That Girl Sussi

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Zeke Thurston

23, born in Calgary, AB, and currently living in Big Valley, AB: Zeke is a Canadian rodeo champion with multiple Calgary Stampede victories under his belt, as well as saddle bronc competition wins in both the U.S. and Canada.

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Aurélie Rivard

20, born in Montreal, QC, and currently living in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC: Aurélie is Canada’s most decorated Paralympic swimmer, having won three gold medals and set two world records in addition to the Paralympic world record at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she was also named Canada’s flag bearer for the closing ceremonies.

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Zita
Cobb

59, born and currently living in Fogo Island, NL: Zita is a recent recipient of the Order of Canada for her dedication to rural development as founder of the Fogo Island Inn. Even after starting her own business and serving as Senior Vice President of Strategy for JDS Uniphase, Zita still believes there is no greater entrepreneur on Earth than a fisherman.

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Ed Burtynsky

62, born in St. Catharines, ON, and currently living in Toronto, ON: Ed is an environmental photo-artist whose work primarily explores how industry affects nature. After winning the 2005 TED Prize alongside rock star and global activist Bono, Ed received the title of Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006.

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Alex Josephson

32, born and currently living in Toronto, ON: Alex is the “It Boy” of Canadian architecture—and the only Canadian architect to ever receive the New York Prize Fellowship from the Van Alen Institute. As a partner at design firm PARTISANS, Alex has been awarded for the groundbreaking design of Bar Raval, Toronto’s “most beautiful bar,” and is currently working on the revitalization of Union Station.

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Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson

29 and 39, Alexa was born in Toronto, ON, and Patrick was born in Ottawa, ON; both currently live in Toronto, ON: Alexa and Patrick are internationally exhibited artists who bring their global creative perspective to isolated youth in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, through the multidisciplinary arts initiative Embassy of Imagination.

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Angela Strange

38, born in Ottawa, ON, and currently living in San Francisco, CA: Angela is a tech venture capitalist, marathon runner, and partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. As co-chair of C100, an organization helping Canadian startups access capital, Angela is Canada’s guide to the innovation, capital, and expertise in Silicon Valley.

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Bruce Poon Tip

50, born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and currently living in Toronto, ON: Bruce founded what is now the largest adventure travel company in the world, G Adventures, in his apartment at the age of 22. Bruce started his business with nothing but personal credit cards, and now he employs more than 2000 people worldwide.

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Bruno Guévremont

43, born in Gatineau, QC, and currently living in Victoria, BC: Bruno is the only Canadian—and one of only three people in the world—to successfully disarm a suicide bomber. Having struggled with PTSD after leaving Afghanistan in 2010, Bruno turned to fitness as a coping mechanism and is now both a motivational speaker and athlete, leading Team Canada to the Invictus Games in 2017.

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Byron and Dexter Peart

45, both born in Ottawa, ON, and currently living in Montreal, QC: Byron and Dexter are twin brothers and co-founders of WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie, a high-end fashion label now mentioned in the same breath as venerable houses like Prada and Balenciaga.

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Cameron Bailey

54, born in London, UK, and currently living in Toronto, ON: Cameron is the Film Programmer and Artistic Director at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2016, Cameron used TIFF’s “City to City” programme to shine the spotlight on Nigeria’s booming film industry.

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Cazhhmere Blanche

35, born in Halifax, NS, and currently living in Toronto, ON: Cazhhmere is an accomplished music video director, born to a family that arrived in Canada via the Underground Railroad eight generations ago. Cazhhmere is regularly asked where she’s from due to her skin colour—and her response is always “Canada.”

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Coco Rocha

29, born in Toronto, ON, and currently living in New York, NY: Coco is a fashion icon whose work has redefined “modeldom” for aspiring models. Off the runway, Coco has dedicated time to help pass New York labour laws that significantly improve working conditions for underage models in the city.

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Crystal Pite

46, born in Terrace, BC, and currently living in Vancouver, BC: Crystal is an award-winning dance choreographer whose work has been performed internationally. Her critically acclaimed production Betroffenheit premiered at the 2015 Pan American Games with both the Observer and the Guardian calling it the “best dance performance of the year.”

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