Unsinkable Entrepreneurs 2026

Behind every business is a person and behind every person is a story.

As businesses grow and change, so do the emotional, cognitive and leadership demands placed on the people building them. What helps an entrepreneur navigate one stage of the journey may no longer serve them in the next; responsibilities grow, leadership evolves, pressure and uncertainty take different forms and too often, entrepreneurs navigate those transitions quietly and alone.

Developed by Unsinkable in partnership with BDC, Unsinkable Entrepreneurs was created to make space for a different kind of conversation.

TW: These discussions includes heavy topics. If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone. Support is available 24/7 through the Suicide Crisis Helpline by calling or texting 988

The Unsinkable Entrepreneurs project brings entrepreneurs together to explore the human side of building and leading a business through honest, peer-to-peer storytelling.

In June 2026, entrepreneurs from different industries, backgrounds and stages of business gathered at BDC Square in Montreal for roundtable conversations. The focus wasn't on polished advice, perfect answers or traditional measures of entrepreneurial success. Instead, participants were invited to reflect on the experiences behind their leadership: what has shaped them, how they have navigated pressure and change, what they have learned about themselves along the way, and what helps them continue.

At its heart, Unsinkable Entrepreneurs recognizes that entrepreneurship is not simply a business journey. It is a human one.

Mental health is often treated as something separate from how we work and lead but the person and the entrepreneur cannot be separated. Our experiences shape how we respond to uncertainty, make decisions, build relationships, navigate setbacks and define success.

Awareness alone isn't always enough.

Hearing that mental health matters is different from hearing another entrepreneur describe an experience that feels familiar. A specific story can help us recognize something in ourselves that we may not have had language for before. It can remind us that experiences we thought we were navigating alone are often shared by others.

That's where storytelling can help bridge the space between awareness and action.

Through a collection of English and French videos that capture the conversation, Unsinkable Entrepreneurs shares these lived experiences with entrepreneurs across Canada, not to prescribe a single way to navigate entrepreneurship, but to create opportunities for recognition, reflection and connection.

We hope these stories help entrepreneurs better understand themselves and one another, recognize the relationship between their well-being and the way they lead, and feel more empowered to seek support, adapt, and build businesses that are sustainable for the people behind them.

Because behind every business is a person, none of us are meant to build alone.

Who Shaped Us?

The Stories We Carry Before We Become Entrepreneurs

Before there is a business, there is a person and a lifetime of experiences that shape how they lead.

In the first chapter of Unsinkable Entrepreneurs, founders reflect on the identities, families, expectations, challenges and experiences they carried with them long before becoming entrepreneurs.

From growing up as the child of an immigrant, to recovery and sobriety, family sacrifice and the pressure to become the kind of leader we think we're supposed to be, these stories reveal that entrepreneurship rarely begins with a business plan. It begins with who we are and what has shaped us.

What Challenged Us?

When the Pressure of Building a Business Becomes Personal

In the second chapter of Unsinkable Entrepreneurs, founders speak candidly about the moments when ambition, responsibility and the realities of being human collided.

They share experiences with stress, depression, grief, sobriety, caregiving, physical warning signs and the realization that sometimes pushing harder or simply taking a vacation, isn't enough.

These aren't simply stories about burnout. They're stories about recognizing when something needs to change, learning to listen to ourselves, and reconsidering what sustainable success can look like.

RELEASING MID-OCTOBER 2026

What Sustains Us?

Entrepreneurship Isn’t a Solo Sport

Entrepreneurship is often celebrated as an individual pursuit. But behind every person building something meaningful are relationships, communities and people who help make it possible.

In the final chapter of Unsinkable Entrepreneurs, founders reflect on what allows them to keep going: community, vulnerability, boundaries, trust, asking for help and allowing others to pour back into them.

Together, their stories challenge the idea that resilience means carrying everything ourselves. Sustainable leadership isn't about doing it alone. It's about understanding what we need, who we need around us, and how we build businesses and lives.

RELEASING MID-OCTOBER 2026

Meet the English Speakers

Julia Mai - Founder of July Health

Julie Mai is a Toronto-based registered dietitian, women’s healthcare leader, and founder of July Health; a Canadian digital women's health company delivering diagnosis, treatment, and management for underserved chronic hormonal & mental health conditions. Julie lives with PMOS and ADHD, and is on a mission to improve access to quality healthcare for complex, overlapping conditions.
Jenn Harper - Founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty

Jenn Harper is the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty, a cosmetics brand focused on sustainability and supporting Indigenous communities. Since its 2015 launch, the brand has grown significantly, securing major retail partnerships and donating over $250,000 to charity. Jenn has earned widespread recognition, including being named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.
Geoff Moore - Founder and CEO of Impactᴬᴺᴰ Inc

Geoff is a 30-year veteran of the investment management industry, having held senior sales and management positions with the Bank of Ireland (BIAM), Deutsche Bank (DeAM), GE (GEAM) and State Street (SSGA). He is a two-time entrepreneur and currently works as the Founder and CEO of Impactᴬᴺᴰ Inc., where he is focused on sustainable and impact investing.
His first entrepreneurial venture ended many years ago with a five-week hospitalization and a long healing journey after a mental breakdown. Since that time, he founded The Pinned 2 Purpose Mental Health Initiative where he hosts a podcast to shatter stigma and give people a hand-up on their healing journeys, and delivers corporate well-being workshops and motivational speeches. He also serves as an Executive Ambassador with the REAL Mental Health Foundation which is active in over 60 countries. He was a speaker on Mental Health Day during Davos in 2025 & 2026.
His lived experience led to the formulation of a metaphor backed by a universal truth and an experiential exercise that targets shattering stigma by reframing perceptions of weakness and demonstrating that: "People with mental health challenges and conditions are not weak but may be in a weakened state.
Peter Neal – Co-Founder, Neal Brothers Foods & Chief Sales & Brands Officer, Jonluca Neal

Peter has been at the forefront of the Canadian natural food industry for over 30 years, and today, he’s also a fierce advocate for mental health — especially in the entrepreneurial space. Co-founding Neal Brothers with his brother Chris, he built a beloved national brand rooted in quality, humour, and values. But his greatest impact may be in how openly he shares his personal struggles, making it safer for others to do the same. Peter is generous with both his story and his support — and we’re lucky to have him as our peer moderator.
Nicole Antoine - Founder of N/A & Co
Megan Rafuse

“There is such a pressure as a startup founder to look like I have it all together. It's so refreshing to finally shine the light on the realities of entrepreneurship, how it impacts founder mental health, and that sharing everyone's lived experience makes me feel less alone.”

Julie Mai

“Entrepreneurship can feel incredibly lonely, until you find yourself in a room full of people who understand the struggle and the triumph. Today, I felt seen. I was surrounded by people who didn’t need an explanation — they just got it. There’s something powerful about being reminded that while our businesses may be different, so much of this journey is shared.”

Jenn Harper

"Exchanging stories about lived experience with other entrepreneurs was a reminder of our common humanity and vulnerability to facing mental health challenges and conditions, all the while trying to achieve meaningful but difficult things. This is why storytelling is so important, and this is why we need to look out for each other and let people know how we are really doing when we need a hand up."

Geoff Moore

Meet the French Speakers

Alison Green - Founder of Bien Chez Soi

Alison Green is a builder who transformed personal trauma into a mission for impact. Today, she mobilizes entrepreneurs, women leaders, and communities around a clear purpose: building projects that strengthen those who refuse to be diminished.
As the founder of Bien Chez Soi, now the largest private home-care network in Quebec (60+ locations), she leads a model of growth where performance serves real human impact.
Known for her candor and unapologetic leadership, Alison speaks openly about her life experiences, her neurodivergence, and the complex position of women entrepreneurs today. Her work has earned several distinctions, including EY Entrepreneur of the Year – Canada East (Social Impact).
Edouard Ferron-Mallett - Repeat Founder, Advisor and Ecosystem Builder

Edouard Ferron-Mallett is a repeat founder, advisor and ecosystem builder helping entrepreneurs build businesses and lives that last.

With a background in strategic management and more than a decade working across startups, innovation, impact, and entrepreneurship, Edouard has supported founders and organizations through commercialization, growth, product strategy, partnerships, and organizational change. He has worked with organizations including TELUS Health, Desjardins, Esplanade, AquaAction, and Coopérathon. He has founded and advised ventures at the intersection of technology, impact, healthcare and wellbeing. He is also a partner at Foragr.AI, where he leads client services.

His own entrepreneurial journey has reinforced a simple belief: sustainable performance starts with knowing and taking care of yourself. Today, through ProAction Entrepreneur, Edouard works to make prevention, support, and wellbeing more accessible to entrepreneurs, while building stronger communities around them.

He is particularly interested in the intersection of self-awareness, mental wellbeing, physical health, performance, and the ecosystems that help entrepreneurs thrive.
Tonya Dickenson - founder and Creative Director of Asymmetric by Design

Tonya Dickenson is the founder and creative director of Asymmetric by Design, a trailblazing Montreal jewellery brand where extraordinary materials meet fearless design. She transforms antique, vintage and recycled treasures into one-of-a-kind statement pieces that turn heads, spark conversations, and invite women to wear their values.
After nearly 25 years in Canadian pharmaceuticals, Tonya channelled her expertise in strategy and marketing intelligence into a bold mission: to prove that fashion can be breathtaking while protecting the planet. In 2025, she was recognized among Québec’s Top 25 Emerging Entrepreneurs and SustainabilityX®’s Global 50 Women in Sustainability.
Her collection celebrates asymmetry, individuality, and the rich histories of materials, creating unexpected beauty from what already exists. Every piece offers a distinctive alternative to mass-produced luxury.
For Tonya, success means creating lasting impact, championing human rights and empowering women, while protecting the clarity, creativity and well-being that sustain her leadership.
Discover jewellery as original as you are.
Dominic Gagnon - Cofounder of Connect&GO

An entrepreneur since age 14, Dominic Gagnon is an author, speaker, and BDC’s first Entrepreneur in Residence, known for his candour and commitment to entrepreneurs’ mental health. As cofounder of Connect&GO, he built an international technology business, navigated a 98% revenue decline during the pandemic, and led its transformation before its sale to Peek Travel in 2025.
The author of several bestselling books and a contributor to Les Affaires, Dominic explores the human realities behind performance, leadership, and the pressure to succeed. He has delivered over 400 talks across Canada and internationally.
Open about his neurodivergence, he speaks candidly about mental health and resilience. Through his writing and speaking, he helps break down stigma and encourages leaders to build ambitious businesses while protecting their wellbeing. His message: success should never come at the expense of the person pursuing it.

“It was deeply meaningful to speak openly with fellow entrepreneurs about mental health—a reality that is still too often surrounded by silence. Honest conversations like these remind us that we’re not alone and that we don’t have to carry the pressure of entrepreneurship on our own.”

Dominic Gagnon

“This conversation gave us space to be honest about what it takes to build a business—and what it takes out of us. I view sustainability through three lenses: caring for the planet, building a viable company and protecting the person behind it. We need places to exchange ideas, feel seen, and say, ‘I need support.’ Entrepreneurship can be lonely. I’m lucky to have my tribe: people who believe in what I’m building and care about how I’m doing.”

Tonya Dickenson

"Hearing peers share their stories openly, including the parts we tend to hide out of discomfort or shame, was powerful. I realized I wasn't the only one who had struggled, and that we face the same challenges, with different tools to meet them. Entrepreneurship is hard, whether it's the first time or repeatedly, but there are solutions, and they start with getting together. We are not alone, we can do this together!"

Edouard Ferron-Mallett

Young bald man with glasses smiling in suit and red velvet bow tie in front of a black background

“Many entrepreneurs become founders because their minds see what conventional thinking misses. But that same mind can become a difficult place when you’re carrying the weight of a business on your shoulders. An entrepreneur’s mental health is a company’s first asset: take care of the human behind the business, and the business has a chance to thrive.”

Alison Green