Here are a few of the many success stories launched at Innoversity.

Mandy Luk

Mandy joined the CBC in 2006 as an Innoversity intern. Today, she is an associate producer for CBC News Today on Newsworld.

As an immigrant from Hong Kong in the mid-90s, Mandy's working experience was mainly in ethnic media before joining the CBC. With English as her second language, working in mainstream media seemed to her to be an impossible quest. But the internship she won at the Innoversity Summit™ proved to be the perfect springboard to make this dream come true. Two years after Mandy won her internship, she says the spirit of Innoversity is still at the centre of her day-to-day work: bringing a unique voice and point of view to TV news that matters to all Canadians.

Shakura S'Aida

This Innoversity diva's career is hitting a high note! There is probably no one who has been connected with Innoversity in as many ways as Shakura S'Aida. First as a sponsor (with the Directors' Guild of Canada-Ontario), then as an ODP Best.

Overall Pitch winner, and most recently on staff as Innoversity's manager of both sponsorship and the Innoversity Career Fair for two years running, Shakura has gone from success to success. An artist first and foremost, in February Shakura won second place (out of 160 bands, duos and solo artists from 27 countries) at the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee!

Shakura S'Aida's fantastic debut recording, Blueprint, was released in Canada last year and is available from her website.

If you'd like to hear Shakura in person, she has numerous performance dates on the horizon: check out her busy schedule at www.shakurasaida.com

Aparita Bhandari

Aparita is another Innoversity veteran whose star is on the rise.

As a print journalist writing an article on diversity in the workplace for the Globe and Mail, Aparita interviewed Innoversity co-founder Cynthia Reyes, who encouraged her to enter the Open Door Pitch competition to develop a series on cultural neighbourhoods in Toronto for local talk radio station CFRB.

At the same time, Aparita had just started doing some freelance work for CBC Radio. She took Cynthia's suggestion as a sign and submitted her application. Well, maybe it was a sign; she won! Aparita calls her opportunity to work at CFRB "an amazing experience," and credits her time there with providing her with valuable experience and developing the right skills for radio.

Aparita currently contributes regularly to numerous programs on CBC Radio, including Metro Morning, Big City, Small World, and Here and Now. She also continues to write.

Kim Ziervogel

Kim credits her time spent at the Innoversity Summit with helping her build confidence and make contacts. "Innoversity taught me how to pitch to editors and helped give me a stronger voice in the mainstream media."

Always active in bringing positive Aboriginal stories to the mainstream media, this past year she was hired by CBC Manitoba as an associate producer on ReVision Quest, a 10-part summer series that looks at breaking down commonly-held misconceptions about Aboriginal people in Canada.

Kim is also associate producer of Definitely Not the Opera on CBC Radio One and is currently working on an Aboriginal Media Plan for CBC Manitoba. "All of the opportunities I've had throughout my career have brought me to this point and the people I've met through Innoversity have helped me to have the courage and confidence to raise my voice in a career that has not always been empathetic."

INNOVERSITY STORIES

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