At a time when more Canadians are rethinking what retirement looks like, lifelong sailors and retired brand builders Sian Roberts and Kevin Dunal offer a compelling second-act founder story.

While living aboard a 95-year-old Dutch barge in the Netherlands, the couple encountered a problem familiar to many downsizing consumers: traditional cookware simply wasn’t designed for tight, modern living. Their search led them to nesto by Cook Vision, a German-engineered nesting cookware system that reduces storage needs by up to 50 per cent without compromising performance or durability.

With more than 50 years of combined experience launching and scaling brands across North America, Roberts and Dunal quickly recognized a broader market opportunity, particularly as Canadians move into smaller homes and prioritize longer-lasting household investments. Though officially retired, they made the deliberate decision to return to entrepreneurship, leading nesto’s expansion into Canada.

Today, they are building the brand around a system-based, "buy better, buy once" philosophy, positioning nesto as a premium alternative to cluttered cookware sets, and a case study in opportunity-driven retirement entrepreneurship.

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Zoey Shamai, founder of Tonica Kombucha, which is celebrating 20 years in business this March.

Zoey founded Tonica in 2006 as the first commercially available kombucha brand in Canada, helping introduce and build a category that is now firmly established in grocery + specialty retail nationwide. With no outside investment and no formal business training, she grew the company from small-batch brewing within Toronto’s yoga community into a national brand now available in more than 2,500 stores.

Under her leadership, Tonica became a recognized Canadian success story, including a memorable appearance on Dragon’s Den, further cementing the brand’s profile and credibility as it scaled. As a former yoga teacher with a deep interest in health and fermentation, Zoey built Tonica around traditional brewing methods, ingredient integrity, and long-term thinking.

Today, Tonica operates out of its own certified organic and HACCP production facility in Ontario and offers a diverse portfolio of bottled and canned kombucha flavours. Zoey remains the sole owner of the business, overseeing production, distribution, and brand strategy - an increasingly rare model in today’s consolidated CPG landscape.

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Come into any situation with a clear idea of what you can contribute, and what you would like to get out of it.

Michael Shapiro is a cultural entrepreneur, author, and language enthusiast passionate about reviving ancient Jewish traditions through modern innovation. He's spent my life embracing what others might call "personal weirdness" and turning it into something extraordinary.

He’s always been fascinated by languages, alphabets, and the meaning of words. At age twelve, he took a Hebrew calligraphy class and in high school, he was the Hebrew language valedictorian.

After earning his MBA from the University of Michigan, he spent two years in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, but the corporate world felt too narrow for his creative spirit. In December 1994, he left P&G and flew to Israel to study at the Pardes Institute. By June 1995, he met his first Ketubah (artistic Jewish marriage contract) artist. In 1996, he registered Ketubah.com. What he had envisioned as one product line for a gallery soon became his entire focus online.

Nearly three decades later, Ketubah.com has become the largest Ketubah publisher on the planet, featuring 75+ leading artists and 900+ fine art limited edition designs. Michael has created HebrewNamer.com, a platform helping people discover the meaning and proper spelling of their Hebrew names. Last year, a major Jewish Publisher (JPS) published "Ketubah Renaissance", a coffee table book about this ancient tradition's modern revival. And he’s about to launch "Doing Jewish Today" an e-magazine for Jewish, interfaith and LGBTQ+ couples and families interesting in connecting with Jewish traditions on their own terms.

As someone who speaks multiple languages and reads 6-7 alphabets (and is aiming for 10!), he believes deeply in embracing what makes you unique. Whether you're a "Jewish day school nerd" or have your own passion, he encourages everyone to lean into their personal weirdness—it might just become your greatest strength!

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