Louis-Julien Roy moved west from Quebec in 1996 to climb and guide. What started with construction work, long days in the mountains, and a small sales territory eventually became Mountain Exposure, a Calgary-based business he has been building for more than 20 years.We talk about starting without a financial backup, learning how to grow through relationships, and why the business did not take off all at once. Louis also shares how his approach to goals, risk, mentorship, and responsibility changed as the company grew.This is a conversation about the steady work behind a business that lasts, and what it takes to build something that can eventually continue without you.Connect with Louis-Julien Roy:Website: https://www.mountainx.ca/LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/louis-julien-roy-575b9538Connect with Jeff Humphreys:Website: https://www.jeffhumphreys.caInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffhumphreysTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffhumphreys_LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhumphreysyycPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios: https://www.offsetstudios.ca
Jul 22
1 hr 24 min
Matt Gillespie is the President, CEO, and Executive Producer behind Joe Media Group, but his path into production started long before the company did.In this episode, Matt talks about growing up in Wetaskiwin, finding video through community television, getting into SAIT, building a network, and learning the business side of creative work through a lot of real-world trial and error.The conversation gets into business dips, partnerships, borrowing money to get started, buying out partners, acquiring V Strategies, and why Calgary has been the right size of city for the kind of work and life he has built.Episode 211 of The Calgary Sessions with Jeff Humphreys.Connect with Matt Gillespie:Website: https://joemedia.tvLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-gillespie-9920b013Connect with Jeff Humphreys:Website: https://www.jeffhumphreys.caInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffhumphreysTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffhumphreys_LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhumphreysyycPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios: https://www.offsetstudios.ca
Jul 15
1 hr 29 min
Colby Delorme is a Métis entrepreneur, President of Imagination Group of Companies, and co-founder of Influence Mentoring Society.In this episode, Colby talks about growing up in Winnipeg, moving to Calgary, and figuring out where he fit as a kid from different backgrounds in a city that felt very different from where he started.We talk about getting kicked out of high school, starting his first business at 18, working in construction, learning some hard lessons, and eventually building a career around Indigenous business, consulting, ceremonial tobacco, mentorship, and community.A big part of this conversation is also about his relationship with his mom, Dr. Marie Delorme, and how their work together shaped both the business and the way he thinks about responsibility, trust, and opportunity.Hosted by Jeff Humphreys.Connect with Colby Delorme:Website: https://imaginationgroup.caLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/colby-delorme-cist%C3%AAm%C3%A2w-napio-icd-d-71212315Connect with Jeff Humphreys:Website: https://www.jeffhumphreys.caInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffhumphreysTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffhumphreys_LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhumphreysyycPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios: https://www.offsetstudios.ca
Jul 8
2 hr 25 min
Danijel Slisko has been self-employed for almost 30 years, starting in commercial painting before building a wider path through Calgary construction, marketing, technology, and publishing.In this episode, Danijel talks about learning business from his parents, earning trust with demanding clients, using systems before they were common in the trades, selling the company, and moving into a new chapter built around people, magazines, and community.Connect with Danijel Slisko:Website: https://www.danijelslisko.com/LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/danijel-sli%C5%A1ko-1639a61bInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/danijel_slisko/Connect with Jeff Humphreys:Website: https://www.jeffhumphreys.caInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffhumphreysTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffhumphreys_LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhumphreysyycPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios: https://www.offsetstudios.ca
Jul 1
1 hr 13 min
Andrew Ferguson is the owner of Kensington Wine Market, but his story started long before he owned the shop.He began as the delivery driver. It was supposed to be a short-term job over Christmas, but he liked the people, the place, and the work enough to stay. Over time, he became known as the Scotch Guy, helped build Kensington Wine Market’s whisky reputation, and eventually took over the business.In this episode, Andrew and Jeff talk about growing up in Calgary, not having a clean path after school, becoming a young parent, finding his way inside a small independent shop, and learning how trust gets built over time.They also get into whisky, sales, supplier relationships, taking over an existing business, and why Andrew still wants the shop to feel personal, even as more of the world moves online.This is a conversation about Kensington Wine Market, but it is also about finding the right place, becoming useful, and building something slowly.Connect with Andrew Ferguson: WebsiteLinkedInInstagramConnect with Jeff HumphreysWebsiteInstagramTikTokLinkedInPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios
Jun 24
1 hr 16 min
Chris Cederstrand is a former hockey player, firefighter, Team Canada sledge hockey player, public speaker, and founder of AMP Hockey in Calgary.In this episode, Chris shares the story of growing up in Saskatchewan hockey, leaving home young to chase the game, and having that part of his life taken away after a series of concussions. He also talks about becoming a firefighter, surviving a workplace accident that led to the amputation of his right leg, and the long process of rebuilding his life after everything changed.This conversation is not just about getting through hard things. It is about identity, recovery, family, chronic pain, PTSD, adaptive sport, and learning that the mindset that once helped you survive may also need to change.Chris speaks openly about the small wins that helped him move forward, the people who supported him, finding his way back to hockey through sledge hockey, and why pushing harder is not always the answer.At its core, this is a conversation about starting over when the old version of your life no longer fits.Connect with Chris Cederstrand: WebsiteLinkedInInstagramConnect with Jeff HumphreysWebsiteInstagramTikTokLinkedInPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios
Jun 17
1 hr 55 min
Ann Zee is the founder and director of the Holistic Institute of Health and Fertility in Calgary, a clinic focused on fertility, acupuncture, women’s health, pregnancy, postnatal care, and perimenopause.In this episode, Ann shares the story behind the work, from growing up between countries and losing both parents young to finding music, struggling with gambling, discovering Traditional Chinese Medicine, and building a clinic shaped by kindness, trust, and patient care.We talk about what it means to feel seen, heard, and understood in healthcare, and how lived experience can shape the way someone builds, leads, and cares forpeople.Connect with Ann Zee: WebsiteLinkedInConnect with Jeff HumphreysWebsiteInstagramTikTokLinkedInPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios
Jun 10
1 hr 49 min
Dan Owen owns Owen Construction and OCL Studios, whichsounds like two completely different worlds until you hear the story.Dan started out playing drums in Calgary, then spent yearson the road with his band, playing bars, hauling gear, sleeping where they could, and trying to make it work.When the band ended, music basically disappeared from hislife for a long time. He went into construction, started Owen Construction, and built a real business from the ground up.Years later, music came back.What started as an idea to finally record with his old bandturned into OCL Studios, a recording studio just outside Calgary that has become part of the city’s music community.In this episode, Dan talks about the old touring days, starting a construction business, building OCL Studios, getting the business assumptions wrong, and realizing the return on the studio was never just about money.It’s a conversation about risk, music, Calgary, community, family, and building something before you fully know what it’s going to become.Connect with Dan Owen: WebsiteInstagramWebsiteConnect with Jeff HumphreysWebsiteInstagramTikTokLinkedInPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios
Jun 3
1 hr 9 min
In this episode of The Calgary Sessions, Alex talks about growing up in Buenos Aires, finding theatre as a young person, moving to New York, studying arts education, working at Lincoln Center, and eventually making his way to Calgary.Alex is the author of The Audacity of Relevance and the President and CEO of Werklund Centre, formerly Arts Commons. We talk about why the arts mattered to him early on, how culture can help people find where they fit, and why access to those experiences still matters.This one also gets into Calgary, city-building, cultural spaces, leadership, and the difference between building something impressive and building something people actually feel connected to.Alex has a big role in the city, but the better story is how he got here and why the work matters to him.Connect with Alex Sarian: WebsiteLinkedInInstagramConnect with Jeff HumphreysWebsiteInstagramTikTokLinkedInPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios
May 27
1 hr 17 min
Kim Shore is a safe sport advocate, former gymnast, speaker, writer, and mother.In this episode, Kim shares her story of growing up in gymnastics, moving to Calgary as a young athlete, competing at a high level, and later realizing how much harm had been normalized inside the sport.The conversation follows her path from athlete to parent to advocate. When her own daughter entered gymnastics, Kim started seeing familiar patterns return, which led her into safe sport advocacy, board work, survivor support, and national conversations about accountability in Canadian sport.This is a conversation about youth sport, athlete safety, coaching culture, parenting young athletes, institutional responsibility, and the difficult balance of still believing in sport while pushing it to become safer.It is not an anti-sport conversation. It is about protecting what sport can be when kids are treated with care, dignity, and accountability.Connect with Kim Shore: WebsiteLinkedInConnect with Jeff HumphreysWebsiteInstagramTikTokLinkedInPodcast Location & Production:Off Set Studios
May 20
2 hr 1 min
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