About Us

• Erin Athene
  
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  Erin Athene

  Managing Partner

Erin Athene

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Managing Partner

"I love creating opportunities for people and being a champion for women in tech and entrepreneurship."

In addition to co-founding and managing PurposeFive, Erin provides training to entrepreneurs on Lean Startup methodology, Customer Discovery and Market Validation as an Advisor and Management Consultant to early stage companies. She has reviewed over 500 business plans and CEO pitches for deal screening in angel investment groups and been a panel judge for numerous pitching events.

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• Yvonne Coady
  
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  Yvonne Coady

  Chief Scientist & Co-Founder

Yvonne Coady

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Chief Scientist & Co-Founder

"I love peanut butter and hot sauce for breakfast."

Dr. Coady is transforming the way users can move from consumers to creators of web-based applications. She is also an award winner of UVic's Craigdarroch Award for Excellence in Knowledge Mobilization. Her teaching focuses on making sophisticated computer systems—such as cloud computing, high-capacity networks, data warehouses and high-performance processors—more readily available to everybody, everywhere.

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• Stacey Ashworth
  
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  Stacey Ashworth

  Chief Operating Officer

Stacey Ashworth

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Chief Operating Officer

"I've eaten the same breakfast everyday for ten years."

Stacey loves it when a plan comes together. A Certified ScrumMaster who practices Agile and Scrum values, Stacey advocates for self-organization within her team to encourage autonomy and creativity. Face-to-face interactions, responding to change, and ensuring technical excellence are her top priorities on any project, be that the redesign of an outdated website or an email campaign leading up to a big launch.

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• Lidia Stemmet
  
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  Lidia Stemmet

  Front-End Developer

Lidia Stemmet

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Front-End Developer

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Lidia is a front-end web developer and designer. Born and raised in sunny South Africa she now calls Canada home. She loves to travel and see new places with her husband, spend time outdoors and sit down with a good book.

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We work with purpose-driven organizations to help them scale successfully and accelerate their online revenue growth. As a social enterprise, Purpose Five is committed to gender balance and promoting women to lead roles on our executive and technical teams. We are inspired by partnering with and supporting organizations doing good in the world.

Mentors

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• Trevor Morrison
  
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  Trevor Morrison

  Technical Advisor

Trevor Morrison

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Technical Advisor

"I coin gaphoricious neologisms"

Trevor worked for the Government of British Columbia for over fifteen years in a variety of communication and leadership roles before shifting to a career in web development to better suit his interests in programming and mathematics. As an analytical and detail-oriented thinker, he believes that good coding practices and a strong testing regime are essential to building great software. While back-end business logic and database design are his primary areas of interest, Trevor has recently focused on improving his skills at creating webpages with HTML and Sass. He holds diplomas in arts and science studies from Camosun College and web development from Lighthouse Labs (LHL). Trevor believes that teaching and knowledge transfer are core responsibilities for developers of all experience levels; he shares his passion for software development by mentoring students in the Victoria-based LHL satellite cohorts.

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• Kirsten Dodd
  
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  Kirsten Dodd

  Web Accessibility Advisor

Kirsten Dodd

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Web Accessibility Advisor

"My Canadian birth certificate is in five languages"

A unicorn designer and developer. An entrepreneurial spirit. A detail oriented trendsetter. A mentor. And above all, a dog lover. As a design-inclined developer, Kirsten excels at user experience and accessibility because she understands that form and function are not mutually exclusive and refuses to sacrifice one for the other. Combining her background in development and lifelong passion in digital media, photography and design, she breathes life into every project she takes on.

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• Ryan Stratton
  
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  Ryan Stratton

  Technical Advisor

Ryan Stratton

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Technical Advisor

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Ryan loves a challenge and takes great satisfaction in working though complex challenge to find solutions. He is always interested in discussing projects on any topic. He's particularly interested in projects that solve problems in business automation and efficiencies delivered through web applications, mobile applications, and business intelligence/analytics.

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• Jamil Velji
  
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  Jamil Velji

  Virtual Chief Marketing Officer

Jamil Velji

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Virtual Chief Marketing Officer

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Jamil is one of the most sought after sales funnel architects in the tech and entrepreneur community. He started out in marketing, running campaigns for an agency, eventually taking the reins and then transitioning into the world of startups and SaaS businesses. He’s written an Amazon bestseller, The Growth Playbook, and has appeared on numerous podcasts and webinars with audiences in the thousands as a guest expert.

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• Laura Cooper
  
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  Laura Cooper

  Senior Mentor
  Web Development

Laura Cooper

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Senior Mentor
Web Development

"Being the glue that brings design and development together in sweet, sweet harmony"

Laura is a versatile Web Developer with a spunky personality, a Visual Arts background, and an unending desire to learn (and help others learn). During her experience at multiple advertising agencies, she has acquired a diverse skill-set, doing everything from website development, search engine optimization, and online marketing to graphic design, print production, and social media. Her specialties include CSS/SASS, Responsive Design, and WordPress. When she’s not busy creating complex code solutions at work, mentoring at PurposeSocial & Ladies Learning Code, or attending one of the many awesome tech events Victoria has to offer, Laura loves to spend her time painting, cooking, sampling craft beer, and playing board games & video games

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• Juan Ramirez
  
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  Juan Ramirez

  Senior Mentor
  Graphic Design

Juan Ramirez

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Senior Mentor
Graphic Design

"Unleashing intuitive user experiences and crushing bugs"

With over 7 years of experience in the tech sector as an Electronic Engineer and Graphic Designer, Juan has worked on different software projects ranging from solar powered traffic lights, early accident detection HMI’s, websites and mobile apps. As a graphic designer, he created branding materials for a variety of clients including community gardens, daycares, local music bands, and a municipal election campaign. When he’s not busy writing code or designing logos you can find him playing and recording music, or doodling in his notepad.

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Accelerator Alumni

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• Tolu Agbaje

  Junior Developer

Tolu Agbaje

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Junior Developer

"Creating creative and user friendly web applications"

An energetic and ambitious problem solver who is able to work alongside other developers in creating web applications to the very highest standard. Tolu has a passion for information technology and much experience with creating logical and innovative solutions to complex problems. She has over 5 years experience working in teams on technical projects with her background in Geophysics (BSc and Msc). She recently trained at the University of Victoria Continuous Education Center in Web app development and data management and visualization. As someone who takes responsibility for her own personal development, she is continually evaluating and upgrading her skills to stay at the cutting edge of web app development. She is a natural problem solver, who has proven herself by successfully completing web design projects and Geographic information system (GIS) projects. Tolu is presently integrating her technical skills into her passion for developing creative and user friendly web applications.

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• Rick May

  Junior Developer

Rick May

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Junior Developer

"Strong motivation and backend coding"

Growing up with a tech background, Rick has lots of experience in both web and app development. That means a strong proficiency with both web design (HTML/CSS/javascript) and server-side skills (nodeJS/Java & C). He is quick to learn and a strong developer to have on your next project.

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• Amy Hanvoravongchai

  Junior Developer

Amy Hanvoravongchai

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Junior Developer

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• Mike Redgrave

  Junior Developer

Mike Redgrave

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Junior Developer

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• Anna Kapron-King

  Junior Developer

Anna Kapron-King

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Junior Developer

"Troubadour, SQL Enthusiast"

Anna is in her third year studying Computer Science and Linguistics at the University of British Columbia. For over ten years, Anna has been working on web design and back-end web development projects. Her skills in these areas include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, NodeJS, PHP, and MySQL.

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• Harshitha Apana

  Junior Developer

Harshitha Apana

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Junior Developer

"Enthusiastic in testing the given software systems"

Harshitha has 30 months of experience in handling People Soft systems and has hands on experience with SQL. Currently, she is pursuing her Master's degree at University of Victoria and is interested in learning new technologies.

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• Shashank Jain

  Junior Developer

Shashank Jain

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Junior Developer

"Always motivated to learn more"

Worked as an instructor for basics of programming languages in an educational institute. He is currently a Master’s student in Computer Science at the University of Victoria.

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• Mollie Moric

  Project Manager

Mollie Moric

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Project Manager

"Professional Juggler"

Mollie is a fourth year student in the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria. She is interested in creating high functioning teams in order to achieve company goals as well as personal goals. She believes anything is possible when you use integrity, strategic planning, and authentic motivation. This is a new industry for her, with a new language, and new challenges but she is excited to be exploring the endless possibilities in tech!

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• Adam Sorensen

  Business Development Coordinator

Adam Sorensen

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Business Development Coordinator

"I'm a master of puns and dad jokes—according to myself…"

Adam hails from Kelowna but has lived in Victoria for the past four years. A lover of the water, he sails competitively at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, and tries to be outside and active as much as possible biking, hiking and exploring Vancouver Island. Adam works on sales funnel creation, digital marketing projects, and analytics analysis.

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• Devin Bonin

  Digital Marketing Coordinator

Devin Bonin

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Digital Marketing Coordinator

"I lived in a tent for a year."

Devin is finishing his Bachelor of Commerce at the Gustavson School of Business. With already three years of marketing experience under his belt, Devin is excited to help clients make their mark in the digital space. He loves the fast pace of Purpose Five and is passionate about turning big ideas into reality.

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• Hayley Janzen

  Digital Marketing Specialist

Hayley Janzen

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Digital Marketing Specialist

"I once ate fourteen Nanaimo bars in a single day."

Hayley graduated from Camosun College in 2015 with a Digital Communications Certificate. After that she jumped into a media internship and worked for a franchising company called 'Hot Mama Health & Fitness Ltd.' as their Administrative Support Assistant. Through these experiences, she quickly fell into the world of Digital Marketing and is now excited to help similar companies with growing and developing their online presence. She loves working alongside Purpose Fives's high-functioning team but is capable of working remotely as well.

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• Cort Hertay

  Project Coordinator

Cort Hertay

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Project Coordinator

"Cort has single-handedly kept Coca-Cola in business."

Cort has had an interesting career path that began with website building back in the 90s and went through everything from being a bingo caller, pub manager, and retail manager. After completing Lighthouse Labs, Cort joined the team at PurposeFive as a Project Coordinator. When not working, he’s generally chasing his three-year-old daughter around, whom he readily admits he talks far too much about.

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