Take the Brief Personally
• â • The Catalyst @ The Rogers Communication Centre
About the speaker
Alex Furrer is the founder of The Startup Storytellers, where she helps founders, executives, nonprofits, and growth-stage companies clarify what they stand for â and articulate it in ways that actually move people.
Her work sits at the intersection of narrative strategy, brand positioning, big ideas, and high-stakes creative communication, translating complexity into stories that carry weight in boardrooms and beyond.
In parallel, Alex is building a research-driven practice focused on how brands speak to midlife women. She collaborates frequently with leaders connected to Womenâs Health Collective Canada to elevate the conversation around womenâs health, visibility, and voice. And as a former senior creative leader with decades in agency roles, she now writes and publishes about reinvention, midlife, culture, and the strange psychology of professional adulthood â often with a sharp edge and dry humour.
She lives in Toronto and believes bad ideas are underrated, and that most adults are more interesting than their LinkedIn profiles suggest.
Local partners
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Additional details
đ Doors Open 8:15am
đ°ď¸ Event Starts 8:45am
Whatever the project, whether for work or passion, it always starts with some kind of brief, and you have to take it personally, or the idea won’t be great. Awe, excitement, and fear won’t come up if you don’t, and there’s no need to learn the framework. The truth is, we try so hard to make things that make others feel something, but as creators, we should feel something first.
ABOUT ALEX (https://www.thestartupstorytellers.com/) Alex Furrer is an Executive Creative Director, writer, and professor who helps companies clarify what they stand for â and articulate it in ways that actually move people.
With 20+ years building campaigns, brands, and creative teams at some of Canada’s leading agencies, she’s overseen work across every channel from brand to CRM to broadcast to experiential, and has a particular talent for translating complexity into ideas that carry weight in boardrooms and beyond. She started her career as a journalist â a habit of mind she never quite shook â and now teaches creative advertising and writes about brand storytelling, creativity, and womenâs health.
Alex lives in Toronto and believes bad ideas are underrated and that most adults are more interesting than their LinkedIn profiles suggest.
Location
Hosted at
The Catalyst @ The Rogers Communication Centre
80 Gould Street Toronto (2nd Floor)
Toronto, Ontario Canada M5B 2M7
When
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Co-host Lee Eldridge
Photographer Saad Khan
VP Food Sylvia Schmidt
Vice VP Food Kana Sakamoto
Registration Megan Quan
Volunteer Tommaso Panerai
Volunteer Namrata Narayan
Photographer Glen Chan-Choong
Videographer Richard Trusty
Social Media Coordinator Sarah Conway
Volunteer Rubiat Fusigboye
