By Scott Taylor
Margaux and Matt Miller, hosts of the START Podcast. (IAN MCCAUSLAND PHOTO)
For Margaux Miller and her brother Matt, promoting the best Manitoba has to offer is a labour of love.
In fact, the two Winnipeg siblings decided they would create a new platform in order “to showcase local businesses.”
Their brand new podcast, START, will, according to Margaux, “be aimed at Manitobans who enjoy supporting local and learning about the amazing things happening on the prairies.” To be more precise, the new START Podcast will feature interviews with founders of local start-ups.
“My brother and I wanted to start this podcast to promote the great things that are happening in Manitoba,” said Margaux, with the same kind of energy and enthusiasm that got the podcast started in the first place. “There are two sides to why we want to do this. No. 1, is that there are so many great businesses popping up in our province and we wanted to let everyone know what these businesses are doing and No. 2, we wanted to bring to light all the resources that are available, all the great tips that are out there, to help other people start new businesses in Manitoba.”
According to Margaux, the show will highlight what it’s really like to start a business on the Canadian Prairies.
“From health and beauty to high-tech gadgets, START Podcast is the newest way to stay on top of what’s happening in the local start-up scene,” Margaux and Matt explained. “It will give you a behind-the-scenes look at how innovators got where they are and what resources they used to get there.
“Canadians are using products and services that are born in the prairies every day and they don’t even know it,” Margaux added. “We want to celebrate those stories and share the idea that you can grow a thriving start-up here at home.”
This podcast is a labour of love because both Margaux and Matt still hold down full-time jobs. Margaux, a graduate of the U of W, is the program director for ICTAM, the Information and Communication Technologies Association of Manitoba. Matt, a graduate of the U of M, is a civil engineer.
“I have a lot of energy and Matt is much more laid back and analytical,” said Margaux. “That’s why we make such a good team. We play off each other. He asks a lot of questions, I wouldn’t ask and vice versa. His angle is often quite different than mine. It’s kind of a left-brain, right-brain sort of approach, but it really works.”
Each episode, recorded in the North Forge podcast studio, is between 30 and 50 minutes in length and new episodes air bi-weekly.
Both Matt and Margaux have spent their entire lives in Winnipeg, although they did move off-continent with their parents when Margaux was 14 and spent a year in Australia before returning to Manitoba, a place they just can’t leave.
“We’ve travelled a lot, but we’ve come to realize that we’re super lucky to live in a place like Manitoba,” said Margaux. “This is a great place to live and work and we’re just so lucky to have all the things, all the opportunities, we have in Manitoba. It’s something we both want to share with the world.”
