Braden Parker—the new CEO of Westbeach—grew up in Cochrane, Alberta—a small town of fewer than ten thousand—obsessed with the Titanic and dinosaurs, building lemonade stands with his siblings, and raised by two teachers who believed deeply in curiosity and going after what you want.

His dad was offered a sabbatical at Stanford university, moving the family from the Prairies to Silicon Valley, where Braden’s world opened wide: multicultural families, friends whose parents were shaping the future at places like Netflix, and an early sense that you could design your own path if you were willing to build it.

That instinct became a lifelong throughline, from being a snowboard coach for kids to becoming a UBC Sauder School of Business student. Then a door-design entrepreneur, followed by a career in real estate. He experimented with selling cricket pasta and conjured up concepts for a luxury toothbrush before landing on Casca—the footwear brand he co-founded with Kevin Reed at 26. He’d work his day job and fly to China for Casca on vacation days, walked factory floors, learned cross-cultural communication, and tried to create the perfect everyday shoe. Seven years later, he exited at 32, stepping into an identity shift that backpacking through East Africa helped reorient.

And now, he’s in his next era, reviving Westbeach—an iconic Canadian surf, skate, and snow brand steeped in community, quality, and technical culture. A third space, a mini skate pipe, a coffee shop, and a small, tight team building its next chapter with intention and care. It’s a return to levity, craftsmanship, and the spirit of a legacy that shaped generations.

This is a conversation about possibility, reinvention, realism, and knowing when a door is no longer the right door. About building what feels true. And about the courage it takes to begin again—especially when the legacy is bigger than you.

[TIMESTAMPS]

5:12 – Childhood & early influences
13:39 – University years and formative experiences
17:11 – Life after graduation: exploration and early ventures
22:33 – The birth of Casca: founding the brand
24:31 – Why Braden and his cofounder believed a new shoe brand could make an impact
30:00 – Cross-cultural relationship building and communication in business
35:03 – Realizing it was time to exit Casca
43:30 – Reviving Westbeach: first questions for himself, the brand, and the team
53:29 – Redlines he will never compromise on
54:23 – Advice he encourages other entrepreneurs to adopt
56:11 – His perspective on life today
58:50 – The final question
1:00:18 – Where to find Braden

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In our first episode of season five, we begin in the suburbs of Coquitlam, where a young boy sketched houses and dreamed of becoming an architect. For West Coast Modern Homes founder Trent Rodney, his story has always been about home.

Raised by a hardworking single mother, he inherited not only hustle, but also an early reverence for the spaces we live in. His career began in finance at the National Bank of Canada in the investment division where, over nearly a decade, his natural instinct for marketing revealed itself through cold calling and developing large-scale educational events that drew speakers like Kevin O'Leary of Dragon's Den. Post-finance and after a short stint with a start-up real estate developer, he did odd jobs and was drawn to the forest, where laying on a particular granite rock in the middle of a river helped him heal and recalibrate.

This eventually led him to architecture itself — not through blueprints, but through Frank Llyod Wright and a deep fascination with the cultural life of homes. He began researching architecture, spending hours in libraries, tracing the lineage of design. There, he found modern architecture and began cataloging British Columbia’s modern houses, even walking the streets and doorknocking to find them. Don Gurney of Openspace Architecture encouraged him to sell architectural homes in the province, which sparked something in Trent. After discovering The Modern House from the UK, West Coast Modern Homes was then born.

Trent doesn’t see homes simply as assets, but as living artifacts — vessels of culture, memory, and human well-being. And its owners, the custodians. In his work, he often likens himself as less in real estate and more as an art dealer: someone who preserves, champions, and passes along pieces of history.

In this conversation, we explore the philosophy behind that view: The genesis of his love for homes; creating marketing campaigns that stop people in their tracks; the art of architecture; what it means to treat homes as cultural touchstones; how architecture shapes our emotional and spiritual lives; and much more.

[TIMESTAMPS]
5:52 - Growing up

12:12 - Where the love for design and homemaking came from

14:44 - His time in Finance

27:58 - The transition from finance to design

36:57 - Why he describes his work as being an art dealer

40:26 - How he approaches homes as cultural artifacts

58:22 - The role he sees architecture playing in shaping the wellbeing of humanity

01:02:48 - What he would say to his mother about how much she influenced the importance of a home to him

01:04:12 - Final question

01:06:11 - Where to find him

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There is great depth to Jess Reno, who has a soul and heart that are as deep as they are wide. He’s the founder and CEO of Nemesis Coffee and Dope Bakehouse — but these titles alone don’t come close to telling his story.

He grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, in a neighborhood that demanded toughness, in a family shaped by poverty, hardship, and resilience. It made him grow up, fast. After his dad made the radical decision to get straight in his life, he applied to Emily Carr. That choice would change the entire trajectory of their lives, eventually bringing them to Vancouver — where Jess eventually got a job at Caffe Artigiano and, unknowingly, setting himself on the path to becoming one of the most intentional and creative hospitality founders in the city.

In this episode, Jess shares parts of his story he’s never spoken about publicly — coffee as comfort & solace from a young age; what it meant to grow up quickly; navigating generational trauma; healing a long-time chip in the shoulder; running his first coffee shop with family; taking the risks that eventually allowed him to build something of his own. We talk about entrepreneurship, identity, family, leadership, heart and the quiet responsibility of creating spaces where people and patrons feel safe and seen.

[TIMESTAMPS]

7:44 - Growing up

30:39 - Who he thought he was becoming

34:12 - What about coffee provided solace for him

37:08 - What was the turning point for his leap of faith

41:03 - Things he unlearned after his travels

43:31 - The meaning of their logos

01:00:50 - If Nemesis were to vanish tomorrow, what would he hope that people will remember about how it made then feel

01:02:03 - His relationship with the chip on his shoulder now

01:03:31 - Final question

01:04:36 - Where to find him and Nemesis

[TODAY'S SPONSORS]
otō healing: https://www.instagram.com/otohealing/ - email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your initial sound therapy session