S2 EP11 Balwinder Kaur - Software Engineer

Gagan Kaur is a vegan jack of all trades from Brampton, ON. She graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering and as well as a minor in Business from McMaster University. In 2021 she started her journey of exploring the wild world of supply chain at HelloFresh - Canada's biggest food kit delivery service. Gagan currently works as a Supply Chain coordinator, primarily focusing on the sourcing and purchasing activities related to produce ingredients for the kits. Outside of work, Gagan spends a lot of time with her family and friends and doing seva with Experience Sikhi. You'll also find her honing in on her many different hobbies like hydroponic gardening, DIYing, cooking and hiking in the spare time. In this episode you will get to hear about the challenges Gagan faced during her undergraduate studies, finding the right career path for you, and the unique challenges associated with the work her company does.

Gagan Kaur is a vegan jack of all trades from Brampton, ON. She graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering and as well as a minor in Business from McMaster University. In 2021 she started her journey of exploring the wild world of supply chain at HelloFresh - Canada's biggest food kit delivery service. Gagan currently works as a Supply Chain coordinator, primarily focusing on the sourcing and purchasing activities related to produce ingredients for the kits. Outside of work, Gagan spends a lot of time with her family and friends and doing seva with Experience Sikhi. You'll also find her honing in on her many different hobbies like hydroponic gardening, DIYing, cooking and hiking in the spare time. In this episode you will get to hear about the challenges Gagan faced during her undergraduate studies, finding the right career path for you, and the unique challenges associated with the work her company does.

Gurleen Singh is the Managing Director at Hilton Security Group Incorporated. Additionally he is also the VP of Six Tech Monitoring Solutions and Six Technologies Intelligence Group. He has been in the security industry for approximately ten years and in the business management side of operations for about six years. The moving parts of working in a family business and influencing strategic decisions are what keeps Gurleen excited about the job and he pursues a variety of hobbies and interests in his free time including watching sports with friends and family because of which he recently visited Qatar for the FIFA World Cup. In this episode you will hear about Gurleen’s contributions to the family business and some of the challenges associated with the job.

Jasleen Kaur is a graduate student at Ontario's Institute of Studies in Education and a recent graduate from University of Toronto's Kinesiology program. One of her unique experiences was being part of a spirit crew during Orientation Week during her second year where she got the chance to play a tournament with special Olympic athletes. She was able to connect with them and learn to appreciate the little things in life. Through this experience she learned that if you're happy and genuinely mean well, that is all that matters. In this episode we discuss how she battled competing interests when it came to picking a career, and the qualities that prepare her for life as a teacher.

Tripat Kaur was born and raised in Abbotsford, BC. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, finishing with the highest GPA. She was also a varsity soccer player and served as the Student Union President in her 2nd year where she engaged in advocacy that went all the way up to provincial and federal governments. Currently, Tripat is a 2nd year law student at Osgoode Hall Law School. In her spare time, you will find her playing soccer, spikeball, hiking, and being a fierce competitor during family board game nights. In this episode we discuss her move to Toronto for law school, her involvement in various community organizations, and managing life as a law student.

Pavneet Singh currently works at a tech startup based in the US as a product manager. He graduated from the University of Waterloo where he studied Systems Design Engineering. Outside of work and school, he enjoys playing basketball and is a Boston Celtics fan. Pavneet Singh is also a student of Nihung Santhia and is their liaison in the GTA. In this episode we discuss the importance of Santhia in a Sikh’s life and about his experiences working virtually for a US company. 

Kirpa Kaur is a graduate of Carleton University where she received her undergraduate degree and her masters. Following the completion of her Masters in Political Management, Kirpa joined the Public Health Agency of Canada supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response in a number of capacities including policy and emergency staffing.  In her spare time, Kirpa is passionate about community building and gender equality. Since 2015, she has been engaged in the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO). In 2021, she was appointed to the executive as Director of Administration for the WSO. She has also been engaged in a number of community initiatives in Ottawa and the GTA.  In September 2022, Kirpa joined Vermont Law School to begin her Juris Doctorate. In this episode you will hear more about Kirpa’s experiences working in various government roles, her move to the US for school, and how her community involvement informs her career choices.

Munlene Kaur is currently a High School with the Richmond School District, teaching social studies, career life education, languages and art.  She completed her Bachelor of Arts in History and Bachelor of Education at Simon Fraser University. An interesting fact about her is as part of her teaching practicum, she lived with monks in a Dharamsala in India. In this episode we discuss her change in career, social media content creation, and the role Sikhi plays in her role as a teacher.

Kulwinder Singh was born and raised in Toronto, ON. He completed his Bachelors of Engineering at McMaster University. He has worked in the software industry for about 8 years now since graduation. In his free time, he loves to program further, play soccer, loves to read, and can talk your ear off if you begin talking about investing/software or tech. Don’t ever mention real estate around him, you will regret it. In this episode we discuss his involvement with Experience Sikhi, the differences between computer science and software development, and the benefits of working with one company for a prolonged period of time. 

Prabhjot Kaur is a Registered Massage Therapist, Massage Therapy professor and currently in school studying Early Childhood Education. She is also a mother to a little toddler and has spent the last year and a half focused on motherhood and getting back into her career. She has made some recent changes to her career path because of her desire to focus more on motherhood. She will touch on her journey to become an RMT, how she got into teaching and why she decided to make the change into Early Childhood Education. In this episode we discuss the differences between practicing full-time as a massage therapist and teaching massage therapy, career changes, and her experiences being a new parent.