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Nicole Parmar

Forty under 40 winner 2019; Founder and managing partner, JNJ Business Strategies Inc., Age 36
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Photo: Rob Kruyt

An expert in growth marketing and automation, Nicole Parmar successfully founded three companies in recent years and has begun working on a fourth venture.

Her first company, Vancouver-based JNJ Business Strategies Inc., where she is managing partner, is a growth marketing consulting business using data, analytics, attribution modelling and testing to grow small businesses. Parmar’s second company, Digital Marketing for Real Estate, offers an online e-commerce digital marketing course covering subjects from social media to blockchain and cryptocurrencies for the real estate sector.

“I would have to say my greatest passion is the data,” said Parmar. “A company’s growth and longevity are reliant on using data to drive marketing and sales decisions. Once you can fully understand the puzzle of the user journey, it’s a powerful tool.”

Her third venture is a children’s book series, The Adventures of Jai Jai Binks. She has six English-language books and one French book in production, and 44 books waiting for illustration.

Holding a number of certifications with Bing, Facebook, Google, HubSpot and Venture Deals, Parmar has recently been lead growth mentor for HyperGrowth and HyperGrowth Life at the BC Tech Association, where companies recognize her for her knowledge, support and mentorship. She helped bring Vancouver-based ticketing and event registration platform Picatic to market while heavily focusing on growth and marketing, supporting Eventbrite’s 2018 acquisition of that company. She has helped countless tech startups accelerate growth and has taught courses at BC Tech and BrainStation.

Parmar has volunteered with the Vancouver Society of Children’s Centres, and the BC Women’s Health Foundation’s Glow Gala, where a record $2.4 million was raised for women-centred care in 2018.

She was co-chair of Toast to the Coast, raising a record $165,000 for the Vancouver Aquarium’s conservation, research and education programs. She is a Forum for Women Entrepreneurs mentor and co-secretary of Henry Hudson Elementary School’s parent advisory council.

Birthplace: Saskatoon

Where you live now: Vancouver

Highest level of education: Master’s degree, measurement and evaluation, University of Saskatchewan

Currently reading: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek and Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Currently listening to: Podcasts: A16Z, Vancouver Real Estate, Earning Curve. And when I am with our six-year-old son, Kiss and Mötley Crüe are his jams, so those are on repeat

When you were a kid, what you wanted to be when you grew up: A ballerina and a lab technician

Profession you would most like to try: Industrial and organizational psychology

Toughest business or professional decision: I’ve had a few. The two most notable: I feel that my toughest decision was the same as most entrepreneurs: I was afraid to leave my stable paycheque, benefits and retirement plan to pursue my dreams when I left my teaching career. Teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing children for seven and a half years was amazing and I loved the kids, but leaving the profession turned out to be the best decision I ever made. The second-toughest decision I made was not completing a PhD. This decision is one I still think about frequently. I may go back and complete it one day

Advice you would give the younger you: Set up a system and process for everything. Be incredibly regimented in the execution of your goals. Say no to anything that does not lead you to an end goal

What’s left to do: Obtain a private pilot’s licence. Sell our children’s book series, The Adventures of Jai Jai Binks, to Netflix, Hulu or Disney. Live and work in Paris

“A company’s growth and longevity are reliant on using data to drive marketing and sales decisions. Once you can fully understand the puzzle of the user journey, it’s a powerful tool”

Join us to celebrate the 2019 Forty under 40 Awards on January 30, 2020, at the Westin Bayshore. For tickets and event information visit https://www.biv.com/forty-under-40