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FEATURED GUEST: Alessio Monterosso
(www.linkedin.com/in/alessio-monterosso-founder)
Alessio Monterosso is a driven serial entrepreneur who has been relentlessly working on creating sustainable and creative enterprises in Ottawa, Canada with the intention of blooming them into worldwide recognizable brands.
Alessio Monterosso started working at a fine dining Italian restaurant as a Busboy. After a few years he became a waiter and eventually host.
Arriving to Canada in 2013 from Italy, Alessio's desire to become his-own-boss and working in the financial markets urged him to apply to a financial advisor's position at Sunlife Financial in 2016 - "That was my very first self-employed job" he says.
Working in sales pushed Alessio out of his comfort zone and forced him to expand his network via community volunteering and participating at various networking events across the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
What started as a way to expand his network, ended up having Alessio chair the board of directors of the Italia Week Festival for 3 years.
During his 4th and final year at Sunlife Financial, Alessio opened his first hospitality business - Segreto - Espresso and Cocktail Lounge - in downtown Ottawa. This, unfortunately only lasted a short period of time due to the pandemic repercussions. "That experience really launched me into my entrepreneurial journey, - my biggest lesson?...learning what it means and feels to fail a business venture" Alessio says.
Following the closure of Segreto and his resignation at Sunlife, Alessio teamed-up with a few partners and founded Ariana Spices; a Canadian brand of natural and organic products infused with Saffron.
Ariana Spices took 2 years to fully develop that allowed Alessio to open a second business called "La Terrazza - cocktail rooftop lounge" in the heart of Little Italy in the middle of the pandemic.
During the same year, he pursued an opportunity to become an early investor of "Roll'd Up - Dessert Lounge". "We were able to bring Roll'd Up from a Pop-up to a 2,400 sq successful flagship location at Lansdowne Park with more locations to come across Ontario, including a coveted spot at Ottawa's own signature Bluesfest festival" he says.
"My business partners are what allowed and continue to allow me to have my hands in many businesses and make sure operations run smoothly". "I'm lucky" Alessio says.
By the second summer of La Terrazza, Alessio decided to take a break from the late-night hospitality scene, closing La Terrazza and focusing on growing Roll'd Up, his private financial practice and Ariana Spices.
After having gained knowledge of the financial markets and a vast network of trusted people, Alessio took a position at the Bank of Montreal as an Investment Fund Specialist. This position allowed him the opportunity to work with a high-network book of clients of over $30M and helped advise them on how to best allocate savings and retirement money.
By the end of 2020, Alessio’s brands started showing the fruits of its labor and pushed Alessio to resign from the Bank of Montreal and open his own boutique wealth management agency called "Sorriso Wealth Management", offering a wide variety of investment options.
He currently chairs the market expansion and marketing strategy plans for Roll'd Up Dessert Lounge, runs his own wealth management agency, is the CEO of Ariana Spices and likes investing in meaningful NFT projects.
He's happily married with a young daughter and French bulldog, and enjoys devoting some of his time to teaching youth about finances.
MEET YOUR HOST: @JarrodGoldsmith (jarrodgoldsmith.ca)
Known by his signature fedora, Jarrod Goldsmith is a Canadian small business community builder and is the embodiment of the small business spirit. He is an avid networker, recovered archaeologist, professional musician, and founder of eSAX Virtual Events (eSAX.ca), Ask The Fedora, Talk to the Fedora and @SaxAppealOttawa(saxappeal.ca). He also hosts the eSAX Podcast series (eSAX.ca/podcast), Pivoted Success Podcast (bit.ly/eSAX788) and has over 700 videos on the eSAX CZcams channel on entrepreneurship, small business and networking knowledge and virtual event planning.