Hosted by Asokan founder and CEO Justin Bourque, Bush to Boardroom is a podcast about what Indigenous leaders actually carry into boardrooms, institutions, and partnership negotiations, and what it cost them to get there. Episode 2 picks up where the series began, not with credentials, but with the harder question: when did you feel like you could finally show up as yourself?

Parisian, who has chaired a $10 billion financial institution, taught entrepreneurship at the First Nations University of Canada and the University of Regina, and competed in a global entrepreneurship program at MIT, says the answer came in stages.

"It probably wasn't until about ten years ago that I really embraced who I am and started living authentically," said Parisian. "I knew very little about my heritage until I started actively looking for it."

The conversation covers the shame that many Metis people of Parisian's generation internalized growing up, the process of formally registering with the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, and the three defining moments that shifted his sense of belonging, including arriving at MIT as "just a guy from Regina, Saskatchewan" and walking out having been elected group CEO and placed second against a global field.

"I realized these guys aren't any smarter than anyone from Regina," said Parisian. "That was the culmination of realizing I could actually do this."

Bourque, who has spoken openly about suppressing his own Indigeneity early in his energy career, said the conversation reflects the broader purpose of the series.

"So many of us spent years making ourselves smaller in corporate rooms," said Bourque. "Bush to Boardroom exists to name that experience and to show our youth that carrying both worlds isn't a liability. It's the whole point."

The episode also explores why Parisian believes Indigenous people were the first entrepreneurs, the uncertainty facing young Indigenous business builders today, and what both men are doing differently at home to give their kids the cultural grounding neither of them had growing up.

Episode 2 of Bush to Boardroom is available now on Spotify and at agdev.ca.

About Asokan Generational Developments

Asokan, meaning "bridge" in nehiyawewin (Cree), symbolizes the company's mission of forging sustainable, long-lasting partnerships between Indigenous communities and industry. Asokan facilitates equity partnerships with Indigenous governance at the center, working across 80+ communities nationally. For more information, visit agdev.ca.

Media Contact:

Ryan O'Donnell

CIPR Communication

ryan@ciprcommunications.com