John Johnny de Lima

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT JOHN JOHNNY DE LIMA

A die hard entrepreneur ever since starting my own garbage removal business at age 8. Mentorship has always been a huge part of my life ever since having a Big Brother as a kid. I\'m grateful to have mentored some incredible people as well and I\'m honored to be mentored by some incredible human beings to this day.At age 17 doctors found abscesses and a blood clot on my brain. I was given a 10% chance of surviving a 5 hour emergency brain surgery at Sick Kids in Toronto.After a year long recovery I moved to Vancouver to study Genetic Engineering at UBC. Unfortunately my father had other plans for my education savings. 3 months later I was facing homelessness and unable to continue my education but I knew that was not my destiny. I found shelter and I got a job in a factory.In my early 20s I had the opportunity to work on national marketing campaigns for Nike, Nintendo, Labatt\'s and several other brands and that is when I fell in love with marketing and branding. My passion for travel and flair for sales then led me to sell millions of dollars worth of trips to students from all over Canada. I had the opportunity to work in Cuba as the Program Director overseeing thousands of travelers over the course of 3 years in this position. I threw some of the wildest parties Cuba has ever seen. I was also instrumental in creating the concept of \"Voluntourism\"- volunteer initiatives as excursions. That experience with managing large tour group operations in foreign destinations, mixed with my passion for music, led me to tour managing for Warren G, Dogg Pound and Bone Thugs n Harmony and I consider them all mentors. I then pursued my own love of hip hop and was able to perform over 300 shows touring across 12 countries in 3 years and accessed over $250K in grant funding in support of my success.In anticipation of starting a family, I put down the mic and started scrubbing toilets. Within 2 years I turned that into a multi-million dollar company with over 100 employees, cleaning for some of the top restaurants in the country. We then birthed two expansion brands to target disinfecting and warehouse/office cleaning contracts separately and now work with some of the biggest offices in the country as well. Today I focus my attention towards building Wenu, which is a three-sided marketplace turning residential kitchens into pop-up supper clubs. Hosts earn as much or more than Airbnb without leaving home, chefs build their brand, and guests enjoy unforgettable dining experiences. It’s community, culture, and commerce at one table.