Candice Faktor has always been driven by curiosity. After studying at Ivey Business School and starting her career in strategy consulting, she became fascinated by innovation and the idea that we can shape the future, not just react to it. That curiosity led her into corporate innovation, where she built a digital venture arm inside Torstar, investing in, acquiring, and scaling over 25 digital businesses. 

From there, Candice joined Wattpad early as Head of Business and Global GM. “It was a transformative experience,” she reflects. “I helped scale the mobile storytelling platform to more than 100 million users. That journey taught me what it takes to build a globally relevant platform and showed me just how interconnected the world really is.” Wattpad was later acquired by Naver Corp. in a $660 million deal, a milestone for Canada’s tech ecosystem. Inspired by that understanding of global connectedness, she became even more passionate about strengthening the Toronto ecosystem and supporting founders while helping to build a more connected innovation community. 

Building Disco Through Disruption 

Eventually, during the disruption of COVID-19, Candice launched a company of her own: Disco. 

“Crisis is often the best time for innovation,” Candice explains. “We realized most workplace learning doesn’t actually drive transformation, it’s just clicking through modules. What was missing was a platform that could bring communities together, make learning collaborative, and now, with AI, make it scalable and personalized.” 

Disco is exactly that. An AI-powered learning platform that helps organizations turn internal and external expertise into engaging programs in minutes, not months. It is built on the belief that people development should be a true strategic advantage, not a check-the-box activity. 

Why HR Must Lead in the Age of AI 

For HR leaders, Candice sees this moment as both urgent and full of possibility. “AI fluency isn’t about plugging in new tools. It’s about upskilling and enabling people to reimagine workflows, culture, and how work actually gets done. HR has always been about people. This is a chance to give them the tools and mindsets to unlock their potential.” 

She believes organizations must: 

  • Invest in change management and upskilling now. “If you want transformation, you need to prepare people first.” 
  • Foster discernment. “Knowing where and when to use AI, and when not to, will be one of the most critical leadership skills.” 
  • Build collaborative learning experiences. “People learn best with peers. Whether it is hackathons, demos, or shared experiments, community creates belonging, accountability, and real behaviour change.” 

Turning Ideas Into Action 

Candice brings these ideas together in her 6 Ps of Learning Transformation framework, a practical approach to help ensure learning leads to measurable impact. “One of the Ps is peers,” she says, “because no one learns in isolation. Transformation happens when people experiment, share, and grow together.” 

This is also where Disco delivers its core value for companies: helping organizations rapidly create AI-powered learning programs that actually change behavior, scale consistently across the enterprise, and tie directly to business outcomes. Unlike static training modules, Disco enables companies to unlock internal expertise, build cultures of peer-driven learning, and continuously upskill teams in ways that are measurable and aligned with strategic priorities. 

Her biggest takeaway for HR leaders is simple: don’t wait. “The time to invest in your people is now. The companies that experiment, adapt, and build AI fluency today will be the ones that thrive tomorrow.” 

Don’t Miss Candice Live 

Don’t miss your chance to see Candice Faktor live at HRXchange 2025, an event hosted in Toronto by the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) and Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Canada (CPHR Canada), with Title Sponsor EY. She will deliver the keynote AI Fluency: Unlocking Human Potential in an AI-First World, sharing her 6 Ps of Transformation, spotlighting real-world examples, and showing how HR leaders can move beyond hype to build AI-fluent, human-centered organizations.