Twelve seasons! Yes! Twelve! That’s how long Dragons’ Den has been sharing Canadian entrepreneurial ingenuity (and often entrepreneurial tragedy) with us. Last night the show returned and we were especially excited to see Arlene Dickinson back in the fray. CEO of Venture Communications, Arlene Dickinson was central to the show’s early success, always offering personal and thoughtful advice to aspiring inventors in an encouragingly compassionate way.

Dickinson’s departure from Dragons’ Den never stopped her fiercely independent public leadership—something that’s made her a household name and an honouree on various powerful women lists, and entrepreneurial heavyweight awards.

Besides being excited about Arlene’s return, we were also happy to see tech titan Michele Romanow return to the Den. Romanow a serial entrepreneur who started three companies before her 28th birthday. The newest (and youngest ever) entrepreneur to join CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den, Michele is the co-founder of e-commerce platforms Buytopia.ca and Snap By Groupon, which have saved millions of users hundreds of millions of dollars. She is also the co-founder of Clearbanc, an online financial service for freelancers, independent contractors, and entrepreneurs.

Catch a glimpse of season 12, and tune in Thursday nights on CBC!