Stories

In my Op-Ed for BC Business, I reflect on the challenges women can face in male-dominated workplaces. When I was 25, I began my career as an investment advisor. Out of 55 advisors in the office, only five of us were women. Looking back, I realize how much workplace...

As I move past middle age, I often reflect on the privilege of my many decades of life and the inner strength and authenticity that accompany aging. Recently, when I was invited by BC Business to write an op-ed about my experience as a woman in finance, I was given...

“We ourselves are pieces of Nature. When we forget that, our health suffers.” Dr. Melissa Lem is a woman on a mission. She is at the forefront of an important and growing movement within the medical system known as social and nature prescribing. She has been...

“What we often dismiss as ‘extras’, art, music, routine, connection, young people tell us these are treatment.”   When speaking with Dr. Danya Fast, I am struck by both the emotional potency of her work as an academic and her deep knowledge of how policy and...

At a recent conference, I met one of Canada’s most inspiring female entrepreneurs, Andrea Bielecki. Her story of growing and selling INVIVO, a medical communications company, is not widely known, yet it was groundbreaking in Canada for its significance within the...

“In a world where women are constantly told what they’re not, knowing your own value is everything.”   In the world of finance, Abi Coman-Walker stands out for her dynamism and charisma, as well as for her expertise and leadership. Originally from London,...

When I speak with Andrea Paquette, I am struck not only by her courage but by the steadiness with which she carries her story. There is nothing performative about the way Andrea speaks about mental health. Her advocacy is rooted in lived experience, hard-earned...

“The beauty of being a black, female leader is that there is kinship with many of the clients that Rise serves. I get that systemic barriers exist; if you are from an equity-deserving community, you don’t need to convince me. We need to work together on how to lower...

WNORTH is the vision of Heather Odendaal, an accomplished Canadian entrepreneur, brand builder, and event producer whose experience in corporate environments inspired her to found WNORTH in 2015. WNORTH facilitates a powerful membership community that supports a...

Personal and Professional Journey   1. Your career spans over two decades across corporate and non-profit sectors, culminating in your role as a leadership coach and co-founder of Maturn. Can you share pivotal moments that influenced your transition into...

“We are judged as a society by how we treat our most vulnerable and older people. People who have a disability, people who are struggling with a serious mental illness are often vulnerable. So I take up the space someone gives me in trying to advocate for people who...

“Read history. Read about cycles and business success. Read Barbarians at the Gate. Read a biography of Warren Buffet. Read about Winston Churchill. It not only informs you and helps you avoid past mistakes, but it makes you an interesting person to your clients.” In...

Two things are clear when speaking to Andrea Mestrovic, founder of Vancouver-based global PR firm, Very Polite Agency — she is tenacious and highly intelligent. She also has a sense of humor, and hence the name, Very Polite Agency, which came about as a cheeky nod to...

“As I look at my career, what I have tried to build is a healthy balance of the two extremes of being highly technical and skilled with analysis and also highly skilled with relationship development and working with people. I need the technical skills to understand...

From the outside looking in, entrepreneur and mechanical engineer Tea Nicola is a fintech (financial technology) superstar who has parlayed comfortable life circumstances into enviable success. However, this easy narrative could not be further from the truth. While...

As the CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM) Canada, a global non-profit organization, Anu George Canjanathoppil is a woman with a mission - to end human trafficking, forced labour, and slavery. Anu is a modern-day hero, tirelessly working towards ending...

Dr. Martha Piper and Dr. Indira Samarasekera are Canadian trailblazers, having served as two of the first (and so far, only) female presidents of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Alberta, respectively. Both women are remarkable not only...

“You want to be that go-to person who people reach out to for a variety of issues. It needs to be more than a business relationship — it needs to be a business friendship.” Joy Jennissen’s career success and impressive CV suggest she set her sights on public relations...

“What excites me about this place today is the same thing that excited me sixteen years ago – that is the vision of this organization as a tool for permanent social change. I say that because when we can interact in the right way, at the right time in the arc of a...

"Devote time to forming and nurturing professional networks. Go looking for roles that will give you an opportunity to use your best skills — a role where you will shine. Seek out mentors, champions and friends and form mutually rewarding relationships." After almost...