Tell us what WCM is doing in this regard.
We’re trying to work with management teams and engage men. For a long time, feminist movements and feminist initiatives around equality have been a women’s thing; we aim to make it about how we’re going to get the best out of everyone in the workplace, by getting male managers involved in the discussion and giving them the tools and the skills to manage people differently. You need to be very intentional about it and make sure that you’re giving everyone the opportunity to learn and advance in an equal way.
There was a study done recently by the Kinsey Institute that showed if we closed the economic gender gap in Canada, we would add another $150 billion in GDP over the next nine years. That’s a huge number, and a significant portion (42 percent) of that $150 billion would come in the form of getting more women into STEM jobs. Higher-productivity jobs pay more. That’s something we really need to think about more as an economy and as we’re raising our children.
What are Canada’s best traits?
We have so many. Geography—it’s a great place to live if you like the outdoors. The diversity of people—it’s engrained in us to feel responsible for people in society, and that’s what holds Canada together.
When do you feel most powerful?
When I’m out running.
What gives you courage?
My grandmother. She is ninety-three and she is the most incredible woman ever, and the hardest worker.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
A small Canadian flag.
Shannon Rogers
“Curiosity summons my courage.”
Birthplace Canada
What age do you feel 36
Occupation Business Entrepreneur of Global Relay—a global cloud technology company
Favourite drink French red wine
Favourite place in Canada Pacific Northwest Ocean Coast
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
I’ve always looked at men and women as equally capable and deserving—politically, socially, and economically. It likely has something to do with having a twin brother and a great family. As I experience life, this gets tested and evolves—from my days of being a proud university hippie protesting for women rights, or doing development work for women in poor countries, or starting a legal career at a large corporate law firm, and now running a global technology company. Today, as I gain experience and insight from partaking in the international business community, I now feel a strong duty and desire to pay it forward and help other women forge their path. Canada needs more women in senior positions in business and politics.
What will it take to achieve gender parity?
In Canada, we are on a positive path to gender parity as it relates to education, health, and to a slightly lesser extent, economic participation, and politics. Gender parity is attainable and necessary—and it is incumbent on the constant daily engagement of both men and women to keep opening the doors and pushing the boundaries, to change attitudes, laws, and perspectives in order to help those who are still marginalized. I have seen firsthand how recognizing and altering small unconscious biases in the workplace can create a domino effect of great magnitude across an industry.
What is your vision for Canada in twenty years?
Canada must focus on a “clean future,” including a stronger duty and strategy to protect this beautiful resource-rich country we are so privileged to live in. With our abundance of natural resources, forests, and oceans, we must truly become leaders in environmentalism—including a strategy on climate change and to protect the Artic, which in turn would be a winning strategy for Canada, on political, economic, environmental, and social levels.
What message would you put up on a billboard, and where?
“Imagine a fish without water. Can it survive? Now imagine a world without trees. Can people survive?”—UNKNOWN
I would love to permanently hang this quote at the BC Legislature and Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to remind them—no more fish farms and no more logging clear cuts! The damage these are causing to our ecosystem far outweighs any economic benefits.
Michele Romanow
“Canada needs more risk taking and thinking beyond our borders, and we need less fear and worry about failure.”
Birthplace Calgary, AB
What age do you feel 32
Occupation Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Co-Founder of Clearbanc
Book you gift most Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
Favourite drink Cabernet Sauvignon
Favourite place in Canada My cottage in Invermere, BC
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
I feel grateful for the time and place I was born. I think about my grandmother often, and in her generation, the options for ambitious women were school teacher or secretary. My options today are so different; I went to engineering school, took an MBA, and launched straight into my first venture.
What will it take to achieve gender parity?
We need more female entrepreneurs to be role models. Women control 80 percent of consumer purchasing power, but women do not make up 80 percent of boardrooms. Growing up in our family, there were never any boys’ jobs or girls’ jobs—just jobs to be done. I would mow the lawn, change tires, do my own laundry, and babysit. That mentality needs to start at a young age. In a large study through the Canadian Entrepreneurship Initiative, we asked people to name the top five Canadian entrepreneurs. Not a single female featured in the top ten.
Most important piece of advice for a young female entrepreneur?
Launch—just start—and fix later. Don’t wait until the product is perfect; you’ll learn along the way.
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
You may roll your eyes, but exactly what I’m working on now. Identifying opportunities and creating solutions is what I live and breathe for as an entrepreneur. As a founder of four companies and a Dragon on Dragons’ Den, it was a natural step for me to build a company that helps other entrepreneurs grow their business. My big idea is to make it easier and fairer for entrepreneurs to get access to capital.
What is the best investment you’ve made?
When I lived in Chicago, I learned to sail. It had been on my bucket list for a while because I love being on the water, and the minute we set sail I could feel myself unwind. This summer, we bought a boat and shared it with friends and family. It has been a great way to do what I love and spend time with the ones I love.
If you were to write a book, what would its title be?
From Caviar Dreams to Tech Titan.
Kate Ross LeBlanc
“Believe in yourself! I always say, ‘Don’t compare the outside of other people’s lives to the inside of your own.’”
Birthplace Mount Forest, ON
What age do you feel 40
Occupation CEO and co-founder, Saje Natural Wellness
Book you gift most The Seven Spiritual Laws by Deepak Chopra
Favourite drink Caesar or cold soda water with lots of lemon and lime
Favourite place in Canada Whistler, BC, and Sauble Beach, ON
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
As long as I’ve lived in Vancouver, where homelessness is so prevalent, I’ve had a desire to effect social change. We see first hand the results of our prison system and the lack of mental health facilities and rehabilitation. We treat everyone like we’ve all had the same great start in life, and if someone goes off the path, we punish without much rehabilitation, which means the cycle too often continues. If I could solve any social problem, this one is very close to my heart.
If you could have dinner with any woman, alive or dead, who would it be?
Coco Chanel. She was an incredible visionary, clearly ahead of her time, who brought forward a whole new way for women to show up in the world. She fou
nd the courage and means to inspire a generation of women by changing the way women dressed. Her contribution to modernizing women has had a lasting and powerful effect.
Tell us about a time when you had to summon all of your courage.
A few years ago, my daughter became very sick. I have never been as terrified as I was in those months as she battled her way back toward wellness. While I did what most people do in that situation—a lot of research—what helped me the most was focusing every day on the present moment, and staying really connected to the presence of love in our family, while believing that the right thing to do in each moment would become apparent.
What message would you put on a billboard?
“What would you achieve if you knew you could not fail?”
What does being Canadian mean to you?
To me, being Canadian means that I can be anywhere in the world and feel proud of my roots and where I come from. Whether I’m flying home, or meeting new Saje community members from coast to coast, I’m always inspired by how warm, real, and ambitious Canadians are. We’re practical and genuinely hardworking! I’m also proud of how Canada welcomes people from other nations.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“Hope.”
Janet Rossant
“Canada will be the innovation leader of the world.”
Birthplace Kent, UK
What age do you feel Early 50s
Occupation The Gairdner Foundation
Book you gift most Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life by Georgina Ferry
Favourite drink A nice glass of white wine
Favourite place in Canada Tofino, BC
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
When I took my first faculty position in 1977, there were very few women on the faculty. I never felt that it was holding me back, or that I was actively discriminated against. When I was at the junior levels in university, everybody said, “There aren’t many women in the senior levels, but that will change because of all the women coming into science, academia, and the professions. Obviously, in twenty to thirty years, it will be gender equitable.”
It hasn’t happened. What we’ve done is we’ve opened up the bottom. There are certainly more women in academia and the professions, but when you look at the top level in science or business, women still aren’t represented in the numbers you’d like to see. I’m disappointed about that. I’m disappointed when I hear women saying they feel actively discriminated against and harassed. That’s a backwards step that I didn’t expect.
What is your vision for Canada in twenty years?
Canada will be the innovation leader of the world. We will be leaders in driving the peace process and developing equitable technologies that help people everywhere.
What message would you put on a billboard, and where?
“Science Defines Progress,” and I would put it outside the White House.
What advice would you give to young women considering a similar career?
The most important thing you can do is to find friends, mentors, sponsors, and supporters. A mentor is someone who is very important and who helps provide you with advice on your career. A sponsor is going to directly help you and put you in the right environment. I had a few sponsors when I came to Canada. They made sure that if there was a big science conference coming up, I got an invitation, and that when people were looking for committee members, my name would come forward.
How can we get more women winning the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award?
As president of the foundation, I’m trying to ensure that we get more women in the pool, and that means making people directly aware. You have to make people positively aware that they need to positively act.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“Peace.”
Ebonnie Rowe
“Success means spiritual, emotional, physical, mental, financial health.”
Birthplace Montreal
What age do you feel Sometimes 10, 25, or 90, depending on the day
Occupation Executive Director, PhemPhat Entertainment Group
Favourite drink Water
Favourite place in Canada Toronto
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
It has remained fairly constant. Women’s rights are human rights, period. Everyone has the right to be treated fairly and equitably, and to not be discriminated against.
What will it take to achieve gender parity?
History shows that most social change does not occur naturally, but only through activism and holding people to account. I believe the same will be true for gender parity. The inequity needs to be exposed and we have to lobby and push for change until it is achieved. It’s also important to get men to advocate for it with us. We need all allies in this cause.
If you were to write a book, what would its title be?
Follow Your Bliss: A Guide to Rejecting Limits, Moving Beyond Them, and Fulfilling Your Dreams.
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
Shoring up the self-esteem of little girls, and developing programs to increase their self-confidence to shield them from falling victim to the false beauty standards they are bombarded with. We are seeing children under the age of ten worrying about their appearance, dieting, etc. This has long-lasting effects on their development and sense of who they are, how they are seen, and what they deserve, and we need to nip it in the bud.
Tell us about a time when you had to summon all of your courage.
I have to summon all of my courage to face every challenging day, to get up from every failure, to overcome every disappointment. There have been many of those over the course of a decades-long career, but what is common to each issue is that I got back up every time and the experience fuelled me to work harder than ever. A setback is a setup for a comeback, they say, and it’s true!
What message would you put on a billboard?
“Be Bold for Change.”
What has been a defining moment in your personal or professional life?
The suicide of my friend, who was twenty-five at the time. That stopped me in my tracks. I dropped out of university and started thinking about my own mortality: What purpose has my life had? What mark have I made? What difference have I made in the world? I then started the Each One Teach One mentor-ing program, which led to Honey Jam and the forming of PhemPhat Entertainment Group.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“Peace.”
Martha Salcudean
“Canada needs more pride in the country and less tension between provinces.”
Birthplace Romania
What age do you feel 15 years younger sometimes, but that depends on the day
Occupation Professor of mechanical engineering, retired
Book you gift most All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr’s
Favourite drink Carrot juice
Favourite place in Canada Victoria
Tell us about a time when you had to summon all of your courage.
There were two times in my life that required extraordinary courage. The first was during the Nazi regime, in early May 1944, when the mass deportation of Jews started in Hungary. My family and I were deported to the ghetto in Gherla (Szamosújvár), then Cluj (Kolozsvár), Budapest, and Bergen-Belsen. My extended family perished in Auschwitz. My parents and I survived the Holocaust.
The second time was related to my efforts to leave Romania in the Ceauşescu years. After the war, we were hoping to rebuild our life in Romania. However, the regime became quite oppressive, and freedom of speech and freedom to travel and leave Romania were severely restricted. Over many years I tried to find ways to leave the country, and that finally occurred in 1975, after a period of intense anxiety because the authorities first approved our exit but then changed their mind and refused to grant us our passports.
; What has been a defining moment in your personal or professional life?
A professor called Wilhelm Rohonyi invited me to carry out some research work. I realized then that I would like very much to become a researcher. I like to be able to think about a problem and come back with a solution, analyze that solution, reject it, improve it... just stay with it until I find it satisfactory. I tend to become quite engaged when I work on something, and keep thinking of it—some-what obsessively, one could say. I think research is fascinating because it is mostly new, not repetitive, and it takes a lot of concentration. It does engender a lot of frustration but also great satisfaction when one gets ahead with solving the problem.
My advice to young women and men who are considering becoming researchers is to try to know themselves. They should take this avenue if they are really interested, if they feel that they can spend considerable time on the chosen subject, if they can take defeat, if they can stay humble in success, if they are ready for a lifetime of learning, if they know that we all know little and there is lot to learn, if they can think about the effect of their research on others, and if they feel it would be a very rewarding career and life.
Canada 150 Women_Conversations with Leaders, Champions, and Luminaries Page 22