Shoes, shoes everywhere

Last night was the big Women in Leadership Foundation gala I've been working on for months.   And the dress that I hand tailored Friday night didn't come up to snuff, so a bunch of other dresses got reviewed and finally one chosen. A pretty (if bit boring) black dress was chosen in the end.  And all because it went with the all important red shoes!  So it was the winner. 

And while a lot of other women were dressed in black, there was a great array of lovely dresses at the event last night.   But top of mind for me was checking out all the fantastic shoes.  So this is a picture blog of the gala in shoes.  Early in the evening all the shoes are women I know... but after a drink from the martini luge I started asking strangers to take pictures of their feet.  The biggest trends seemed to be the pointy toed black, followed by red shoes with a black dress. 

Couldn't figure out how to get the flickr album to show up inside the blog, so just click below to find the album.   Flickr Shoe Set

Why volunteer?

I realized today it has been about a year since I started working with the Women in Leadership Foundation (WIL). I saw an online ad looking for volunteers for their SuperWomen and Friends gala. I volunteered and I was swept up into the details of managing a silent auction for the gala.

I had been volunteering at a variety of different events for different organizations, trying to find an organization where I wanted to dedicate my volunteer time. So when WIL asked me to take a role on their advisory board and help with their marketing & communications I said yes.

Why did I agree to give up some of my valuable time to volunteer? I had both personal and professional reasons.

Personally I have always had a strong affinity to supporting and mentoring women. WIL is a young dynamic organization that does not ‘preach’ down to its members. Its mission is to advance women’s leadership. They have a positive, collaborative approach which allows every person involved to inspire, support and empower each other. I sum up the essence of their brand as “inspiring each other”.

Professionally this gave me an opportunity to exercise and grow my marketing muscle, which grown a bit sluggish while at home on maternity leave. I’m passionate about marketing and this gave me opportunities to do what I love. In addition to developing WIL’s brand strategy, I built and grew a volunteer team of 10 young, passionate, smart women. I am inspired by each of them every day.

I have also been able to grow my communications skills with more PR focused projects and social media. The social media in particular allows me to combine my planning skills with my new passion for writing. All new skill sets for my resume. But more importantly, as I see our success growing our following through twitter / facebook / linkedin and building a blog content plan, I’m excited about the future of WIL and women’s leadership in Canada.

Volunteering is also a great way to network. I’ve never been a fan of traditional networking events. And getting involved with such a diverse organization provides me with the opportunity to meet all sorts of like minded women in Vancouver and across the country. This, I believe, will provide me with the foundation I need for a long and interesting career. We are here to support each other. And I know I get back what I give in so many different ways.

For more information on Women in Leadership Foundation visit their website. Or follow us on twitter (@WIL_Fdn).

Sweet Talk - a sweet, stylish networking event

I was invited to do a guest blog for Women in Leadership Foundation for their recent Sweet Talk networking event. http://www.womeninleadership.ca/sweet-talk-a-sweet-stylish-networking-event/

I laughed, I cried, I danced like a wolf.

On Friday I attended the Women In Leadership Foundation's (WIL) 5th Annual BC Aboriginal Women in Leadership Forum: Seeds of Success. We encouraged women from all backgrounds to attend the event. But to be honest, until I was there, I wasn't really sure as a non-Aboriginal woman what I would take away from it. But at the end of the day I felt so empowered as a woman that next year I will bring ALL my girlfriends.


Within moments of sitting down in the theatre next to my friend Marlis (who did all the graphic design for the event) I realized I had made a clear mistake. I hadn't thought to bring Kleenex. We knew we were going to experience something different when Maya Kanigan (WIL) and Sheryl Fisher (Squamish Nation) opened the day talking about how this event was about "Honouring the women warrior in us all". And then Sheryl's mother Audrey Rivers took us through a traditional opening prayer and a women's warrior song to open the day.


What really made this event different for me was the truly open, honest, authentic and sometimes raw stories told about how each of these women have been successful in their lives. Yes each had attained professional success, but their stories were really a testament to their personal success. The panel included a banker, chief, artist, entrepreneur and a business woman. Three of them were moms (and many at some point single moms). All had overcome significant obstacles to success such as: teenage parents, residential schools, being surrounded by addiction, foster care, poverty, suicide, divorce, single parenthood, loss of cultural identity and being a marginalized minority in the country of their birth. Each learnt from the stories told by their elders (Grandmothers were a significant theme). And while all of them faced adversity all their stories focused on the positive, the attainable, the future generation of Aboriginal women. The warrior in us all.


The session was moderated by Michele Baptiste, National Manager of Aboriginal Relations for Scotiabank. All the stories were fantastic. And I would love to tell them all here. But they seem too personal for an unknown 3rd party to try and give them their due. But I will summarize some of the great nuggets of truth that I took from their speeches.


Jessie Williams - Special Projects Officer, Four Host First Nations


Jessie provided a strong start to the day, with some relevant lessons for all of us:

• We are responsible for who you are today and who you will be tomorrow. You need to know and believe in yourself = this gives you the power to make it happen.
• Listen to your dreams NOT logic - as children we don't put limits on our dreams, we should be the same as adults.
• Don't be afraid to make mistakes. For her fear was the idea of NOT accomplishing her goals and that motivated her.

Some of her inspiration came from:

• her parents - who no matter how many problems they had always encouraged her to be/have more
• her grandfather - who taught her to never let anyone tell you that you are less than you are
• her grandmother - who taught her how to be a woman & a mother and how to be loved
• mentors - you can't achieve anything on your own you MUST surround yourself with supportive people and seek guidance from others. By seeking their guidance you are honouring that person
• herself - most inspiration comes from within

Chief Lisa Shaver, Chief of the Penelakut Tribe


Lisa is a fantastic story teller. She had us moving from tears to laughter again and again as she spoke. Her stories were laced with the theme of stubbornness that seems to have followed her throughout her life (and is likely one of her success tools). Her tips for success included:

• Have to live your own life.
• Cultural identity is a key to your strength - for her this came from the stories of her grandmother. You need to find your own path, but know and learn from cultural teachings.
• Have to become the change you want. She has to be an example to her children, life and community. We are the answer to our children's future.

Denise Brillon Hill - Entrepreneur & Designer of Artifaax.com


Denise clearly has a strong sense of self and her values. Denise believes it is never too late or too early to fulfill your dreams. To her the foundation is a strong set of values, these values create passion and that passion will lead to your success. Values are what give your life direction, and hers include:

• Show honour
• Never too young or too small to have a voice
• Speak your truth
• Speak for those who have no voice
• Value originality and don't be afraid to step outside the box
• Be yourself
• Value of friends and family should NEVER be compromised for success.

Business to her is about relationships with people and NOT just exchanging money. We can show our community, business and government where our values lie when we make our own purchasing decisions. Is it really good value to drive to a big store to buy big bags of things that clutter our lives? Why not support the local family run vegetable store instead?

She also has a vision for Aboriginal goods and that is to move them beyond being just tourist items. Her company Artifaax is well on its way of helping Aboriginal products become part of the mainstream.

Renae Morriseau - filmmaker, actress and writer


Renae began and finished her talk with a quote (which I hope I got right): To create story you must be physically energized, emotionally attuned, mentally focused and spiritually aligned.


Her story was somewhat different from the others as she grew up in Urban Winnipeg amongst a variety of cultures. She even danced in a Ukranian dance troupe at one point.


Her role as a full time artist is to tell stories. The different stages of her life and career taught her the critical thinking of storytelling and to see the Aboriginal perspective. Something in her compels her to keep asking questions and telling those stories. She is looking for ways to continue to tell the Aboriginal story whether through comedy, drama or documentary. She also continually asks herself who do you attract? Who are the people around you that motivate you?

Renae is a strong, attainable role model who works in a field she is very passionate about, and through that work is also honouring her culture. Renae's most recent documentary "The Trail to Moose Lake" about the elders Fort McKay will launch next month.

Q&A

Some of the best candid moments came during the Q&A. Daycare was resoundingly named an issue for becoming successful as a woman. And all women tend to take care of everyone else before ourselves. When the panel was asked how do you take care of yourself and your health, the answers ranged from:

• Be your own best friend and not an enemy
• laugh, love drink women
• think health and happy
• breathe
• connect to your inner child... what gives you joy?
• self awareness
• shopping
• Important not to focus on competing with the men, but to ensure you look after yourself first

The session finished with another song and a dance. We were all included and yes, my part of the audience danced like wolves - including howling. The session was followed by scholarships given to 2 talented young Aboriginal women to contrute to their education. And finally a sharing circle.

So what did this day mean to me? Well I'll quote Maya Kanigan, as she spoke about what WIL means to her...

"Every women in this room will be a role model to another women in her life. WIL is about bringing these individuals together to learn from, inspire and encourage each other to make a positive difference to the future of women's leadership in Canada. Each of us has the power to make a difference - WIL is about working together to get there. "

An event such as this brings women from ALL backgrounds together to work on our collective future.

Building Major League Loyalty

This week I attended the BCAMA breakfast speaker series - Building Major League Loyalty. The folks from the Whitecaps were there to parallel their experience of building fan engagement to building customer engagement. Now I'll say right off I don't know much about soccer at the professional level. My experience is at the local level working with Wendy's and McDonald's. Soccer is the biggest sport in Canada for both boys and girls. And I always wondered why that never translated into the professional sport. But I digress. My interest here was to see if there were any learnings that I could translate to use for my work with Women In Leadership Foundation or other clients.


Representing the Whitecaps was Bob Lenarduzzi, President and past player, coach, general manager, director of soccer operations; Kim Jackman, Director or Marketing; and Ryan McKee, Marketing Manager. I used to work with Kim at Ogilvy & Mather in what seems like lifetime ago. She was always a smart marketer and it was great to see her grow her skills over the years and land such an interesting and challenging role.


It is obvious from the beginning that Bob has the same passion for soccer that many of his fans feel. He lives his passion everyday and I think he could tell fun and interesting stories about soccer for days. He touches on his early days on the team and the slim days when the Whitecaps were barely holding things together. He talked about how there a lot of old time soccer fans out there that have lost touch with the Whitecaps, and how many of them are coming back with the MLS announcement. He talked about different owners over the years, and how the current ownership group really embraced a long term vision for the term (and soccer in Canada).

This brings us to point #1 in their five fan engagement strategy. What they called "Starting at the top". To many organizations this would seem to be a no-brainer. But it often isn't. In order to really succeed you need an organization where the most senior stakeholders (in this case the ownership group) have a focused long term vision, are engaged in making that vision happen AND their staff know they are engaged in it. It is too often you see Senior Management state their vision and then leave it to their executive team to get it done. In this case, everyone in the organization knows the vision, knows how they can contribute to it, and knows their ownership group is invested in the team's day-to-day progress.


The ownership group has 3 key objectives for the team - open and transparent to everyone as they are listed on their website. All staff and team use these objectives to screen key decisions (projects must meet at least 1 of the criteria to be considered to go forward):

• To be one of the best small market sports franchises in the world
• To grow the game of soccer in British Columbia & Canada
• To be a significant community asset

#2 - No 5 minute solution

When you have a clear vision of where you are going and who you want to be it makes it easier to assess your environment for opportunities. But when your vision is unclear it is harder to do your due diligence because you can't focus. Who really is your competition and who shares your vision that can help you achieve it? Are you competing against yourself? This would have been a good question for GM to have asked itself many years ago - or perhaps they knew it but weren't brave enough to make the decision required to fix it... but I digress again.

In the Whitecaps case the new owners asked what relationship the Whitecaps had with BC soccer and Canadian soccer associations? The fast answer was 'we talk to each other'. The real answer was they competed with each other with duplicate programs. This overcomplicated things for players and their parents. So while at the grassroots things were booming it became more complicated to help the really fantastic players rise. Today the 3 organizations all live on the same office floor. They have audited their programs and are committed to creating great players together.

This didn't happen overnight, and the results of this new cooperation won't be fully seen for years. But they now have a structure that touches players/parents at all stages of their life cycle. This will also help gain momentum with sponsors and fan engagement too.

Point # 3 is "Let them in/be honest". This is when Bob suggested losing your credibility was like your virginity - you only lose it once. An old analogy but never more true than in today's very transparent world. People will forgive mistakes and respect your point-of-view, but they will NOT forgive being manipulated, spun or lied to. Being honest with people gives them something interesting to engage with. So the team is transparent in its information and looks for opportunities to make themselves accessible. Whether it is the team signing autographs, the head coach doing a Q&A with a supporters group or Bob doing a meet n'greet in the lobby at a game.

Of course when you give people the opportunity to engage they will ask tough questions and you must be prepared to answer them truthfully and honestly... and not telling them what they want to hear. Just like in real life people where people may not like it they will respect you more for it.

#4 - Revist Relevance

Again could be marketing 101, but often gets overlooked in the excitement for a new projects or innovative medium (ie: twitter). The Whitecaps has several core, but distinct target audiences - fan groups, parents/kids, original fans. Each of them is so important to the future of the organization, but each has very distinct needs. You can't do everything for everyone. So must be sure what efforts you make are relevant to that audience in the way they use or interact with the product. Otherwise your efforts are wasted.

#5 - Finish What you Start

Kim describes this as the bridge between engagement and loyalty. I'd call it ignore your customers at your paril. If you invite them in, allow them some ownership of your brand, then you must be prepared to act upon what you hear. You also have to be prepared that you may not like what you hear. A request could seem as simple as repositioning garbage cans. But if ignored it could lead to fans becoming resentful and then throwing a lot of beer cans on the field instead of in that garbage can.

During the Q&A they talked about how they pull in new fans. And the answer really is to engage their current fans in one-on-one opportunities, and that will grow them new fans.

The best example of how this 5 point approach is put into play is with their support group strategy. The Whitecaps have some very passionate supporters. But to put their opportunity into perspective their supporter clubs are maybe 30 members and in Toronto they are 1,500. A fantastic opportunity, but requires some long term efforts. For years these groups were all but ignored by the organization. Today the Whitecaps are including them in the vision for soccer in BC by listening, engaging with them, following through and providing them an opportunity to openly engage with the team. Relevant events such as pub nights with the head coach, where they get his honest opinion, go a long way to building loyalty and credibility (Plus getting those garbage cans helps too).

Their story feels like the tortoise in the hare (although I had to compare the Whitecaps to anything slow). They are willing to do the work that will pay them long term dividends. They are maximing all their available channels; engaging one-on-one with their very passionate fans and giving them ownership through open honest 2 way communication, due diligence, relevant response and follow through. But to me most important is that they have included those fans in the shared vision, so everyone can be as passionate as the ownership group in the story of the newest MLS team.

So how does this in the end apply to my Women In Leadership Foundation challenge. Well we have a lot of passionate women supporters, who will soon be better included in our vision for the future, engaged more with the brand AND will hopefully start sharing that passion with their friends.

Managing Change to Survive & Thrive

I attended the Women In Leadership Foundation's (WIL) Annual BC Women In Business Luncheon last week.

Four women, from different industries with very different career paths gave us their perspective on overcoming change. Overally a very insightful afternoon with a lot of common themes to success in managing change. There were certainly a number of 'light bulb' moments that had personal relevance for me. But I expect that each woman in the sold out Hycroft ballroom took home something different.


Below are some of the key insights into each woman's success.


Rita Rogers, Senior Manager Events, Canucks Sports & Entertainment


The always charming Rita, acted as moderator for the event. She opened with a story relevant to me when she received some great advice just as she was about to have her first child.... "It will pass". It is often hard to imagine that things will change or that "it will pass", especially when you are up at all hours, with no sleep and are staring at the shopping channel for hours on end. But when you look back you realize that this advice is true. For all aspects of our lives.


Andrea Scott, Co-owner Skoah & Chikki Munki


Andrea has had an interesting career path from teacher on the lower eastside to fashion sales to owning her own business as well as being a marketing consultant at the same time and also being a Mom (she was very pregnant with child #2 while giving the speech). The big theme for Andrea is that you need to have a vision of your career vs a master plan. Now given, Andrea is the type of woman who LOVES change. But it is true that with an overarching vision of your career you are able to adjust and take advantage of new opportunities, while never losing sight of your vision. It also helped Andrea to have an attitude that "very little in life isn't completely irreversible". She felt that if a new opportunity didn't work she could always go back.

Now I have to ask myself what is my vision? Being a strategic marketer I really should know the answer to that question. I tell clients and peers everyday that you can't go forward and be successful without a vision. This certainly gave me something to think about.



Silvia Livingston, District VP, TD Canada Trust


I'll be honest I wasn't expecting to learn a lot from Silvia's talk. She has worked in banking (and at TD) for her entire career. I'm a marketer, who has spent much of her career in advertising agencies, and I didn't think there would be a lot of parallels for me to draw from. I was wrong.


Silvia spoke about 3 key themes to success in her career.

Knowledge is key - you build credibility through knowledge - both top down and bottom up. For Silvia this was particularly important when she had a staff with more years and more experience than her. She felt strong knowledge and leading by example helped her build the necessary credibility with her team.

Check your ego at the door - No job is too small and we all succeed if we get their together. This is true in group dynamics but also in your individual career path. Getting the career you want is not always a straight line. Silvia took 2 different lateral moves or demotions in her career in order to achieve the position and success she has today. These positions were challenging, but they allowed her to broaden her experience. She credits these moves as a key part of her success.

• This was a light bulb moment for me. As I continue to struggle to find full time work I wonder if there aren't some great opportunities out there that could help me broaden my skill set and help me advance my career in the long term. Hopefully I will be able to check my ego at the door.

Know your own weaknesses - when dealing with mistakes & failures it is important to learn from the mistake, take ownership and then get over it. But most of all understanding your own weaknesses can potentially help avoid future mistakes. For Silvia this was about talking less and listening more - this one conveniently is also relevant for me.


Claire Smith, VP Sales & Marketing, Vancouver Convention Centre

Claire had a career epiphany in a magazine store while in Frankfurt during a business trip when she found a book called "Managing your career". She notes that the book itself wasn't necessarily that profound, but it spoke to her at the right time in her career. At that point she felt she needed a change after 17 years in the same organization. So she went out on her own and became a consultant. Not the right step for everyone, but the one that made the right sense for her at the time. Her advice:

• there is a momentum to change... taking the 1st big step forward starts the ball rolling
• take charge of your career - there are no bad decisions as everything you do adds to your tool kit
• don't be afraid to take risks professional and personally
• ask for help
• don't let self doubt take over - push through it
• 3 degree of separation - there are a lot of people who can help you or they know someone who can

For me Claire reminded me the most of me - with the exception that she has gone out and taken charge of her career. I'm still in that 1st big step stage.


Taya Hawes-Puiu, Chief Marketing Officer, Cossette West

I know Taya, we used to work together at Cossette. We never worked on any direct project together, so we know each other from those short little conversations at social functions, in the hallway, elevator, etc. I learnt a lot about Taya this day. She is a bold and brave woman who has seized opportunities when they presented themselves and on at least one occassion asked for advice from the Universe (giving them a deadline for their response). She also came to a realization of her own vision while lying in a hospital bed in Hawaii. The secrets to her success are:

• be bold and brave
• the only constant is change
• trust your instincts
• seize opportunities
• if you don't know how - make a list
• cherish your relationships

To me this last one is the most important one as a human being. Jobs are not who we are. It is the people we know and the relationships we have that we cherish most in life. Don't let them get forgotten while you are busy doing something else.

Now what?

For a lot of years I took myself out of the drivers seat of my own career. And decisions made weren't really mine, but the one that came up at the time. I've been nervous to step out there and be bold, in part because that little 'friend' self doubt crops up. I really hate asking for help. And mostly I'm afraid if I make a mistake, go the wrong direction, take a demotion that I'll never be able to climb back to where I was before. At the same time I want to be flexible for change - I just don't want it to bend me like it has in the past. Somewhere in there is a happy medium - plus time for lunch with my girlfriends.

A note about Women In Leadership Foundation (WIL)


Women like to stick together. We are there to support each other, keep each other company and help each other succeed. This is true for women at all stages of their careers. Each of the speakers mentioned a friend (in the room) who helped support or mentor them towards their current success. To me this is the key to continued development of women in leadership. WIL gets that and it is this type of event that helps bring us together to learn from, support and celebrate each other's success. I'm pretty passionate about this. And it is for this reason that I volunteer on WIL's advisory board and lead their volunteer brand/marketing team.