Day two of International Women’s Week, I attended the Ottawa Board of Trade’s CEO Talk: Women in Business featuring guest speaker Janice McDonald and then a panel made up of Françoise Gagnon, Karla Briones, and Velma McColl.

The evening started with an opening from Janice McDonald who posed the question to the audience for reflection – How are you using your voice to create ripples of change?

I’m still thinking about that.

The key takeaways for me were around:

Challenges attributed to being a woman in business:

From Karla Briones (You can read her FinanciElle “$tatement” here) (the highlight of the event for me was getting to meet her face-to-face for the first time)

• Taking back your femininity, it’s okay to be a feminine woman in business
• That a woman’s intuition is her secret Ninja super power and while you need data, you have to listen to your intuition

From Velma McColl

• Take advantage of more opportunities to meet in co-creation, there’s a personal cost to always having to prove yourself

Advice:

From Velma McColl

• Understand that you are in a network and everyone’s connected, respect that
• Your relationships are with you for life and they are generative

Ever event leaves you with a takeaway to reflect on after listening to the lived experience of exceptional women.