March 8 marked International Women’s Day — a day to celebrate the accomplishments of women who have shaped our past and present and the ones who will define the future.
BoostHER TMU, a female networking platform that creates solutions and meaningful experiences for young entrepreneurs, commemorated International Women’s Day at their SheSpeaks Conference held at Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Centre for Urban Innovation.
The annual SheSpeaks Conference aims to celebrate growth, creativity, and connection designed to inspire women to reach new heights in their personal and professional journeys. After reflecting on my time at the event, I can confidently say that it accomplished even more.
The conference brought together a diverse group of TMU students and active entrepreneurs who shared their experiences about when they overcame adversity and how they continue to uplift women in their careers.
One of these inspirational speakers was Olivia Ho, founder of The Give and Grow — a women-led community dedicated to fostering growth by way of their planters and the curated events and workshops they hold.
Ho spoke about the progression of her business which has now amassed partnerships with NBA and WNBA teams.
With new additions to the WNBA like the Toronto Tempo (Toronto’s first WNBA team) there is no doubt that women’s sports will continue to flourish in the future.
Seeing inspirational women like Ho take centre stage and speak about the ascent of women’s sports was remarkable as an avid sports fan myself.
However, the diverse environment we’ve come to familiarize ourselves with today was not what Ho grew up with.
Ho shared her experience as a young Asian athlete despite the limited Asian representation in sports and media, which pushed her to become that role model for young girls today.
“There was something missing when it came to young Asian girls playing sports … so I always wanted to be that mentor, that face for someone else,” Ho said.
While Ho believes there is currently a more diverse array of women working in sports, she said there is still a long way to go when it comes to empowering women in athletic spaces — and that ultimately starts with the fans.
“As fans, the real gap is kind of showing up, showing up to games, showing support on social media, reposting things, following your favourite athletes, commenting on their stuff, really just engaging in the fandom,” Ho said.
Similar to Ho, Angela White amplifies her voice in the sports realm as the senior director of equity, diversity and inclusion at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).
In a panel where trailblazing women from different fields talked about the ups and downs throughout their entrepreneurial journeys, White focused on the need for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.
Within the folds of her everyday job, White and her team at MLSE are busy composing a speaker series that consists of tough conversations about race, identity, and reconciliation. With this speaker series, White hopes to foster more inclusive spaces for women in a professional setting.
“It’s an opportunity for employees to participate in personal dialect and to create that safe space for people to come and be part of the conversation that might be tough,” White said. “And the goal is that ultimately, beyond the speaker series, you can then feel more comfortable having those uncomfortable conversations within your department.”
While talking about the responsibility that comes with upholding equity, diversity, and inclusion, White emphasized the importance of not reducing your self-worth for other people.
“Please do not minimize yourself or your work … I probably did do that earlier in my career, and later on in my career, I learned that no one can make me feel inferior without my consent,” White said.
Out of all the lessons I learned from that day, this one stuck with me the most.
“No one makes me feel inferior without my consent” was something that I had never heard of before, let alone thought of, but Angela White completely changed that.
But as this quote continues to replay in my mind, I dwell on all the moments I or another woman was discredited for their work — simply because of the male-dominated dynamic that is embedded into many cultures and environments.
And it’s lessons like this one, that are the reason why the SheSpeaks Conference was brought to fruition.
Angel Pham, a fourth-year human resources student at TMU and co-executive vice president of BOOSTHer TMU, said that entrepreneurs like Angela White and Olivia Ho embody what it means to be a role model in the industry.
“We want to really celebrate International Women’s Day, and so we thought this event would be great, just because we got to hear a lot of women speaking about their experience, and then hopefully that inspires young women like us who are about to go into the workforce,” Pham said.
As I soak in all the lessons I learned and think about the women I met at the BoostHer SheSpeaks Conference, I don’t think there is any other place I would have wanted to spend this year’s International Women’s Day.
