International Women’s Day (IWD) continues to be one of the world’s biggest employee engagement days. This year, it takes place on Friday, March 8 with the theme of “inspire inclusion”, with a vision of building a gender-equal world.
March is Women’s History Month with IWD being one of our keynote speakers’ busiest days — we’re fortunate to work with an impressive roster of women! Below, we’ve rounded up just some of our most popular female speakers and topics that capture the theme of this year’s event.
Contact us today to book your March event and learn more about our leading female keynote speakers.
Leadership
As they shatter glass ceilings and challenge stereotypes, meet some of the women who have played a pivotal role in shaping a more diverse and dynamic world.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Leadership Through Change
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an internationally renowned speaker on unconscious bias and transformative leadership, and an award-winning social advocate on a mission to create a fairer, safer world.
With a unique ability to make complex ideas accessible to all, Yassmin expertly combines personal experience and research to equip audiences with the tools of transformative leadership. She breaks down the common mistakes leaders make and show audiences how to be a just and empowering leader for the 21st century.
Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa
Dare to Occupy Powerful Spaces: Women in Leadership
The only Black woman (and student) in her school of medicine, Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa questioned if she belonged. She knew she was walking into a boy’s club and an institution riddled with systemic racism.
Chika decided that if she was going to dare to occupy powerful spaces, she would do so unapologetically. She walks audiences through her journey to becoming a medical trailblazer, sharing lessons learned on leadership, navigating personal and professional risk, and finding courage through adversity.
The Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould
True Leadership: Speaking Truth to Power
Drawing on her experience as both a community and political leader, the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould brings audiences on a journey through the intricacies of effective leadership.
She explores how growing up in a matrilineal community shaped her as a leader, the challenges she faced being a “first” or an “only” throughout her career, and how remaining steadfast in her values and principles gave her the courage to prioritize and stand up for honesty, even under very difficult circumstances.
Empowerment
From breaking down societal barriers to addressing gender disparities and promoting women’s rights and autonomy, our expert speakers empower women to unlock their full potential.
Ritu Bhasin
We’ve Got This: Rise Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging
In a world that constantly pushes us to conform — to mask and curate who we are, especially at work — DEI expert and renowned empowerment speaker Ritu Bhasin shows audiences how to break this cycle and live, work, and lead in a more authentic, empowered, and inclusive way.
Drawing from her bestselling book, We’ve Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging, Ritu shares concrete practices and strategies audiences can use to find the courage to embrace who they are, stand in their power, use their voice, and experience belonging.
Melissa Leong
Becoming a Wealthy Woman
One of the most powerful and transformative things a woman can do is become a champion of her finances, says Melissa Leong, one of Canada’s best-loved authorities on personal finance.
Melissa is the bestselling author of the award-winning, feel-good finance guide, Happy Go Money. In this informative and fun keynote, she takes audiences on an empowering journey through the world of personal finance, weaving in striking research, personal anecdotes, and pearls of must-know money wisdom to inspire all women to actively build wealth and take control of their financial lives.
Samra Zafar
Blazing Your Own Trail
At 15, Samra Zafar had big dreams for herself. But by the age of 17, she was a child bride, married to a stranger, living in a foreign country, and enduring what would become a decade of abuse. Today, Samra is a bestselling author, physician-in-training, and leading corporate consultant.
In this truly moving keynote, Samra shares her personal journey to show audiences the power they have to carve their own paths. By leaning into authenticity, finding our purpose, and recognizing our resilience, we can become our own champions and ascend barriers to unlock our true potential.
Mental Health and Wellness
Women face unique challenges, stresses, and barriers both at home and work. Drawing from personal and professional insight, our mental health and wellness speakers tailor their content to help women optimize their physical and mental well-being to meet the demands of today’s world.
Dr. Susan Biali Haas
The Resilient Life: Reducing Stress and Burnout in Today’s Wild World
With stresses in work and life at all-time highs, we need new ways of working and living. Dr. Susan Biali Haas is uniquely equipped to help audiences do just that.
Formerly clinically depressed and burned out herself, Susan draws from her lived experience as well as her new book, The Resilient Life, to help audiences fortify their minds, bodies, lives, and workplaces. She helps them find more meaning and joy in work and life, while distilling simple yet powerful tools to strengthen their mental and physical well-being.
Dr. Shimi Kang
Innovation for a Gender-Equal Future
Research shows that we need more women leaders to build a better, more sustainable future. Yet, women have greater social, psychological, and biologic risk factors for stress-related conditions.
In this fascinating keynote, award-winning medical doctor and researcher Dr. Shimi Kang explores the intersection of gender equality, innovation, and mental health and well-being. She addresses the unique challenges women face and explores strategies and tools women can use to optimize wellness, connection, and innovation.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Mental Health: The Building Blocks for a Strong Foundation
A passionate advocate for mental health, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau believes that in order to know and accept ourselves fully, we need to understand why we think and feel the way we do, and recognize the patterns that may be holding us back.
Digging into the science behind brain health, Sophie offers fresh and educational insights from top psychologists, psychiatrists, scientists, and thought leaders to equip audiences with the tools and strategies needed to enhance emotional literacy and move forward on a path to wellness.
Business and Entrepreneurship
The glass ceiling may not have shattered yet, but these women have certainly dealt it a number of blows and are helping future generations of women to do the same.
Fotini Iconomopoulos
Say Less, Get More in Life and Business
Negotiations happen all around us. While the idea of negotiating stresses many people out, the reality is that negotiation is just a form of communication that, with practice and know-how, can be honed for amazing results.
In this eye-opening keynote, communication expert Fotini Iconomopoulos shares the principles of persuasion and negotiation and shows audiences how to use them to create the kind of life they want and become the kind of leader people want to follow.
Michele Romanow
Getting to Success
Tech titan Michele Romanow is a serial entrepreneur who started six companies before her 35th birthday. A Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, she is the co-founder of Clearco, the largest e-commerce investor in the world that has invested in more women- and BIPOC-led companies than ever before.
In this insightful and practical talk, Michele recounts her journey to becoming one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs, including the necessity of embracing change, new technology, and disruption.
Sinead Bovell
A Future with AI
Sinead Bovell is a futurist on a mission to use this transition into the future of work as an opportunity to accelerate equality in our workforce and create a tech-centric society that works effectively for everyone.
Artificial intelligence will disrupt every aspect of how we live and how we work. Sinead explores why we need to tackle bias in algorithmic decision-making and address challenging philosophical questions to ensure that the technologies of tomorrow get built on the right side of history.
Motivation and Inspiration
Our uplifting, motivational speakers share their heartfelt experiences of overcoming adversity and some of life’s most difficult challenges to inspire and help women tackle whatever challenges they may face.
Arlene Dickinson
Reinvention
Every one of us will feel stuck at some point in our lives. One day, we may recognize that we have followed a path — personal or professional — that suddenly seems closed off or unfulfilling. You’re ready for a reinvention.
In this inspirational keynote, CBC Dragon and visionary entrepreneur Arlene Dickinson shares the blueprint for charting a bold new path. Drawing from her bestselling book Reinvention and her personal journey, she shows audiences how to locate their sense of purpose and rebuild after setback to change their lives for the better.
Jill Heinerth
Dive into the Life You Want to Lead
The first Explorer-in-Residence of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Jill Heinerth leverages her adventurous life experiences to empower women to take on new challenges with confidence.
Early in her career, Jill dramatically shifted gears to become a deep-sea diver. This path was filled with misogyny, financial ruin, and a devastating diving accident, but she emerged triumphant. Today, she maps out her non-traditional journey, sharing insightful stories about the challenges she encountered and overcame.
Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser
Over the Boards: Lessons from the Ice
The greatest women’s hockey player of all time, Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser shares the lessons that won her four Olympic gold medals, and hard-earned wisdom distilled from moments when she fell short.
Told with humour, compassion, and steadfast optimism, Hayley’s practical advice, coaching, and invaluable perspective inspires audiences to never accept “that’s not the way we do things” or “that hasn’t been done before” as limitations. She encourages audiences to not follow in her footsteps, but to carve their own ice.
Contact us to learn more about the incredible women we represent and what they can bring to your next event.
