Beat the winter blues with meaningful connections and taking steps towards your career goals! Here’s our curated list of the city’s best events and workshops for professional (and personal!) growth.
Read MoreYWiB Toronto celebrated the end of an amazing year with a full-house at our November Network + Learn Event. Here’s our event highlights and key takeaways on self-advocacy from inspiring speakers, Schekina and Sunandini!
Read MoreWe’re exploring the importance of Self-Advocacy and areas where it is needed in our lives- both professional and personal.
Read MoreKey. self-awareness and pitching takeaways from our August event, written from the perspective of event attendee, Pamela Gill.
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You come from a diverse background, having been born in India, and working across both Canada and US in places like Silicon Valley. How have these life experiences helped shape the person you are today?
India is very diverse in itself. I spent a good 22 years of my life in India, mostly in my hometown, a primarily conservative city. Even then I was exposed to different languages, different religions, different ways of living and cultures. I think having a strong support system of people and resources around me who understood the importance of dreams and growth, helped me broaden my scope of thinking and develop an outward approach.
But yes, travelling from India to the US was definitely a culture shock. Who wouldn’t want to experience that though? I did my research on how’s and what’s of people, the education system, and the prevalent beliefs in the States before travelling. That said, experiencing the culture first hand was different. It definitely grew my breadth of perspectives about the world, and helped me value travelling and experiencing different cultures.
Having come from a patriarchal society and now working in a male dominated field, how do you think having so much male influence in your life helped or hindered your sense of self?
Being raised in a patriarchal society came with some benefits. Although I may have lost on opportunities such as playing tennis (there was only one sports club near my place and its management didn’t have a good reputation), or free reign over my free time because I was asked to come home on time and not stay out late with friends (on-time meant soon after college or before sunset), I did gain some things.
I built few but strong friendships. I developed an intuitive ability to sense threat and learned to find safe environments. I learned how to entertain myself with books (non-academic, of course), and even developed a sense of inner rebel which helped in building my resilience.
I also had access to computer and internet (not every one did), which allowed me to look at the world, not just around me but miles away. I think this access is perhaps one of the reasons you will find comparatively more percentage of women in STEM fields in India. In fact, when I joined university in North Dakota, I was definitely shocked to see that out of 35 students in my Computer Science graduate program, only 4 of them were women. None of those women were American. And this reality was also reflected in the job market.
Also, I have had the privilege of being mentored by wonderful human beings, mainly men. When I look back to particular times in my career though, male colleagues have been willing to include me in discussions or sporting activities only when I have explicitly shown curiosity and interest in it. I feel this has contributed to my consciousness levels both in positive and negative ways.
What are some of the ways in which you have observed harmful self-talk/self-belief in women (either yourself or women you know)?
I think that we tend to criticize ourselves a lot and also not own our successes enough. I think being self critical is good because it also means that you are holding yourself up to high standards (recently gained this awareness). But, it is also important to understand that you do what you do because of the experiences that you have had so far.
One thing I strongly believe in is that my journey and my experiences are unique. I do tend to fall into the trap of comparisons now and then, but I have built a way to address it and come out of it. I think there is value in seeing failures as lessons learned. But it is important to move on.
I am still learning how to own my successes enough. But as I said, it is a journey.
What are some of the ways you think we can overcome this harmful self-talk/self-belief?
Brené Brown says: “Talk to yourself as if you would talk to someone you love”. Try answering this question: if you care for someone, and they are in the same spot as you, what would you say to them at that particular moment? Say that to yourself.
What is the importance of self-awareness, particularly for women, in the professional space?
Ah, you see new opportunities and build the courage to go after them. Own your success, learn to make it vocal. Not suggesting to boast about it. But be aware enough about it to speak it. Ask for help and coaching in your workplace or outside of it.
What are some of the problematic norms you’ve observed in the tech space, and how have you gone about challenging them?
Specific to my field of work where you engineer a product, there are primarily two phases to the process: the critical thinking around solution building, and the implementation / coding phase. Since there are technical skills involved, it’s important for people to be skilled to a certain level. But as I have observed, there is also a culture that demands and supports very opinionated people, with no or little opportunity given to those who are not, or even to listening to all factors from other team members. This leads to uninformed or fast decisions around product building. This also drives low confidence levels of other team members who voiced their points or who ask for collective feedback.
I think it is important to be focused on the best solution to the problem. Being highly opinionated is good, but it’s only useful and effective when you back it up with reasoning and listening to the opinions and expertise of others. Diversity in opinions gives way to a resilient solution to the problem in hand.
As you continue through your journey of self-awareness, who are some of the women you look to for inspiration (and why)?
Indra Nooyi - A brilliant woman with high EQ, who climbed the corporate ladder for the top position at Pepsico. She inspires me because of the leadership insights she has given in her interviews: focus on what she could be the best at, focus on leadership quality of EQ over IQ, focus on closely working with direct reportees to make sure they are happy and successful in their work, focus on building workplaces with daycare facilities. In short, because she is a visionary changing the product’s brand to move beyond being being just a soda drink.
Abhilasha Bhatia, 'Abhi', is a Software Engineer at Finaeo, a growing Canadian startup in the insurance technology space. She has 5+ yrs experience working in the technology industry in Canada and US - Toronto, Silicon Valley, Tampa. Prior to that, she has 6 yrs of educational experience pursuing courses in Computer Science and Engineering. Abhi wants to use technology to engineer solutions for moonshot ideas that would take humanity to the next level, currently in the insurance industry with Finaeo.
Abhi grew up in India, in the city of Kanpur, in a family of 12 which included parents, grandparents, sibling, cousins, uncles and aunts. The perks of growing up in a big family were having a playful childhood with sibling and cousins and listening to anecdotes from grandparents. The family always encouraged and supported kids for higher education and picking up fields that would help in critical thinking and reasoning. Abhi feels this has been a crucial element in her upbringing that has helped her see different avenues that life can bring and explore awareness.
Abhi believes that it is important to educate young women about their rights, the importance of self-awareness, changing a mindset from feeling victimized to challenging norms and believing in themselves and always staying curious. She has been exploring leadership through people and books. She is very excited and looking forward to interacting with amazing women attending YWiB networking event!"
Did you know that millennials are more generous than both Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers?
According to research, the total number of millennials giving to charity exceeds the previous two generations, despite having less resources to give, and millennials are going beyond just monetary donations. For example, a study by the Millennial Impact Project found that 72% of millennials are motivated to raise money for a cause with which they felt a personal connection. With 62% of millennials believing they have the power to make a difference in their community, and 40% believing their efforts have the potential to reach a global level, what’s stopping so many of them from getting involved?
At YWiB Toronto, we have witnessed an eagerness to help within our own community, but at the same time have observed a lack of knowledge on how to approach volunteerism and philanthropy, that is why we are constantly working to find ways our members can contribute more to their local communities. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce that we are partnering with the SickKids Activators program to offer you the opportunity to get involved and make the difference you’ve been looking for!
The SickKids Activators program is an excellent way for young professionals to use their skills and experience to help those in need through fundraising and event planning. As an Activator, you’ll create and manage an event within your community or industry that raises a minimum of $10 000. Fundraising proceeds will go toward funding the work and equipment of top medical staff and researchers, while offering organizers access to social networking opportunities, mentorship, and support from the SickKids team. Here at YWiB we believe in giving you the tools you need to create your own success, and this is an awesome way to start! Learn from the best, while also making a difference in the lives of the next generation of leaders!
Are you interested, but not sure where to start? For details on the program and to see upcoming events hosted through the SickKids Activator program click here.
There will also be a special SickKids Activators announcement at our next YWiB networking event on August 22nd. Join us for the opportunity to chat one-on-one with a SickKids Activator team member! If you are unable to make it, feel free to reach out to one of the team members at: sickkidsactivators@sickkidsfoundation.com
Become a SickKids Activator today. It's not about writing a cheque. It's about leading the fight. http://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/events/activators
Last night’s event was exactly what I had hoped it to be. Passionate young women connecting with each other and broadening their networks. I recently joined the volunteer team here at YWiB Toronto as an Events Coordinator. I had been looking for ways to network and find women who were equally as passionate as I was about helping young women navigate the business world.
Guests gathered around lindsay johnson, our keynote speaker for the evening.
Our November Networking Event hosted around 50 young, bright women. We gathered at The Citizen, a great casual space for working professionals to connect located right off King West. The venue had plenty of room to accommodate standing conversions and had bonus couch sections for more intimate one-on-one talks.
As someone who is always on time (or usually too early, let’s be honest!,) I appreciated that many YWiB members were ready to meet and mingle with the first few guests who arrived. There is nothing worse than showing up at a networking event to find that there is no one to talk to for the first 15 minutes! As everyone started arriving, guests were encouraged to mix and mingle with others. The conversations I had with some of the attendees were amazing and really broadened my understanding of business. I work in the music industry but enjoyed that I was able to get to know passionate women from different industries across the city.
After 45 minutes, Sandra Riano, President of the Toronto Chapter introduced our keynote speaker, Lindsay Johnson. Lindsay teaches first-time entrepreneurs everything they need to know about building their business from the ground up. Thanks to a technical difficulty, what was supposed to be a speech about how to become a client magnet, turned into two intimate sessions catered towards two groups of women: first-time entrepreneurs, and young professionals. Lindsay was able to interact with us and answer our questions about how best to go about networking, starting a business, etc. This intimate setting ended up being one of my favourite parts of the evening. The opportunity to be in a small group with a leader like Lindsay was so insightful.
As the final part of the evening started, guests were asked to split into three groups to network further. Everyone around me seemed to be having compelling and eye-opening conversations with one another. During this time, Sandra did three giveaways from a couple of YWiB’s loyal supporters. A big thank you goes out to Tangerine Bank and Shoppers Drug Mart!
Ywib toronto team at the november networking event
Reflecting on my first YWiB event, I am impressed by the group of women I was surrounded with. If you are looking to find women who will help lift you up, or who are facing similar challenges as you are, or who simply want to widen their network and make connections, then you’ve found the perfect organization to help you do so.
Hope to see you at our next event!
Young Women in Business is a community for emerging female leaders and young professionals who want to create their own success.
We believe every woman and young professional stepping into the workforce or growing in their career should be well equipped with the proper set of tools and knowledge to reach their fullest personal and professional potential.
We provide young women and professionals with events, programs and an engaged network of ambitious women, to help them become successful in their careers, take on new challenges and develop skills.
