announcing... My {YWiB} Idea

/

You must be wondering where we’ve been lately. No noise from YWiB in the last few months almost at all! We’re still here, just on an extended pow-wow session if you will. You see, we’re constantly asking ourselves “how can we make this better for our members?” and “how can we achieve our goal of creating a platform for young women to connect, share and access resources, grow, meet people, inspire, and get inspired?”

We’ve been researching. We’ve been brainstorming. But most importantly, we’ve been listening.

To take you to where we’re going, we have to remind you of where we’ve been…

We started as a conference of 250 diverse women from all walks of life sharing stories and getting inspired. Beyond Pink is now a prestigious annual conference attracting 200+ women and men from across the lower mainland for a weekend of personal and professional development.

We branched out to reach an even younger demographic of women who were yearning for a place to grow and for mentors to look up to. Our University Chapters have expanded from UBC up to SFU and most recently over to UVic – with interest from schools across the nation coming in each day.

From small scale conversations to larger scale legacy events like our panel sessions, we’re constantly experimenting, innovating and adapting as we get closer and closer to understanding how we can best serve you, our members.

So what have we learned? We’ve learned that what you want is an opportunity to contribute. Women are innately giving and the best way we know how to grow and challenge ourselves is to give of our time, energy and talent. And to work with other women who push our boundaries on each of these levels.

This is why YWiB is excited to introduce our new program – a way for you to get involved and contribute in a way we’ve never offered before: My Idea.

We're so excited about this new program that we created a video just for you! Enjoy the video below and then follow this link for detailed information. We can't wait to hear your ideas!!

http://vimeo.com/33088776

 

YWiB hosts screening of documentary Miss Representation!

/

We're so excited to be hosting Miss Representation in Vancouver, on December 5 2011. Immediately following the first screening, we will be holding a panel discussion featuring: Moderator:

  • Janet Austin, Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Metro Vancouver, Influential Woman in Business [@ywcavan]

Panelists:

  • Patricia Graham, Vice President, Digital for Pacific Newspaper Group, publisher of The Vancouver Sun and The Province and their digital properties [@patriciagraham]
  • Kirk LaPointe, Ombudsman at CBC, themediamanager.com, UBC School of Journalism adjunct professor  [@kirklapointe]
  • Pamela Martin, Director of Community Outreach for the Office of the Premier Christy Clark, ex-CTV News Vancouver Anchor [@pamelamartin_bc]
  • Amy Chan, columnist for the Sun Media’s 24 Hours Newspaper and The Huffington Post [@amyfabulous]

For more information on tickets, visit here.  A special discount applies for YWiB members :)

YWiB & Women Entrepreneurs in Mashable article

/

We love Nellie Akalp's (CEO, CorpNet.com) latest article in Mashable. Ms. Akalp talks about why women are successful entrepreneurs in today's "digital world". YWiB couldn't agree more! Here are some of our favorite points, summarized just for you:

1. Women possess strong communication skills and social intelligence. These are essential skills to have, especially in a world where so many modes of communication and interaction are available.

2. Women make good listeners, and are strong at drawing people into their conversations. To women, building a business is like building a team.

3. Women collaborate - on just about everything! From examples such as joint trips to the restroom to a 2009 Times article, women exercise a transformational leadership style that is very well-suited for today's flattening hierarchies in start-ups.

4. Women prefer lower risk, prioritizing work along with personal harmony - leading to fulfilling professional and personal lives. The flip side is that men's businesses are, on average, larger than women-owned businesses. So the question goes back to - where is that elusive balance? And how do you find the right one on your own terms?

Keep your eyes out for YWiB's upcoming launch of an exciting new offering, which we hope will provide a platform for women to explore these questions further.

Thank you to Jeremy Lim for the photo of our lovely YWiB ladies included as part of this article.

update - application deadline extended

/

The deadline for applying to volunteer with YWiB has been extended to October 31st. This is to accommodate for our newsletter going out later than we expected to members annoucning the opening of the positions. Please see here for information on applying!

Thank you to everyone who has already applied - we will be in touch soon if we already haven't!