Female Entrepreneur Spotlight: Victoria from ReFashion Vancouver

Leading up to the highly anticipated Refashion Vancouver event, we had a chance to catch up with Victoria, the event's founder and female entrepreneur extraordinaire. In between finalizing vendors, marketing and those last minute event details, Victoria was kind enough to share her story and advice with YWiB and for other budding female entrepreneurs.

the path your career has taken hasn’t necessarily been linear – you tried a variety of different roles and industries, and ultimately wound up working for yourself. what would you say was the biggest challenge you overcame, and how did you do it?

The biggest challenge was realizing that I didn’t have to follow the conventional path of working for someone else if it didn’t make me feel happy or fulfilled. I tried working in different industries and in different-sized companies hoping that I’d eventually find a job that I loved– I wanted to be excited from the beginning of my day to the end of it. But no matter what I tried or where I went, that happiness and sense of pride in my work was never 100%, and I didn’t like feeling trapped in a cubicle. It took a me a long time to realize that you can do what you love and what makes you happy for a living. I thought I had to work the standard 9-5 – but when I realized that the only person imposing that rule on myself was me, it became easier to recognize that it was just something that was keeping me from taking a leap of faith and following my dreams. Whenever I have a mini crisis of faith about whether or not I’m doing the right thing by trying to take everything I love and monetizing it, I look at other entrepreneurs for inspiration. There are so many amazing entrepreneurs who have paved the road that I’m currently walking down.

besides running your own company, you’re also ____- (fill in the blank w/ your other activities).  how do you find balance between all the balls you juggle?

a rock climber, a book-reader, a sunny-day-admirer, a photographer, a lover of cooking, a sci-fi nerd and so much more. I’m not going to lie: it’s hard. Very hard. When you’re doing what you love, it’s difficult to make yourself stop, even for a moment, because you’re so excited by the work you’re enveloped in... it doesn’t even feel like work. But I recognize that I need to make time for the other things I enjoy that aren’t work-related, so I make myself take self-imposed breaks. I absolutely will always make time to cook dinner –  I love finding new recipes (thank goodness for Pinterest!) and trying them out de-stresses me. When the weather is beautiful I will bump my schedule down by a couple of hours so that I can enjoy the sunshine. It mean’s I’ll be working in the evening as the trade off, but the sheer fact that I can do that makes me so happy. I love that I can choose when and where I work, and I don’t have to ask permission to go out on a sunny day and have a coffee.

what do you find the most challenging & most rewarding about being a young female entrepreneur?

The most challenging is finding a way to turn what you love into a thriving business. You can read a ton of books to save you from making some common mistakes along the way, but sooner or later you’re going to face set backs that make you question what you’re doing, and whether or not you should be doing it. The most rewarding is the other side of that coin – being able to take a passion and make your living from it is an incredible thing. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling I get when someone purchases something from me – they’re putting their trust and faith in your product, when there were literally a million other ones they could have chosen.

why do you think YWiB and the YWiB philosophy is important for young women in the community?

I think YWiB offers something absolutely essential to young women entrepreneurs, and it’s something most women probably don’t realise they’re missing until they stop and think about it – a sense of community.When you’re an entrepreneur it’s easy to become a bit of a hermit – getting so wrapped up in your business that you forget that there are other people who can help you through the challenges. Friends are fantastic, but if they aren’t entrepreneurs themselves they likely won’t understand the things that you consider to be major victories and major set backs. Having a supportive community that regularly offers you the chance to learn from successful women makes a huge difference in the mindset you have when tackling problems. Being around a ton of creative women helps foster your own creativity when you might be facing a challenge that you haven’t quite figured out how to overcome.

Refashion Vancouver takes place THIS SATURDAY (April 20) at Yaletown Roundhouse. Thanks so much to Victoria for her insight and we wish her all the luck in the world, even thought we know she won't need it. ;)

If you're interested in helping out, YWiB's Ladies in Pink Volunteer Group will be onsight lending a hand. Email Harveen@ywib.ca for more information. See you there!

YWiB turns 5!

Happy Birthday to us! We're very happy to still be here, going strong and with big plans for the future. Thank you to everyone who makes what we do possible, who actively participates in what we offer, who volunteer, and those who have continually supported us throughout these wonderful past 5 years. :)

love,

The YWiB Team

YWiBLaunch! Application

You've attended the info session, asked your questions and now you're ready to take the next step!

For those who dream of starting their own business, YWiBlaunch! is here to help you take that next step.

Below is the application you'll need to fill out to be a part of this awesome program. Don't hestitate, don't doubt, take action! You won't regret it!

The deadline is February 22 at 11:59pm. Please fill it out and submit to qudsia@ywibc.ca and kirannagra@ywib.ca. Good luck! :)

ywiblaunch! application (Feb 2013)

involvement opportunity: Communications Specialist

come join our awesome team and share our story We want to let everyone know how awesome YWiB is as well as to create a supportive and well connected YWiB community. You’ll be managing our marketing brand to community engagement strategy to online positing. Be prepared to put on your creative hat!

the what

We want to share YWiB’s awesome story and continue to grow our digital community. We want you to share our plans and our vision. Our marketing vision for the network is to empower women to grow and succeed while encouraging women to take control of their ‘story’.

Your every-day would include:

• Keeping members informed and up-to-date with events within YWiB
• Developing and implementing strategy for online presence – website, twitter, facebook
• Designing branding, mail campaigns, market research, program launches, communications project and other promotional material
• Occasional team high fives & hugs

This position will entail about 3-6 hours per week depending on events and projects.

the who

from past experience we know that working together is always more fun – by accepting this position, you will be joining the awesome YWiB team, as well as the current marketing team! At YWiB, we’re huge believers in hiring passion & teaching skill. Based on that, the right candidate for this role would:

• be extremely excited for, and passionate about, YWiB’s mission & vision
• be eager to create stories around our values and the incredible women in our community
• wants to work with the phenomenal team of YWiB directors and wants to become a leader with the organization
• is up for the challenge of asking the hard questions of how to create an awesome online community, that will facilitate offline relationships
• has some experience using social media and community management tools

let’s do this!

1. tell  someone you’re going to apply – external accountability helps you stay on track AND share some excitement together
2. send us an email to info@ywib.ca titled “I want to share the YWiB love”
3. include:
   1. a filled out “my {YWiB} story”
   2. a cover letter sharing your excitement & belief in YWiB  and why YOU!
   3. a resume (does not have to be the traditional resume, it can be a portfolio, video, etc)
   4. click send by March 8^th 2013
   5. high five the person you told you were going to apply- you did it!

questions? send us any questions you have to info@ywib.ca

involvement opportunity: Events Rockstar

come join our awesome team and build our story We have lots of fun at YWiB and one of the main things we do is put on awesome events. They range from our annual conference, Beyond Pink, to panel sessions, networking evenings, educational workshops and speaker sessions.

the what

You get to join the YWiB team and CREATE. As events rockstar, you will be part of our brainstorming & ideation sessions, and then take our dreams & goals and create a schedule events for the year that will reflect  our vision.

Your every-day would include:

• Ideating event themes and calendar for the year with the team
• Running the show- you’ll get to create & produce the events to reflect YWiB’s values and align with our members needs
• We’ll be hooking you up with a great team and mentors to accelerate your growth and work with you to grow your leadership capacity with the team
• Occasional team high fives & hugs

This position will entail about 3-6 hours per week depending on events and projects.

the who

from past experience we know that working together is always more fun – by accepting this position, you will be joining the awesome YWiB team, as well as working with an events team! At YWiB, we’re huge believers in hiring passion & teaching skill. Based on that, the right candidate for this role would:

• be extremely excited for, and passionate about, YWiB’s mission & vision
• be eager to create events around our values and vision for education & growth
• wants to work with the phenomenal team of YWiB directors and wants to become a leader with the organization
• has some experience planning events (conference, friend’s birthdays, Euro trips, you name it)

let’s do this!

1. tell  someone you’re going to apply – external accountability helps you stay on track AND share some excitement together
2. send us an email to info@ywib.ca titled “I want to create the YWiB love”
3. include:
   1. a filled out “my {YWiB} story”
   2. a cover letter sharing your excitement & belief in YWiB  and why YOU!
   3. a resume (does not have to be the traditional resume, it can be a portfolio, video, etc)
   4. click send by March 8^th 2013
   5. high five the person you told you were going to apply- you did it!

questions? send us any questions you have to info@ywib.ca

involvement opportunity: Beyond Pink 2013 co-chair

the story the inaugural Beyond Pink was launched in 2008 and has remained a staple of YWiB’s event repertoire since then. we’re so excited to be bringing another year of the conference in the fall of 2013 and we’re looking for two highly motivated, eagerly excited, and overall phenomenal young women to create & execute YWiB’s vision of the conference and make 2013 another great year!

each year, Beyond Pink has a unique theme that underlies the program offering, as well as some legacy components that continue every year. some of these highlights include:

• Power Couple Panel Session, All-Male Panel Session
• Entrepreneurship Story Tradeshow
• Mentorship Lunch / Dinner
• Case Competition
• Morning Yoga
• Intimate CEO workshops
• Networking Brunch
• Silent Auction and Gala Dinner
• Keynote Sessions
• Global Café
• Night Events

the past

for detailed info on the past 3 years, including list of speakers, see:

• Beyond Pink 2012
• Beyond Pink 2010
• Beyond Pink 2009
• Beyond Pink 2008

the what

every year, we look to bring back some of the BP favourites and add new components to the program. Each year, we like to take a look at the structure we’ve been using in the past and ask the hard questions of whether we’re bringing the best value to our members & attendees and how we can make it an even more impactful conference. As such, the role of co-chair is two part:

work with YWiB directors to create the BP 2013 vision, including:

• researching other leadership and development conference to find the best of the best ideas
• doing some fun ideation and brainstorming with the YWiB community to really understand what members want out of the conference
• engaging the Vancouver community in envisioning an inclusive and collaborative event
• creating a theme to support the vision

executing on the vision for BP 2013, which includes:

• hiring a team of volunteers for specific team roles
• developing the conference program
• setting milestones, timelines, goals and key impact metrics for the conference outcomes to focus around
• executing the logistics (venue, date confirmation, external bookings)
• securing speakers, mentors, exhibitors, etc
• media and press for the event
• setting fundraising goals (through Gala, corporate sponsorship, donations, etc)
• selling out BP 2013 and making it a phenomenal conference!

the who

from past experience we know that working together is always more fun and two brains are better than one J! as such, we’re looking for two young women to fill the co chair positions. At YWiB, we’re huge believers in hiring passion & teaching skill. Based on that, the right candidate for this role would:

• be extremely excited for, and passionate about, YWiB’s mission & vision
• be eager to create a conference for young women that becomes THE conference for young women
• wants to work with the phenomenal team of YWiB directors and wants to become a leader of their own BP executive team
• is up for the challenge of asking the hard questions to create a great vision
• is comfortable with the unknown and unexpected
• has some experience planning events (conference, friend’s birthdays, Euro trips, you name it)
• can handle a balance of high level vision setting and then executing goals like it’s nobody else’s business

the when

we want to bring on two dream-team-high-fiving-rockstars for March 2013. That being said, we care more about who you are than any number so if it takes longer, c’est la vie! We’d like to spend 1.5 months with you creating the vision and goals of the conference and after that, we’ll let you create the magic and bring a team on board and rock on from there! Of course, we’ll be here supporting you along the way and will always be ready to answer a question, provide names and ideas, and have fun together.

let’s do this!

1. tell  someone you’re going to apply – external accountability helps you stay on track AND share some excitement together
2. send us an email to info@ywib.ca titled “I want to make the magic of BP 2013 happen”
3. include:
   1. a filled out “my {YWiB} story”
   2. a cover letter sharing your excitement & belief in YWiB, BP, and why YOU are the perfect person for the role
   3. a resume (does not have to be the traditional resume, it can be a portfolio, video, etc) that will show us a bit about who you are, what your journey has been, what you’ve learned over the years, and what projects you’ve engaged with in the past
   4. names of 3 people you’ve worked with that we can ask about what kind of a person you are
   5. a creative surprise for us (we’d give you examples, but then they wouldn’t really be a surprise… we’d love to see your creativity & thoughtfulness and have it include part of your vision or impactful ideas for BP)
   6. click send by March 8^th 2013
   7. high five the person you told you were going to apply- you did it!

questions?

send us any questions you have to info@ywib.ca

Introducing YWiBLaunch!

Do you dream of starting your own business? Are you interested in launching a startup? Are you passionate about entrepreneurship? Then,YWiBlaunch! is perfect for you!   YWiBlaunch! is a four-month development program for up and coming and aspiring entreprenerurs! Its aim is to encourage, inspire and connect women with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to build successful businesses. The program will feature an incubator-like setting for aspiring entrepreneurs to take their ideas to the next level, on their own terms. Program participants will have the chance to learn all aspects of starting a business from some of Vancouver’s best entrepreneurs! From creating a business plan, building a strong company culture, to financial planning and landing investment – YWiBlaunch! will cover it all! There will tons of opportunities to share the development of your idea and receive feedback from mentors and peers. The program will also connect participants with business resources for pre and post-launch coaching and funding.

  Interested? Want to learn more? Attend the Info Session, on February 12^th where we will be sharing program components, structure, and the application process. http://ywiblaunchprogram.eventbrite.com/

  Questions? Comments? You can contact the YWiBlaunch! Program Manager, Kiran Nagra, at kirannagra@ywib.ca