Blueprint Mentee: Natalie Chu

Another mentee's reflection from our Blueprint Mentorship Program should inspire you to apply for your own mentor in our January 2016 intake -- but quick! Applications close October 15, 2015.  

Natalie Chu

Development Coordinator

Citimark Development Corp.

What were your main objectives for the Blueprint program?

My main objective of the program was to learn both valuable business and life skills from not only my mentor, but other like-minded individuals. I wanted to get involved in a community that empowers women and encourages both professional and social long-term relationships. As this was my first formal mentorship program, I did not want to set expectations per se. I wanted the relationship with my mentor to develop naturally.

How was your mentor, Carlee Groves, a good fit for you?

Carlee is a charismatic, passionate, and driven individual. We met for the first time prior to the formal launch of the program in January. Within minutes of meeting each other, it felt like we had known one another for years. At that initial meeting, we asked one another what we hoped to achieve throughout this program. We agreed to be open […] with one another and vowed to hold each other accountable. She was the perfect fit for me, and I am grateful to have shared this experience with her.

How did you and Carlee connect and work together throughout the program?

Carlee and I made it a priority to meet at least once a month. We went to a few industry events together, and met before each of our workshops. At these meetings, we'd discuss the progress we both made with respect to our personal and professional goals. In addition, we would talk about some of the challenges that we were facing at work, how we overcame them, and how each of the experiences we faced was a growing and learning opportunity.

What was something Carlee said or did that really stuck with you?

I can be a perfectionist, which can be my demise sometimes. Carlee had a very similar journey through the early stages in her career; she taught me that not all questions can be answered right away, but to embrace the unknown and let fate be my destiny (to a degree, of course). I consider myself to have risk-adverse tendencies. Carlee encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone because risks are not necessarily always bad. Taking risks can result is great outcomes, but without trying, we'll never know what those outcomes are.

What were the most impactful lessons, conversations, or development that came out of your discussions with Carlee?

She emphasized that there are no wrong choices per se, but highlighted that there is something to learn from every experience. It is important to put yourself out there, get involved with the community and be open to new experiences. So long as you are constantly learning and doing, you are moving in the right direction. Personally, I have struggled with what the next steps of my career are. Whether it's pursing a masters degree, continuing with my current career path, travelling, or doing something completely different, the unknown scares me. I have learnt to embrace this journey with open arms.

Did you apply any of your development from this experience to your career?

This experience has taught me about the balance between my career, lifestyle, and relationships. As important as it is to execute tasks, it is equally important to develop one's growth, lifestyle and relationships. I have made it a standard practice to revisit my goals, and constantly develop them. By breaking my goals down into three categories, I have been able to focus on each of them independently and to determine how best achieve them. I have found this to be an extremely rewarding process, and has helped me challenge and push myself.

What was your favourite aspect of the YWiB Blueprint program?

Sharing this experience with others, and seeing the progress of other mentors and mentees was inspiring. I usually attend industry-related events, so it was great to meet women in other industries, and learn the ins and outs of different lines of work.

How has YWiB Blueprint helped develop your career?

This mentorship program has helped me celebrate my achievements to date, and has helped me envision what I want to get out of the next year, five years and ten years of my career. Though I cannot guarantee any given set path to achieve my goals, Carlee and I discussed all different ways to achieve them, and I am excited to see what my future entails. I have made it a goal of mine to take some courses to acquire new skills. I am now inspired to constantly challenge myself with things that I am hesitant of. […]I look forward in pushing myself to new boundaries.

Apply before October 15, 2015 for the January 2016 intake!

BTGC: Women & Innovation

We're still feeling the afterglow of last Thursday's inspiring panel at RED Academy, on Women & Innovation. We saw a lot of eyes light up listening to our panelists, and in case you were too in awe to take notes, we wanted to share some of the thoughts from the evening. Here we go...  

On defining "innovation"

• A mindset/skill that needs to be practiced (don't just stick with the same old answers!)
• Disruption
• You do not need to reinvent the wheel to be considered innovative
• Taking concepts or ideas and applying them to another situation or for another purpose
• Taking old concepts or ideas and applying them to modern day situations or purposes
• Solving a problem in a new way

On being innovative

• Don't force it. To be innovative, you need to know who YOU are; your strengths and passions; focus on those. It can be difficult to come up with creative ideas for things that bore you or you know little about. strengthfinder.com.
• Innovation is not equal to technology. Technology is a result of innovation and a tool to be innovative, but not innovation itself. You can be innovative in any field of work.
• Stick to your guns. Your ideas are good ones. Men get an idea and think it's the best thing since sliced bread. Confidence (even if false or fake) can be convincing.

When it comes to defending your ideas

• Know your audience. Tailor your pitch to what you think they are looking for or what motivates them.
• Make sure you put your idea in context of the problem it's solving.
• Your ideas are not YOU. It's easy to be emotionally attached to your ideas, but don't take things so personally if someone shuts one down.
• Further to the above, some people will never be won over (or won't be until you're already successful :P). Some people need to be shown how good an idea is, not told.
• Sometimes it's important to realize if the environment your in is not welcoming of your innovative ideas, it may be time to move to somewhere that is.

On what organizations can do to cultivate innovative thinking/corporate culture around innovation

• Incentives for new ideas that work
• Starting an innovative group (Vision Critical's Innovation Circle)
• Generally being open-minded and welcoming of employees' ideas (sometimes it may not be the entire organization, but someone who has decision power who listens to you and will give you a chance without repercussions)

You don't need to know it all

• Create your own personal Board of Advisors and consult them on decisions you feel are important. These people will be invaluable. Family do not count.
• Get a mentor. Whether informal through a personal connection (maybe someone on your Board of Advisors) or a formal mentor who has relevant experience and new connections for you...better yet, do both. Apply to YWiB Vancouver's Blueprint Mentorship Program before October 15th!

Did you hear a good quote or have your own thought that isn't on this list? Sharing is caring, so add it to the comments below!

#YWiBbtgc: Meet Melanie Levenberg

Beyond the Glass Ceiling panel event is back again, and this year’s theme focuses on Women and Innovation. We sit with top tier panelists from Vancouver who live and breathe innovation. Who are these innovative businesswomen? Today, we’re pleased to introduce you to…

Melanie-Levenberg

Melanie Levenberg

Founder & Program Director of DANCEPL3Y

There are a plethora of classes to choose from these days. But have you ever bought a pass for something just to use it a few times and let the rest expire? Conventional fitness classes tend to follow the same template: the instructor is at the front of the class and has everyone do the same movement or activity.

Enter Melanie Levenberg. Growing on her background in fitness and health across a number of industries, Melanie wanted to create something that was engaging, interactive and playful to promote a positive, fun attitude to fitness. It was this philosophy that DANCEPL3Y and the 3 Rules of PL3Y were created:

Be positive.

Be fun.

Be yourself.

DANCEPL3Y is designed to inspire everyBODY to feel like a rockstar as they "sweat happy". After learning simple moves from a variety of dance styles, DANCEPL3Y is all about interacting with the others in the class and discovering your own unique style and way of moving. No minimum skill required, and no boredom over repetitive, recycled classes. Just fun being yourself.

DANCEPL3Y runs programs in Vancouver, catered to ages as young as preschool, children, teens, and also adults. Children, in particular, are growing and developing habits – both good and bad – as well as their outlook on things like health and fitness. If children are to have a positive attitude towards these, it’s important that they have a lot of fun doing it. Last year, Ms. Levenberg presented DANCEPL3Y at the 2014 Global Summit of Physical Activity in Children in Toronto.

Come hear Ms. Levenberg talk about her innovative concept this Thursday, September 17th at Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Women and Innovation. Not only that, but she’ll be giving us a demo of what DANCEPL3Y is all about with a quick “refresher” exercise to get up and bust a move after the panel ends!

Last chance to grab tickets for tomorrow's Beyond the Glass Ceiling!

#YWiBbtgc: Meet Julie Gunn

Beyond the Glass Ceiling panel event is back again, and this year’s theme focuses on Women and Innovation. We sit with top tier panelists from Vancouver who live and breathe innovation. Who are these incredible businesswomen? Today, we’re pleased to introduce you to…

Julie Gunn

Julie Gunn

VP Customer Success of Vision Critical

Julie Gunn is one of the few individuals who have been at Vision Critical since it’s beginnings in 2000. Ms. Gunn played a role in the early development and management of this Vancouver-based company’s customer experience.

For those who are unfamiliar, Vision Critical’s signature product is a cloud-based customer intelligence platform that offers a range of solutions for companies looking for data-backed insight into their products, services, and brand that will lead to better business decisions. In other words, they help clients ask better questions, listen more intently, and learn what the people they care about think and say.

In order for this platform to achieve valuable results, it’s critical that it be user-friendly and engaging for those in the company's “community” (a defined cohort who a company is interested in conversing with). As such, innovation is a huge part of Vision Critical’s corporate culture, as they need to adapt to society’s changing preferences for interacting online and offline.

Today, Ms. Gunn leads a dynamic and growing business unit within Vision Critical, specializing in community strategy and management. In addition to a multitude of things including overall profits, Julie is responsible for employee retention, development of new offers, organic growth, all of which require innovative thinking and approaches if you want to get results. To encourage innovation and generate valuable ideas for Vision Critical's customers, Julie developed an initiative within the Customer Success team called the "Innovation Circle".

She is involved in a number of other initiatives that span across the organization pertaining to customer feedback on product, adoption of CRM systems, thought leadership, and marketing and customer experience initiatives such as the annual Vision Critical client summit in NYC.

At YWiB Vancouver's Beyond the Glass Ceiling panel event this Thursday, September 17th, come hear Ms. Gunn’s thoughts on being innovative from the point of view of an international and renowned organization that roots itself in innovation.

Check out:

https://www.visioncritical.com/

Julie Gunn on LinkedIn

#YWiBbtgc: Meet Lisa von Sturmer

Beyond the Glass Ceiling panel event is back again, and this year’s theme focuses on Women and Innovation. We sit with top tier panelists from Vancouver who live and breathe innovation. Who are these incredible businesswomen? Today, we’re pleased to introduce you to…

Lisa von Sturmer

Founder & CEO of Growing City

Ms. Von Sturmer is an entrepreneur from Vancouver who founded an urban composting company.

With a backdrop as stunning as Vancouver’s, it’s tough not to be conscious of our impact on the environment. The City of Vancouver has ambitious green goals and we Vancouverites love our community gardens, green rooftops, and widespread public recycling. Some residences have begun composting, but in other environments outside single-family homes, where people can collect and use their own composting in the garden, the process is more difficult.

Seeing an opportunity and being passionate about bettering her community, Ms. Von Sturmer founded Growing City to make composting a cinch for apartment buildings and residences, commercial buildings, and restaurants. She even pitched her concept on CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

Growing City customers receive a vestibule to collect their waste, the building’s employees or residents are educated on what can go into their bins, and away they go! Once full, a Growing City team member returns to remove the waste and clean the bins to prevent odour. A full-service company making composting effortlessly simple. As a result, they help clients reduce their waste by up to 40% or more!

An important part in retaining customers is educating and exciting them about composting and its positive impact, Growing City provides progress reports to show clients how much they’ve composted and what that means in terms of methane, CO₂, and monetary savings. They even make playful comparisons like the number of household items or Justin Biebers that it equates to in weight! Through this, Growing City keeps clients engaged and feeling good about their efforts.

Ms. Von Sturmer has presented on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, presented a TedxTalk on social entrepreneurship, is the current Canadian Global Ambassador for International Women's Entrepreneurship Day, and is an active advocate for youth entrepreneurship.

Come hear Lisa von Sturmer by grabbing a ticket to Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Women & Innovation, where she will share her perspective on innovation and how that secret ingredient landed her where she is today.

Watch her interview on Shaw's program, the Rush, where she talks about her Dragon experience and her jump into composting!

#YWiBbtgc: Meet Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber

Beyond the Glass Ceiling panel event is back again, and this year’s theme focuses on Women and Innovation. We sit with top tier panelists from Vancouver who have live and breathe innovation. Who are these incredible businesswomen? Today, we’re pleased to introduce you to…

 

Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber

Managing Director of The Next Big Thing

Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber is an accomplished social innovation and business strategist with a strong passion in creating social change through entrepreneurship. Her philosophy is that business should not only provide economic value, but also create social and environmental value.

As the Managing Director of the non-profit foundation, The Next Big Thing (TNBT), she steers the ship in advancing the next generation of entrepreneurs. Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber comes across many entrepreneurs with innovative concepts in her role and has insight into how important a quality that is when it comes to starting a company that thrives.

Indeed, TNBT, itself, is innovative. Offering the nation with a rule-breaking fellowship program, TNBT breaks against traditional methods of teaching to get tomorrow's most promising entrepreneurs into the business world. Through this unconventional approach, they empower young entrepreneurs to succeed with resources, hands-on experience, and a network of driven like-minded and renowned innovators.

In 2014, TNBT helped accelerate 10 youth-founded startups. Prior to her involvement at TNBT, Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber was a founding member of the Centre for Social Innovation & Impact Investing at UBC's Sauder School of Business, and co-creator of the award-winning Coast Capital Savings Innovation Hub, a program that 'propels social change through innovation and entrpreneurship.'

Needless to say, innovative has been the air that Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber breathes, and we are so excited to hear from her at Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Women & Innovation!

Blueprint Mentorship Spotlight: Gloria Eid

  Our mentorship cohort that graduated this June all achieved, learned, and grew in many ways over coffee chats, workshops, and hard work for six months together. Each one of them reflected that these relationships gave them new perspective into their careers and selves, more clarity on where they were headed and how to get there efficiently, and a ton of support.

In anticipation of mentee applications opening again for our 2016 cohort in just one week, September 1, we highlight one mentee's experience.

Gloria Eid

Current Job: Program Manager, UBC

Blueprint Participant: Mentee

What were your goals for YWiB Vancouver's Blueprint program?

In October, I had an idea to start a blog focused on communication, creativity, and teamwork. In only the first few years of my career, I've learned many lessons from the workplace and I wanted to build an avenue to share these experiences with other young professionals. I was interested in learning more about the entrepreneurial lifestyle and the transition from working for a business to having your own.

Describe your mentor, Conny Millard, and how she was a good fit for you.

It feels like I could not have had a better fit for a mentor! One of my favourite things about her approach to business is that she is full of strategy and planning, yet so naturally starts from the heart in all that she does. It's also how I aspire to live and work.

What was something Conny said that really stuck with you?

After I launched my blog, Conny published a blog post herself that featured me. It took me by complete surprise, but it was so touching. That small action really meant a lot to me, as she was one of my biggest supporters and motivators behind launching my blog.

What inspired you most about Conny?

The boundaries she has learned to set for herself to build a life and business she loves. I'm also inspired by her own dreams that she is currently building and putting into action. It's inspiring to see my own mentor take on new challenges and growing as well!

What were the most valuable lessons, conversations, or development that came out of your discussions?

During one of our conversations, I was focusing a lot on feelings of disappointment during a time of a challenge and change management at work. Only a few months into the change, I couldn't help but feel like I was not doing enough, and was being hard on myself. She listened and let me share it all, and then simply said, "Now tell me, from your work in these last few months, what are the changes you have made so far? What are the things you are proud of?" It took me a few moments to shift my mindset, but I was able to share five or six significant changes and contributions, both big and small, I made in my first few months of the role. I felt a release after that exercise, and was reminded to be gentle with myself.

In another conversation, Conny was sharing some of the work her clients do and with my background in professional communication, she asked me for some thoughts around presentations/public speaking and other communication practices. Her response and comments to my suggestions were so positive and encouraging! She showed such interest and excitement in what I had to say, and I truly felt like I was offering expertise and valuable suggestions. I felt validated in my knowledge and experience, and was reminded that I do have things to offer in the world of professional communication and people development.

Did you use anything you worked on with Conny in your career?

So much. One example: as with many of us with a job that is driven by emails and meetings, I have difficulty carving out time in the workday for project work and thinking time. In a conversation with Conny, I proposed that I would block out time in my calendar during the first hour of every morning strictly for project work, and will never start the day with a meeting. From 11:30-1pm, I block out time for exercise and lunch. The last half hour of every day is meant for a wrap-up and a plan for the next morning's hour of project work. I'm excited to see how I keep this up throughout the summer months, when work gets into really high gear.

Another example is removing the fluff from my emails. As someone who values professional and respectful communication, I spend a lot of time crafting emails - the tone, subject line, sign-off, etc. - even with emails to my direct team. Recently I told my team to not expect all the fluff anymore. My responses will be short and direct as much as possible to my team, so that I can spend the time on emails to people and partners who need the effort. My direct team was very supportive and encouraging, and, in fact, felt permission to do the same when they need it! While I thought I would be viewed as choosing not to be thorough with them, they all understood it was just a way to keep things simple during challenging and hectic times. Keep communication clear and open first, then just keep it simple.

I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to participate in the program and have absolutely loved the relationship I've built with my mentor.

Want to apply for YWiB Vancouver's mentorship cohort starting January 2016? We are accepting applications starting September 1, 2015. Just go to the Blueprint Mentorship page for more details!