Our interview with Inara Lalani, Co-Founder & CEO at FemTherapeutics, Forbes 30 Under 30

Our VP of Communications, Sarah, sat down to talk with Inara about her career path, life as a co-founder & the cross between sciences and VC.

Tell us about your educational background and how that led to where you are in your career now.  

I grew up in Southeast Asia, so most of my time was spent in Singapore and Thailand before moving to Canada to pursue my undergrad. I picked McGill because it’s an institution that widely celebrates diversity and it offered the opportunity to pursue a degree with a lot of different disciplines. I started out pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce focused on Information Systems with a minor in Entrepreneurship and was accepted into the Surgical Innovation program in my 2nd year. This is a graduate-level program that brings together doctors and masters students pursuing computer science and engineering. I was the only undergraduate student at the time to be selected for the program. It was an incredible opportunity to gain insight into how to create a business by discovering unmet needs in the clinical space, prototyping, filing your first patent and pitching for your first funding dollars. I walked away with the opportunity to incorporate my business at the conclusion of the program and since graduating, I’ve focused my efforts on FemTherapeutics while doing a little bit of consulting work on the side.

Can you tell us about your consulting work?

I never envisioned becoming an entrepreneur. Similar to other BCom students, I was on track to become a full-time consultant by the time I graduated. I spent a year recruiting with EY where I then secured a job as a technology consultant mostly in the banking technology practice. I started that role during COVID while still working part-time on FemTherapeutics. I then reached a point in my career in April of 2022 where I was ready to move full-time to FemTherapeutics. I was always working on the company on a part time basis but with medical device startups, timelines to development are typically 8 years on average. Having a business lens, I felt like the groundwork that we needed to do initially was on the tech side, so we had our CTO working full time on the business in 2021 before I was ready to join her.

How did you get into the healthcare space without the health sciences background?

The Surgical Innovation Program is based off a Stanford Bio-Design program and is open to students with any kind of background. They typically look for business students, engineers with the computer science or mechanical engineering background as well as physicians. The success model for the program is about creating multidisciplinary teams. What we tend to find, specifically in medical devices or biotech startups is that clinical researchers end up leading the team but there are knowledge gaps related to fundraising and building a financial forecast. This program helped us build the right team that combined all those different disciplines. One of my co-founders has an engineering & computer science background and my other co-founder is a practicing physician. The 3 of us complement each other well and I was very lucky to have joined the program at such an early age.

How did you come up with the idea for FemTherapeutics, and what was the unmet need?

Dr. Gangal is our supervisor, and he was the physician that we shadowed in the OR. In our program, we spend 4 months identifying the unmet need. We go out in the OR and ICU with a notebook and jot down any pain points we see both operationally and clinically. Dr. Gangal helped expose us to this unmet need and since then, he's joined us as a peer on our founding team.

I noticed this is a VC-backed organization, what was it like going through this process to try and raise money?

I knew it was going to be hard from the get-go. On average, 2% of women-led startups receive VC funding and there’s about a 50% disparity in terms of how much men's health gets funding versus women's health. We raised our first VC dollars in September of 2022, and it took us about 5-6 months before we were able to secure that funding. In the meantime, we were trying to ramp up our non-dilutive funding efforts from the government through different initiatives. Fundraising from VCs is not for the faint-hearted. There are a lot of due diligence questions that get asked, some of which can get personal. When investing in an early-stage business, VCs aren’t just buying into the vision, they’re also buying into the founders. It was a great learning process for Negin and I as first-time founders and we're very lucky that we've generated an excellent syndicate of investors that understand the mission we're on.

What was the VC questioning like? Did any cross the line?

Medical devices as a field is predominantly male-driven and a lot of the conversations I had with male lead VC firms were on the topic of age (Why are you so young, why do you believe you can run a business at the age of 20, etc.) Other questions were on the topic of family and when I’m ready to raise a family, what that looks like for the business. I remember one jarring question; we were asked if we considered early revenue opportunities before getting FDA clearance. That made us step back and consider what type of VC firm we wanted to work with. We're committed to providing a safe and effective solution on the market, not just trying to generate money right away without proper approval. That got us thinking about how we could interview the VCs to make sure they’re the right fit for us. At the end of the day, they're our business partners long term and we want to make sure it’s a good relationship. We’re very happy that our current investors all support the vision that we have.

Now having gone through the VC interview process, what advice would you have given yourself if you were to start again?

The challenge that I always had with jumping into FemTherapeutics so early was my age. I felt like there was a lot that I wanted to learn, and I wanted to build credibility to bring that into my leadership role at FemTherapeutics. The short stint that I had at EY really prepared me to do that. I would have liked to trust myself a little bit more in those conversations too. We do see businesses being led by very young people who have been quite successful. Trust yourself and then lean into that discomfort because you'd be surprised by how much you can ‘fake it till you make it’.

Any specific challenges you faced when managing people who were older than you or more experienced in a certain field?

There are about 14 of us now and I'm probably the youngest on our team aside from the interns. How do you lead a team when you're not a subject matter expert on everything or when you have to lead a PhD candidate with more years of experience than you? Know where your expertise is and trust others around you who are the subject matter experts in their field. I may work with a mechanical engineering expert, and I focus on leading with what I know best on the business/operational lens.

Your company focuses on personalized prosthetics for women’s health - why is this such an important topic and how did your vision come to life?

Pelvic floor disorders will affect 1 in every 3 women at some stage in their life. The support around pelvic floor health was limited and we found a huge knowledge gap specifically for patients who are postpartum and who struggle to maintain their pelvic floor. This can lead to severe conditions that require a surgical procedure or noninvasive devices. While doing our rotations with Dr. Gangal, we noticed a high failure rate for the current noninvasive devices on the market. 50% of the time, these devices displace and fall out because they’re not a good fit. A lot of patients have previously tried these devices but have then ended up having to get a hysterectomy. We knew we could provide a better fitting prosthetic not just through personalization but by reinventing the way the mechanism of this device sits in the body to provide a more comfortable fit.

Did you notice any other opportunities once discovering this need?

While we were developing the infrastructure to do this, we discovered a wide array of other use cases that we could eventually expand into. The next step for us is to create a custom cerclage pessary that can support women at risk of delivering early. There's nothing that is custom-made right now in the gynecology space which is so shocking considering every woman has different genetics and pregnancy experiences. We have custom dental options, orthotics, and hearing aids but nothing custom to each woman. We jumped on the opportunity and that's how our vision came to be.

How do you use AI and 3D printing advancements?

Because AI and 3D printing are recent developments, we haven't seen this being produced at a mass scale before. If you tried to 3D print a silicone pessary 4 years ago, you could only do it at a small scale with high unit costs. The fact that we're able to work with newer materials now makes our business model feasible for commercial use. With AI, the struggle we face is not having enough data. Femtech was only coined as an industry in 2016 by Ida Tin (Founder of Clue). The amount of data that startups in the Women's Health space have is still very sparse relating to pelvic floor issues. We’re creating new datasets which means we must start somewhere before we can start employing these AI methods to then create personalized devices.

I can only imagine the challenge you may have had explaining this to VCs… anything specific come to mind?

I was asked why this was a problem they should care about, why women can’t just live with it and what the men’s health use case was. FemTherapeutics is on a mission to bridge the gender disparity gap in healthcare, this is not a device geared towards men. We normalize that pregnancy experiences are painful so postpartum would also be painful. We need to show why this is worthwhile to invest in.  

On the topic of bridging the gender health innovation gap - how are you doing this?

The data piece is the biggest one. We continue to work with other startups and healthcare institutions to put out newer datasets to start developing our own designs. We also feed off of other datasets that might come along for other startups to innovate on. We want to build the first holistic pelvic floor measurements database that can support further R&D innovation. That's a good starting point to bridging the gender disparity gap. There's also the education piece. We need to educate our mothers, daughters, sisters about this condition as well as our male allies. This can help get the message to government officials or public figures who can call for action in Women’s Health.

Have you ever felt imposter syndrome, and if so, how do you cope with it?

All the time, I still battle it every day. The situation where imposter syndrome creeps up on me the most is leading my team. I’m no HR expert, I haven’t been in a business long enough to see what a successful culture looks like. Trying to replicate that internally has been a challenge for us. Your biggest asset in your business is always your team. They’re the ones coming up with ideas and focusing on innovating in-house, but execution is also important. You can put as many dollars as you want towards marketing the device but if the product fails then you have a bigger challenge. To help me deal with that imposter syndrome, I'm very lucky to have Co-founders who I can bounce ideas off of. They inspire me in how they carry themselves and I’m very lucky that I’m able to have candid conversations with them.

What advice would you share for women starting out their careers?

Trust yourself. You’d be surprised by how far you can make it with so little subject matter expertise in the domain that you're trying to pursue because eventually, you build on that. Continue to grow your network. Surround yourself with people who are experts who you can learn from and continue to grow your own skill sets. Your expertise will continue to grow, don’t wait until you’ve mastered something to start. You’ll never stop learning no matter how many years you spend working at something. It's better to start early than to wait for the right time.

Our interview with Jennifer Hamilton, PhD; Life Sciences Consultant, former Sr Director at Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Co-Chair of TRIO Gene Mutation Research Group

Our VP of Marketing, Victoria, spoke with Jennifer to discuss her career path; delving into valuable lessons learned along the way and advice she’s eager to share with aspiring young leaders.

Can you share your career path with us, including key milestones and challenges you faced along the way?

I studied sciences in university because I naively wanted to change the world and I got good marks in science courses in school. I did my undergrad and truthfully could never imagine that someone would ever hire me so the easiest thing was to keep going to school. After undergrad, I did an MSc in Nutritional Biochemistry and then PhD in Experimental Pathology. I did not have science role models and did not know what kinds of jobs existed in the industry. As well, the biotech world was just evolving when I went to school so I did not have a good understanding of what that could offer me. I ended up getting my “break” via a family connection, and I always remember my good fortune and try to help others get breaks too. 

In the early stages of your career, how did you manage being a young mother and travelling consultant?

Becoming a mother was a bit of a surprise for me, but by the time I finished my PhD, I had three sons. I encourage people to have kids early and roll with the punches. You can do it. Don’t overthink it. I believe that it is good for kids to see mothers working, engaged and happy. I was lucky that the father of my boys was present, nurturing and a true parenting partner. I also had lots of grandparent support.

What advice would you give to young women aspiring to reach leadership positions?

Work on your confidence, be aware of inner naysayer voices and the artificial limitations you put on yourself. Apply for jobs and promotions (you won’t get them if you don’t try). Do “stretch” assignments; they give you a chance to do something new, challenge yourself and prove yourself. If you work for a big company, take advantage of every educational opportunity, course or conference offered. “Work” LinkedIn, participate in industry associations, start new initiatives in your company and outside.  

How do you approach decision-making and problem-solving?

My gut drives most of my decisions but it is important to know as many facts as possible first, before you make an educated choice. Make sure you put yourself in the shoes of the other party involved too to ensure that most decisions are win-win.

Can you share a valuable lesson you’ve learned from a mistake or failure in your career?

I have made many mistakes and had many failures. The greatest was my lack of confidence to apply for better jobs along the way.  The best way to learn something new is to jump in. I should have jumped in more often. Key challenge: not knowing what kinds of jobs existed in my field – lesson learned = find out your choices.  

Can you discuss a time when you had to navigate a difficult situation or conflict, and how you handled it?

The best example I can think of a difficult situation is when I disclosed too much information during a business discussion. I resolved this with honesty and apologized to the offended parties immediately.  Being “open and honest” is an appreciated trait. I find it helps to “sleep on it” when you have a big problem and gather more data to make an informed choice. The solution sometimes becomes obvious given time and data.

What are the most important qualities or skills that you believe contribute to effective leadership?

Listening to other people and telling people the truth (in a nice way). Finding out what is going on at all parts of the business and asking people who actually live with the problems to suggest solutions. And as simple as it sounds, giving people the time of day.

Can you share a memorable success story or achievement from your career?

I was happy when I found out that one of the technologies that was invented by a portfolio company actually helped a relative...my husband ended up with a stent in his heart which was invented by the company called Angiotech.

What role do mentorship and sponsorship play in supporting the career growth of young women?

The benefit of mentorship is huge at all stages of your career but guidance can come from all sorts of places.  Your mentors don’t just need to be just women and don’t just need to be women in business.  There are wise people in all parts of your life; family, friends and random people that you sit beside on planes.  I hope that all young people can enjoy opportunity to have mentorship.  If you are seeking a mentor, make sure to attend industry association networking events.  Never sit at a luncheon table with people you know.  Be open and friendly; wisdom can come when you least expect it.   

What legacy do you hope to leave at the end of your career?

I hope my work will have contributed a tiny bit to the development of therapies that impact the lives of many. I also hope that people I have mentored are generous with their time with the next crop of young people seeking their “break”. 

Our interview with Jillian Kennedy, Canadian Leader of Defined Contribution and Financial Wellness at Mercer Canada

Our VP of Communications, Sarah, sat down to talk to Jillian about her career path and the challenges of working in a client-facing role.

Can you tell us about the early stages of your career, what was it like entering the workforce?

School was a very safe place for me, it was easy to meet people who wanted to cultivate ideas and had similar passions that I did. Getting into the workforce was like a wake-up call and I hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to do with my career. I took a job at a local insurance company in the city I grew up in and after 7 years, realized I wanted to find something that was more of a career. Once I made that decision, it felt like the first time I had truly chosen something for myself.

Sometimes it can be challenging to see all the career options that are available to you while you’re still in school. How did you determine what you wanted to do as a career? 

My career decision was influenced by the people around me. My mom was a nurse and I saw how she took care of people, how she had purpose and meaning in her job. I was a competitive swimmer, surrounded by coaches that taught me discipline and how to believe in myself. I wanted to help people and was drawn more towards the finance industry, but I took literature & communications in university.  However, working for that insurance company helped me develop these skills that I didn't know I had. I was horrible at math in school, but I could understand patterns and the way money moved. I could understand why people would behave differently and have emotion attached to something like money. I picked Mercer because it was run by women, and I felt like we were speaking the same language. I got really excited about the fact that someone else could see the world the way I did and that's all it took for me to take a chance on this career path.

Can you tell us about your career path at Mercer?

I've been at Mercer for 17 years, but I didn't really know what my plan was going to look like when I first started. I just kept going until I felt like I wanted more or that I would be happier doing something else. I’m lucky enough to work for a company that rose to the challenge at the same time I did and allowed me to take on more responsibility. I was an associate, principal, senior principal and then partner. Now I lead a business on the wealth side of our organization. 

Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? How did you deal with it?

Going from high school to university is a scary time. I do think it’s different once you're in the later stages of your career after you’ve had that big milestone. The biggest milestone in my career was when I went from being a consultant to being a leader. I will never forget this because I felt as if the burden of the world was on my shoulders, and I questioned why they picked me for the role. The interesting thing about imposter syndrome is that this feeling of not being good enough does not last very long. Then it turns into this hyper vigilant feeling of always wanting to be better and that's what stuck with me for a very long time. What can happen though is you never get to enjoy where you're at and it can be easy to burn out. It’s important to think about your life outside of work, and not just compartmentalize your feelings within your career.

What was it like stepping into your first leadership position? Were there any specific challenges that you faced?

In my view, the best way to lead is to be vulnerable with the people you’re leading. That can be difficult to do but how are you supposed to lead if people don’t see that you can make mistakes too?  There is a difference between leading and managing. My role in leading is to inspire people to do things that they don't want to do or to do something that doesn't come natural to them. Sometimes people have an issue with leadership styles, and I do believe there's a difference between the way women and men lead. I advocate very strongly for both styles; you need to be able to look at things objectively but also from the human lens.

What are some of the changes you’ve seen over your career?

The big difference is that there’s the willingness to have women at the table whereas before, that wouldn't necessarily happen. When consulting with businesses, I would typically see a man representing the finance role (CFO, treasury, etc.) and a woman on the HR side. You can't have a successful business without both of those things working together and there’s been a big evolution of these two groups starting to become alliances with one another. That was a big step in the right direction: getting everyone at the table, not seeing gender but seeing their role and respecting that role.

Do you have any advice for those working in client-facing roles?

In the finance industry, there can be a mentality of work hard play hard but in reality, there’s no rule requiring you to drink when taking clients out in a social setting. You may find that you have a lot of clarity to help handle uncomfortable situations if you refrain from drinking while hosting clients. Early in my career I felt that I needed to drink to fit in, but you can end up having really meaningful conversations while also staying sober at events.

Do you have any advice for those in the early stages of their career?

Reach out to other women and try to make those connections. We tend to try and do things on our own or try to work through things on our own. Reach out to others to create a community, a group of people at your workplace that you trust and who you can go to, to talk through a situation.

Meet Christine Andrews, Founder of Acme Works, Partner at The Deco Group and Workplace Strategist

YWiB Toronto has had wonderful experiences hosting events at Acme Works. We hosted a panel speaker series here from August to November, where we tackled topics such as building your personal brand, finding your career path and confronting challenging situations. At the end of our panel series, we sat down with Christine Andrews to talk about her personal experiences in business. She addresses raising a family while being a woman in business, taking leaps at new opportunities and imposter syndrome. You can find out more about Acme Works co-working space here.

Where did you work in the early stages of your career?

When I graduated university, I worked for an advertising and PR agency in Halifax as a very junior account executive. Eventually my husband and I moved to Toronto, and I was able to transition into more multi-national ad agencies. I worked in advertising from 1988 to 2002. I always worked on the client service and strategy side and in increasingly senior positions. I left the business because my husband and I had two young children and he had just acquired a business. We were both working 24/7 which didn’t leave much time for family. We had to take a step back and have a realistic conversation about that.

How did you make the decision to take a step back from your career to spend more time raising your kids?

My husband had equity in his company, and I didn’t, so I was the one who stepped away which I did for 6 years. There were parts of being a full-time stay-at-home mom that I absolutely loved but to go from a professional environment, running a department of 30 people to suddenly being the mom is a big transition. I don’t have any regrets and it was 100% the right thing for my family.

How did you get back into the workforce?

As my kids got older, I was exploring the idea of returning to the ad world because that’s what I knew. I got a call from CTV, asking if I wanted to become Senior Director of Business Development for a team they were putting together for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I had been out of the working world for over 6 years and was freaking out because a lot had changed in that time. It was a fantastic project with a great team but a challenging way to re-enter the workforce, as it was very time consuming.

What started that passion for coworking spaces?

The building that my husband’s business was in had 10,000 square feet of emptiness. I had overseen the design and renovation of the building, so I knew it very well. I did a bit of research into workspace trends and office spaces to figure out what to do with this raw commercial space. I came across coworking, which was something I never heard of. The more I investigated it, the more it made sense to me on a couple of levels. First as an asset owner as a way to arbitrage the space. It also made sense to me as an individual who had just gone from being part of this massive, highly collaborative team to sitting in my little home office by myself. In June of 2013, we officially launched the coworking space called Acme Works. I did up a business plan and agreed to invest a year of sweat equity into growing the business, the brand, and the community.

I noticed you’re also a partner at The Deco Group, can you tell me more about that?

After ACME Works became profitable, I took a step back and thought, what now? I embarked on a year of information gathering from coworking conferences all over the world. I started making connections in the industry and ended up working as a consultant for a Canadian-based asset manager. While I was doing this consulting job, there were two people that I crossed paths with regularly in the coworking world. We became coworking consultants as 3 equal partners of The Deco Group. Rather than opening my own additional spaces, we pooled our knowledge of the industry and showed others how to do it.

What was it like when COVID hit?

Working with The Deco Group was super fun, and then COVID hit. Everything dried up and collective spaces based around bringing people together did not do well. Toronto was one of the most locked-down cities. We imposed massive covid protocols - at the height of COVID there were maybe only 10 people using the space. The industry was so punished, and asset owners weren’t very interested in exploring how to make use of extra space for coworking purposes.

How have things changed from when you first started your career vs what you experience now?

I started my career in the 80s and women weren’t always taken seriously. We were the ones that got the coffee, and we often watched our male colleagues get promoted faster or get paid more, simply because they were men. I remember making a huge pitch on a team that I was a key component of. A senior male colleague told me I did a great job and slapped me on the ass. At the time, we just moved on. I knew it was wrong then but as a woman, you couldn’t call out a senior male colleague for something like that - unless you wanted to be labeled a troublemaker. When I was on the Olympic project, two other men in my role were getting paid more than I was. I believe I was paid less because I was not the primary breadwinner in my family. I loved my career at the time but often things look different when you look back on them. I do think there is a greater acknowledgement of treating women more respectfully these days. I also believe there's still a massive way to go for gender equality. Women often think differently, work differently and we approach challenges in different ways.  

How should companies empower and support women in their organization?

In an ideal world, all organizations would hire and promote women based on merit as well as other eligible candidates (who may or may not be women) but still based on merit. Women are just as capable as men, but that strategy clearly hasn't worked in the past. The challenge with equity whether it's gender equity or racial equity is that there's always that nasty comment of ‘they just got the job because they’re a person of colour or she just got the job because she's a woman’.  Until there’s better representation, when you have two candidates of equal eligibility & merit, I do think employers should be hiring the person who isn’t adequately represented within their organization.

How do you think women’s careers have evolved over time?

What has hurt women’s careers in the past is childbearing and child rearing. I think we’re moving in the right direction to balance this out. I see so many young couples where men are taking parental leave which is a tremendous stride forward. COVID taught us that we don't all have to be in the office. If you can allow a woman to have her children and work from home, then that’s another great step forward. I hope that this is something that we can move towards as a society.

You talked about your imposter syndrome when coming back to work after taking time off. How did you address that?

It’s a real thing and I have suffered from it my whole career, even to this day. When I went back into the workforce for the Olympic project, I was concerned because I had never engaged with live sport before in any professional capacity. The team that came on board all had sports backgrounds and I stayed quiet in meetings, taking notes. After a couple of meetings, the president called me into his office and wanted to know what I was thinking because he said it looked like I had all the answers. In a way, my nervousness and doubt worked a little bit to my advantage because I wasn’t trying to be something that I wasn't. In the end, nobody hired me to be the live sport expert, I was hired to be a strategic expert. One of my tasks was to help Royal Bank, McDonalds, Petro Canada and other companies to connect with the Olympics in a meaningful way for their consumers and brand. What you're bringing to the table might be just as important or even more important than what others do.  

Did you have a mentor or sponsor throughout your career or are you a mentor to anyone right now?

I don’t have one person who really stands out as someone who officially mentored me. I was lucky that I had great bosses early on in my career. I've worked with younger associates, and I’ve always enjoyed being able to mentor them. Most members at ACME Works are a lot younger and it bothered me when they would say that I reminded them of their mom, but I've now come to embrace my role as official mom, so I do very much like that mentoring. I think it is beneficial whether it's an informal or formal structure.

Meet Diana Godfrey, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Affairs at Fidelity Canada

We recently had the privilege to sit down with Diana Godfrey. Diana is Head of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs for Fidelity Canada and a member of Fidelity Investments Canada’s Senior Executive Team. Diana Godfrey joined Fidelity in 1995.

Since 1987, Fidelity Canada has been an industry-leading manufacturer of Mutual Funds and ETFs. Fidelity has grown to more than 1,400 employees dedicated to delivering world-class investment solutions and services for Canadian investors. Fidelity’s clients have entrusted them with $200 billion in assets under management (as at February 28, 2022), including individuals, financial advisors, pension plans, endowments, foundations and more. Fidelity’s mission is to help drive Canadians to reach their goals faster than they ever thought possible.

Read below to hear more about how Diana navigated her career, adapted to change, and advice for women entering the workforce:

Diana, can you please tell us about your current role at Fidelity?

‘I subscribe to the jungle gym philosophy, instead of a ladder’

I joined Fidelity as an HR manager when we were only at $5 billion in Assets under Management (AUM). I had a friend who worked at the firm, and I really wanted to get back into financial services.

We had just over 200 employees and 125 vacancies. I was the fifth person in HR. There was a ton of growth going on and we had multiple lines of business operating in Canada.

While I was always in HR, I had different reporting lines and experiences.  I recognize that my growth didn’t come from changing jobs, it came from experience. I never focused too much on my title or who I reported to, I focused more on ‘am I learning new things?’ I subscribe to the jungle gym philosophy instead of a ladder - you might not always be moving to the position directly above you, but you can get there in other ways.

Our corporate affairs group later joined HR, and I learned a ton from the team and the experiences. This has created new opportunities for everyone on our team and a better partnership between the two groups.

Can you tell us about your past work experience and how you got to your current position?

When I graduated from school, I worked for an automotive magazine in marketing. I worked there as I had gone to school for marketing, and I have a love for cars. I didn’t love working there, but it taught me resilience in a big way.

I later worked for Diversey Wyandotte in accounting, then went to The Royal Bank of Canada - because I had worked there through school. This is where I picked up on all the banking courses, and then worked as an accountant for SKF which is part of Sandvik (a Swedish Multi-National Company).

Some of my accounting course overlapped with people in an HR program and those were the courses that I enjoyed the most. 

I then had the opportunity to move into HR at Sandvik and went back to school again to complete my HR designation. There was a lot of trying to decide what I like, however all the skills and those experiences, negative or positive, help you grow and help me in my current role.

As the head of HR for a large organization, what do you think other companies should do to support women in business (either in general or in their own workforce)?

‘We’re stronger individually if we’re stronger together. Don’t expect what worked 10 years ago to work today’

It’s hard to differentiate because everybody’s different and I don’t like drawing stereotypes. I would say that women need to support women. We’re stronger individually if we’re stronger together. I’ve spoken a lot about the difference between mentors and sponsors, and one of my topics within this presentation is that girls compete, and women help each other. The difference between being a competitive person vs one who empowers people is important.

I think that’s true whether you’re a woman or not, but given that women have had different battles in the workplace to have a voice, why do you want to fight with each other too? There’s room for everybody and we’re stronger if we can do things together, regardless of the industry you’re in. Compete with yourself and compete for the job, but don’t do it at the expense of people that you could be helping.

Organizations need to recognize that no matter what gender you identify as, different things motivate and attract different people to work with them. They need to spend time listening and adapting. Don’t expect what worked 10 years ago to work today.

Do you have any advice for young women entering the workforce right now?

‘Find a mentor first, so you can cultivate a sponsor. Recognize when your strength is your strength but also when it’s getting in the way’

A mentor is always helpful, somebody you can turn to for advice who can help you manage self-doubt. It’s nice to have a confidant.

Overtime, you want to grow a sponsor. This must be earned, they have to trust you and know you’re capable because they’re going to advocate for you. Find a mentor first, so you can cultivate a sponsor in the future. Being self-aware is important. We talk a lot about the voice in our head, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome, which we all suffer from, including me sometimes. What we need to do is be self-aware and recognize when to listen to that voice. When you aren’t as good at something, find a way to be better at it.

Seek to learn, grow, and develop. No one else owns your career but you. Don’t let the naysayers get you down but be aware because sometimes those naysayers are telling you things you need to know.

In some cases, your greatest strengths might be your greatest weaknesses. As an example, I am outspoken, and I don’t mind having a contrarian view which I consider a strength. However, it can also be a weakness when I do it at the wrong time. This is what I mean about self-awareness. Recognize when your strength is your strength, but also when it’s getting in the way.

Is there any piece of advice you received in your career that you wish you knew when first starting out?

I wish I had a mentor. I’ve always been independent and self-sufficient, but I was mistaken in thinking that a mentor made me weaker. I still turn to people today that I trust who aren’t necessarily senior to me.

Mentors don’t have to be senior to you, they just need to be experts in what you’re asking about or well-rounded people who can give logical advice and help you come to your own conclusions by provoking thought. Find the right people and accept that one person might not be the right person in every circumstance.

What advice would you give to people entering the workforce about dealing with uncomfortable situations of inappropriate behaviour?

The good news is we can talk about it now. Generally, when you’re working, you’re with other people that you know.

People can have a signal that means you might need help. Something that tells somebody that you need them to come into the conversation. You don’t necessarily need someone to come riding in and take over for you which might unintentionally belittle your position.

If you’re the one supporting someone in this situation, don’t go in and fix everything. Go in and ask questions or find a creative way to give them an exit. Afterwards, make sure to talk about it and debrief. It’s important for young women starting out to know what their support network is and create one if you don’t have one.

Fidelity has great female representation on their Senior Executive Team, what kind of benefits have you seen come from this?

It’s not just gender diversity, it’s any kind of diversity, because diversity of people brings diversity of thought. It can be gender, age, ethnic background, experiences, etc. All those things create more awareness. It helps organizations demonstrate to other employees that everyone has a voice. It’s nice to not have a bunch of people that look or think the same. Our experiences getting us where we are might lead us to a conclusion in a different way, cause us to ask different questions or be more thoughtful.

Have you been on the board of an organization that wasn’t so gender-diverse? Did you notice any differences because of that?

I used to be on a not-for-profit board that was predominantly women and very few men. We had to take time to give the men a voice. It was about childcare, so the women were of course very passionate about it but still took a step back to include the men in the conversation. I think it was a good learning opportunity for them too. We didn’t have a lot of diversity from a racial or ethnic background and that was something important for me to address. We didn’t have enough representation of other groups, so that was something we spent a lot of time on: changing composition of the board to reflect the community.