The Countdown to Beyond Pink 2010

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With less than a week left to Beyond Pink, you wouldn't believe the amount of emails that have been flying back and forth between the different teams in place to make BP2010 a reality. If you bump into of the BP organization team next weekend, just ask them how many emails and calls they get a day to make sure that the conference is running smoothly... and be prepared to be amazed. Based on some of the feedback from last year, the biggest thing we found was the young women who walked away feeling like they have learnt the most, were the ones who had given the conference some though before attending and had create a few meaningful relationships and connections that could help them in their personal journey. Sometimes being in a conference setting with that many people and schedules being thrown at you can be really overwhelming, so here's three tips to get the most out of the upcoming weekend:

1) Write like no one's watching

Write, write, write. Write down what you discover, what you can share, what you want to learn. Write what inspires you and contacts names and numbers. Write about each workshop that you attend, but sometimes, it's easy to forget everything you have learnt when jumping from one session to the next!

2) What is are your intentions

Have you thought about what you actually want to learn from this conference? Why are you there? What are your intentions.. is it to create connections? To learn more about yourself? To challenge yourself? When you think about these things, think about it in the context of: when the conference is over, what would be that one thing that I can walk away telling people I was proud to have accomplished.

And on that note, don't be selfish, and share as much as possible.

3) Define your brand and mark

The theme of the conference is "Make your Brand, Leave your Mark". Think about what it means to you, to have a brand and how it relates to your values and life. We're looking forward to getting to know as many brands as possible!

Also, do you know that if you can't attend the whole conference, BP is selling ticket for the Gala AND tradeshow seperately for much less? That's how badly we want you to attend.. even if it means you just being there for a small portion. Check it out here!

New partnership announcement!

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YWiB is thrilled to be working with YouTube's lovely Angela Jung, better known as yellowrainbootz! Watch for Angela and her signature bootz at Beyond Pink. Don't be shy if she asks for an interview!

Angela Jung has aspired to become a broadcaster since she was in elementary school. Tired of aspiring but not being, she started her YouTube channel, yellowrainbootz, in Febuary 2010. Since then, she has interviewed random strangers of Metro Vancouver; Canadian gold medalist, John Montgomery; Canadian Olympian, Melissa Hollingsworth; Canadian musicians, Chin Injeti and The Boombox Saints; and YouTube sensation, Timothy DeLaGhetto.

If you ever see Angela parading with her microphone and yellowrainbootz, she may ask you to be her next interviewee. Don't be a stranger, and let her interrogate you!

To get in touch with her, visit www.yellowrainbootz.com.

Beyond Pink: An Insider Peek

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With Beyond Pink less than a month away, everyone at YWiB is buzzing about the conference, excited for how it would be! YWiB has always believed in a place of sharing ideas and experiences, and Beyond Pink is a perfect platform for that for all you talented and ambitious young women out there. We want to meet you and see you there!

As a taster of how hard the team has been working and a Sneak Peek into the conference, here's an insider look to the world of Lindsey Smith, Co-Chair of BP2010.

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Phewf. Another Sunday morning meeting down and another week to grasp some delegates before the big day! That being said – it’s the MOST exciting time! We’ve got 24Hours on board as official Print Media Sponsor, SFU joining Sauder and the CUS with sponsorship.  Our Speaker Coordinator is booking fantastic female and male speakers that all are volunteering their time to come and help us out (including Ken Sim from Nurse Next Door, Janet Wood from Business Objects & Lara Kozan from YYOGA).  The BP team is a hustling and bustling group – thank goodness as their energy is contagious!

As the final month draws in everything from signage and posters to how we register to how we move everyone to the Mentor Dinner Restaurants is coming into play.  We’re having past BP organizers come forward to dedicate their time, we’ve got an Amazing YWIB Advisory Board coming forward with their connections and dedicating their own time to speaking and helping us nail down this year’s conference (thank you our wonderful mentors in this process!).

As Jenn (my absolutely wonderful co-chair) and I started on this voyage in the beautiful summer sun we had this amazing vision to have this wonderfully perfect conference.  A conference where women and men from all different backgrounds came and felt inspired, and walked out on clouds changing the world.  Since then, as speakers, professors, and business leaders have come forward to say “how do we help” or “who can I call” I believe we underestimated the support and respect there is in the community for young women that are trying to mix things up.  It’s been phenomenal to have such support, and we only see this as taking us one step closer to getting towards that cloudy dream we have.

We’re all so excited.  Not only have we worked many-a-sleepless night on this, it’s starting to come together... the reality is finally setting in... and I couldn’t be prouder of the BP group.  So many of our team members are from outside Vancouver, from a variety of backgrounds, and after months of hard work... we’re making it happen!

So, if you’re reading this, and haven’t registered yet …register today, not because of me but because you want to continue to be the best you, to contribute your best assets to this world and because you think it’s important that others do as well.

I can’t wait to see your beautiful faces there!

-Lindsey, co-chair Beyond P!nk 2010 lindsey@ywib.ca

Celebrating trailblazers

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“Forget China, India and the Internet — economic growth is driven by women.” - The Economist, 2006

Not only are they smart, go-getters and incredible leaders, but they're also trailblazing paths that will change the world. I'm not talking about an industry or a specific sector, but a generation of women ( particularly young women) that have an inspiring amount of determination, leadership and energy.

Here at YWiB, we have built a great support system to encourage young women step up and leave their mark. One of the main reasons for the success of this system, is due to our Board of Directors, whom we love dearly! Two days ago in the Vancouver Sun, one of our Board of Advisors, Frieda Granot ( Senior Associate Dean at UBC Sauder School of Business) was featured as a trailblazing scholar and we're so incredibly proud and privilleged to have her on our BOD.

Some of the highlights and personal favourites from the article include:

On awareness: I think one of the biggest things is that there is still a lack of awareness about what women bring to the table — in diversity of thinking, bringing different perspectives.

It’s not just a women’s issue. It’s a male issue, also. We need to recognize that there are continuing barriers in the workplace to women moving into leadership positions.

On the next generation: Some of the younger generation, women who are go-getters, see themselves moving up in the hierarchy, and [believe] we will see many more young women in leadership positions and in coming into the big corporations. I think if we see a few successful role models, the change will come.

On the current landscape: Three-quarters of the 1,500 biggest U.S. companies have no women in management positions. There are 28 female CEOs out of 1,000 of the largest U.S. companies.

Our role as women is to believe in ourselves, to say, “Yes, we can do it, and let’s go and get it.”

You can read the full article on the Vancouver Sun here. There is also a follow up blog post here on the Vancouver Sun as well.

September Feature: “It’s time to share your gift.” Lara Kozan

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One of the things I get the most excited about in YWiB is the tremendous energy, enthusiasm and learning gets passed on. Last week was one of those beautiful moments in which there was an intersection between those things and self-discovery. It was at our first YWiB Dinner Series Event - The Way of the Entrepreneur: Hacking your Personal Brand. The event was inspiring and wonderful.

Entrepreneurs are an amazing group in society that challenges the status quo. Last Wednesday, Vancouver’s best shared stories of their challenges faced on their individual journies ranging from getting kicked out of business school to running an executive coaching company to being the chocolate guy.

For those of you who missed the event, here’s an insider’s look on Lara Kozan, Co-founder of Yyoga and one of our mentors last week.

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(Note: the interview below has been paraphrased. It’s hard to keep up with Lara’s enthusiasm, write and listen at the same time!)

1) What is the start-up story behind your business venture?

 I had grown up with entrepreneurs all around me – grandfather, father and older brother. I have been exposed to it and seen it in my family. As a little girl, I used to draw our pictures and diagrams of a wellness centre, although, looking back, at times it could have been a strip mall or dance studio!

 The first day I practiced yoga, I knew I was going to open a studio. I was hooked. I did yoga everyday until I went to teacher’s training. This was all about 10 years ago. I taught in many different studios, different cities, all the way from Vancouver to Halifax.

 At that time, interestingly enough, Yyoga was born from a conversation that had nothing to do with yoga. My grandma has just passed away and I had gotten together with a dear friend, Terry McBride, to speak about life. He had been teaching yoga at his company for about three years at that time, and the conversation blossomed into a new creation – how we felt when we practiced and how it would be possible to expand the yoga community and get more people to do more yoga. From there, it was about a year until we started Yyoga.

 2) What number 1 advice would you give to aspiring young women entrepreneurs?

 It’s time to share it; the world needs your gift. The only difference between a normal person and an entrepreneur is that entrepreneur steps forward to do it.

 3) Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration through this process?

 Two people: my business partner Terry. He has been consistent and inspiring. Optimistic could not describe him powerfully enough.

 The second would be one of my most powerful teachers in my yoga practice – Baron Baptiste. He was my most inspiring yoga teacher and really has a way of inspiring me to be empowered, and to be a creator through his classes and teachings. I did his training and taught with him. He was the one who taught me to connect and give back.

 5) How do you achieve balance in your life? How do you define balance?

 Balance for me is like a daily check in. To see how centered I am. I step on the mat and meditate everyday. If I’m not centered, then I look for what is out of alignment. When I mean centered, it is in the context of yoga – in yourself. Grounded. When the body is fit, the mind feels calm. As a whole, and collected. Coming and moving from deepest intention and being very in tuned.

 4) In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.

 Grateful, abundant and inspired are the words that are coming to me right now…but if I had to pick one, it would be:

 Abundant.

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Speaking to Lara and meeting all the incredible entrepreneurs during the dinner was a reminder on how empowering your life can be when you share your passion. So those of you who weren’t there, here’s our challenge, with love:

It’s time to share your gift. The world needs it.

 

Why we love entrepreneurship

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This month is all about new beginnings and entrepreneurship and we couldn’t be more excited to be sharing the start of a new school year, the beginning of fall and simply a month where we have been inspired by the people around us. One particular group stood out above the rest with their ability to power through obstacles, commit their lives to what they are passionate about and, in the words of Nike, just do it! They’re the entrepreneurs. The visionaries. The changemakers.

I recently watched this short, amazing little video that got me thinking about the strength it takes to do something that they truly are passionate about and follow through with it. There are so many people who have stood up to do something different, despite being rejected, denied, and ridiculed.

BUT, the world is changing.  We’ve changed our minds about what it means to innovate.  We’ve opened our minds to new ideas – we embrace them, accept them, even crave them.  So while this video got me thinking…I’m happy that the stories that will be told about our time will be different.

So to all the entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs-to-be, thank you for forging the way, making change, and teaching the world to celebrate change.