In this week’s Women Talk Tech episode, our guest is Patricia DuChene (Patti ), the Vice President of Sales at Postal, a leading offline engagement platform that automates direct mail and gifting in the sales and marketing workflow

Throughout the episode we discuss how important it is to build a sales culture that welcomes, supports and highlights women. Patti is a firm believer that one size does not fit all, and the most successful sales teams are full of diverse points of views.

Available on iTunes, Spotify, andGoogle Play Music.

About Patricia DuChene

In this week’s Women Talk Tech episode, our guest is Pattie Grimm, a former Senior Leader for Microsoft, with 25 years experience in the tech industry that has transformed her into an author, speaker, training coach & consultant for women empowerment.

Available on iTunes, Spotify, andGoogle Play Music.

About Pattie Grimm

In this week’s Women Talk Tech episode, our guest is Shannon Ferguson, the co-founder and CEO of tech startup FanSaves – a mobile app that gives users discounts and deals from sponsors of their favourite teams and organizations! Throughout the episode we discuss learning along the way as a non-technical co-founder and the ups and downs of developing an app.

As a hockey player growing up, Shannon is familiar with being the only girl in the room. Now as a CEO in the sports tech industry, she explains how daunting her beginning experiences in the tech world had been. But through perseverance, Shannon has grown to find her own voice and seat at the table.

Building Resilience

In this episode, Shannon discusses the importance of facing adversity and developing resilience as a business owner. She explains how important it is to keep faith in yourself as an entrepreneur, and believing in the unknown, your vision and yourself.

“Building resilience is really just deciding and knowing that you are not going to give up.”

Be sure to tune in, and in case you missed it, Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan Report. Download this report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women.

Available on iTunes, Spotify, andGoogle Play Music.

About Shannon Ferguson

Shannon Ferguson, the co-founder and CEO of tech startup FanSaves – a mobile app that gives users discounts and deals from sponsors of their favourite teams and organizations.

She has her B.A. from Wilder Laurier University and certificate of Sports industry essentials from Columbia University in NYC.

In this week’s Women Talk Tech episode, our guest is Anju Virmani, the Chief Information Officer at Cargojet Airways -Canada’s only cargo airline for time-sensitive air cargo services. In this episode, we discuss financial independence and empowerment in women, and the difficult road women often face when beginning a STEM career.

Anju, an executive with a passion for innovation. Her track record proves how successful she has been in digital transformations throughout North America in many diverse industries, including transportation, healthcare, finance, and insurance. Anju has extensive experience helping organizations achieve a competitive edge using technology, people, and process.

Anju provides technology leadership to the organization and helps to manage technology and business risks effectively. Anju serves as advisors to technology startups and helped provide mentorship and strategy to emerging technologies and emerging entrepreneurs.

Finding financial independence

Originally from New Delhi, Anju grew up in all-girl schooling with the aspirations of being a doctor. During the beginning of her co-ed degree, Anju experienced difficulties in a male-dominated program and switched to home economics with a new goal of teaching children with disabilities.

After moving to Canada, Anju searched for financial independence and found economic opportunities in the tech sector. Throughout the episode, Anju emphasizes the importance for women to find their financial independence.

Giving back to the community

Anju has committed to helping women in tech by supporting initiatives in education and health care through her family foundation.

Last year, Anju hosted a scholarship at Ryerson University for four women in STEM programs. This scholarship continues for the next five years, at $10,000 per woman in their 3rd of 4th year at University.

She plans on beginning a new scholarship for Indigenous and refugee women in STEM in the upcoming years.

Be sure to tune in, and in case you missed it, Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan Report. Download this report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women.

Available on iTunes, Spotify, andGoogle Play Music.

About Anju Virmani

Anju Virmani is the Chief Information Officer at Cargojet Airways -Canada’s only cargo airline for time-sensitive air cargo services. Before Cargojet, Anju founded and successfully ran a management and technology consulting practice in Silicon Valley.

Anju serves as advisors to technology startups and helped provide mentorship and strategy to emerging technologies and emerging entrepreneurs.

Anju holds a B.sc and B.Ed from the University of Delhi, INDIA, and an M.BA from the City University of New York. Anju has also received the Charter Director designation from McMaster University.

 Anju has a keen interest in corporate governance and has served on many nonprofit and crown corporation boards and advisory roles. Anju served on the ACNS Advisory Council for National Security, The Toronto Transit Commission, and the York University MBA Health care program advisory board.

 A self-proclaimed geek, Anju is also a self-taught accomplished visual artist. Her art pieces have found homes at Ryerson University, corporate and medical offices, and many homes.

You can follow Anju on social media here:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anju-virmani-a195a74/

At SeeWhatSheCanDo, Caroline and Tina used technology to create a virtual neighbourhood where women can find each other to engage in active living. This platform also connects women to organizations that support their passion for active living, stories and sports coverage. The technology shines the spotlight on active women at the community, amateur and elite levels of more than 65 sports.

As passionate supporters of women in sport, together Caroline and Tina founded a platform that offers powerful business sport marketing services that build engagement, awareness and participation. In the episode we will discuss how SeeWhatSheCanDo invites women and organizations who share a passion for kinder, healthier communities to join together in one space.

SeeWhatSheCanDo’s mission 

Investing in Sports Tech for Women Makes ‘Cents’

The historic underinvestment in sponsoring and covering women’s sport has meant that businesses have missed out on the opportunity to get their messages in front of active girls and women for years. Technology is increasingly driving connections and sport participation with 80 percent of women going online weekly to get their sports updates. More than half of Canadian women participate in sports, yet this engaged, growing audience is still largely underserved by the business community, despite making 80 percent of household purchase decisions. When it comes to business growth, active women are a major investment opportunity. Businesses that invest in active women make a direct impact on healthier communities. Studies show that active women also drive increased participation by their children (71% of the children of active women participate in sports, versus just 29% of children of inactive women).

Be sure to tune in, and in case you missed it, Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan Report. Download this report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women.

About Tina Finelli

Tina Finelli is a marketing and branding consultant and seasoned entrepreneur. She has worked with organizations including Rogers Communications, University of Toronto, Mount Sinai Hospital and Sheridan College in her 20-year career. As an avid athlete and volunteer with community sports organizations, Tina has seen first-hand how supporting and connecting female athletes can have a profound effect on people, families, and communities.

Tina’s personal passion for community and sport, combined with her business marketing expertise led her to partner with Caroline Wiley to create SeeWhatSheCanDo. In co-founding SeeWhatSheCanDo, Tina combines her strong business acumen and her passion for sports to blaze new paths for active women and shine the spotlight on all they can do. She lives in Aurora, ON and spends her free time CrossFitting, playing ice hockey, skiing and walking her dogs.

In this week’s episode of Women Talk Tech, our guest is Jillian Kaplan, a Product Marketing Manager at Dell Technologies. She discusses the importance of embracing your story – both the defeats and triumphs- as a part of your career and how the inclusiveness of a work environment is a massive factor in excelling women in tech.

Turning your mess into your message 

Just three years ago, Jillian was hit by a car at 40+ mph while crossing a crosswalk, resulting in life-threatening injuries and an emergency brain surgery that saved her life. Although Jillian was able to return to work and continue a successful career, she’s had to learn how to live with the long term effects of a traumatic brain injury. Jillian’s decision to push forward and turn her mess into her message motivates not only women in tech but everyone.

“If I can impact one life, if I can share my mess and make it a message for one person it’s definitely worth it for me.” – Jillian Kaplan

The levels of support and inclusivity that Jillian has experienced after her injuries at Dell has dramatically impacted her level of success. She explains the importance of a positive work environment, especially for women in tech is a necessity to furthering equality in the tech industry. In this episode, she will discuss the power behind the CEO of Dell Technologies, Michael Dell’s recent announcement that has committed Dell’s global workforce to be 50% women by 2030. Jillian explains how she witnesses steps to reach this goal every day at her company.

Discovering the tech sector

Jillian never doubted her desire to have a tech career. Although she was not certain where she belonged in the tech sector during high school, she quickly discovered a passion for tech management during university.

She started her career as a network engineer at Verizon in 2004. Despite not having an engineering degree before this experience, she knew it was the best place for her to start her career and provided her with the proper skills to learn about the core of business in tech. Jillian explains how quickly she fell in love with the ever-changing fast pace of the tech industry.

For over a year now, Jillian has found herself at Dell exploring the business and opportunities that 5G technology offers. During this episode, she explores the lifesaving and changing capabilities that 5G can provide, which connects with her personally as an advocate for autonomous vehicle technology. After suffering her crash, Jillian discovered the real impact that technology for good can have, which has motivated her to explore how autonomous vehicles can prevent crashes like the one she experienced.

Be sure to tune in, and in case you missed it, Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan Report. Download this report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women.

*Disclaimer* As mentioned in the podcast,  Jillian was scheduled to talk at  Dell Tech World in May 2020 about her story . Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. It is intended to be rescheduled later this year for a virtual appearance.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

About Jillian Kaplan

Jillian Kaplan is a Product Marketing Manager at Dell Technologies. She currently is working on go-to-market to help Telcos launch their journey into 5G.

Jillian has been in the technology field her whole career, starting her career in Network Engineering at Verizon. After returning to school to receive her MBA, she discovered a hybrid to hone in on her creative and business skills in Product Management for a SaaS product that Verizon was bringing to market. Since then, she moved to the ‘other side’ of the Telco world by joining Dell Technologies.

Three years ago, Jillian suffered from a traumatic injury after being hit by a car. The accidents left her with    a shattered face, pelvis, sacrum and sternum. After a life saving emergency brain surgery, Jillian still lives with the long term effects of a traumatic brain injury. She emphasizes how important it is to “turn your mess into your message,” and has used this experience to push forward and accelerate her career.

You can follow here Jillian on social media:

• Twitter: @therealjkaplan
• Instagram: @therealjkaplan
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillian-kaplan/

In this week’s episode of Women Talk Tech, our guest is Kim Benedict, the CEO & Co-founder of TalentMinded – the first subscription-based, full-service talent acquisition solutions company in Canada. She explores the impact good recruitment can have on an organization’s ability to build a profitable team in tech sales.

Kim’s experience has opened her eyes to better-recruiting solutions as opposed to the traditional framework, because it often excludes women.While describing recruitment as an art and science, Kim urges businesses to focus more on their recruitment process in this episode. She provides insight into how adapting job descriptions and the interview process to be more inclusive can increase applicants’ diversity.

“There are all these little barriers that we put up around our process, and criteria for hiring that we don’t recognize are actually turning women away. I believe that companies simply just need to try harder” – Kim Benedict

Only about 25% of women are currently holding tech jobs. Our 2020 Action Plan Report found one reason for this gap is a result of poor recruiting practices. Research has shown that the tech sector tends to be classified as a masculine career field and these stereotypes often discourage women from applying for tech jobs.

Kim founded the Women in Tech Sales Bootcamp because she is passionate about combatting stereotypes about women working in sales. This event offers women support and access to quality sales training, mentoring, and coaching. She discusses the importance of recruiting events because they provide women with more confidence in their sales skills.

Be sure to tune in, and in case you missed it, Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan Report. Download this report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT KIM BENEDICT

Kim Benedict is the CEO and Co-Founder of TalentMinded – the first subscription-based, full-service talent acquisition company in Canada. As a senior executive and entrepreneur, she has worked with clients from Fortune 500 firms to start-ups.

Kim is passionate about how companies acquire talent as part of their business strategy and driving profitable growth. Her mission is to help companies meet their business goals by improving their approach to acquiring the right talent.

Kim has created several high impact, diversity events, and programs, including Women in Tech Sales Bootcamp and the Mentor Meetup. These programs work as ways to give back and develop talent in the Toronto tech ecosystem.

You can follow Kim on LinkedIn.

On this week’s episode of Women Talk Tech, our guest is Dr.Stefanie Chiras, the Vice President and General Manager of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Business at Red Hat.  Stefanie dives into the importance of mentorship, owning your choices, and diversity of thought in tech companies.

Stefanie joined Red Hat in 2018, a leading software company that provides open-source software to enterprises worldwide. In this podcast, Stefanie explores how Red Hat is focusing its resources on diversifying its workforce. She emphasizes the need for people with diverse journeys and backgrounds to have a seat at the tech industry table.

Her journey into the tech sector began at a young age, when she became familiar with her father’s tools as a child while working on cars together. It was not until high school, that a special physics teacher guided her into mechanical engineering with his unique teaching philosophies. Stefanie demonstrates a passion and commitment in engineering that allows her to see the world differently, a method she learned from this teacher. His mentorship encouraged Stefanie to push the limits in her education and career in tech.

It is upon each of us to make sure that we are like that physics teacher for the new person at the company. To encourage them to have their voice and reach for something they haven’t thought of yet. To believe in them before they necessarily believe in themselves – Dr. Stefanie Chiras

Throughout the podcast, Stefanie emphasizes one of Women Talk Tech’s central pillars for success –  Mentorship.  Stefanie credits much of her success to her mentors throughout her education. She outlines the need for students, especially female students to be pushed in the direction of achieving their goals.

Be sure to tune in, and in case you missed it, Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan Report. Download this report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT DR. STEFANIE CHIRAS

Dr. Stefanie Chiras is the VP and GM of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) at Red Hat. She joined Red Hat in July 2018 and has worldwide business responsibility for the RHEL product line.

Before this role, she was at IBM for 17 years, holding a breadth of technical and later business roles within IBM Research as well as Systems Division.

Stefanie’s obtained a Ph.D., in Materials Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She also has Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Harvard University. After her undergrad at Harvard University, she briefly spent the summer working at NASA in their materials engineering program.

She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband and 13-year-old daughter.

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On this week’s episode of Women Talk Tech, we speak to Sharon Zohar who is the CEO of The Big Push. Sharon is the ultimate female leader. She is a serial entrepreneur and investor with over 20 years of experience founding, investing advising, and operating technology, internet and digital media companies. Sharon has built companies from digital media to technology to healthcare.

The Big Push is a business accelerator that offers women-led technology companies a route to expert resources via a specially developed business model. The key aim is to get women-led technology firms focused and investment ready. With this guidance, such early-stage companies can hopefully scale faster and without the need to pay for additional labor costs. Through The Big Push, women-led startups will have the chance to outline their company and identify key acceleration needs and priorities in front of experts.

Sharon started The Big Push because women are seriously underrepresented in technology in Canada. A recent report by the Brookfield Institute (“Who Are Canada’s Tech Workers?”). To this end, The Big Push has announced a series of initiatives to help address the situation in Canada, by way of promoting women technology leaders as role models, and to offer women-led technology firms support. The organization has launched a “Pitch and Pair” program throughout Canada. The scheme will match promising women-led technology startups with The Big Push’s group of experts.

The entrepreneurial spirit was always part of Sharon’s DNA but she was not always interested in technology. Sharon started her career in the book publishing industry. She ended up falling into the technology industry when the internet came to life and she wanted to pursue the excitement of innovation and evolution that the web created. She left her comfortable career and joined an early stage technology company.

…I decided to take a leap. And it was really one of those first entrepreneurial characteristics that you can have, which is risk-taking. I was in a very comfortable, very exciting industry which was book publishing but I saw that things were changing. I really wanted to be able to be part of that and that’s where my excitement came from – discovering and being curious and finding this company where I became the third or fourth employee.

Throughout the podcast, Sharon speaks about the struggles women face in entrepreneurship such as funding, investing and being a woman in general. She also speaks about upcoming technology companies that are disrupting different industries such as healthcare and financial technology including the mysteries of AI and companies that are using AI for good.

Don’t forget to check out the Women Talk Tech 2020 Action Plan Report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women in tech.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT SHARON ZOHAR

Sharon Zohar is a serial entrepreneur and investor with more than twenty years experience founding, investing, advising, and operating technology, internet, and digital media companies. She is driven by her passion to identify new innovative technologies and business models that have the potential to disrupt traditional markets and are designed to improve the human condition. As founder and CEO of the Big Push, a business accelerator for women entrepreneurs, Sharon has developed a unique “Service for Equity” business model dedicated to accelerating the growth of women-led start-ups and prepare them for Series A financing. She leads a diverse group of professionals with years of experience in the areas of finance, design, law, technology, research, sales, and marketing dedicated to supplementing women founders’ own expertise during the critical startup phase.

Check out The Big Push on social media!

Facebook.com/thebigpush.ca
Linkedin.com/company/thebigpush
Http://instagram.com/thebigpushcanada
Http://twitter.com/thebigpushca

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