Where
Cambridge Hotel and Conference Centre700 Hespeler Rd
Cambridge, ON N3H 5L8 
Driving Directions
Marzena Rachwal
Waterloo Region Small Business Centre
519-741-2604
marzena.rachwal@kitchener.ca
Women Leading Change
Celebrating and Connecting Women in Waterloo Region
We're doing things a little differently for the 6th annual WRSBC International Women's Day event. Instead of 1 keynote speaker - we are featuring 3 local women and their stories.
The theme of Women Leading Change will set the stage for 3 inspiring and innovative women from our community to showcase their professional journey as a leader within their industry and how their leadership has fostered change.
Speakers include:
Anne Day- Owner Company of Women and Co-author Good Enough
Throughout Anne’s career her focus has been on women and children, from her leadership roles in the non-profit sector, to working in government on women’s issues, to being the editor of a national parenting magazine and then to having her own consulting practice.
In 2003,when she found working at home to be isolating and sensed other women likely felt the same way too, she started
Company of Women as a way to meet up and connect with other women entrepreneurs. Who knew it would take off to become an award-winning organization, and in 2005 she knew she could focus all her energies on building and growing Company of Women. Today there are nine chapters across the GTA and beyond, over 350 members and we host over 150 events a year.
Giving back is important to Anne and over the years she’s been an active volunteer, serving on boards, both nationally and internationally. The Company of Women has supported several charities that improve the lives of girls and women.
When she’s not planning programs for Company of Women, she’s writing. She is regular business columnist for Huffington Post, and blog for several other online publications. She’s written/edited five books that focus on women and entrepreneurship. In June 2016, she launched Full Circle Publishing to help women get their words out into the world. She has co-authored the book, Good Enough, on why women don’t feel good enough which is coming out in April.
Other accomplishments include Entrepreneur of the Year, Oakville, TIAW World of Difference Award, 2015 One of top ten influential women in diversity, and the ATHENA Leadership Award.
Renish Kamal - Founder and CEO Fidget Toys Ltd.
Renish Kamal is the founder and CEO of Fidget Toys Ltd., focusing on building innovative toys that alleviate stress and increase concentration for children with autism. Renish is a trailblazer who is passionate about improving the learning environments for children. As an entrepreneur, she faced many challenges in bringing her ideas and inventions to the market, especially being an outlier with no hardware/engineering background. However, she has used these differences to her advantage, believing in herself and the vision to make Fidget Toys a reality. Renish has won many notable accolades for Fidget Toys including a feature in Maclean's magazine; she continues to spends her time between the Waterloo and Scarborough communities, and regularly shares her entrepreneurial journey via medium blogs and Facebook Live series. Renish is an an Arts and Environment Graduate from the University of Waterloo.
Laughter is a shared experience that creates strong bonds and this is why
Hayley Kellett is passionate about building community through comedy. Hayley is co-owner and Improv Incubator Director at The Making-Box, Guelph's hub for live comedy and improv education. In 2016, her organization was nominated for both Innovation Guelph's Start-Up of the Year and The Guelph Chamber of Commerce: Community Spirit Award. The best part is that this seems like just the beginning for this company. However, the word company is a misnomer because what’s happening feels more like a movement where a whole city is building community through comedy. Before launching The Making-Box Hayley had a long history with the world renowned Second City - a job that allowed her to celebrate how improv makes us more open, happy and connected people all over the globe. Not only that, Hayley has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award: Best Female Improviser (2015), NOW Magazine's Best Female Improviser (2015) and was recognized as one of Guelph's Top 40 Under 40 (2016). Hayley takes great pleasure in being a mentor for the Rhyze Academy in Guelph; a one-of-kind, nine-month educational program developed to support women entrepreneurs as they connect the dots between business skills, financial know-how and work-life integration.
Agenda
9:30 - Registration, Networking, Breakfast
10:00 - Welcome, Opening Remarks
10:15 - Presentations from 2 speakers
11:00 - Break
11:15 - Presentation from speaker
11:35 - Networking
12:00- Wrap up
Cost
This event is $20 (including HST). Ticket price includes admission to event and breakfast.Register Now!
