Greeted with the beautiful melody of the piano, glasses sparkling with wine, & heartfelt smiles welcoming us, the evening promised to be a memorable one. We eagerly anticipated the start of the evening, ready to talk business.
SHE BOSS is a panel discussion and networking event with the objective to empower, educate, and support women in business. Their focus is on female leaders, entrepreneurs, and breakers of the glass ceiling. It was communicated to us that the first SHE BOSS was created as a final project for a team of students enrolled in the Event Management program at Humber College.
The evening commenced with an introduction of the 4 panelists:
- Serena Holmes – CEO of Tigris Events
- Shontelle Dubois – CEO & 30 Day Transformation Specialist
- Carrie Heinzl- Professor and Co-founder of Fairmore Family Law Financial Solutions and
- Liberty Silver – multiple Juno and Grammy award-winning recording artist.
The event was moderated by Michelle Hastick-Cowell – Vice-President of Wealth & Strategic Management with BKIFG.
The women transparently shared their stories: from high school drop-outs, being adopted, to becoming a business owner at age 23, the audience was left stunned at some of the challenges these women encountered. However, they all believed that challenges are stepping stones to success. They each shared how they used their challenges as a motivational factor to ensure they attained the level of success they desired in life.
As a Digital Business student, I was elated to know that there is a great demand for students in our field by businesses today. Two of the panelists shared how they have used SEO to maximize their profits in less than a year. Tigris’ CEO, Serena stated: “SEO has transformed my business. We have used it to maximize our profits and sales have quadrupled since the start of the year.”
When asked about the glass ceiling women face in business, they admitted that it still exists and shared their personal experiences with it. However, they reiterated the importance of persistence when going after your goals and that when you want something bad enough, you will find a way to get it. When asked about their “secret sauce”, the ingredients they gave us were: (1) love what you do, and (2) find a way to make difficult things simple.
The evening ended with a graceful performance by Liberty Silver and they left these words with us:
- Be relentless in your pursuit of excellence.
- No is not a barrier; it’s probably for a better yes down the road.
- Say yes and figure out how to do it later.
- Know thyself; no body is better than you because nobody is made like you.
- And finally, believe in you more than anybody.
Humber DBSA 
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