She'll Be Right Mate

March 24- Beautiful Vancouver. Engish Bay. Granville Island

The morning after another epic BOF the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day in Vancouver. I pulled myself out of bed and took on the beautiful city. Venturing through the streets of down town Vancouver- westbound on Davie until I hit English Bay :)

I love our city. I reckon too often we take this beautiful place for granted. Ocean, Snow covered mountains, sunny days (sometimes)… It was yet another amazing day. Stroll along the seawall and then to Granville Island to suss out the live music and markets. O boy love this place in the weekend sun!

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Vancouver

March 20- Carving A Future with Core Values & Goal Setting

YWiB put on an awesome event March 20- Carving a Future with Core Values & Goals.

Guest speakers Deanne Schweitzer, Lululemon’s VP of Global Brand and Skoah’s Andrea Scott shared their professional experiences and shared a life and future when you establish core values and set goals.

Over 50 young women attended the talk which took place at Skoah in Yaletown.

Deanne’s message:

“Make decisions based on “above the line thinking,” rather than “below the line.”  Come from a place of kindness and virtue rather than superficiality. She suggested 6 points to consider when making goals:

1. Possibility – The ability to stand in nothing and create.  Let go of the past because it’s impossible to create a future if you let your past hold you back.
2. Vision – Where do you envision yourself in 10 years? If you were on your death bed, what would you want to be remembered as? Set your goals and core values based on where you see yourself at this time.
3. Balance – Set goals for Personal, Health and Career. If you are too heavy in any one of those, you will feel out of balance.
4. Have BIG, HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS.  When you think of them, you should get goosebumps.
5. Format – Goals should trickle down from your vision and should be quantifiable. How will you measure their success?
6. Integrity – How will you incorporate your goals into your daily life in order to achieve them? Set a completion date, tell someone, be accountable to your goals.

Andrea’s message:

1. Listen to Understand – Everyone has a right to be heard. Naturally, people talk more about themselves when they are uncomfortable, to compensate by showing others they know what they are doing.  However, in most situations the best thing to do is to stop talking and listen.
2. Give Your Energy to Others – It’s impossible to have positive energy all the time, but it is possible to be honest to those around you at all times. Ask for help and get support if you’re having a difficult day.  Just because you’re having a hard time, doesn’t mean everyone else has to either.
3. Create a New Experience – Certain jobs can start to be repetitious, so make an effort to create a new experience with everyone you meet, rather than just a scripted response. By saying something that is unexpected allows others to really think and communicate what they really want or need.
4. Pursue your goals passionately.
5. Be Indispensible – No matter what your role is, you’ve committed to it, so be the best you can be so it can elevate you to the next step.”

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Vancouver Business Inspiration

Windsor Oak

In the early 1950s a Lord from England planted an Oak on a property in Pitt Meadows. It still stands tall and proud in a complex suitably called Windsor Oak.

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Vancouver Nature

Vulnerability is the birth place of Innovation, Creativity and Change

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Inspiration

Globe 2012

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Vancouver Sustainability

Vancouver Living

A beautiful Saturday evening in Vancouver.

A couple galpals and I made our way to Guu in Gastown for dinner :) It was delicious and lovely. This Japanese cuisine experience was exceptional. We shared an assortment of several Japanese tapas.  They don’t serve sushi rolls here- it makes this place unique and allows you to explore other ethnic dishes. We were joined by more friends and a couple bottles of wine. It was a great atmosphere and wonderful to catch up with old friends.

After our Guu experience we crossed the road to House Guest. A new bar/club in Gastown. It was an unreal time! The people were steezey, older crowd, good music, nice venue, unique layout. Check it out Vancouverites. I am for sure going back :)

Apres, we hailed a limo and made our way to Barcelona for a late night stomp session. Woot woot

Love the live entertainment they have there. Drumming to good house music… a great combination.

and as the clock ticked away and four rolled around, the lights turned on and FOOD was the only thing on our minds. Voila let’s go to 24 hour Chinese food at Tsui Hang! yew.

ciao ciao

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Vancouver

March 8- Values Based Banking: Financing the Future of a Changing World

This evening I attended an event presented by Vancity about the finance industry, the need for social and environmental change, and how we can connect the two to progress in a positive direction.

A group called the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) has joined together to represent the forefront of positive change in the financial industry.

“The GABV is an independent network of 14 progressive banks, with $26 billion in combined assets, who are leading the worldwide sustainable banking movement. Members are bound by a shared commitment to find global solutions to social and environmental problems and to promote a positive, viable alternative to the current financial system.”

Tonight, Vancity presented an evening of dialogue and debate with Vancity CEO Tamara Vrooman, Canadian journalist and author Naomi Klein, and UK-based New Economics Foundation Executive Director Stewart Wallis to explore how banks can respond to the needs of change in today’s world. 

Several key takeaways I was left with:

1. People should educate themselves and get informed about “Where is their money going?”; what are they investing their money towards? What initiatives are they supporting by handing their finances over into the hands of a financial institute? It’s all about asking these questions and taking Time to find out.

… being an active member in the finance industry I can confidently say that the majority of investors have no idea where their money is going. No one asks: are my investments in line with my values? Most of the time they are not. How do we change this? We need to educate people about the financial system. We need to break down the wall that exists between investors and financial products and systems- creating transparency and remove the intimidation people have of the industry and markets. It’s not a complex system, it’s simply a foreign language and therefore seems to complex for the individual who hasn’t been exposed to this vocabulary.

2. Members of GABV should focus on creating campaigns which do exactly this. Educate their customers and offer investment opportunities which align with their customers’ values.

I love how even the finance industry is developing a sense of stewardship and taking action.

Good Night.

B

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Vancouver Change

Activate.Plugin.Service

“Everything previous generations worked for (a life free from struggle & suffering) has lead us to this moment in time. We are the first generation (at least in the “developed” world) who has largely had every material comfort handed to them. The result: many of us suffer a deep existential crisis. Overcoming this crisis is our work… it is a spiritual crisis that calls us to re-imagine our role in the matrix of life. It was not an accident. It is a grand adventure. It is not about being “fully awake” or enlightened. You do not need to know who you are before you start. You just need to know that you are here and that alone means you were meant to be here. Activate. Plugin. Most of all, use your gifts in service. And through this work you will discover exactly who you are.”

Ian MacKenzie

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Inspiration

Live. Learn and Embrace

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. Not everything that you desire will be necessarily good for you in the long run. If something just seems to not work out continually, in such a way that it seems almost like fate intervened, consider letting it go or coming back to it at another time. The Universe works in mysterious ways and should be trusted. Just be sure you are not mistaking your own failure as the Universe telling you something.

-Dalai Lama

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Brand Management with CBC British Columbia

March 1

I attended a Board of Trade event for the CYP (Company of Young Professionals) group hosted at CBC in Vancouver- Brand Management with CBC British Columbia. It was a great event, and I definitely picked up some valuable tips and lessons. The purpose of the event was to provide us an opportunity to learn from leading experts about how to establish and maintain a strong brand. 

There were three speakers at the event: Dare Marketing Managing Partner, Sandy Fleischer; CBC’s Regional Manager of Communications, Asifa Lalji; and CBC News Director, Wayne 

All three speakers brought insightful stories and information to the session. Key take aways-

1. have a story; the story should be driven off of passion.

2. Stick to a brand. Uncover your brand, w a clear vision and mission; assure your internal and external align.

3. Connect with the community

4. Your employees are the face of your passion. Connect everyone inside with the story and the company vision.

The event was well attended, well run and organized and added value :)

Good night for now. B

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Vancouver

Connection through Creation

Real connections evolve as we share experiences of creation

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Inspiration