Working Toward Equity: The Collaborative's Global Reach

by Dr. Kristen Liesch

THE ORIGIN STORY

Some of you may be familiar with the origin story for the Kristen/Anna partnership that is the Women’s Work Institute, but if you're not:

I [Kristen] came across Anna's posts on LinkedIn. I thought, "she seems to be working toward the same end I am," so I booked a call with her. We knew within minutes that we needed to hitch our stars together.

Today, a year later, we're thrilled by the progress we've made and the impact we're having.

the context

Women's Work Institute is evolving. We are refining our services and working strategically toward augmenting impact - one of our 2019 strategic priorities. To that end, we are acting on, in a more intentional way, our desire to be a hyper-collaborative organization that amplifies the work and voices of individuals and entities working toward the same goal of, you know, just changing the world.

Over the past several years, we have had the privilege of meeting so many brilliant, creative, disruptive people working toward creating a more equitable world. However, collaborative opportunities are not always clear in the early days of a connection, but a common cause often is.

So, we launched The Collaborative.

THE COLLABORATIVE

The Collaborative is a group of exceptional professionals working to advance equity and justice through their areas of expertise. In a previous post, we introduced the inaugural members, but in keeping with our vision for The Collaborative, the numbers are growing, so here are our newest additions:

AMANDA FERNANDEZ

(she/her)

FOUNDER, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION SPECIALIST

Amanda helps municipalities and library leaders build and strengthen cultures of inclusion and belonging. She guides her clients toward understanding and dismantling systemic barriers in order to leveraging the positive impact of a truly diverse workforce.

She goes further than just providing training, workshops, solutions and strategies: she helps her clients transform their effort and commitment to diversity and inclusion into a positive, long-lasting impact for workforces and communities.

ANDREA VAN VUGT

(she/her)

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR & DISABILITY ADVOCATE, FOUNDER, DISABILITY PRIDE ALBERTA FOUNDATION

Andrea is a social entrepreneur and the founder of the Disability Pride Alberta Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission to celebrate and empower the disability community. With a passion for community engagement and advocacy, Andrea strives to create inclusive opportunities for people to connect and share their stories.

ALLISON SWELIN

(she/her)

RETURN TO WORK STRATEGIST, COMMUNITY BUILDER, CULTURE & HEALTHY LIFESTYLE ADVOCATE

Allison is a mission to inspire others to thrive, not just survive. As a mother of two young children and one who has experienced the tough transition back to the workplace after a career break, Allison is passionate about helping others navigate this journey.

With over 10 years of tech industry experience, her career has taken her around the world to collaborate with thought leaders and lead strategic initiatives for Garmin, SMART and Motorola. In 2013, Allison spearheaded the creation of the Garmin Health division which was run like a start-up, recruited a passionate team and inspired its growth to $25M in less than 3 years.

Now, Allison specializes in helping companies foster inclusive return to work strategies to capitalize on this untapped talent pool and parents return to the workplace after starting a family.

NESREEN ALI

(she/her)

POLICY NERD & FACILITATION GEEK

Over her 10 years of experience in public service and community development, Nesreen has been making meaningful impacts in the lives of Canadians.

Navigating new challenges excites her, and she loves finding new ways to solve wicked policy problems. Being both patient and highly curious, she enjoys using her facilitation skills to solve complex problems and see others shine.

MATHURA KARUNANITHY

(she/her)

SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST, COUNCIL OF AGENCIES SERVING SOUTH ASIANS (CASSA)

Mathura has a background in public policy and currently works at the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA). Prior to that, she worked in policy and programming at the Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade and Motherisk Commission.

She is passionate about gender-based issues / feminism and has skills in project management, project evaluation, advocacy, and education.

She works tirelessly to increase the effectiveness of programming and policies for women’s empowerment.

JASON WONG

(he/his)

FOUNDER, JWONG WORKS

With almost two decades of experience in building and scaling web applications, Jason has worked in a range of industries from academia to online media and e-commerce. He helped establish web development and administrative computing at Columbia College, led development of premium video streaming services at Yahoo! Sports, and spent seven years at Etsy leading their Infrastructure Engineering team.

He currently works with engineering leaders to improve their engineering management practices and establish inclusive cultures.

RUTH A. MOJEED

(she/her)

FOUNDER, THE INCLUSION PROJECT

Ruth is a passionate community organizer, civic innovator and communications strategist. She seeks to contribute to a more inclusive community where people find a sense of belonging in workplaces and other socio-political environments.

Her work in Communications, Public Relations and Project Management spans several years in the non-profit sector, with a current progression in Strategic Communications in the public sector.

She consults to and provides training facilitation for non-profit organizations, INGOs and corporate boards.

Stay tuned! In the coming months we will be featuring new Collaborative members.

As ever, we are committed to our values: