Mentors aiming to make city No. 1 for working women
Joanne Soave has worked in a male-dominated technology industry setting for more than 20 years.
“You have no idea how many rooms I've walked into where I'm the only female in a boardroom of 14 males,” says the chief operating officer of Wavedirect, a local telecommunications service.
So the chance to serve as a mentor to other career women was very appealing.
“I thought it was a fantastic idea and I wanted to be all over it,” Soave said.
The Women of Windsor Mentorship Collaborative started informally as a networking group in 2018 but founder Kavaughn Boismier took it a step further by having it registered as a non-profit in 2019.
The idea to help women launch a career or transition into another was a response to a troubling study that listed Windsor as the worst for women among the 25 ranked
Canadian cities.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives looked at the gaps between men and women in terms of economic and personal security, education, health and positions of leadership.
“I was hosting events for women in my profession and we really wanted to improve our outcomes and celebrate the successes,” Boismier said. “We didn't want to dwell on the negative aspects being said about Windsor around the country.”
At the time, Boismier was working in banking, but she's since joined Soave at Wavedirect, where she serves as the chief financial officer.
The collaborative is a volunteer-driven effort funded through corporate and community sponsorships.
The website lists its goal as making Windsor-essex County “Canada's No. 1 place to be a woman by 2030.”
They started last fall offering group mentoring sessions in
cluding ones for Windsor's Women's Enterprise Skills Training ( WEST). This year they'll launch a one-on-one mentoring program.
COVID-19 restrictions have slowed the effort but Boismier has assembled a roster of almost 30 female executives, business owners, public figures and entrepreneurs who will mentor women of all ages and stages in their careers.
“Above all, one of our core values is we want to help women of all ages,” Boismier said. “We want to help the 55-year-old working in IT who wants to retire or make a
change, or the 22-year-old professional in sales and marketing who feels they have outgrown their position.”
They also want to offer support and advice to those lacking resources and a path to employment.
“Our mentees will come from all demographics and backgrounds. Adversity doesn't discriminate,” Boismier said. “We're all faced with challenges in our professional and personal lives. Everyone needs someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of.”
While the pandemic continues, mentoring is being done virtually and resources are shared on the website.
Soave is holding a virtual fireside chat with other female business leaders next week for budding young entrepreneurs.
“I'd love to see more women take a leap forward in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) or some of the roads less travelled in sales, networking and entrepreneurship,” Soave said.
More information is available at www.womenofwindsor.org.